Well. It happened.
You got that rejection letter.
You got that one star review.
Now what?
I’ve seen a lot of people posting about this and I have to say, they’ve got a lot of good advice, so you can leave here and go look at someone’s post who is more eloquent or fun or whatever. Or just stay here and commiserate.
I got my first rejection letter from a publisher when I was sixteen.
Then three more before I gave up on trying to reach out to publishers. After that I gave up for years, although I did keep writing. I just wrote for me instead. Now, this was before Amazon and Kindle was a thing. There was no such thing as self-publishing unless you want to shell out thousands to vanity publishers just to have a print version of your book.
Those rejection letters really knocked the breath out of me at first. I didn’t understand why they didn’t want my amazing book that I spent so much time writing and editing and making absolutely perfect! (I’ve read those books since and cringe the entire way through because they are legit terrible.)
When self-publishing was a thing, I started doing that, and I found that it wasn’t so bad. Until I got my first one star review.
I was pretty devistated.
For about ten seconds.
Yeah, one star reviews suck. No way around that. Usually they have all kinds of insults to lob your way either about the book or even you as an author.
In my case, I’ve gotten all kinds of things said in those reviews. People seem to think that since I’m on the internet and they can’t see my face that I’m not a real person, so they say whatever they want without thought as to how it’s received. Each and every one star review I’ve gotten has made me feel like crap. I want to just sit back and cry and give up and hide in a closet somewhere, then I remember one thing.
That one star review is that person’s opinion.
And you know what? Art (including literature) is subjective. Not everyone has the same favorite painter, musician, or author. Not everyone will understand your style or your meaning. Not everyone can appreciate weird and unusual or funny or punny. Not everyone is looking for the same thing in a book. Once in a while someone will pick up my book and say “Eh, it’s not my thing.” And THAT’S OK.
Not everyone has to love your book. Not everyone has to be a fan. It’s ok to have someone tell you your book was trash, because that’s their opinion. And you know how much I care about those kinds of opinions?
Not one single bit.
I myself write reviews for books. I try to be nice and give you guys reviews for some of my favorites, but once in a while I find a book that I can’t not write about. And that’s ok. Their book just wasn’t for me.
When I get a bad review, I read it. Some people say to stay away from bad reviews and not to read them, but I like to read them. They remind me that I have some work to do, and that I can still learn and get better. There have actually been some helpful critiques in those bad reviews that I think made me a better author. But when I’m done reading the bad ones, I read the good ones to remind me that not everyone hates my books. (That’s an important step 2)
Sure, sometimes reviews are not fair.
I had one terrible review by someone who read partway into the book then put it down and complained about the story. A story that they didn’t finish. I’m sitting there, reading the review and I just want to scream at the person that if the finished the stinking book that it would tell them all they wanted to know! Or one saying that the book ended on a cliffhanger and there wasn’t another one… It’s a series…Still in the process of being finished. Ugh. But there will always be those people. Nothing to be done about that.
Brush it off. Like water off a duck’s back and all that jazz.
Now, about those rejection letters.
I’ve got a stack of them in my email; publishers that have rejected my work. It hurts. I’m not going to lie. They didn’t think it was good enough, and these are professionals who judge books for a living.
I also have to remind myself that out of the hundreds of thousands of books they get, a publisher will only take a handful in a year.
Besides, how many times did the classics get rejected before finally finding a home?
Take a deep breath and remember that numbers matter here. Most of us will never be published the traditional way. And honestly, traditional publishing doesn’t mean you’ll get a hit, anyway.
When you get that rejection or that one star review, take a few minutes and think it through. See if there’s something you can learn from. Are there critiques that are useful in your writing skills or in your storytelling.
If there’s not, then just let your brain trash it. Do something that makes you happy and just don’t let that one person have your confidence as a writer.
Now, when I get a bad review, I do those steps of analyzing, and then I force myself to get back to writing. It’s so easy to put it off after that kind of rejection. It’s so easy to let it overtake everything and become the biggest form of writer’s block you’ve ever encountered. Don’t let it.
Never let someone’s opinion change you. Never give away your confidence because someone said your art isn’t good enough.
Don’t get offended by someone’s opinion. We all have them and they all stink, so brush it off.
**Just as a little tidbit here, when I find a review particularly hard to shake, I go to all my favorite books and start reading their reviews. I start at the one star reviews and it helps me remember that even the pros, even the bestsellers get one star reviews. And honestly, most of them are so ridiculous I end up laughing my butt off, which makes me feel better.
