One bestselling self-published author urged other writers to avoid reading reviews online. Do you agree?
Novelist Paige Weaver has spent five weeks on our Self-Published Bestsellers List with Promise Me Darkness, but she stopped reading reviews as her book spread online. Here is her simple advice:
My policy is DO NOT READ YOUR REVIEWS. Good or bad. I’ve heard this from other authors so that is my new motto. The first few days after “Promise Me Darkness” was released, I read all the reviews and they were good but I knew that the bad ones were coming. Every book has had bad reviews. It is just human nature. We can’t all agree on everything … I do not read reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, or anywhere else. I’m too scared. I haven’t developed that thick skin so many authors told me I had to have in this business. My hubby and friends tell me what the good reviews say and sometimes they tell me what the bad reviews say if they think it might be helpful for my writing. Knowing there are some bad reviews does hurt, I’ll admit, but then I think of that childhood saying – “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”