I recently gifted a print copy of my novel Fatal Feverfew to the winner of my latest Goodreads Giveaway. Soon afterwards she posted a rating on the website, giving it 1 star and commenting “the writing was dull, the plot was poorly written, and the characters were extremely unlikeable and boring. I really struggled to finish this book.”
In my younger days I would have been depressed for weeks after reading a review like that. Now I am more philosophical, reminding myself that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. All the previous novels that I put through the giveaway programme received 4 or 5 star ratings, and I can’t believe this latest one is so much worse than the rest. I do wonder whether someone who has to “struggle to finish a book” would do better to abandon it and move on to something they enjoy reading – this is my own policy now, and I don’t write a review unless I can say something positive.
So, my latest giveaway has backfired as a marketing method – or has it? A day or two after that damning review was published, a little peak in sales of both Fatal Feverfew and some of my other books showed up online. Maybe this proves the truth of the saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Here are some suggestions about how to cope with bad reviews.
Jennifer Barraclough 
*Literature and **Democracy *
*When literature, protests against climate change, religious believes and more, are made public, you are not supposed to get only positive reviews, as in** former Soviet Union, China and other dictatorial states – and at the invasion of Iraq – even in America (US): `if you are not with me, you are against me`*
*Marketing is to promote sales, not the content and opinions of what is for sale. A range of reviews is much better than only one single. If negative reviews upset you, don`t read reviews at all. Review should of course be focused on the text and not on the author personally.*
*Democracy and literature are not compatible, Economics and law have noting i common with science. Religion belongs to the spiritual World. *
Arny /ex-lawyer/
On 2 May 2016 at 14:21, Jennifer Barraclough Books wrote:
> Jennifer Barraclough posted: “I recently gifted a print copy of my novel > Fatal Feverfew to the winner of my latest Goodreads Giveaway. Soon > afterwards she posted a rating on the website, giving it 1 star and > commenting “the writing was dull, the plot was poorly written, and the > charac” >
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