Support for Indie Authors discussion

I received my first one star review yesterday, and honestly I was anxious to read it. What it turned out to be was a ding against my book because the reviewer's Kindle wouldn't download the book. I thought, "Well how's that fair?" I then came straight here, intending to ask about Amazon's review policies, and if I should flag it, but before I could post anything, a comment from Riley in my feed caught my eye. It was a link to a blog post from Christina about being positive, and here's the link for those interested: http://mcmullenwrites.blogspot.com/20...

After reading it, I realized not only was I being negative, I was also being selfish. I mean, here's someone that paid for my book, but didn't receive it. That's not fair either. They can't very well give Amazon's service a one star review, so I can understand their frustration. Or I thought I understood.

This morning "The Universe" made sure I understood. While packing school lunches for my kids, I opened a pack of graham crackers only to find about half the pack crushed to dust. I was ... angry. I paid for an entire box, but I couldn't use what amounted to a pile of sand in a lunchbox. I wanted to fire off an angry email to the company demanding some retribution. I wanted to give them a one star review. But is it their fault? How many hands did this box pass through before it got to me? Maybe the store I purchased it from needs the one star review. Maybe one of the kids, or my wife, accidentally dropped the box ( I would never suggest giving your children or your spouse a one star review).

So, I'm keeping my one star review. My hope is that the Kindle situation will work itself out, and maybe they'll come back and edit their review. If not, at least they got a chance to vent their frustrations, and I can't blame them for that. Besides, I hear all my favorite books have one star reviews, so I've joined a pretty big club - I wonder if they have jackets.

Thank you to Riley and Christina for keeping me from making a whining post that most likely would have spiraled downward into a post complaining about one star reviews. I hope Dumbledore would approve of my post ;)

Seriously, read Christina's blog.

J. Daniel wrote: "I received my first one star review yesterday, and honestly I was anxious to read it. What it turned out to be was a ding against my book because the reviewer's Kindle wouldn't download the book. ..."

Brilliant! There's my one-word review of your post, J. Daniel!

If that were my review, I would sent her a note, ask her for her address and send her a signed copy. I have a feeling she would fix the one star on her own.

J. Daniel wrote: "I received my first one star review yesterday, and honestly I was anxious to read it. What it turned out to be was a ding against my book because the reviewer's Kindle wouldn't download the book. ..."

Five stars for your attitude! One stars sting, especially if the reviewer's complaint is not your fault, but they're not the end of the world. My guess is that, like many of the authors in this group, you're good enough to bury that one star with many four and five star reviews in the future. Soon it will become meaningless.

Jack has a good idea there. Seems silly for you to get a 1-star review because of an Amazon hiccup, but, you can always make the best of a bad situation.

Lemons to lemonade!

J. Daniel wrote: "( I would never suggest giving your children or your spouse a one star review)"

This might be the best advice I've heard all day. ;)

In all seriousness, thank you for your kind words. We need more smiles in the world and hey, those smashed graham crackers are just an excuse to make a pie with graham cracker crust. :D

Here's to Amazon doing the right thing by that customer and many positive reviews to come!

#positivityWillRuleTheWorld!