Find your book’s critics wisely – advice for first-time self-published authors
By Many authors are often confused about many things at the beginning of their writing career. It is like a journey that sadly begins with a note of confusion. Am I going the right way? This is the question that keeps ringing in the ears of anyone who begins the writing journey with self-publishing as the stepping stone. It is natural. Self-publishing sounds promising at the beginning of the career when no traditional publisher is ready to bet big on a newcomer. Although, once an author realises that there is hardly a thing like traditional publishing in today’s market unless someone is a celebrity, famous or notorious. Nevertheless, we can agree on one fact that there is confusion for newly self-published authors. A number of the concerns are related to reviews as well. And, in a hurry to look solid, many authors tend to come down heavily on critical feedback. To begin with, this is a career-suicide move. Don’t argue with your critic just to prove a point that ‘you think’.
Arguing unnecessarily with the critics or book reviewers writing for various book review websites might decrease your chances of getting future books reviewed by them. Yes, if you believe that replying to someone is absolutely essential and your case demands attention, you can use proper channels such as email or comment section to put forth your ideas in a constructive and nice way. Going overboard might ruin the conversation. And since a beginner is a beginner, at the end of the day, your loss is way more compared to the loss of a book by one author for the critics or the book reviewers.
Yes, there are critics who take the word ‘critic’ in a very contracting sense and they tend to criticise anything they find to read. For those critics, staying away from them might be a very good strategy you can think to employ. Getting a very bad review is worse than getting no review and leaving your readers an option to look it up themselves. Be careful when you choose critics for your debut book. There are very balanced, neutral and fine book reviewers out there on many literary blogs who are very good at reviewing books. Yes, you might be charged a reading fee and that’s totally worth it if you get nice, honest and constructive feedback for your writing.
Criticism is something that an author cannot avoid. Moreover, one always learns from criticism. Critical feedbacks are the motivation that keeps an author running for the idea called improvement. You don’t have to be too touchy about feedback on your writing. Learn to accept things and use them constructively for the betterment of your writing. However, you do need to be careful when you choose book bloggers for the review of your debut book. This is a make or break situation because you are just starting. At times, therefore, be safe than sorry actually works. Hope you have learnt something from this poet. All the best!
By Alka for The Book Blog
