What to Do with a Negative Book Review

Not everyone is going to love your work, and that’s okay.

Congratulations! You are published! If you’re an author who has shared your work with the public, you know there will be good reviews and there will be less than good reviews. Some may even be bad.

No matter how many glowing, five star, happy emoji, full of love and adoration reviews you get, those few negative ones will worm their way into your psyche, take up residence, and hang around like a houseguest who has overstayed their welcome.

We’re human, so we fixate on the negative. It’s a psychological phenomenon called “negativity bias.” We tend to see the negative and feel its effects more acutely than we feel the happiness of positivity.

So what do we do about this? Most advice centers on two key themes: let it go and don’t respond. Both are good advice, but when you’re staring at a bad review and your keyboard is right there and your id is saying “tell that illiterate fool they have no idea what they’re talking about” it’s tough to just let it go.

Here’s the advice that helped me and that I’ve turned to time and again.

First, there are high highs and low lows in the world of literature. You write something fantastic, get a good review, have your work acknowledged, accepted, maybe even rewarded. All of those are highs. The lows could be writer’s block, financial worries, a bad review, or a rejection letter (or five or ten of them). A wise woman once told me that our role isn’t to ride the  highs and lows. It’s to remain steady as the highs and lows rise and fall around us.

That was good advice. I used to work as global business consultant and those highs were just as spectacular as the lows. For the sake of my physical and mental health, I learned to acknowledge the highs while I remained rooted in my everyday life. I was grateful for the lessons learned from the lows and focused on moving forward with wisdom and grace.

That sounds lovely, doesn't it?

I tried really hard to do that consistently, but there were some days the lows flattened me and the highs pulled me too far from my path. We’re human. The keys are to acknowledge what’’s going on and course correct. I believe resilience is a critical life skill.

Second, objections mean someone is seriously considering your work. I learned this one when I was a sales manager for a national furniture retailer. When someone pushed back on price, the delivery timeline, or if they really needed that second end table, it meant that the customer was picturing the furniture in their home. An objection is a buying signal.

The same holds for pushback on your manuscript. Someone really considered it. They read it, thought about it, and they thought about it enough to right a review. You reached them. They may have a strong opionion about your work, but they read it and heard you.

This leads to the third bit of advice: feedback says more about the giver than the receiver. Some days I hang on to this one like a lifeline.

Our feedback is shaped by the lens through which we view the world. I work with a best selling author whose latest books have many positive reviews. Shortly after publication, someone left a negative review. The hero in this story starts out weak. He’s a little annoying, frankly, but that’s the point. The book blurb even uses the words “weak to strong.” The character turns it around to become a hero in the story because his journey to find inner strength is the point of the book.

The reviewer explained that this wasn’t a journey they wanted to be on, they couldn’t get past the early chapters, and stopped reading. Fair enough. This says more about the reviewer than the book, though. The reviewer may have had a vision for how a hero would be defined in this genre. Maybe they’re going through a tough time and they aren’t interested in reading about a fictional character in a fantasy world who also has to struggle. Maybe it hits too close to an experience the reviewer had. Whatever it is, it says more about the reviewer than the book.

There are people who will be trolls or leave truly awful reviews for the sake of being mean. What could possibly be going on in their life they would slam an author? Just shake your head, feel sympathy for them, and move on.

If someone is harassing or threatening, then report those reviews to the platform. In all instances, do not engage. The internet is forever, even if you delete something, a digital copy remains somewhere. Just read the review and move to the next one.

I also encourage my authors to keep a brag file. Copy the reviews that were positive or that really meant something to you. Sometimes a reviewer shares a heartfelt message or explains a personal connection to the work. Put those in a single document. When you need a boost, read them. It’s not just about the praise, it’s about the lives your story touched.

Try to remember, feedback is simply information. You can choose to assess it, then use or disregard the information as you see fit.

It takes courage to write your book and to make it available to the public. Authors put a little bit of themselves into everything they create. You’re intentionally opening yourself up to people’s praise and negativity. That’s tremendously brave. I’m proud of you, and the world is a better place because of your courage.