Cindy Spencer Pape
When I was asked to submit
an article to be posted with my book review for this site, I’ll admit,
I was a little surprised. An article? On a review site? What if the
review is a bad one? Will everyone point and laugh at my article as
well as my book? Reviews are a dicey thing, after all. Authors love
them and dread them. A few even have the backbone to utterly ignore
them, but not most of us. I’ll let you in on a little secret here.
(wink) A lot of authors are pretty insecure about their work. A bad
review can send us scurrying back into our cave, wondering if we should
ever write again. A good one has us dancing on air. Most of us find
them more than a little scary.
Can a good review help a book
sell? Undoubtedly. Can a poor review keep a book from selling? Maybe.
Certainly a bunch of bad reviews will make a reader think twice about
spending her hard-earned dollars. So reviews can be important. They’re
not just there to stroke or crush our fragile egos. Ultimately, they
are not the be-all and end-all of a writer’s existence, but they do
have an impact.
One of the first things an
aspiring author is told is to develop a thick skin. This is not a
business
for the faint of heart. We all face rejections from editors and agents.
We’ll all, sooner or later, get bad reviews. It’s all part of the
business of writing. Creative people, though, tend to be very emotional
sorts. We put a lot of our own emotions into the product—especially
if you’re writing the kind of novels that are about emotions, such
as romance. That makes it awfully hard when someone tells you it stinks.
Even if they say so in a kind, professional manner.
So what can we do? We all know
the answers. We can learn from our mistakes. If one reviewer dislikes
a book, it may just be a matter of taste. If two or more say the same
thing, it’s a good indication that there may be a problem. It lets
us know what we can work on to do better with the next book. Mostly,
though, we have to smile, thank the reviewer for taking the time and
effort to read our books, and deal with it. Yeah—it hurts. The
difference
between a professional and an amateur is the ability to cope with the
hurt and get over it.
And apparently, sometimes we
have to write articles. Even if we’re much more comfortable penning
fiction.
Cindy Spencer Pape is an
avid reader of romance, fantasy, mystery, and even more romance,
who firmly believes in happily-ever-after. Married for twenty-five
years, she lives in southern Michigan with
her husband and two teenage sons, along with an ever-changing
menagerie of pets. Cindy has been, among other things, a banker,
a teacher, and an elected politician, but mostly an environmental
educator,
though now she is lucky enough to write full-time. Her degrees in
zoology
and animal behavior almost help her comprehend the three male humans
who share her household.
Website: http://www.cindyspencerpape.
Blog: http://cindyspencerpape.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CindySPape
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/
