You are a budding writer who has just published your first book on Amazon but nothing has prepared you for the disheartening customer reviews.

You thought you had it all figured out and you even went through great extents to hire the best of the best editors and collaborate with the most renown publisher to ensure that your book gets extra marketability.

The truth of the matte is bad Amazon book reviews can hit you at the very core of your inner being. They seem pretty unfair and downright disappointing.

Bad book reviews are one of the cruel revelations of publishing in the current world. But the silver lining is harsh book criticism doesn’t have to impede your writing career.

If you are an experienced author, you probably have developed extra layers of thick skin by now and if you’re due to publish your first literature, you will come to develop thick skin soon enough.

What is a Book Review?

First things first, what is a book review? You may have heard about customer reviews and wondering what the difference between book review and customer review is.

A book review is a reader’s opinion of a reputable published book, which covers the book’s basics. A book review comprises of individual’s opinions of the publishing’s strengths and weaknesses, thus book reviews can either be positive or negative.

In case a reviewer dislikes your book, they will offer a negative book review and clearly state the reasons why. However, the good news is they will offer at least one or two positive remarks about your book.

On rare occasions, a good review will consist of up to 1000 words. When you get a review like this, you should pat yourself on the back.

But if you don’t get a 1000 word review full praises for your book, you should still be proud of yourself because you are aware that the reviewer went through your piece and is offering a forthright viewpoint.

How is Customer Review Different from a Book Review

Online book reviews especially on retail sites such as Amazon are commonly referred to as customer reviews instead of book reviews.

Customer reviews are therefore honest book comments from zealous readers who are genuinely interested in the niche of your publishing.

Bad customer reviews of your book on Amazon leave something to be desired particularly those that contain vulgar language, pose personal attacks or make fun of positive reviews.

With all that said, let’s get into how to overcome those demoralizing Amazon book reviews.

• Don’t Let Bad Reviews Hinder You

Yes, laying your thoughts out there for the whole world to see seems scary. And your book is your baby so if anyone attacks you about your precious possession, you may want to take it personally.

However, don’t take negative reviews to heart. If you love what you do, negative criticism should never stop you from doing it.

• Bad Book Reviews are Part and Parcel of Publishing

Criticism is a basic fact of life regardless of whichever career or art you engage in. Writing is specifically subjective thus not all people will be pleased with your book. Once you understand this fact, you will simply shake off those negative reviews and move on.

• Always Seek the Positive Aspect of a Bad Book Review

Seek for validity in the negative review. Are there areas you can enhance or issues you can deal with? Such constructive reviews help to improve your next book, which garners you better reviews. Hence, learn from such bad reviews and make a great comeback with your next Amazon piece.

• Construct Your Next Book

This is the most effective way to deal with bad reviews. Just bury yourself in another book project and show those shark-teethed criticizers that you are an awesome author.

However, as mentioned in the previous point, learn from the experience of your past publishing and apply the lessons in your next one. Once your mind is engaged in writing, you won’t have time to think about those bad reviews.

• Find humor in it!

Some reviews are truly bad-not because of the message they portray but because they are so clumsily written, are full of spelling mistakes or just don’t make sense. you might as well get a good chuckle out of it.

• Abstain from Retaliating

As much as your fingers might itch to respond harshly to that bad review, kindly refrain. The action of retaliating with a negative response will only come back to bite you in the behind in the future.

And don’t think that responding via email seems like a plausible option because it is private- it is still a bad idea.

• Don’t Dwell on Obstructive Reviews

As humans, negativity always gets to us. We think about the negative so much that it becomes an obsession. You can get several good reviews but one bad review catches your attention and you get worked up over it.

The best thing is to read that bad review and either derive your lesson from it or ignore it (if it makes no sense).

• Bad Reviews Authenticate Good Reviews

Nothing and no one is 100% flawless. Imagine going through a book that only has five-star reviews-no criticism whatsoever. You’ll probably think that the author paid some people to write only good reviews.

Bad reviews indicate that some viewers were being frank. On the bright side, some people may choose to read your book to see if it was that ‘awful’ (if someone gave you that review). So bad reviews are not all that bad!

• It’s an Opinion Not a Fact

A book review is only a reader’s opinion and everybody has one. So if someone comments that your book lacks excitement, that doesn’t mean that your book wasn’t exciting to someone else.

However, if several reviewers have similar negative opinions it may be an indicator that you need to change your writing strategy.

• Exterminate the Bad Reviewer in your Next Project

It may seem a little unorthodox but you can choose to use that reviewer as a villain who gets killed by the hero in your next book. But don’t use their real name or the name used in the review-it’ll be too obvious.

Conclusion

If you are new to the book publishing industry, learn to have thick skin and not take every bad review to heart.

It’s not as simple as it seems but just remember that negative responses are part of life.

Besides, if you are truly passionate about writing, you won’t quit because of a few cynical reviews. Try out apps like Livingwriter, one of the best writing apps out there, and it’ll help out with the organization and planning of your next book.