Bad Reviews

My personal experience is, I never leave a book review unless I have strong feelings about a book, good or usually bad. Thus my most recent reviews for Inn Dreams. They're not good, and reviewers felt compelled to share their dislike. And yes, it's affected me. I'm human. 

I'm not going back on my recent resolve to read my reviews; how weak would I be if I couldn't take bad news? I stopped checking my Goodreads dashboard some time ago because there was never anything new. I only found the new reviews for Inn Dreams because BookSprout asked me to provide the link for the book. Its overall rating is now 2.8. Awesome. One reviewer insinuated that I used words I didn't understand. I'm so glad she told me!

So, Inn Dreams is a failure. Subconsciously, I think I knew that at the time I published it. I don't have the patience to completely flesh out a story. That's my downfall. Most negative reviews touch on "choppiness". It's how my mind works ~ I scene jump. Maybe I view my books as movies, where transitions are abrupt. I doubt that I can overcome that deficiency, although I'm trying with my current work. One could never accuse Second Chance of being too stingy with detail, which is why I'm finding it really boring. But I suppose if that's what they want...

Finally taking a look at my author dashboard, it seems I have a few new reviews for a few different books. Every book has fared better than Inn Dreams. I must have been delusional when I was writing it. 

I'm contemplating whether to keep writing publishing. I'll probably still write, because I have no substitute in my life. And if I ever finish Second Chance, maybe I'll stick it up on Amazon...quietly. Shoot, I've published bad books before; it's just that no one has discovered them. Imagine what those reviews would be like! 

Mostly I'm embarrassed. In my newsletter, which I'm now abandoning, I really touted Inn Dreams. I bet those negative reviewers got a good laugh from all my promotion. I know I should be grateful for the five-star reviews it garnered, and I am. But, boy, the two-star ones are really cutting.

Even though none of those reviews have hit Amazon yet, the place where people actually buy books, I don't care if they do. I don't want anyone to buy it.  

Anyway, I'll survive. It's only been a couple hours and the wound is still fresh. Blogging about it helps. 

I'm wondering if sleeping might be a good hobby.