Let's Talk About Negative Reviews

This seems to be a topic of controversy among mostly the book community. In the gaming community, no one cares and in fact, negative reviews are embraced. Book realm? No so much. I remember watching a huge booktuber flat out say that you shouldn't write negative reviews especially if you want to be a writer.

Negative reviews were the reason why the whole Reviewer/Author war started on Goodreads years ago. Some authors didn't appreciate what they called "harsh" reviews and responded to the reviews or had the reviews taken down. This sparked a backlash from reviewers and they came at these authors with all of hell's fury. Reputations were ruined. Reviewers left because their information was obtained and put on the web for all to see (why they didn't sue, I don't know). Books were DNF'd. It was a mess. There was also one instance where an author, Kathleen Hale, tracked down a reviewer, stalked her, and wrote an article about it. Even though this was freaking crazy and illegal, others still defended her and applauded her actions of stalking. Yes everyone, it happened. Let's not put all the heat on authors. Indie devs do it too. Some tend to cave under negative attention for all to see (I'm looking at you Phil Fish) and take it out on the very community that supports them and we all know that gamers don't take any type of bullshit thrown at them.

Now, onto my thoughts on negative reviews. No one has the right to tell a person what they should or shouldn't write. This is the internet for Christs sake! Negative reviews shouldn't even be a controversial topic. If a person doesn't like a book, so what! It's their opinion. People are going to have different views and that's just life. You may think Fifty Shades of Grey is a masterpiece. Am I going to judge you? Yes. Yes, I will. Am I going to go out my way to destroy your life? Ha. No because I don't care and personally, I think that's a waste of my time.

If you're planning to go into the gaming or publishing industry and you can't handle negative reviews, give it up. It may sound "harsh" but it's the truth. Not everyone is going to like your story and I know it sucks. This is your work of art, your baby and you want everyone to love it just as much as you do, but let's be real, life doesn't work that way. There's always going to be critics and if you want to continue down the gaming or publishing road, you have to deal with it. There are two options: embrace the negative reviews and try to work out the kinks they point out or ignore them. Simple and easy. Reviewers are your life stream. Slamming them for not liking your story is only going to hurt your reputation. One last thing, social media is powerful, so powerful that it's actually considered the fourth branch of the government. Please, please remember this. It can build you up and destroy you very quickly. The next time you want to rant and rave about a reviewer, keep this in mind.