Thick Skin

If there’s one thing an author (especially a debut author) needs to know, it’s that not everyone will like your work; in fact, some people may hate it. Sorry, but that’s just the truth.

When you take a leap of faith and put your work out for the world, you must do so understanding that you are not only inviting praise but also criticism, and if you don’t have thick skin, you’ll either get some really quickly, or you’ll be a hot mess.

If your publishing journey ends up being anything like mine, here’s what you have to look forward to:

You finish your book. Ah, the masterpiece. You feel like it’s pretty good, so you’re excited to hear from the people you let read it (they’re your family and friends, of course). “I LOVE IT!” they tell you. That may be true, but remember, they love you.

Next, you get feedback from your editor; it’s the editor’s job to not simply say, “I love it! It’s perfect!” Their job is to tell you what’s working for them, what isn’t, what you need to fix, and what you need to ditch. Unlike the people who love you, this person doesn’t think your manuscript is perfect, and that’s a good thing because it’s not. It never will be, but the editor’s job is to help you make it as good as possible, so remember that if you start to feel defensive when getting editorial feedback. You don’t have to implement every suggestion, but you should consider them all. My son and my editor both pointed out an info dump I’d done in my second book. I trust them both, so . . . goodbye, info dump.

Once you’ve done a bunch of edits, it’s time for beta readers. Beta readers should be people from your intended audience. My audience is young adult readers (which actually includes adults because many adults enjoy YA books). It’s important to listen to your beta readers. Again, you don’t have to make every change suggested, but if two out of three readers are having the same problem with something, it’s a good idea to consider that part of your story may need to be revised.

Next comes ARC (advanced reader copy) readers. These are people (usually social media influencers) who will read your book and provide a written review before the book hits the shelves. As with all reviewers, some will like your book and others won’t. When we ask for honest feedback, we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that some people honestly won’t like our work. “Please read my book and give it an honest review,” we say, hoping that the truth won’t hurt. Unfortunately, it sometimes does, and it’s okay to feel hurt, but only for a short time. Allow yourself five minutes to feel bad (okay, maybe ten), then shake it off and move on.

Finally, your book is published, it’s on Goodreads and you hope that you don’t get a bunch of bad reviews. For a while, you’re getting all 3 stars and above…YAY! But then one day, you open up Goodreads and see a one- or two-star review. Oh, no! What to do now? Here’s what you do: NOTHING. Goodreads even puts up a little warning basically saying, “Don’t even think about it, kiddo, because you’ll regret it.” When you see this warning, heed it. Remember when your parents told you something was “for your own good,” and you thought they were full of you-know-what, but now that you’re grown, you realize they were right? Pretend that Goodreads is your parents, because guess what? They’re right. And here’s (in my opinion) why they’re right:

First, Goodreads is for readers, not writers. The purpose of reviews is to help people who are considering buying your book—they rely on the opinions of other readers, and it’s important that we give our prospective readers a little credit, let them read the reviews and form their own opinions and decide for themselves if they think they would enjoy your book. Maybe they couldn’t care less about lovely prose as long as the story is good, or perhaps they value beautifully worded descriptions over story. Their peers’ reviews will help them determine if your story is for them.

Second, people should be able to leave good or bad reviews about any product. I don’t know about you, but if I leave a review on Amazon for a product, I am honest about it. If the quality is horrible, I say so without taking into consideration that I may hurt the company’s feelings. It’s not that I’m unkind, because I’m not; I’m simply sharing my thoughts and experience and because I don’t mean anything personal by what I write, I assume that the seller doesn’t take it personally. I will admit, though, having been the writer behind the book, I’m now more cognizant of the fact that there is an actual person (or people) behind a company logo.

Third, if I take my emotions out of play, and look at the review intending to use it to improve my writing, I may be able to find a nugget of wisdom that I can use. I won’t go into details about any reviews, but I will say that there was one that I strongly consider the reviewer’s criticisms as I edit and revise the book I’m now working on, and I think doing so will help make book #2 better. I won’t lie . . . my feelings took a bit of a beating at first, but now that the initial wave of emotions has receded, I’ve been able to look at the review critically and use it to hopefully help avoid making the same mistakes I made in the first book. I guess every cloud really has a silver lining. (Yes, I know how cliché that last line was, and no, I’m not even sorry.)

If you get a bad review, it’s okay. It happens to every writer, even great writers. Don’t believe me? Stop here, jump on over to Goodreads and look up The Good Earth. There are almost six thousand 1-star reviews, yet it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1932, and those 1-star reviews will never undo that. So, take a deep breath and remember that everyone has different taste, and even Pulitzer Prize-winning books have haters. Look up any Harry Potter book and you’ll find the same. Okay, brace yourself for this one: people actually gave 1-star ratings for A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire). I know . . . WHAT??! Conversely, think about the worst book you’ve ever read, go look it up on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other site with reviews and you’re likely to find tons of 5-star ratings. Another way to look at it: My sister loves mushrooms, I hate them, and neither her opinion of mushrooms nor mine speaks to whether or not a mushroom is truly “good,” because just like with a book, it all boils down to individual taste.

So, if you get a bad review, let yourself feel bad for five minutes, ten minutes tops. During that timeframe, I suggest looking up your all-time favs on Goodreads and reading some 1-star reviews so that once your allotted time of feeling bummed has passed, you will be reminded that what you consider to be the best of the best are, for others, the worst of the worst.

The next day, pinch yourself. Once you realize that your skin has gotten at least one centimeter thicker, do what it is that you love to do—sit down and write.