Space Opera Fans discussion

Hi, I've been in this group for a while. I have a question for the group because I do not understand something. I'm an author in this genre. I've written The Forever Life and many sequels in the Ryanverse. My goal in writing is to be fun and entertaining.Occasionally I'll be serious and make a point about life. Okay. I get reviews. Most are good. Some are really really bad, especially Audible ones. I get that. But many really really bad reviews end or begin with the comment "this is not as good as the Bobiverse" or a similar snark. It's as if I titled my book The Bobiverse Sucks, Read The Forever Life. I mean I sense personal anger on the part of the fans of those books. Seriously, I'd never even heard of the series until I started getting hate-reviews. I read the first book. It is very different than mine to be certain. I personally didn't like it too much, but I didn't write a hate-review in defense of my series.I thought the author skipped over major factors in the plot too glibly and the concept of the wars was difficult to understand. The brain divisions were odd too. A copy of a file is even today a copy of a file. Why would they alter so radically? But I digress.

Can anyone help a brother out? Why do Bobiverse fans feel so wounded by my work? Do they write bad reviews for ALL non-Boboiverse books? Thanks!

::: shrug :::

Forget it Jake Craig, it’s Chinatown the Internet.

https://youtu.be/9cWnubJ9CEw

I recommend that you avoid reviews. It is a distraction an author does not need.

Mainly because it's easy to spew hate when you're online and anonymous, and very difficult to write a thoughtful review. That said, you should accept critical reviews that are constructive, and may point out something you've overlooked, and ignore those that compare you to others in an unfavorable way. Art is mostly in the eye of the beholder. They might have liked yours better--if they had read it first.

Either way, never respond to a bad review, and be very careful about responding to good ones.

Thanks. That's good advice. My skin has thickened with moderate success, but I still done get the tribalism. You're probably correct about the if mine first.

Going to try Forever Lire. Never read the other series you mentioned. These days it's popular to follow the mainstream of hating stuff. Take the Star Wars movies for example. I actually like the first 3 prequels. For various reasons. People need to make up their own minds. After reading this topic and the description of your book I think it will be a good read. So will pick it up soon:)

I look forward to your honest opinion! I haven't seen Solo but it's already been toe-tagged as DOA. I liked the Star Wars prequel a lot. The current one with Mark Hamill, eh, not as much. I absolutely cringe when Kylo Ren takes the stage.

Martin wrote: "I recommend that you avoid reviews. It is a distraction an author does not need.

"

Most true and great analogy-clip.

Will send you a private message once I read it with my honest thoughts. Will order it this week. The delivery time will give me the time I need to finish other things:)

Well, I've not read your book and I have read Bobiverse #1 but:

-the plotlines (per the blurb) are very, very, VERY similar.
- They were released on the heels of each other
- You are probably on an algorithm saying to Bobiverse readers "if you liked Bob..."
- But your writing tones (from your OP) seem to be drastically different. Bob is very light-hearted and yours appears a little more grim. As a reader, I don't read grim/grimdark/dark etc works...so if I'd picked up your book on the heels of reading Bob, I might be disappointed due to tonal differences alone.

Thanks! That's a good point in terms of Amazon's marketing of my stuff to the Bob people.

Unless the reviewer includes why they negatively compare your books to others you have no way of knowing what the basis for comparison is. Is it the most recent SF they read, did they expect something from description they didn't get or what? Negative reviews can be helpful. If negative reviews repeatedly mention they expected "x" from the book description and got "y" you may need to take a second look at the book's description.

No, they just say things like this: "Not really for trans-humanism fans." ie The Bobiverse. Thanks for your thoughts

Craig wrote: "No, they just say things like this: "Not really for trans-humanism fans." ie The Bobiverse. Thanks for your thoughts"

If there's no useful information in a review, ignore it. Some authors don't read reviews of their books, only read reviews from certain sources, or get someone else to read reviews and give them a summary.

MrsJoseph is right, it's the Amazon algorithm. Don't blame the poor readers. Blame Amazon.