When Good Books Get Bad Reviews

I am not going to lie to you, as an avid reader, I have read my share of bad of bad books.  I do a lot of book reviews both for websites and do them on Amazon, too, and while it's always easy to write a positive one, it's not as easy to write a bad one.  What we enjoy reading is a personal choice.  Not everyone is going to share your opinion and what one person loves another may hate.

All of this was not really a big issue to me until I became an author. Now all of a sudden it's a HUGE issue.  On Amazon I have a hard time leaving a bad review because it is MY name next to it and I feel like I wish I could leave the review anonymously.  I don't want the author to know my name.  She may look me up and yell at me!  LOL!  So why leave negative reviews?  Sometimes, it's the only way to get some satisfaction from a really horrible book.  

Today, I got my first bad review.  One star.  Yikes.  My heart dropped.  Now I am realistic and I know that the book is not perfect.  It was not meant to go as far as it has and I did not spend as much time editing it as I should have because it was originally planned to be a freebie download and I was under a time crunch to get it out for Christmas.  So the reviews are now starting to come in outside of my loyal readers and today's review hurt a little.

Then I went to the reviewers profile.  

She leaves bad reviews for everyone!  She's done a total of five reviews and they are all bad.  And let me tell you, it's not just on indie authors, she gave a one star review to Danielle Steel!  And she's like the QUEEN of women's fiction!!  She gave a two-star review to Nora Roberts!  So while my first thought was "how do I erase this review?" after seeing what this woman does, I realized it was like a little badge of honor.  Clearly she is reading the wrong genre if she feels the need to hate everything she reads.  STOP READING IT THEN, DUMMY!

I mean, if I only read Science Fiction books of course I would write bad reviews because I HATE Science Fiction!!!  So while I hate seeing that stupid review, I feel like I've "arrived" a little.  Now I truly am entering the league where there are players who are my heroes.  Writer's whose work I have long admired, I now have something in common with!  It's kind of cool.

So this little one star review will not get me down.  Why?  Because I am still moving up the charts!  Suck it, bad reviewer!!!  Sorry, that was a mean girl moment!  Here are the daily stats:


#35 in Contemporary Women's Fiction
#64 in Contemporary Fiction
#91 in Contemporary Romance

#12 in Hot New Releases in Contemporary Women's Fiction
#17 in Hot New Releases in Contemporary Fiction
#29 in Hot New Releases in Contemporary Romance

Thank you for all of your continued support!  "The Christmas Cottage" is a sweet little novella and would make a perfect stocking stuffer for the romance reader in your life!!