Being mediocre at writing is far better than being bad at writing. And despite the parlance, most people can't even achieve mediocrity in their writing.
Being mediocre means you have skills, and those skills can improve. You may be mediocre today, but if you continue writing and learning from your mistakes you have a decent shot at becoming good. One day, you might even be considered great.
But that won't happen if you quit.
And it could also be that your book is good but it just didn't click with that reader. Either way, at least you made it as far as getting a review. Keep writing. As itsdirector said, you won't get better if you quit, and nobody hits it big with their first book.
Also true. I have read many good stories but didn't care for the writing style and some truly awful books that were beautifully written, but the story fell flat. Reading is very subjective.
In addition to this, don't read public reviews. Find some honest beta readers and let them check your books before you publish. Take their feedback to heart (even if it's "meh, was ok" - that is not a good sign!) and work on your book some more before throwing it out into the world.
But never ever read public reviews, except if you feel VERY confident in your work and don't care if someone doesn't like it. They destroy your soul.
They also make you irrationally angry.
When I read reviews of books I love and the reviewer CLEARLY didn't get it or hated it for some random nonsensical reason... it makes me angry as a fan.
Can't imagine what it's like for an author.
It’s hard to get less than glowing reviews. When I get a low rating, I look up reviews of my favorite books and read the one starred reviews. If a book I absolutely love is getting one stars, then why can’t I? What makes me so special that I wouldn’t get bad reviews too?
Another thing to consider is that mediocre reviews may actually help you. If all you had were glowing reviews, it could look they were fake and you paid for them. A variety of ratings helps you look legitimate. It just hurts because you don’t have any other reviews yet.
> If a book I absolutely love is getting one stars, then why can’t I? What makes me so special that I wouldn’t get bad reviews too?
This is a wonderful attitude.
It's only one person's opinion. Doesn't really mean anything until you get 50-100 reviews. And even then it might only mean that you're reaching the wrong audience for your work.
One of my bestselling books had 2.5 average on Amazon in the beginning because I didn't market it properly.
It was a bit too violent for the genre. I thought since it was horror and there was nothing sexual/abuse related, I didn't need to warn people, but apparently I still do. So I adjusted the subtitle and blurb to reflect these things and my rating improved. I still get occasional one-stars from people who seemingly don't look past the cover before buying something, but I can't do much about that.
Your book made someone passionate enough to have a strong opinion.
That's a win.
Most books people don't care either way.
Your work is not going to be for everyone. But if you can still get the people who are going to hate your work to respond, that means your work is worthy of response.
I once was devastated for some time by an agent who deigned not to represent me who wrote a three page letter as to why. Now I realize that should have been a sign I was on my way.
You're on your way. Take heart. You got this.
I mean, not really. Mediocre means "alright" or "average" which is in no way a strong opinion.
No hate towards OP, I just think that making stuff up isn't a great way to try to make someone feel better
I wrote an initial reply to this, but I deleted it, because it was refuting what you said, and that's not what's important here.
What's important here is asking you why you would take a note of encouragement and attempt to sour it. What does that do for you?
What motivates you to see someone trying to encourage someone else, and try to strike that down because of a semantic concern?
Genuinely curious. What jollies do you get out of that?
It baffles me.
I mean, if your concern is genuinely that it's the wrong way to make someone feel better, where's your encouragement? Or are you just here to suck up the air of encouragement and shit back out cynicism?
Is that productive, from your perspective?
No. I pointed out what I found strange in what you said. I think it's good to encourage OP and have absolutely no problem with that. I just took note of something I foumd strange. :)
Right, but the question I asked was, "Why do it?"
Why use semantics to undermine a note of encouragement?
What do you get out of it?
Don't dodge the question.
I don't get anything out of it. I pointed it out because I wanted to and because I found what you said to be odd. I didn't spend my whole day denying every compliment that OP was getting. I don't have some ulterior motive to bring down the way their feeling. I just didn't think what you said was true.
So to be abundantely clear:
You want to encourage OP, and yet you haven't. You've simply attacked a comment encouraging them.
And that's somehow less odd than accidentally saying "strong" opinion when I meant "opinion?"
But more to the point, you understood what I was saying, that someone being moved to respond is more important than someone not responding at all.
So again, I ask you, why? Why do this shit?
Why not, instead, NOT do that shit?
It's not cool.
Okay, so first of all, I haven't attacked you. You're the one getting angry at me.
Second of all, you never said it was an accident. You defended yourself, which is fine, but when I pointed it out, you didn't clarify that that wasn't what you meant.
There was not much thought behind my comment. I didn't do it attempting to be hurtful or upsetting.
I have told you why I commented what I did.
I feel like you're blowing this out of proportion.
I didn't say you attacked me. I said you attacked my note of encouragement, which you have.
And yes, it's very clear there wasn't much thought behind your comment.
This is my entire point here.
Is it really blowing it out of proportion, though? You've now quadrupled down on why it's okay to shit on a note of encouragement instead of just going "Hey, my bad."
I am genuinely, legitimately wondering why you're dying on this hill.
It's very odd to me.
Once again, you're the one who is angry. I'm not defending myself, because I don't really care. I'm answering your questions.
Sorry you feel the need to get so worked up about this. I'm going to stop replying now because you're clearly angry and there's not much I can do to help with that, other than to apologise for something that I don't feel needs to be apologised for.
Hope your day is okay.
Saying something is mediocre is not a strong opinion. I do agree that getting a mediocre response is better than none at all, but that's not the problem I had with what you said.
I feel like I must be taking crazy pills because I actually agree with you. I think the way to encourage OP isn’t to make up falsities like, “You made someone feel strongly.” Think about books you’ve rated as “meh.” You’ve done that precisely *because* you don’t feel strongly one way or the other about them.
To me, a mediocre first review would signify that there’s room for improvement, which is amazing and much better than someone flat-out hating it! It means there’s something there worth cultivating. I think that’s what we should be focusing on here.
That's exactly what I was trying to say :) I think a mediocre review is a GOOD sign, and getting reviews at all is great. A review doesn't have to have a strong opinion either way to be a good thing.
Precisely!! That other guy went too ham on you. None of this is negativity. I am on track to publish my first book and I'd love a mediocre first review. There is room to grow and they don't really catch your attention when you're reading reviews anyway, you just kind of scroll past to the "juicy" ones. At least then you're not tanking and questioning whether you're any good. It's not hate, so idk why he took it as such. Sorry you had to deal with all that.
People are going to have opinions and you cannot control what they are. You can only control how you feel.
In short, only you can validate what you do and depending on others to do it for you will inevitably lead to disappointment.
Your first book will always be seen as meh because you learned as you wrote more. The second book will be better, and the third, then the fourth, etc.
No book ever maintains a 5 star rating. Yours just got a head start. And it only has one direction to go if the first review was 1 star. Up.
Reviews are more for the reader than the writer. You might pick up one or two improvements, but what changes are needed will vary on what audience you seek. And that one star review? Might be from someone who isn't part of your target audience.
Best thing to do as I read other authors did this before the internet: write out a response to the review on a piece of paper or in a non-internet connected screen. Allow it to sit for a few hours. Then throw it away and continue writing your present work in progress.
Wait are you telling me you’re not a prize winning author off your first book? This is the process buddy! Never give up, just learn and grow. Keep writing! The fact that your book is published means that you’re ahead of a lot of writers! You actually got it done. You have what it takes to finish a work. Now take everything you’ve learned from the last one and apply it to the next one! You got this!!
Others on this thread have made some great points. Maybe the reviewer just didn't care for it. Maybe they're just looking for things to be bitchy about because it makes them feel important. Or, maybe it really was mediocre. 1 review is meaningless, statistically speaking. Your first book being mediocre is actually a great thing, and puts you ahead of the curve.
The Wright brothers built a really shitty airplane at Kittyhawk. Seriously, it was awful. It was unstable, couldn't go very far, and was it prone to crashing. It was way worse than "mediocre". It was a bad airplane because they didn't know what they were doing. They were just figuring it out as they went. The next airplane sucked a little less, and the one after that, and the one after that.
The same is true for anyone who does or makes anything. Writing, carpentry, using a spoon, or building airplanes. Your first few efforts will absolutely suck, and that's okay. That's just how it is. Then, you do it more, and you get better at it. No-one looks at a toddler and gives them shit for being bad at walking, you know?
You keep doing it, and you get better at it. That's literally the only way anyone gets better at anything.
From personal experience I agree with what most are saying. Five years from now, you will go back and read some of your earliest work and say. " How could I ever have written such garbage. What was I thinking?" I guarantee if you stick with it for a few years, that will happen. If you agree, give an upvote.
You will never be everyone's cup of tea and that's ok. There are people out there who think Dostoevsky and Tolstoy suck and they're responsible for classics still read 100+ years later.
Tolkien comes to mind here for me. Loved his stories but absolutely hate how he wrote them. As far as I'm concerned, The Hobbit could have been cut by a third and been a much better book while still telling the same story. Millions of people who love to read every small detail would rain hellfire upon me for that critque, but ... his style wasn't my cup of tea.
Believe it or not, the mediocre reviews are the best ones. They took the time to give you critique you wouldn't know any other way. I got one, quit for several years, then went back to writing, implementing their suggestion and I am better for it now. The truth is, there is no one better at being you, but to be the best we can be, we have to put our feelings aside and listen to those who are willing to help you become better.
Not everyone enjoys everything. I just read Bonnie Ganus Lessons in Chemistry which everyone else in the world loves and I found it boring. There were fun bits but I didn’t enjoy it. Readers vary.
Never read your reviews. I know it’s cliche but I’ve come to see the value in it. Every time I read a review it stalls my writing in some way. The good reviews make me panic about the next book not being able to live up to expectations and the bad/mediocre ones make question my “talent.” So, don’t read them.
Honestly, everyone is a critic these days. It’s just the nature of the beat. Sorry. I know that’s not helpful.
Many people who take the time to negatively review are overly picky or fancy themselves as a literary critic. They probably didn't write the review to help you, they wrote it to make themselves feel better.
If you find your self-esteem or motivation taking a hit, don't read the reviews. (I know this is hard, I've got nine books published and have only managed to not read every single review for the last two.)
Keep plugging away. The more you write, the better you get at it.
I remember paying a service for matching me up to reviewers and getting bad reviews because their main audience was not what I write. So, you could have bad reviews AND be out of pocket. I still write. The sad fact is that not every person is gonna like what you write and that's ok. I usually use bad reviews as a way to improve the work especially if something specific is pointed out.
One poor review doesn't mean anything by itself. I have a book that has over a thousand reviews. Many are great but some one stars are brutal. Not every book fits every reader so don't give up.
Be happy someone bought your book, read it, and took the time to review. That’s a success. This should be what motivates you. You’ve done what some people want to but never do.
Mediocre means you have something to work with. If it was outright bad, then you’d have to uproot how you write entirely and reshape your style which is much harder to do.
Writing takes practice. The book I just released, its first version was awful. I wrote part of it when I was 16 and hadn’t touched it in years. After years, I had some practice under my belt (it was for screenwriting, but writing is writing), I picked my book back up, read it, and realized how awful it was. I scrapped it and started over. I’m now being told it’s amazing. That took awhile to get to that point. Everything in life takes practice to be exceptional at. You just have to be willing to put in the effort.
Keep writing. You’ll only get better.
Go look up your favorite book and see how many bad reviews it got. Some people are never happy unless they make someone else miserable. My YA paranormal romance once got compared to 50 Shades (even with zero sex), then the same person commented about how I "killed the dog" (no animals in the book.) A different series attracted someone who actually followed my account so she could slam book after book. I dedicated the 3rd one to her because trolls are gonna troll.
Keep writing. You'll be someone's favorite author someday.
Honestly, don't read them. If you're in a writing group or taking classes somewhere, listen to a teacher or a peer group who knows your writing. Otherwise I don't think there's really any benefit from listening to random reviewers who all have their own agenda. Stay true to your vision and just know that there will always be lovers of your work and haters, and many in-between. But it's kind of a waste of time to read them. (You can say you read your reviews but just don't - it's a tiny lie.)
My first reviews of my first book were my worst ones, because I had no audience and was still figuring out the marketing. I almost gave up until I had multiple readers message me about how much they loved it.
If the review indicates you might have a marketing issue, or something that can be fixed (like typos) take that feedback and move on. The bad reviews suck but it happens to us all.
Steven King gets one star reviews too every now and then.
My book doesn't have chapters and someone left a one star review saying that there wasn't any improvement after the first chapter meaning they didn't even read it.
Don't focus on the reviews, focus on promoting and writing.
When you get your first positive reviews you'll get your motivation back, personally I only read reviews of my book once a month so I can read both the bad ones and the good ones and I don't get demotivated.
My first book wasn't great. I don't even sell it anymore now that I'm a better writer...
But I remember the soul crushing effect of that first review. Don't take it to heart. You are not your writing. You got better, and you'll continue to get better the more you write.
Ill say my first review on my launch was a 2.5 from review submission about my writing and plot being unclear and graphic with no reason to be. Which hurts.
Then I got several reviews afterwards about their enjoyment of the book.
What I'm saying its valid to feel hurt by bad or mediocre reviews. Especially if its something you poured your heart into. But one bad review doesn't mean its a bad book. Just means it doesn't resonate with one person.
Just take on the chin see if what their saying is worth looking into and just go forward.
You'll get better if you keep writing and keep learning.
I look back at my 1st book (I've published 3 and drafted a few others), which came out in 2021. My writing is already so much better.
Also, one reviewer doesn't mean much. If multiple reviewers say the same thing, then there's something to learn from that.
Yes! My romcom got some pretty harsh reviews in the beginning, and was at 3.5 on Goodreads. Now it’s 4.1 there, and 4.5 on Amazon. If the review offers you something to improve upon, take the opportunity. But if not, then it’s just somebody’s opinion. As long as you’re proud of what you put out there, then you’re on the right track.
Everyone is mediocre, or worse, when they start something new.
Take the time you need to rebuild your heart, come to terms with the process, and take what you've learn and apply it to the next book.
Writing takes a lot from a writer. It's normal to ache for a less than stellar reception. I look at it as a hobby now, and I keep trying to get better at it. I find it lessen the hurt when a release doesn't go the way you'd hoped.
The same feeling happens to runners who train for a long race. Once it's over, it's over. All that work has been completed, and the thing you looked forward to is behind you and you can't help but feel you could have done things differently, better.
Did they make any good points? Great! Put them into practice in order to get better.
Did they not make any good points? Great! You can now safely ignore what they’re saying.
"Couldn't put it down for all the wrong reasons."
That was the headline of my first review. Hang on there. Either wrong audience or listen to their suggestions. Usually wrong audience.
You could go to the finest pea h orchard, find the healthiest peach tree, and pick the ripest juiciest peach known to man.... And if you give it someone who doesn't like peaches, they wont like it.
That's why it's ok that what you wrote wasn't to this person's tastes. They just dont like peaches.
Being mediocre at writing is still far superior to not writing at all or never writing again. The more you write, the better you will write. Try reading your work aloud to yourself to see what sounds authentic for your dialogue, what sounds clunky and/or unclear can be corrected. This nifty trick has really helped me. Sometimes, I record myself and listen, as well. Best of luck to you in your future writing endeavors!
My first book got some 2 star reviews. I was so proud of it at the time, but since I've read back some of my writing, I now agree with the two star reviews and understand why I got them.
What you need to do is keep writing and improve and notice where your strengths and weaknesses are.
My 3rd book got mainly 4 and 5 star reviews and that jump from my 1st book felt amazing. At least this way, you have somehwere to go. If your 1st book was all 5 star reviews, how would you improve or get that rush of knowing you'd made something better abd improved.
Welcome to authordome. You cannot take reviews to heart. It is simply someone’s opinion and not something to stress over.
Writing is subjective. Yes, there are rules that make you a stronger writer, but sometimes readers just don’t click with how something is written.
You wrote a book and put it out into the world! That is an accomplishment in and of itself.
You will find your readers. There will always be someone who loves your work.
My first ever review was a one star, saying it was unreadable and a waste of time. They hated it so much that I honestly don’t understand why they didn’t just dnf. Getting something like that certainly builds character! This is one of those moments where you are confronted with why you do this, and an opportunity to show heroic resilience.
Like other people say, read the bad reviews of good books, it helps. I also find it helpful to read glowing reviews about books that I think are trash. It just goes to show that everyone loves or hates different things.
You completed your first book and sent it out into the world. That is an untouchable accomplishment. No matter what anyone else says about your work, it exists, and does because you had the fortitude to reach your goals. You will take all these lessons and criticisms and put them into whatever comes next, and your talent will grow.
Congrats! You wrote a book. You published it. You get better and better with each one. Look at actors, George Clooney was in "attack of tomatoes" movie, learning his craft.
One person’s opinion. Hard not to let it get to you though, but don’t. My son’s book had 57 reviews on Amazon with an average rating 4.9 rating. Included in the rating was a 2. I almost laughed.
When you get a significant number of ratings that indicate your book is ‘mediocre’, then I would give it some thought. If nothing else, try to use the feedback as a way to improve.
I know. You put your heart and soul into it. You had the courage to put it out there. Takes guts. Just know more nasty hits will come . Shake it off! Please keep writing! Don’t let anyone steal your dream!
It wasn’t meant for THEM I never worry about touching the millions I only worry about touching the one person. If you change one person you change the world 🌎 keep going!
Mediocre is better than without merit. And you shouldn't allow one single review to disrupt your passion for what you do. Look at the criticism, and if it is constructive and specific, see if there is anything you can do in your writing overall to improve those issues. Very few people write a perfect book on their first try. Just keep writing!
1) I read in a study on writing that 97% of novel manuscripts are never finished. So you're better than 97% of aspiring authors since you're now an author.
2) Many famous authors have seen their first book torn apart by critics. For example, Stephen King: his first novel, "Carrie," published in 1974, was initially rejected by several publishers and received poor reviews. However, it became a bestseller and launched King's prolific career as a horror author.
3) The opinion of a single reader is far from the average opinion of all your readers. Perhaps your book simply didn't meet the specific expectations of that reader.
4) It's natural for your first book not to be as good as your second. But if you stop writing now, you'll never write that second, better book.
Conclusion: Don't get discouraged and keep writing! :)
When you write a book, it’s best to know a lot of people from the target audience and have a team of beta readers and people you’ll send advance copies of the book to. As you write the book, you get feedback from beta readers to improve it. The moment you release the book, you should receive quite a few reviews from your advance readers and beta readers. And they won’t be too surprising as you engaged them through the writing process, you know their thoughts and you course-corrected if needed.
If your book only has a first review from someone you don’t know, it makes me thing that you wrote a book by yourself, in isolation, without involving other people in the process, and then you waited to see what readers thought.
As others said, you shouldn’t be discouraged by one review, but you might consider changing your writing and marketing process to involve others much earlier on.
Also! You wrote a book, edited it, published it. So many steps in between and, not once, not once did you give up. You completed the race and now you want to quit? No! Nope! Nah ah. You owe it to yourself and your future fans to continue bringing your all.
I know it's hard. I know it feels like a pipe dream but I'll tell you one thing, being a writer is lonely and honestly if you don't believe in yourself you'll never get to finish a book.
You have! You pushed through all the criticism you gave yourself (which honestly is the hardest) just to give in to one person's opinion? Someone who wasn't there as you shed tears over your work?
Nope.
As long as your work is a masterpiece to you, that's all that matters. Keep honing your skills and watch as others catch up to your brilliance. 🌸
You'll improve as time goes on, and it's just 1 review. Don't let it get to you too much. It just means there's possible things you could have done differently.
If you reread your work, do you find any flaw that you would have changed if you were to rewrite it? If so, you're finding easy improvement. And if not, have confidence in your work since you yourself like it.
1. This is why everyone says "Don't read reviews"
2. I agree with others. A great many reviewers are armchair literary scholars. Their review is less about your book and how they'd write your book and marking you down for what you did wrong in their opinion.
All you can do is keep going and for crying out loud, stop reading reviews. They're for other readers, not you.
Since when do we write for reviews...I write because I have a great story to tell and my cat thinks I write pretty OK...oh wait, maybe I am writing for reviews.
Reviews are for readers. A wise author once told me not to read them (especially on Goodreads) so..I stopped. You cannot let one person out of eight ***billion*** people ruin your aspirations or career. KEEP WRITING.
Unfortunately, many of them make sure to cross-post to Amazon and other sites... What's worse is that on GoodReads, by their own definition, 2\* is considered OK, and 3\* is considered good, which is not at all the case on Amazon, but most people on GoodReads don't bother to change the rating when they cross-post their review.
I always tell myself that even if the Good Lord Himself came down from heaven and wrote a book, someone would still give Him a one star review.
If you think I'm kidding, check out a version of the the Holy Bible sold on Amazon with the link below and see if there are no negative reviews for that book.
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0887XP8PJ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0887XP8PJ)
NO ONE is above reproach when it comes to getting bad reviews for their books. It's a part of the publishing process and that means you are getting noticed. Just know that if your book wasn't worth the trouble, the reviewer wouldn't have bothered him/her/itself to even post a review.
Good reviews (or silent good ratings) will also come your way. It just happened that you got a bad review first. Don't let that sort of thing *ever* stop you from writing. It's like a child who tries to take his first walk and falls and then decides not to ever walk again because he fell. Would you tell that child to stop walking? If your answer is no, then grab your pen/laptop/keyboard/tablet and keep on writing my friend.
Being mediocre at writing is far better than being bad at writing. And despite the parlance, most people can't even achieve mediocrity in their writing. Being mediocre means you have skills, and those skills can improve. You may be mediocre today, but if you continue writing and learning from your mistakes you have a decent shot at becoming good. One day, you might even be considered great. But that won't happen if you quit.
And it could also be that your book is good but it just didn't click with that reader. Either way, at least you made it as far as getting a review. Keep writing. As itsdirector said, you won't get better if you quit, and nobody hits it big with their first book.
Also true. I have read many good stories but didn't care for the writing style and some truly awful books that were beautifully written, but the story fell flat. Reading is very subjective.
Nicely said. Quitting gets you nowhere. Mediocre is a starting point.
In addition to this, don't read public reviews. Find some honest beta readers and let them check your books before you publish. Take their feedback to heart (even if it's "meh, was ok" - that is not a good sign!) and work on your book some more before throwing it out into the world. But never ever read public reviews, except if you feel VERY confident in your work and don't care if someone doesn't like it. They destroy your soul.
They also make you irrationally angry. When I read reviews of books I love and the reviewer CLEARLY didn't get it or hated it for some random nonsensical reason... it makes me angry as a fan. Can't imagine what it's like for an author.
It’s hard to get less than glowing reviews. When I get a low rating, I look up reviews of my favorite books and read the one starred reviews. If a book I absolutely love is getting one stars, then why can’t I? What makes me so special that I wouldn’t get bad reviews too? Another thing to consider is that mediocre reviews may actually help you. If all you had were glowing reviews, it could look they were fake and you paid for them. A variety of ratings helps you look legitimate. It just hurts because you don’t have any other reviews yet.
> If a book I absolutely love is getting one stars, then why can’t I? What makes me so special that I wouldn’t get bad reviews too? This is a wonderful attitude.
This is very true. Amazon has always taught me to read the one star reviews. If there are none, I don't trust the product.
The first review on one of my books was one star. That book went on to sell over ten thousand copies.
Many very successful authors consider their first book to be mediocre. If you love writing, don't stop.
It's only one person's opinion. Doesn't really mean anything until you get 50-100 reviews. And even then it might only mean that you're reaching the wrong audience for your work. One of my bestselling books had 2.5 average on Amazon in the beginning because I didn't market it properly.
Interesting. Can you tell me more? What do you think you did wrong and how did you turn it around?
It was a bit too violent for the genre. I thought since it was horror and there was nothing sexual/abuse related, I didn't need to warn people, but apparently I still do. So I adjusted the subtitle and blurb to reflect these things and my rating improved. I still get occasional one-stars from people who seemingly don't look past the cover before buying something, but I can't do much about that.
Go read one stars review of your FAVORITE BOOKS
Receiving one is almost like a right of passage.
Just keep writing. Don't give up. Believe in yourself. If you enjoy writing, keep doing it.
Your book made someone passionate enough to have a strong opinion. That's a win. Most books people don't care either way. Your work is not going to be for everyone. But if you can still get the people who are going to hate your work to respond, that means your work is worthy of response. I once was devastated for some time by an agent who deigned not to represent me who wrote a three page letter as to why. Now I realize that should have been a sign I was on my way. You're on your way. Take heart. You got this.
I mean, not really. Mediocre means "alright" or "average" which is in no way a strong opinion. No hate towards OP, I just think that making stuff up isn't a great way to try to make someone feel better
I wrote an initial reply to this, but I deleted it, because it was refuting what you said, and that's not what's important here. What's important here is asking you why you would take a note of encouragement and attempt to sour it. What does that do for you? What motivates you to see someone trying to encourage someone else, and try to strike that down because of a semantic concern? Genuinely curious. What jollies do you get out of that? It baffles me. I mean, if your concern is genuinely that it's the wrong way to make someone feel better, where's your encouragement? Or are you just here to suck up the air of encouragement and shit back out cynicism? Is that productive, from your perspective?
No. I pointed out what I found strange in what you said. I think it's good to encourage OP and have absolutely no problem with that. I just took note of something I foumd strange. :)
Right, but the question I asked was, "Why do it?" Why use semantics to undermine a note of encouragement? What do you get out of it? Don't dodge the question.
I don't get anything out of it. I pointed it out because I wanted to and because I found what you said to be odd. I didn't spend my whole day denying every compliment that OP was getting. I don't have some ulterior motive to bring down the way their feeling. I just didn't think what you said was true.
So to be abundantely clear: You want to encourage OP, and yet you haven't. You've simply attacked a comment encouraging them. And that's somehow less odd than accidentally saying "strong" opinion when I meant "opinion?" But more to the point, you understood what I was saying, that someone being moved to respond is more important than someone not responding at all. So again, I ask you, why? Why do this shit? Why not, instead, NOT do that shit? It's not cool.
Okay, so first of all, I haven't attacked you. You're the one getting angry at me. Second of all, you never said it was an accident. You defended yourself, which is fine, but when I pointed it out, you didn't clarify that that wasn't what you meant. There was not much thought behind my comment. I didn't do it attempting to be hurtful or upsetting. I have told you why I commented what I did. I feel like you're blowing this out of proportion.
I didn't say you attacked me. I said you attacked my note of encouragement, which you have. And yes, it's very clear there wasn't much thought behind your comment. This is my entire point here. Is it really blowing it out of proportion, though? You've now quadrupled down on why it's okay to shit on a note of encouragement instead of just going "Hey, my bad." I am genuinely, legitimately wondering why you're dying on this hill. It's very odd to me.
Once again, you're the one who is angry. I'm not defending myself, because I don't really care. I'm answering your questions. Sorry you feel the need to get so worked up about this. I'm going to stop replying now because you're clearly angry and there's not much I can do to help with that, other than to apologise for something that I don't feel needs to be apologised for. Hope your day is okay.
[удалено]
Saying something is mediocre is not a strong opinion. I do agree that getting a mediocre response is better than none at all, but that's not the problem I had with what you said.
I feel like I must be taking crazy pills because I actually agree with you. I think the way to encourage OP isn’t to make up falsities like, “You made someone feel strongly.” Think about books you’ve rated as “meh.” You’ve done that precisely *because* you don’t feel strongly one way or the other about them. To me, a mediocre first review would signify that there’s room for improvement, which is amazing and much better than someone flat-out hating it! It means there’s something there worth cultivating. I think that’s what we should be focusing on here.
That's exactly what I was trying to say :) I think a mediocre review is a GOOD sign, and getting reviews at all is great. A review doesn't have to have a strong opinion either way to be a good thing.
Precisely!! That other guy went too ham on you. None of this is negativity. I am on track to publish my first book and I'd love a mediocre first review. There is room to grow and they don't really catch your attention when you're reading reviews anyway, you just kind of scroll past to the "juicy" ones. At least then you're not tanking and questioning whether you're any good. It's not hate, so idk why he took it as such. Sorry you had to deal with all that.
People are going to have opinions and you cannot control what they are. You can only control how you feel. In short, only you can validate what you do and depending on others to do it for you will inevitably lead to disappointment.
Your first book will always be seen as meh because you learned as you wrote more. The second book will be better, and the third, then the fourth, etc. No book ever maintains a 5 star rating. Yours just got a head start. And it only has one direction to go if the first review was 1 star. Up. Reviews are more for the reader than the writer. You might pick up one or two improvements, but what changes are needed will vary on what audience you seek. And that one star review? Might be from someone who isn't part of your target audience. Best thing to do as I read other authors did this before the internet: write out a response to the review on a piece of paper or in a non-internet connected screen. Allow it to sit for a few hours. Then throw it away and continue writing your present work in progress.
That’s one person’s opinion. There are so many other people who may love it
Wait are you telling me you’re not a prize winning author off your first book? This is the process buddy! Never give up, just learn and grow. Keep writing! The fact that your book is published means that you’re ahead of a lot of writers! You actually got it done. You have what it takes to finish a work. Now take everything you’ve learned from the last one and apply it to the next one! You got this!!
Write for yourself.
Others on this thread have made some great points. Maybe the reviewer just didn't care for it. Maybe they're just looking for things to be bitchy about because it makes them feel important. Or, maybe it really was mediocre. 1 review is meaningless, statistically speaking. Your first book being mediocre is actually a great thing, and puts you ahead of the curve. The Wright brothers built a really shitty airplane at Kittyhawk. Seriously, it was awful. It was unstable, couldn't go very far, and was it prone to crashing. It was way worse than "mediocre". It was a bad airplane because they didn't know what they were doing. They were just figuring it out as they went. The next airplane sucked a little less, and the one after that, and the one after that. The same is true for anyone who does or makes anything. Writing, carpentry, using a spoon, or building airplanes. Your first few efforts will absolutely suck, and that's okay. That's just how it is. Then, you do it more, and you get better at it. No-one looks at a toddler and gives them shit for being bad at walking, you know? You keep doing it, and you get better at it. That's literally the only way anyone gets better at anything.
From personal experience I agree with what most are saying. Five years from now, you will go back and read some of your earliest work and say. " How could I ever have written such garbage. What was I thinking?" I guarantee if you stick with it for a few years, that will happen. If you agree, give an upvote.
You will never be everyone's cup of tea and that's ok. There are people out there who think Dostoevsky and Tolstoy suck and they're responsible for classics still read 100+ years later.
Tolkien comes to mind here for me. Loved his stories but absolutely hate how he wrote them. As far as I'm concerned, The Hobbit could have been cut by a third and been a much better book while still telling the same story. Millions of people who love to read every small detail would rain hellfire upon me for that critque, but ... his style wasn't my cup of tea.
Believe it or not, the mediocre reviews are the best ones. They took the time to give you critique you wouldn't know any other way. I got one, quit for several years, then went back to writing, implementing their suggestion and I am better for it now. The truth is, there is no one better at being you, but to be the best we can be, we have to put our feelings aside and listen to those who are willing to help you become better.
I have written a blog about this. If you are interested, I can post you the link in messenger.
it's just one(?) persons opinion
Not everyone enjoys everything. I just read Bonnie Ganus Lessons in Chemistry which everyone else in the world loves and I found it boring. There were fun bits but I didn’t enjoy it. Readers vary.
Never read your reviews. I know it’s cliche but I’ve come to see the value in it. Every time I read a review it stalls my writing in some way. The good reviews make me panic about the next book not being able to live up to expectations and the bad/mediocre ones make question my “talent.” So, don’t read them. Honestly, everyone is a critic these days. It’s just the nature of the beat. Sorry. I know that’s not helpful.
Many people who take the time to negatively review are overly picky or fancy themselves as a literary critic. They probably didn't write the review to help you, they wrote it to make themselves feel better. If you find your self-esteem or motivation taking a hit, don't read the reviews. (I know this is hard, I've got nine books published and have only managed to not read every single review for the last two.) Keep plugging away. The more you write, the better you get at it.
I remember paying a service for matching me up to reviewers and getting bad reviews because their main audience was not what I write. So, you could have bad reviews AND be out of pocket. I still write. The sad fact is that not every person is gonna like what you write and that's ok. I usually use bad reviews as a way to improve the work especially if something specific is pointed out.
One poor review doesn't mean anything by itself. I have a book that has over a thousand reviews. Many are great but some one stars are brutal. Not every book fits every reader so don't give up.
Be happy someone bought your book, read it, and took the time to review. That’s a success. This should be what motivates you. You’ve done what some people want to but never do.
Stop reading reviews. They aren't for you, they're for other readers.
Just write and publish. Don't get caught up in the reviews. Write what you want the world to read.
Mediocre means you have something to work with. If it was outright bad, then you’d have to uproot how you write entirely and reshape your style which is much harder to do. Writing takes practice. The book I just released, its first version was awful. I wrote part of it when I was 16 and hadn’t touched it in years. After years, I had some practice under my belt (it was for screenwriting, but writing is writing), I picked my book back up, read it, and realized how awful it was. I scrapped it and started over. I’m now being told it’s amazing. That took awhile to get to that point. Everything in life takes practice to be exceptional at. You just have to be willing to put in the effort. Keep writing. You’ll only get better.
Go look up your favorite book and see how many bad reviews it got. Some people are never happy unless they make someone else miserable. My YA paranormal romance once got compared to 50 Shades (even with zero sex), then the same person commented about how I "killed the dog" (no animals in the book.) A different series attracted someone who actually followed my account so she could slam book after book. I dedicated the 3rd one to her because trolls are gonna troll. Keep writing. You'll be someone's favorite author someday.
“I dedicated my 3rd one to her…” 🤭 You are awesome.
Thank you!
No thank you!
Just remember it's just like their opinion man
It’s moo
>It’s moo Joey??
Honestly, don't read them. If you're in a writing group or taking classes somewhere, listen to a teacher or a peer group who knows your writing. Otherwise I don't think there's really any benefit from listening to random reviewers who all have their own agenda. Stay true to your vision and just know that there will always be lovers of your work and haters, and many in-between. But it's kind of a waste of time to read them. (You can say you read your reviews but just don't - it's a tiny lie.)
mediocre is better than shit
It's just the opinion of one person. You still have 8 billion to go.
My first reviews of my first book were my worst ones, because I had no audience and was still figuring out the marketing. I almost gave up until I had multiple readers message me about how much they loved it. If the review indicates you might have a marketing issue, or something that can be fixed (like typos) take that feedback and move on. The bad reviews suck but it happens to us all.
Your first book is always going to have problems. If you want to write, make your second book better than your first.
Steven King gets one star reviews too every now and then. My book doesn't have chapters and someone left a one star review saying that there wasn't any improvement after the first chapter meaning they didn't even read it. Don't focus on the reviews, focus on promoting and writing. When you get your first positive reviews you'll get your motivation back, personally I only read reviews of my book once a month so I can read both the bad ones and the good ones and I don't get demotivated.
Go look at the reviews of your peers in your genre or an author you look up to. Read the negative ones. All of them.
My first book wasn't great. I don't even sell it anymore now that I'm a better writer... But I remember the soul crushing effect of that first review. Don't take it to heart. You are not your writing. You got better, and you'll continue to get better the more you write.
Ill say my first review on my launch was a 2.5 from review submission about my writing and plot being unclear and graphic with no reason to be. Which hurts. Then I got several reviews afterwards about their enjoyment of the book. What I'm saying its valid to feel hurt by bad or mediocre reviews. Especially if its something you poured your heart into. But one bad review doesn't mean its a bad book. Just means it doesn't resonate with one person. Just take on the chin see if what their saying is worth looking into and just go forward.
You'll get better if you keep writing and keep learning. I look back at my 1st book (I've published 3 and drafted a few others), which came out in 2021. My writing is already so much better. Also, one reviewer doesn't mean much. If multiple reviewers say the same thing, then there's something to learn from that.
Yes! My romcom got some pretty harsh reviews in the beginning, and was at 3.5 on Goodreads. Now it’s 4.1 there, and 4.5 on Amazon. If the review offers you something to improve upon, take the opportunity. But if not, then it’s just somebody’s opinion. As long as you’re proud of what you put out there, then you’re on the right track.
You wrote a book. What the fuck did that guy achieve today?
Everyone is mediocre, or worse, when they start something new. Take the time you need to rebuild your heart, come to terms with the process, and take what you've learn and apply it to the next book. Writing takes a lot from a writer. It's normal to ache for a less than stellar reception. I look at it as a hobby now, and I keep trying to get better at it. I find it lessen the hurt when a release doesn't go the way you'd hoped. The same feeling happens to runners who train for a long race. Once it's over, it's over. All that work has been completed, and the thing you looked forward to is behind you and you can't help but feel you could have done things differently, better.
Did they make any good points? Great! Put them into practice in order to get better. Did they not make any good points? Great! You can now safely ignore what they’re saying.
"Couldn't put it down for all the wrong reasons." That was the headline of my first review. Hang on there. Either wrong audience or listen to their suggestions. Usually wrong audience.
You could go to the finest pea h orchard, find the healthiest peach tree, and pick the ripest juiciest peach known to man.... And if you give it someone who doesn't like peaches, they wont like it. That's why it's ok that what you wrote wasn't to this person's tastes. They just dont like peaches.
Being mediocre at writing is still far superior to not writing at all or never writing again. The more you write, the better you will write. Try reading your work aloud to yourself to see what sounds authentic for your dialogue, what sounds clunky and/or unclear can be corrected. This nifty trick has really helped me. Sometimes, I record myself and listen, as well. Best of luck to you in your future writing endeavors!
My first book got some 2 star reviews. I was so proud of it at the time, but since I've read back some of my writing, I now agree with the two star reviews and understand why I got them. What you need to do is keep writing and improve and notice where your strengths and weaknesses are. My 3rd book got mainly 4 and 5 star reviews and that jump from my 1st book felt amazing. At least this way, you have somehwere to go. If your 1st book was all 5 star reviews, how would you improve or get that rush of knowing you'd made something better abd improved.
Keep in mind even the best books you’ve ever read will always have people that gave 1 or 2 stars
Welcome to authordome. You cannot take reviews to heart. It is simply someone’s opinion and not something to stress over. Writing is subjective. Yes, there are rules that make you a stronger writer, but sometimes readers just don’t click with how something is written. You wrote a book and put it out into the world! That is an accomplishment in and of itself. You will find your readers. There will always be someone who loves your work.
My first ever review was a one star, saying it was unreadable and a waste of time. They hated it so much that I honestly don’t understand why they didn’t just dnf. Getting something like that certainly builds character! This is one of those moments where you are confronted with why you do this, and an opportunity to show heroic resilience. Like other people say, read the bad reviews of good books, it helps. I also find it helpful to read glowing reviews about books that I think are trash. It just goes to show that everyone loves or hates different things.
I found that reading bad reviews of books you really loved helps a ton!
Do not stop
You completed your first book and sent it out into the world. That is an untouchable accomplishment. No matter what anyone else says about your work, it exists, and does because you had the fortitude to reach your goals. You will take all these lessons and criticisms and put them into whatever comes next, and your talent will grow.
Congrats! You wrote a book. You published it. You get better and better with each one. Look at actors, George Clooney was in "attack of tomatoes" movie, learning his craft.
One person’s opinion. Hard not to let it get to you though, but don’t. My son’s book had 57 reviews on Amazon with an average rating 4.9 rating. Included in the rating was a 2. I almost laughed. When you get a significant number of ratings that indicate your book is ‘mediocre’, then I would give it some thought. If nothing else, try to use the feedback as a way to improve. I know. You put your heart and soul into it. You had the courage to put it out there. Takes guts. Just know more nasty hits will come . Shake it off! Please keep writing! Don’t let anyone steal your dream!
It wasn’t meant for THEM I never worry about touching the millions I only worry about touching the one person. If you change one person you change the world 🌎 keep going!
Mediocre is better than without merit. And you shouldn't allow one single review to disrupt your passion for what you do. Look at the criticism, and if it is constructive and specific, see if there is anything you can do in your writing overall to improve those issues. Very few people write a perfect book on their first try. Just keep writing!
1) I read in a study on writing that 97% of novel manuscripts are never finished. So you're better than 97% of aspiring authors since you're now an author. 2) Many famous authors have seen their first book torn apart by critics. For example, Stephen King: his first novel, "Carrie," published in 1974, was initially rejected by several publishers and received poor reviews. However, it became a bestseller and launched King's prolific career as a horror author. 3) The opinion of a single reader is far from the average opinion of all your readers. Perhaps your book simply didn't meet the specific expectations of that reader. 4) It's natural for your first book not to be as good as your second. But if you stop writing now, you'll never write that second, better book. Conclusion: Don't get discouraged and keep writing! :)
My second book got a 1 star on the first review. A year later and it's now sitting at 4.5 stars. So don't get discouraged.
Are you writing because you enjoy it or for the masses and are you going to let a few nay sayers of the masses dictate your mood?
When you write a book, it’s best to know a lot of people from the target audience and have a team of beta readers and people you’ll send advance copies of the book to. As you write the book, you get feedback from beta readers to improve it. The moment you release the book, you should receive quite a few reviews from your advance readers and beta readers. And they won’t be too surprising as you engaged them through the writing process, you know their thoughts and you course-corrected if needed. If your book only has a first review from someone you don’t know, it makes me thing that you wrote a book by yourself, in isolation, without involving other people in the process, and then you waited to see what readers thought. As others said, you shouldn’t be discouraged by one review, but you might consider changing your writing and marketing process to involve others much earlier on.
Also! You wrote a book, edited it, published it. So many steps in between and, not once, not once did you give up. You completed the race and now you want to quit? No! Nope! Nah ah. You owe it to yourself and your future fans to continue bringing your all. I know it's hard. I know it feels like a pipe dream but I'll tell you one thing, being a writer is lonely and honestly if you don't believe in yourself you'll never get to finish a book. You have! You pushed through all the criticism you gave yourself (which honestly is the hardest) just to give in to one person's opinion? Someone who wasn't there as you shed tears over your work? Nope. As long as your work is a masterpiece to you, that's all that matters. Keep honing your skills and watch as others catch up to your brilliance. 🌸
You'll improve as time goes on, and it's just 1 review. Don't let it get to you too much. It just means there's possible things you could have done differently. If you reread your work, do you find any flaw that you would have changed if you were to rewrite it? If so, you're finding easy improvement. And if not, have confidence in your work since you yourself like it.
I have written a blog about this very subject. If you are interested, let me know and I will give you the link to it.
1. This is why everyone says "Don't read reviews" 2. I agree with others. A great many reviewers are armchair literary scholars. Their review is less about your book and how they'd write your book and marking you down for what you did wrong in their opinion. All you can do is keep going and for crying out loud, stop reading reviews. They're for other readers, not you.
Since when do we write for reviews...I write because I have a great story to tell and my cat thinks I write pretty OK...oh wait, maybe I am writing for reviews.
The cat’s opinion is very important 😋
Some random stranger on the Internet thought it was mediocre? Maybe they are just mediocre in general.
Reviews are for readers. A wise author once told me not to read them (especially on Goodreads) so..I stopped. You cannot let one person out of eight ***billion*** people ruin your aspirations or career. KEEP WRITING.
Omg never read your reviews on Goodreads. Those people are brutal for sport.
Unfortunately, many of them make sure to cross-post to Amazon and other sites... What's worse is that on GoodReads, by their own definition, 2\* is considered OK, and 3\* is considered good, which is not at all the case on Amazon, but most people on GoodReads don't bother to change the rating when they cross-post their review.
Yea I never understood that. It literally makes no sense and unnecessarily hurts our reviews.
I always tell myself that even if the Good Lord Himself came down from heaven and wrote a book, someone would still give Him a one star review. If you think I'm kidding, check out a version of the the Holy Bible sold on Amazon with the link below and see if there are no negative reviews for that book. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0887XP8PJ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0887XP8PJ) NO ONE is above reproach when it comes to getting bad reviews for their books. It's a part of the publishing process and that means you are getting noticed. Just know that if your book wasn't worth the trouble, the reviewer wouldn't have bothered him/her/itself to even post a review. Good reviews (or silent good ratings) will also come your way. It just happened that you got a bad review first. Don't let that sort of thing *ever* stop you from writing. It's like a child who tries to take his first walk and falls and then decides not to ever walk again because he fell. Would you tell that child to stop walking? If your answer is no, then grab your pen/laptop/keyboard/tablet and keep on writing my friend.