Dealing with Bad Book Reviews

The first book I ever wrote was actually just self-published within the last month. I decided I wanted to write about something that I knew a fair amount about. It is about options trading, specifically covered calls in options trading. It was something that I researched and taught myself after trying to get others to teach me. I always have friends and family who ask me how to get started in it, so I wrote a guide on what it is and how to execute. The "book" literally took me years to write. Not because I didn't know how to do it, but I just didn't have the time, nor really took the time to write. You know how life just sometimes gets in the way.

I was so proud of myself when I finished. Writing a book was always on my bucket list of things to do. I told my family and friends that it was finished and sent the link for them to get it. Then I got a few sales of the book that I know that was not from anyone I knew. I was so excited! My expectations were realistic on how many I would sell. I know not too many people are into the stock market, and I knew it wasn't going to be a best seller. I was just proud that I set my sights on a goal and finished it.

Then it happened. I pulled up my book one day and saw a one-star review on my beloved book. The reviewer's complaint was that it was not long enough to be a "book". (That being said, it really is not a book, but more of a guide, which is exactly what the book blurb says). My content was not criticized, it was just the size of the book that the reviewer didn't like.

I was so mad. Once a review is written and uploaded; it is not taken down. All my hard work, damaged with the click of a few keystrokes. People generally don't read book blurbs, they look at the star rating, and go on from there on whether they want to buy or not. My poor baby, my first project, would be tarnished forever.

I have always prided myself in the fact that I could always pick myself up and dust myself off. My mother used to call me "scrappy". I always loved that sentiment, and it is with that memory that I am trying to move forward. Generally, I am not a perfectionist, but with writing, I set my goals quite high. For some reason, it just never occurred to me that I would get bad reviews. Not that I didn't think people wouldn't like it, I just never really thought of it.

So where do I go from here? Do I respond to the reviewer? I immediately searched on how I could get that negative mark deleted, only to learn that rarely they ever are. I'm sure I will get more bad reviews, if anyone else buys my "guide", and hopefully some positive ones as well, but it is just driving me crazy that it is there.

My hopes are dashed, at least for the time being, and I feel like stepping away from the computer for now. My short writing career has already hit a stand-still, or has it?

If anyone is wondering, I do have additional manuscripts in the works, maybe I will just take a couple of weeks to step back and gather my thoughts.

So, others in the writing world, how do you deal with negative reviews?