Making Peace with Your ‘One-Star’

Reviews are one of the many details no one seems to mention on the long and arduous journey to publication. I’m not talking trade reviews, which can be grand, tepid, or disappointing, but typically not down-in-the-gutter mean. I’m talking about individual reviews on Amazon and Goodreads that, depending on the word choice, can smack an author hard in the face. 

Take my experience, for example. In the fall of 2018, Thomas & Mercer launched my debut thriller, What She Gave Away. It was recently followed by the loosely linked sequel, What She Never Said. Although I’m an avid reader, prior to publication I was unaware of Goodreads and had never left an Amazon review.

Then an experienced author explained that Goodreads was a savvy reader’s community where individuals offer recommendations to their friends and followers. Amazon, she informed me, uses a marketing algorithm that takes into account sales and the number of reviews. About a month prior to my first novel’s publication, Goodreads reviews began to appear from a select group of readers given early access to my work. 

I admit I am a competitive person. I grew up playing a multitude of sports. By high school I had settled on tennis. Went on to compete in college and spent a couple of summers on the pro-development tour. Gave up tennis to become a runner, incorporating marathons into my life. So if the book rating system was 1-5, I envisioned my novels registering a high 4. I know I’m not Pulitzer material, but I do have a way with words and can construct a decent plot. 

The What She Gave Away launch left me near bleary with excitement like a parent presenting her newborn child to the world. So when the positive reviews began rolling in, I lapped them up like lemonade. Then my first ‘one-star’ appeared, and it hurt like a knife twisting in my heart. Is it true I lack all semblance of talent? That my publisher made a bad bet? How could anyone speak derisively of my “baby”? I admit to wanting to cry. 

As time passed, I worked to ignore both the good and the bad reviews so I could focus on writing my next book. I had come to realize that both the one-stars and five-stars could alter my work. Make me back off on my unique voices or the stories I want to tell. I tried to focus on what was most important: producing my highest quality of work.  

As I write this essay, I’m in the pre-publication phase for What She Never Said. And although I promised I wouldn’t peek, my fifth Goodreads review was a one-star because the reader found it “very slow.” In other words, she hated my second child. Another twist of the proverbial knife.  

I’m now trying to stick with a basic rule. Yes, I can glance at my numerical rating, but no reading of individual reviews. And whenever I break my rule and am hurt by a reader’s words, I peruse the one-star reviews of celebrated books and remind myself that every author faces criticism; it’s part of the business, like it or not.

The critics have their own agendas, their own fiercely expressed likes and dislikes, and those agendas and tastes may have nothing to do with my book. So if you too can’t resist a peek and need something to assuage a hurtful jab, choose one or more books you admire and check out their Amazon reviews. No successful work of fiction is without its critics, at least none that I can find. Take satisfaction in the company you keep and set your pain aside. And one last piece of advice. No matter how wrong you believe a critic to be, never ever respond. They have a right to their opinion and you’ll never win that war. 

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens 

“…it’s generally a boring book where day after day, she’s alone in the marsh.” Amazon Verified Purchaser

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

“One of the worst books I have ever read. I don’t understand why this is considered a classic. The writing style is very choppy and all over the place.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

Less, Andrew Sean Greer 

“I am so glad there are so many other 1-star reviews, as I was beginning to think I lacked a certain literary suaveness since I basically hated this book and it won the Pulitzer.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

The Shining, Stephen King

“SUPER lame book and hardly has any horror from the movie…Besides I found characters to be confusing and very dull. Definitely not worth it but it’s your choice.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

Sophie’s Choice, William Styron

“Way to much description, and story drug out to long, to much fancy writing without saying anything.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn“If you are looking to be morbidly depressed and bored out of your mind this book is for you. If you like to be stimulated, avoid this one. It worries me that so many readers found it so intriguing.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith

“…the author has an exceedingly high opinion of the author. She seems to hate women, and not much like men (though at least they’re men, so they have some chance). One of the few books I’d like to unread.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

1984, George Orwell

“This was one of the most boring books I have ever read in my entire life. I see why they are making it a required book to read in school. God Awful.”  Amazon Verified Purchaser.

Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White

“I found it beyond inappropriate for kids, my 8-year old daughter was terrified after the first chapter was read in her second grade class.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

And my personal favorite…

What She Gave Away, Catharine Riggs

“Might have been great, but I don’t do banking, numbers, logic…so I just could not focus on the flipping from dreams of writing romance novels to banking terms, and back to la la land and then to logic land yet again.” Amazon Verified Purchaser.

—

Catharine Riggs lives and writes on California’s central coast. Before her dive into thrillers, Riggs worked as a business banker, adjunct college instructor, and a nonprofit executive. What She Never Said is the second novel in her Santa Barbara Suspense series. The first, What She Gave Away, was published by Thomas & Mercer in September of 2018.  Visit the author online at www.catharineriggs.com. 

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WHAT SHE NEVER SAID, Catharine Riggs

People are dying at a luxury retirement community . . . and not from natural causes.

Ruth Mosby is the VP of operations at Serenity Acres, where the privileged elite go to die. For a hefty fee, wealthy retirees can live the good life in this posh Santa Barbara community—even after they outlive their money. Ruth thinks this is a fine arrangement, but the savvy new boss has a new rule: if you can’t pay, you can’t stay.

Ruth is deeply disturbed when destitute residents start dying at an alarming rate, as if on cue. Even more troubling, a macabre note accompanies each departed guest. Surviving guests whisper about an “Angel” who assists with suicides. Ruth has another word for it: murder.

Ruth enlists her neighbor, an ex-detective named Zach, to discover the Angel’s secret identity. However, the two have a painful history, and Ruth has dark secrets all her own. To solve the mystery, Ruth must descend from her golden tower—but can she bear the consequences of revealing her own sinister truths?

“In [the] clever second suspense novel set in Santa Barbara, Calif.…Riggs keeps the tension high to the dramatic climax. Readers will look forward to the next installment.” —Publishers Weekly

“Real-life problems, intriguing characters, greed, passion, and dark secrets are all neatly packed into Catharine Riggs’ newest thriller What She Never Said, a compelling read that will keep you awake well into the night.” —T.R. Ragan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Lizzy Gardner Series

“Often tense, always page turning, and with well-judged touches of dark humour.” —Ashley Dyer, award-winning author of Splinter in the Blood

“Riggs again delivers a compulsive, unreliable and chilling narrative decades in the making. Beneath the weight of metastasizing secrets, idyllic veneers buckle to reveal shocking truths that will haunt readers long after the final page.” —P. J. Vernon, author of the debut thriller When You Find Me

BUY THE BOOK HERE

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