A Negative Review and I Don't Mind

Progress! I can actually read my reviews and not become psychically damaged! Since I found my non-US Amazon marketplace reviews yesterday by accident, I had to take another look today. Inn Dreams has a new one ~ two stars. And, you know, the reviewer was perfectly pleasant about it. She wrote her review the right way; mentioned what she liked about the book and what she didn't like. I do suspect that she was expecting a romance novel, which the book wasn't labeled, because her big criticism was that the romance was barely talked about after the first third of the book. Guilty! Almost every one of my novellas contains a romantic relationship because romance is a part of life, but I do give that narrative short shrift. And the reviewer is correct in her assertion that some scenes are missing the details to tie them together. 

The reason I'm not bothered by this negative review is that it's well thought out. I appreciate that. And in an unexpected way, it showed me aspects of my writing I need to work on. I was much more upset about the random two-star review I received for Lies and Love, a review that included no text. What am I supposed to learn from that? 

Reading this one might just give me the courage to look at my two or three BookSprout reviews before I cancel my subscription. I mean, hey, I can take it!

Realistically, I no longer become so emotionally invested in my books that panning one of them is akin to telling me my child is stupid. Writing is my "profession", not my reason for being. 

As many ARCs as I have out there circulating, and as many books as I'll be giving away via LibraryThing, I need to get used to receiving some bad reviews. Law of averages. The only thing that is disappointing is that this two-star review is the only one I have on the Amazon US marketplace, so unless a few better reviews straggle in, I'm screwed (shrug). On the plus side, I'm a hit on Amazon UK! A 4.6 average! 

Anyway, I've moved on from Inn Dreams. I've got five other published works that have no reviews at all, and I certainly don't fret over it. I'm pushing ahead with my latest. That's the one I care about now.