The First "Oh Hell!"

 

I've just emerged from that period of considerable uncertainty which is the time between publishing a book and getting the first review for it.  You see, it's all very well to thrust your work out there to a generally indifferent public and get a few (in this case, very few) sales but it is quite another to find out what people actually thought of your magnum opus.  The answer can be quite traumatic.

Some time ago, I allowed myself to be flattered into publishing a book that I had written many years before and which had (as it turned out, justifiably) lain moldering in a drawer ever since.  After a flurry of early sales, I waited anxiously for the first review.  When it came, my heart literally sank like a stone.  I can't remember if the rating was two or three stars now, I've tried to erase the whole sorry episode from my memory, but the rating was immaterial in comparison to the review itself, which pretty much damned the work from start to finish, albeit with some caveats about not everyone having the same taste in humour.  What compounded the problem was that this was an Amazon Top 500 reviewer, so her opinion carried even more weight than usual.  Not unsurprisingly, after that I found I couldn't give the book away, let alone sell copies and, after about a year of embarrassment, I finally put it our of its misery and withdrew it from publication.

I must admit, I find the whole business of reviewing rather tricky.  I always try to review anything by an amateur author because I know how important it is to them to be able to display some positive feedback.  I also always review anything that has really knocked my socks off, and always give 5 stars under those circumstances.  Otherwise, I'm a bit mean with my ratings and rarely give more than 4 stars for anything.  Having said that I always review anything by an amateur author, I'm actually in a cleft stick about that at the moment.  You see, I received an email a few weeks back from someone who suggested that as I'd liked one particular book, I might well like this one.  I assumed that it was the author of the first book that was emailing me and so, duly flattered, I said that of course I would be pleased to read his next work.  He then responded that he wasn't actually the author of the original book, but he thought his book was similar and therefore I might like it and would I take a review copy?  Thus backed into a corner, I felt that I couldn't do much else.  Now, I can ordinarily find something I like about most books but this one is definitely in the 'once I put it down I couldn't pick it up again' mode as far as I'm concerned.  I've since been emailed rather curtly by the author asking where his review is and I'm afraid I've ignored it because there really isn't anything positive I could say about it and I don't want to do to him, that which was done to me, if you see what I mean?  Annoyingly, it is obvious that he is a writer with talent, but I don't think this book does him any favours.

Having said all of that, I'm sure you can understand why I was waiting to see if I would get a review for my Christmas collection of stories and, if so, whether it would damn it for all time?  Fortunately, the first one has arrived and it's not half bad! I can hold my head up in polite society, at least. If you're interested, this is it: https://www.amazon.com/review/R33K400SYZ7RM9/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&...

Just as an addendum, a 5 star review has now appeared.  I couldn't be more chuffed!  https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2IWQHGV5UXCYS/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF...

Comments

I review most books I read.  I note a tendency towards the five-star review. Usually, it's because I enjoyed it. There's that rare book such as Elie Weisel's Night that I'd give six stars out of five. I'm meaner with the stars to the stars, books with thousands of reviews. And there is, of course, the problem you mentioned, someone wants you to review a book and you'd rather not because you've already read some of it. Put down and not reviewed because you don't want to put it down. A put down is 2 stars, which I've had, and when you think about it, isn't too bad. If you hover over it, the message comes up and suggests the reader thought this book was 'OK'. I mentioned this to Jackie Copleton (tens of thousands of sales) about how we've become obssesed with this, how less than five-stars becomes an insult and we want readers to love the book more than they love their mum. It's stupid, part of the circus of bookselling and something I'm not immune to. 

 

Barmy, isn't it? Quite how much difference decent reviews make, I'm not quite sure as I suspect most people think its just your friends and family (not guilty, your honour). Thanks for taking the time to comment :-)