Damage Control
Posted By John Klawitter on April 23, 2010
John Klawitter, Author, Screenwriter, Director
by John Klawitter
1st Turning Point Staff Columnist
Copyright © 2010 John Klawitter
Does everybody love your work? I mean, everybody? If so, you’re a far more talented writer than most anybody else in the history of creation. On the other hand, if you’re just immensely talented, sooner or later, you are bound to run into the modern brand of cruel and irresponsible critical adversity I call electronic snarking.
As up-and-coming authors in today’s market, we all face problems unheard of in the ages of Chaucer, Guy de Maupassant, O’Henry, or even the young Stephen King. We have to do our own marketing. We have to figure out markets for ourselves. We often have to do our own editing and pitch our work to publishers or contract with e-publishers and POD presses to print our work. We take all this in stride, and yet, with all the busy-work on our plates, it is easy to forget that the work (and our reputations) must be protected after the book is in the marketplace. This has never been more true than at present, when any loon or crazy can review a book for any reason, and your and my success or failure can be subject to flighty whim or calculated ill will.
This is an important consideration for authors, because with the limited resources available to most book launches, a handful of negative reviews can destroy any chance a good book might have to develop a ground swell of interest—the positive buzz, if you will—that is a large component of book sales. This is why I recommend a periodic check of all internet outlets where your books are sold, and particularly where reader reviews are published.
These are uniquely difficult times; random rants race across the internet like sheet lightning, and wanna-be critics blast away without any fear of reproach. The problem, particularly for small press and mid-list authors, is that one or two cutely worded snarker critiques can counter even a great marketing effort and kill the chances for an excellent book before sales really get going.
At least a partial solution can be found in constant vigilance. You’ve got to be aware of it when someone dumps on one of your books, and you must find a way to counter the problem. I think it is best to answer as quickly as possible. You can’t afford to be ‘above the fray.’ Unfair criticism that is not answered is like a cancer that goes untreated—prospective readers who don’t know you will certainly give at least some credibility to the critic.
There is usually some way to respond, and if the criticism has been public, you should seek out a like venue for your own defense. If a reader or a critic simply doesn’t get the book, sometimes you can comment in an intelligent way. I like to answer individual complaints with what I hope is a reasoned response, and, where I think it might be warranted, I offer the reader a free copy of another of my works, to give them a better understanding of my thinking and what I’m about as a writer.
However, there are times when you must respond even though you know there is no chance you will persuade your critic. About ten years ago, I gathered and edited a batch of true-life experiences of military intelligence people, many of whom had served in Vietnam, into a book called TANS: Stories from the Old Spooks & Spies. The prevailing wisdom at the time among certain liberal college professors was that nobody who had any brains went to Vietnam, and a few of them took it upon themselves to discredit the book, using their clever scholastic phraseology in harsh reviews on websites like Amazon.com, and as much as called the veterans liars. My response was to have the vets themselves read the book cover-to-cover and write their own reviews. The “one star” given the work by the snarky profs soon rose to a respectable “four stars,” and sales adjusted accordingly upward.
Just last week, I found that I had a ranting reaction to the audio version of my science fiction novel, The Heart of Desire. The disgruntled listener said my book was poorly produced with rotten music, and worse, I had the bad manners to remind listeners at the beginning of each chapter that I, the author, was also narrating the work. The ranter went on to declare she had only been able to tolerate the first three chapters. Well, I responded that The Heart of Desire was actually a #1 Best Seller for months as an audio book at Podiobooks.com with zero complaints, and the screenplay adaptation was currently optioned and making the rounds in Hollywood. And I offered her a free version of another of my works. Who knows whether any of that will sway her personal opinion? That doesn’t matter so much. What is really important is to counter the effects of such an extremely negative review by publicizing the good your work has to offer, so that potential readers/listeners will give it fair consideration.
The flip side of this coin is a positive one. Your career can receive a mighty boost from a good review from somebody who actually gets what you are all about. And here, as a good marketeer of your own books, it is critically important that you get that good buzz going on your website, your blog, and in your book trailer (if you have one). When my latest book, a work of science fiction called The Rogue Pirates Bible Heretical, received a great review from an Italian newspaper critic, I made sure the world knew, “Rome Loves The Bible!”
There’s no reason why we shouldn’t promote the positive spin on our own work. In today’s brutally competitive market, nobody can afford to hide their talent under a bushel basket. Spin it with fun, with clarity, even in a deadly serious way—but spin it!
Another Rave Review
for John Klawitter’s latest release!
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 The Rogue Pirate's Bible Heretical ISBN-10: 1-55404-716-1
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The Rogue Pirates Bible Heretical Tales from the Biblical Zone Review by Mary Therese Burns-De Francesco, Rome , Italy Whymiscal, very human take on previously chiselled in stone biblical characters by author John Klawitter, who did for the Bible what Douglas Addams did for space travel with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Klawitter brings home the characters and shows us they’re good old guys and gals just like us, who happened to live in an amazing time full of burning bushes, angelic apparitions and thunder strikes on cue. Not to mention neanderthals, aliens and pirate spaceships…. Klawitter’s other works also show an admirable capacity for understanding human nature and society as is, not how we wish it were, and his characters often feel like we already know them, they are quite believable, in effect. Many of his books are chock full of action like a Hollywood movie and it’s hard to put them down, he did the same in this collection of short tales, one wants to read it over and over again and wishes there were more stories to read. I am an old fan of John Klawitter’s work, I enjoy his mature tales, like only a master storyteller can tell them. I am enamoured of this world he invented, of the frame of the Rogue pirates to tell these age-old stories with a new twist, I really would love to see more development of the space pirate theme, I can’t get enough of it, my mind keeps wondering about that world in my free time, I hope that John Klawitter will reveal more of that world to readers in the future. A thumbs up to The Rogue Pirate’s Bible Heretical. |
Great advice, John. As always, I truly enjoyd reading your article. You have such an engaging way with words.
“In today’s brutally competitive market, nobody can afford to hide their talent under a bushel basket. Spin it with fun, with clarity, even in a deadly serious way—but spin it!”
I’m going to add this to my wall of quotes. Thanks for a motivating post with some good examples of ways to offset a bad critique of your work.
Thanks,
Ann Charles
Hi, John,
Thank you for sharing your point of view, which is very different from what I gleaned while writing my column “You’ve Got… Hate…Mail” a couple of months ago.
I hope you’ve joined the 1stturningpoint community on Amazon.
Did your generosity mollify the Heart Of Desire reader?
Well, I watched your promo video, and I think you have a wonderful voice. Are you friends with Kevin Costner? That was some coup to get two photos of him for your trailer. I’m impressed.
I agree with Rowena that you have a wonderful voice. I’m going to pick on you for a podcast soon! I’ve listened to some snippets of a few of your books and they’re extremely well-done. I can’t imagine anyone else reading Tinsel Wilderness, so we’re all in your corner.
About the negative reviews–I dunno. I have a friend who was fairly well torn apart and her health endangered when the wolves circled her and attacked after she responded to a negative review, so that makes me pretty gun-shy. I do like your idea of sending your detractors a freebie and a calm, above-reproach reply. Maybe not publicly, though. Once you go public, the wolves can and do attack.
Or maybe I’m just a coward. I’ll be interested to hear how the others weigh in on this issue.
Thanks John for sharing this. As a newbie author I like to see this type of encouragement and sharing of options to respond to negative feedback.
Hi John,
Wonderful article. I did receive a bad review of one of my books on Amazon a year or so ago, though it had about 5 good ones above. It was pretty obvious that the person didn’t even read the book as nothing about the contents was criticized, his venom was all for Miss Mae. Because (as far as I can figure out) I’ve not purchased anything from Amazon, I was unable to respond. I will say, others came to the bat for me and fairly soon the bad review was gone. I’m uncertain if the person, or Amazon, pulled it.
It’s true that “a kind word turns away wrath” (your approach), but I do understand what Jacquie’s saying too. In this day of where almost anyone can track you down via the net, it pays to be cautious.
An excellent article! I have yet to be published and I’ve been wondering how today market is going to make me feel. Most of what I have read is “old” stuff and doesn’t address our computer age problems.
I’m going to have to find this book, The Rogue Pirates Bible Heretical. From the review, it sounds more than worthwhile.
I’m still of the opinion that, while it hurts and may rob you of sleep, there is no such thing as bad publicity. I’m afraid of adding fuel by responding to a flamer.
Hi John:
My first ever review was by someone who couldn’t spell. She probably couldn’t read either because she named the wrong female as the heroine of the book. Thankfully she was the exception, and made me appreciate all the good reviewers who came aftrer her.
Thanks for the excellent article.
John,
You have laid it out beautifully, said it well, and as usual, your advice is well worth heeding.
Hey, Miss Mae, and Jacquie,
Look at the dates on Sister Book Addict’s review (purportedly of the paperback — October 2008), and of John’s gentle and generous comment (March 30th 2010) in response to her. It would seem that John was abundantly cautious and quite commendable for his patience.
I like this article, John. One of my books, XENOGENESIS, required the better part of three and a half years to get from thinking to printed page owing to the amount of research and self-education needed to make it “real”. The only one exceeding that was SEEDS OF MEMORY at a bit over ten years. XENOGENESIS then went to AUDIBLE for recording. When it was released it was immediately panned by two listeners because of the narrator. Now, something like that is understandable because they are listening — not reading. They are being “entertained” passively like movie-goers. I am not particularly pleased with the narrator, either, but I didn’t think he was as awful as those two listeners said.
I wrote to AUDIBLE and suggested they remove the ratings for all audio-books because it was unfair to the authors who had poured their souls and energy into writing the book. There has been no response.
The same holds true for books in print. That just anyone can rate and comment on books is something that bothers me. It has opened the door for folks who may simply not like your name, your style, subject matter, or anything else. TWISTED TAILS I got a bad review from someone who should not have read the book in the first place, let alone review it. All other reviews of that same book were closely akin to raves. Go figure.
Good article, John. BTW, your voice and empathy for the work you are reading are both excellent. That is my opinion, of course, and I am entitled to it, but I would not rate anything anyone wrote based only on the voice. I will put up with voice to get the meat of the writing. After all, a good screenplay is still a good screenplay, even if the acting is atrocious. It is then the reviewer’s responsibility to make that distinction apparent to those who will read their review — to give credit where it is due.
J.
John,
Loved the article. Unfortunately, all of it is true.
http://www.johnfoxjohnhome.com
On reading back through my comment I noted that it appears I am asking to limit free speech. That is not my intent. Freedom to speak our mind is one of the most important of our freedoms as citizens of the world. What my aim is, is to remove the shield of anonymity that allows people to make statements of opinion without the responsibility to own up to them. To take responsibility for those comments. Or, simply remove the ability to make scathing statements under names like Xanadu Sue or Ruptured Ray or Smiler. You understand what I’m getting at.
I make all my comments under my full, real name and my e-mail address is available to anyone who looks for it. Indeed, I usually include that information with my comments. Anyone wanting to respond to anything I have to say is welcome to do so. Most of the time I will respond as soon as I am able. I must admit that, in some cases the reaction to some of my comments is so ludicrous that I may choose not to respond and that, too, is my right.
J.