Tag Archives: reviews

The Word

The Word: Advice on Reviews

The most important thing for for authors of all shapes as sizes is reviews. Many avoid them, but a small few will use them. Those wanting to become a better writer often will use these reviews to see their strong and weak points from the readers’ point of view. I have seen this become very important for the review stalking writers, especially if they’re writing in a new genre for them.

With all that said avoid the most important thing to know about reviews is knowing if you can handle them. If you cannot handle what the readers have to say then you’re probably not in the right career for yourself.

If you can read them, seeing them as an opinion and be able to use them, you’re in a better position. Reviews are not a bad thing, despite the argument that many will pose. You must remember you cannot change minds, first impressions are everything even more so with a product you’ve pushed into the world.

The only thing you can ever control is yourself and how you handle a situation when it presents itself. The world of publishing is a tough one to be in. It’s highly competitive and if you cannot handle the pressure of the publishers, the readers, or the stress from submission this is not the business for you.

I am not saying give up. Just step back, self-care is important. Remember that you cannot control others’ opinions just control how you handle them.

What’d you think of this post in The Word? Think this advice will help you? Has it already helped you? Let me know! Let’s talk about it.

Recommendations

2020 and 52 Book Reviews

I began planning out some things to do in 2020 in October, a month of Preptober for Nanowrimo started a fire of prepping for the coming year very early. I discovered quickly that I spend a lot of time writing ideas, scribbling thoughts, and questioning everything and nothing all at once (a thank you from my anxiety riddled mind).

I knew I’d never be able to plan an entire year of blogging, but I broke things down month by month. Doing this pre-planning I wanted to revisit ideas I wanted to do, but wasn’t sure if I could manage. In 2019, I did some mini-events for poetry and book recommendations. The poetry one seemed to draw a little to no attention, so it ended early. One thing I never got to was book reviews.

Enter stage left, my personal challenge of book reviewing. I decided in 2020 to post, weekly, a book or story review. I’ve read many books in my time. I slowed down, but then eventually found myself back at it at a slower pace. I carved time out to enjoy reading again over the past year. I wrote 53, the amount of weeks in 2020, titles I wanted to cover. Many are books or stories I’ve read, some are newer reads I’ve devoured.

The one thing about reviews I’ve noticed about myself is if I don’t like something or downright hate something I won’t finish it and won’t leave a review somewhere for it. I won’t want to give attention toward anything negative nor will I move forward doing just that. So, these reviews are things I finished, liked, and wanted to share.

The Word

The Word: 5 Things You May Experience Over Time

You’re published, you’ve been making the convention rounds, and things have started to change. Many fellow writers have made social media comments about family and friends treating them differently. Some have shared surprising family and friends support, which I have been lucky to have as well, but many have shared the negative. Something I have also experienced. If you haven’t experienced any changes or haven’t noticed yet, this article is for you. It is to give you a heads up of what may happen as you progress in your career.

You will start experiencing negative feedback. This will come in many forms, but the main one is that you don’t have a real job or that someone doesn’t like your work and offering advice, especially when they have not taken part in this line of work.  Much of the negative you may experience falls into myths and stereotyping us indies by those that are not. I wrote an article called The Word: Mythbusting – Stereotypes and Misconceptions of Self-pubbing and independent pubbing that covered many misconceptions about being self-published, independently published, or even being a hybrid.

You may even experience name-dropping. From what I’ve read some have experienced the unwanted use of their name from others trying to gain something in the favor. It must be nice to be one of those not helping but wanting to benefit from your work, right? You put in months or even years on building yourself up just for someone that may or may not know you to try and use your name.

The above one can sometimes even stir worries within yourself. Who really are your friends? Are they only your friend to try and gain something? This will be a change that may begin, so keep aware of who you keep the company with.

Being approached. It happens, it can be nice. People wanting to work with you more is always wonderful, but you must be cautious. Sometimes they’re not the type of people you want your name connected to. On the other hand, fans approaching is always nice. Meeting someone who loves your work can be a moral boost if it’s a positive interaction.

Sales Fluctuation. It goes up and it goes down. It happens to everyone. Just like with reviews you’ll get some good ones and you’ll get some bad ones. You cannot please everyone with your work. Remember even the greatest writers couldn’t please everyone or even was denied publication several times.

Have you experienced any of these? Let me know!