What to do when your books gets a bad review? Part 1

Bad reviews are the bane of a writer’s life; yet, the only way to be absolutely sure never to get one is to never show your book to anyone. Fortunately, it is not like the casino, where to only sure way not to loose money is not to play, as bad reviews are the exception rather than the rule, especially if the reader had the opportunity to read a few free sample chapters prior to buying your book.

So, better expect them and be prepared to deal with them appropriately.

There are different kinds of bad reviews, and each should receive a tailor made treatment. Bad reviews can be divided according to their source or to their content.

1. According to its source

a)     On a blog or similar

b)     On a website dedicated to your niche market

c)     On Amazon

2. According to its content

a)     Problems with editing or formatting

b)     Critics about the style

c)     Critics about the political/religious/societal or any other opinion based disagreement between the reader and the content of your book

1. According to its source

a)     On a blog or similar

If the blog as a limited audience, which you can easily verify by checking its Alexa rating or any other automated popularity measuring tool available for free on the web, the best thing to do is to simply ignore it. Any reaction to it would simply raise the bad review’s exposure and is likely to do more harm than good.

If the blog is a very popular one, choose the appropriate reaction from below.

b)     On a website dedicated to your niche market

That is bad news, since it is directly exposing whatever real or perceived flaw in your book to your targeted audience. So, choose best response from below. Remember, whichever way you choose to respond, always remain courteous. One single screeching comment from your side might indeed spell your doom as it would reflect badly on your image, and an author’s image is paramount.

c)     On Amazon

Depending on the circumstances, you might choose to either ignore, if, for example, it is one isolated bad review while you already have a number of good ones, or respond to it.
If you feel that the negative review deserves an answer, respond courteously, for example according to the suggestions below.
If you do not, Amazon gives the opportunity to report the comment. Click Report This next to the comment if you believe that someone gave your book a bad review based on situations beyond your control, like a negative buying experience. You should also use this approach if the review is personal, abusive, or obscene. (If you click “Report This” for those reasons, you can also ask several friends and associates to “Report This,” as well, giving Amazon.com additional reasons to support removing the review. This process is automated, and if Amazon.com receives nine or more “Report This” clicks, the review should be deleted.

Read here for a the review of great tool that automates  the search for Amazon Book Reviewers who provide their contact details or get it straight from here

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