Support for Indie Authors discussion

This isn't really a marketing question, but this seems the best folder...

When it comes to book reviews, I keep seeing the mantra: Don't engage.

This advice is usually aimed at authors who badly want to "educate" a negative reviewer. I'd never consider doing that—but I am interested in responding with gratitude to some reviews (positive or negative) that include helpful criticism.

If I learn something from a review, I'm grateful the reviewer took the time to write it. Even if the review is negative, it doesn't seem like this would make things worse. In the best case, the reviewer will know I took them seriously.

Anyone have experience with this kind of positive engagement in response to criticism? Any warnings? Horror stories?

I learned early on to never engage someone who leaves you a bad review. Also though I wouldn't engage with someone who leaves a positive review either unless they reach out to you. Reviews aren't for the author they're for potential readers. Individual reviews don't help the author but rather an abundance of them will supposedly help an author sell more books.

When someone reviews my book on my request, I respond by thanking them for taking the time and effort to do so, especially if it's negative. I figure it's better than potential readers reading the review and assuming I chose to ignore it.

Justin wrote: "Reviews aren't for the author they're for potential readers."
This, several times over.
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Anyway, I had an author like my reviews here on GR a few times, which I think as a nice token - and something you might do. A good reader will appreciate it, I believe.

I've left both positive and negative reviews. My thing is this, if I leave a negative review and you fight me over my opinion, we're going to go at it. If you talk to me and try to explain what you were hoping for, I have no problem with that and have often re-read books trying to see what the author meant with varying results. At the end of the day. If you pick a fight with me over when I wrote, I'm willing to die on that hill and 9 out of 10 times, it generally does not bode well for the author that someone doesn't like their stuff. As a person diving into authoring, but has a ton of experience with graphic design. I'm use to getting my work torn apart and spit into my face by some, and by other's praised. I tend to notice that on the internet, whether we mean to be or not, we tend to be more brutal/praising than in real life. So I tend to take out of it what I need and just move on to the next one.

DJay wrote: "I've left both positive and negative reviews. My thing is this, if I leave a negative review and you fight me over my opinion, we're going to go at it. If you talk to me and try to explain what you..."

Not everyone is going to like your work but the best thing to do is take the negative in stride and improve.

DJay wrote: "I've left both positive and negative reviews. My thing is this, if I leave a negative review and you fight me over my opinion, we're going to go at it. If you talk to me and try to explain what you..."

Especially if the review is fair. If someone says "It just wasn't for me", I fully respect that. Often, parts that were criticized by one were praised by another.

Do what you think is professional.

"Don't engage" is aimed at all authors. Whether you have good intentions or not, it's just a risk not worth taking. Stated at least as much as "don't engage" is "reviews are not for authors". If a reviewer wants to interact with you, well, that's why we all have social media accounts.

Tomas wrote: "I had an author like my reviews here on GR a few times, which I think as a nice token - and something you might do.."

Thanks. Coincidentally, shortly after posting my question, I started wondering it was okay to like a review. It seems like a less intrusive way to show my appreciation, without letting possibly-unwelcome words muddy the interaction.

Peter wrote: "When someone reviews my book on my request, I respond by thanking them for taking the time and effort to do so, especially if it's negative. I figure it's better than potential readers reading the ..."

Peter, are you referring to book bloggers, where you've submitted a book for consideration?

I assume this wouldn't apply to something like NetGalley, which is more of a mass-invitation.

I’ve responded to positive and constructively critical reviews, but not negative reviews. Some readers have loved engaging back and getting that response from me. Some readers expressed frustration that I had no other work out and that the book didn’t mention if there would be a sequel. I responded to those, and then added a letter to the reader at the end of the book notifying that I am indeed writing a sequel. I’m careful now about responding to readers though after hearing that it’s not good to respond at all, even to positive reviews. But as I said, most of the positive reviewers I responded to were excited and grateful I responded to their review.

Synchronicity—I found out that M.J. started a very similar topic just a few hours before I started this one. If you want to see the rest of the conversation, go to:

Ebook Publishing > Would it be inappropriate - I'm genuinely asking and don't want to upset anyone

In that conversation, Addison mentioned that Goodreads has a policy strictly prohibiting authors from contacting reviewers. I was curious about that. You can see the policy by clicking "Terms" in the footer, then "Author Guidelines" in the sidebar to the right.

The injunction is specifically about engaging with negative reviews: "Remember that Goodreads is a public space; other readers will see a reaction from the author and interpret it as hostile regardless of how carefully the response was crafted."

Engaging positively with a positive reviewer isn't addressed, though all the good advice in this conversation applies to that.