The Do’s And Don’ts Of Handling Book Reviews

On By K.M. Allan

By the time you’ve published a book, the process was so exhausting, thrilling, and exciting, you’ll be forgiven for forgetting one thing that happens when you put your work out into the world; you get book reviews!

Now, if you promised yourself you’d read any review with an open mind, ready to take on constructive criticism with grace and humility, and have committed to humbly bask in the glow of any praise, you might be in for a shock.

As much as you’ve prepared yourself for getting reviews, it does not compare to what happens when you do actually get a review.

Even if it’s good, even if it’s bad, the reality that you can’t control what other people will say/get/understand/love/hate about your book really hits you. For when that happens, use these dos and don’ts.

The Do’s And Don’ts Of Handling Book Reviews

Do Check

If you can’t handle it, have someone you trust check, but you should at least look at some reviews. Anything good will encourage you to keep writing—which we all need, no matter what point we’re at in our writing journey. Anything constructive can be helpful, for example, a review mentioning an error or a typo can make you aware of something that needs fixing. And anything critical can cut straight through to your soul, but still teach you things, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.

Don’t Dwell On The Negativity

Not everyone will love your work, and there are people who absolutely love to let you know they thought your book sucked. Trouble is, most of the time, those are the things that stick with you. Ten people might have told you they loved your book, but it’s the eleventh that didn’t whose words will echo in your head every time you sit down to write.

If you think you mentally can’t handle it—which is a normal, human reaction—get someone to check reviews for you and only let you know about the feedback that will help. This is not about only hearing good things and never anything bad. It’s about protecting your mental health and keeping you writing.

Do Treat It Like Beta Feedback

Just like when you sorted through your beta feedback and made adjustments, use your review comments to make improvements. If more than two reviews highlight a pacing problem, or you notice you’re getting praise for the way you’ve world built, but a few different people seem to not like a specific character, keep it in mind when writing your next book.

Don’t Engage

As tempting as it is to respond to a review, especially one you feel is overly critical or wrong, don’t do it. You may have heard the motto that “Reviews are for readers”, and it’s true. As much as you can learn from reading your reviews, the real purpose of a review is to let other readers know if they should pick up your book. Do not engage with the reviewers.

If you feel as if you have to write something, write it to yourself. Pour everything you’re feeling about the review onto some paper and then rip it up. It will get it out of your system, privately. Writing about it publicly makes it something you’ll eventually regret.

Do Remember It’s About Credibility

While the first few reviews you get might be 4 and 5 stars, eventually you will get 3 stars, 2, and even 1. Some writers take this on as a badge of honor and celebrate the fact they’ve gotten their first 1-star review. It’s okay to do that, it’s even okay to feel bad you’ve gotten low ratings. What you need to know/remember is that a mix of ratings gives you credibility.

When my first book, Blackbirch: The Beginning, was published, a friend mentioned it to a work colleague who decided to check out the ebook. One of the first things he did was look at the ratings on Goodreads and he then told my friend it was (at that time) only 4 and 5 stars and that made him question if it was only friends or family members that had left reviews. There was no credibility.

My friend did tell him she didn’t know any of the people who’d left reviews, and unless he saw her name there, it was definitely not just friends or family members. He bought the ebook after that, but when I was told the story, it was an interesting learning moment. I didn’t know that’s what some people thought when they saw only positive reviews.

For the record—and so this isn’t seen as a humblebrag—I have since racked up a 2 and 3-star review, and I am glad they’re there because I now know they give my book ratings the credibility that some readers need to see before buying.

Don’t Get Caught Up Constantly Checking

If the first thing you do every day is check to see if you’ve gotten a review, stop right now. While I’m not saying don’t ever check on your reviews, you don’t need to be checking on them daily, especially if you’re doing that instead of writing.

Do Accept That Not Everyone Will Leave A Review

Reviews help, and you’ll learn that quickly when you’re part of the writing community. Everyone loves to encourage reviews as they help with rankings, credibility, and getting your book seen by potential readers who may buy it. You can ask people to review your book, in a note at the end of your novel, or via regular social media posts, but what you can’t do it make someone leave a review.

Some people don’t, whether it’s because they don’t know how, don’t have the accounts (they aren’t a member of Goodreads), haven’t bought enough from Amazon (sadly, it’s true that even if they’ve purchased your book and it’s a verified sale, if they haven’t spent $50 in the last year, Amazon will not allow them to leave a review), or they just don’t know what to write (for the record, you don’t need to write anything more than “I liked it” or leave anything more than a star rating).

Even if someone tells you to your face they read your book and absolutely loved it, they still might not leave a review anywhere that lets the rest of the world know. Don’t dwell on it. Don’t get upset if you sold 100 copies and only got 5 reviews from it. It is frustrating, but you can’t control this aspect of the writing life, and the quicker you come to terms with that, the better.

Any review is a reason to be thankful because whether it’s good, great, or horribly heartbreaking, your work inspired someone else to take time out of their day to write about something you created—and that’s a good thing.

How about you? What’s your best do or don’t tip for book reviews? Let me know in the comments! And thank you to everyone who has or will leave a review for my book. It’s very much appreciated.

— K.M. Allan

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You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

38 thoughts on “The Do’s And Don’ts Of Handling Book Reviews”

      1. This is such a great topic, and you have a wonderful attitude to dealing with the reviews. I found especially interesting to consider a low star rating as a necessity, to give credibility to your work. This makes perfect sense, art is subjective and not everyone will appreciate the same things.
        However, as you beta reader, you deserve all of the 4 & 5 star ratings, you’ve worked hard to perfect your work and you deserve the accolades. 💜💜💜

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Lyn Webster

    Lots of wisdom here, Kate! I’m trying to only look at reviews once a month. It’s been surprising to me how strongly a negative rating can affect my emotions. Positive ones are a lovely lift, though.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Great advice, Kate. It is so tempting to reply to someone who hated your book or gave it 1/5 because the packaging was torn and the book arrived damaged. I have replied to good reviews, however, to say thank you – especially if the review mentions that they are hoping for a follow up.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Treating reviews like beta feedback is a great idea. Also, it’s good to know that a mix of ratings lends credibility. Some of my favourite novels. have had bad reviews . Goes to show that you can’t please everyone and you shouldn’t even try.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Five star reviews destroy me as much as one star do. I try not to read reviews, even the good ones, because they WILL make me want to stop writing – yes, I’m that author who feels no one really understood the book and what I was really writing about, which is true for all of us but with me it does hinder my mental stability to impairing heights. Of course I’ve gone off the wagon plenty of times and read some reviews, and the funny story is it took me a year to finally decide to publish my latest novel BECAUSE of a five star review. And I’ve been unable to want to write anything these past two weeks also because of a five star review. I’m just weird, I guess.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. At least you know it’s a trigger for you, Ruth. I hope you get back to writing again soon. Getting 5 star reviews means others do love your stories, even if it doesn’t feel that way to you.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Great advice. Thank you. The problem I have, is not about worrying when I get 1 and 2 star reviews, nor as Ruth Miranda does, panicking about 5 star ones. It’s getting them in the first place. So few readers are willing to spend just 5 minutes to post a review.
    And of course, the problem I’ve come across with Amazon of not having spent enough with them.What a stupid idea! Reviews will bring more sales, surely, and by not allowing a review to be posted, they might be losing sales. Anyway, when I buy something other than a book, Amazon writes to me asking me to review it, whether or not I’ve spent the required £50. Is it only books they do this to?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I don’t understand Amazon’s logic either, especially if you’ve bought the book from them and they don’t even allow you to review it. I agree it’s frustrating that not everyone leaves a review, but as I said in the blog, we can’t control it.

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  14. petespringerauthor

    Great advice! It reminds me of a question from my previous life as a teacher, “Should I move over to the dark side and become a school administrator?” (For the record, there are plenty of great principals and superintendents out there along with some who should never have become one.)

    My answer turned into no for two reasons:
    (1) I still love teaching kids.
    (2) I don’t have thick enough skin to be an administrator.

    In other words, I try not to dwell on reviews, but it’s inevitable that a bad one will come because you can’t please them all.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Concise and informative as always – thanks Kate! As an indie author, I’ve learned a great deal from my reviews and it’s made me a better writer. Most of the time, there is at least a kernel of truth in even the worst 1-star ratings. Learn from it, move on, and enjoy the incredible encouragement of the good ones. It’s what keeps me going!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. The frustrating thing for me was convincing readers to post a review. I could have tripled what I already have. On the flip side I need to be grateful for those who did leave a review. We learn a lot about ourselves when our books come out. It’s never ending.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Nicole Iris Martin

    I always try to remind myself that I can’t please everyone. Also, the part about people not being able to eave a written review is very true. I’ve only left a star review for books on Goodreads when I can’t think of anything constructive to say in a review.

    Liked by 1 person

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