My first one-star review
On dealing with negative feedback
Since publishing my first book in November 2020, I’ve had five-, four-, three- and two-star reviews. Now, I have a one-star.
In my latest monthly update from Amazon Kindle Unlimited, where all my books are available free to subscribers, it said that readers in the UK, Spain and India had been reading one of my books.
‘How interesting,’ I thought. ‘I’m being read around the world. I wonder if they liked it.’
Excited that my books were actually being read (because some months go by and no one bothers), I logged in to check. That’s when I saw it.
One star.
‘Obviously not enjoying it, then.’
It could have been worse. The reader could have written a review to accompany it. Thankfully, they had cast their vote and moved on.
The rating was for Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory, a short nonfiction story I published as an ebook in October 2021. It had been a sad and stressful year. I’d done very little creatively after the death of my friend and I wanted to take positive action to get my work out into the world. A short story ebook seemed a good idea.
It is a fun (so I thought) story about lockdown life. By publishing it, my aim was not to win the Booker Prize and gain literary acclaim, but to entertain. I imagined a reader sitting down with a cup of tea and a biscuit, taking a few minutes to read and hopefully enjoy my words. I hoped it would make them smile.
The person leaving the review was not at all entertained, which made a small part of me feel like I’d failed.
‘I’ve got my first one-star review,’ I told my husband that night during dinner. I noted the use of the word ‘first’. Now I’d got the first one, perhaps I’d opened the floodgates and before long, I’d be drowning in a sea of one-star reviews.
‘It’s not personal,’ he said.
‘I know, but it feels like that, especially when I write memoir.’
‘When you put yourself out there, it’s going to happen,’ he said.
I nodded, knowing that he was right. Even the most successful, award-winning authors get bad reviews. It’s part of being a writer. Even so, it stings.
‘It’s someone in the UK, Spain or India,’ I said.
My husband smiled. ‘Shall we hunt them down?’
I laughed. ‘And tell them to stop being mean.’
Everyone has the right to express their opinion. As a writer, I have to learn that not everyone will like what I write. I have to get comfortable with that, accept that they are not my ideal reader, and I am not their favourite writer, and that’s fine.
For every negative, hurtful review, there are people who enjoy what I do. Some kind readers have even been positive and generous in their feedback. They are mainly friends and family who cheer me on, no matter what, (if you are reading this, you are one of those lovely people—thank you), but there are also those that I’ve never met who have taken a moment out of their day to say nice things about my writing.
It's special to have this support and I take a lot of comfort in knowing that people enjoy my stories and are rooting for me to succeed.
Being a writer is all I have ever wanted to do. It is not easy. It’s a career of hard work for not much reward, and then there’s the emotional side to it. Having to deal with rejections, the self-doubt, and the constant battle of trying to find time to write around a full-time job. And now, it seems, I can add handling negative reviews to the list.
Perhaps I have reached a milestone. My first one-star review! I am still standing; the world hasn’t ended. I am excited about writing and more determined than ever to keep creating. Someone hitting the one-star button will not stop me.
I do not have an agent or a publisher. I am a one-woman writing, editing, publishing and marketing team on a mission to get my words out there and develop an audience. The promising news is that people are noticing—in this case, not for the right reasons—but they are noticing. That’s progress.
Sharing my life on the page and publishing my writing, whether in my books or here on Substack, takes courage. There’s a quote I love from Sylvia Plath: “Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. “
So, I will keep doing what I do. My work is not perfect, far from it. But I am learning and developing my writing craft in public and that, to me, deserves five stars.
From Sunday 25 August 2024 to Thursday 29 August 2024 all my books are available FREE in ebook format on Amazon. Download your free copies here.
Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory
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F**k ‘em. Move on. It’s entirely about them, not you.
I'm so inspired seeing you handle this. That isn't easy! Thank you so much for sharing this experience in your lovely, warm, humorous way to remove some of the fear for the rest of us :)