Things You Should Try to Avoid Doing as an Author

Feedback

Feedback; the good, the bad, the ugly and how to handle it!

What do you do when you get bad feedback?

The answer to this question is very simple. You thank them for taking their time to read it. Then you move on with your life. Not everyone will love your work. Some won't like it. But you should never ever take this to heart and stop writing. Writing is either a passion or something to do for fun. It is never a job, and it takes time, so when someone doesn't like your work it's going to hurt. What you need to remember though is that there are people who do like your story or who will. 

As an author you should alway try to remember the good fans. Don't forget the bad reviews, use them instead. Bad reviews can be motivation, they can give you determination so that you can improve your story. This does not mean that you should change the entire story for them, you are still writing for yourself.

What shouldn't you do when you get bad feedback?

Start an arguement. 

At the end of the day not everybody is going to like your work, but as an author you should respect other people's opinions. Even if the person commenting is rude you thank them and then move on with your life. You're not high and mighty, just because you spent an hour writing that piece of work does not make it the best thing in the world. Step down off of your high horse and get used to the fact that not everyone loves your work. 

As an author you should always try to be professional, and always try to avoid arguements.

Some blog posts I've read;

I read this blog post once, and to me at least, it rang true. I can't remember the name of the person who posted this, or the name of their blog so I'll tell you what I remember of it.

Mainly I remember telling authors that they are always authors. There is no exception to this rule, whether you are an author on Wattpad or a published author. 

What do I mean by this? Or what did she mean? Well I have seen a lot of self published authors who post on blogs. These blog posts aren't about the way the write, or what gives them inspiration. These blog posts aren't even about the good reviews they recieve. Nope. These blog posts are about the "bad" reviews they recieve. That is what the first part of the post was about.

One of the blog posts I have seen like this called the people giving low reviews "Stupid Monkeys." She called them this because some people were saying they didn't really understand the story. She said this was because the readers weren't smart enough. One of those reader, which I saw in the comments, had at least two degrees in English and writing and such. Obviously it was a case of bad writing rather than the readers being stupid.

Not only was she offensive, and calling people names, but she tried to argue her point. The way she argued her or rather tried to was by saying that paid reviewers always give better reviews because they are more professional and therefore smart. No, paid reviewers give better reviews because they are paid for it! Other reviewers do it so that people can find out what they want to read next by looking at reviews. If you are bitchy about a bad review, I probably won't pick up your book!

Ultimately I decided I was never going to read any of this author's work because I figured someone that petty didn't deserve my time.

The second part of the first blog post was about grammar and spelling. As an author you should know how to spell certain things, you should know some grammar too. I'm not saying that you should be perfect at everything and know how to spll every word. That is what Google and dictionaries are for! But you should try to stick as close to being grammatically correct as possible. If you thank me for adding your story to my library and you type like this; "Haiii thnx for addin my storee" then I'm no longer going to want to read your story. That kind of writing is annoying anyway. If you are an author you should always use the correct grammar and spelling, sure, you'll make mistakes, no one outside of a person with OCD is that perfect. But misspelling when unnecessary is annoying.

As an author you should try to get along with everyone who gives you feedback. You should try to avoid misspellings, and grammatical mistakes!

As an author you should alway try to connect with your readers, read and thank them for their reviews. Fans and people who read your book/story, those are the people that make your work what it is!

Conclusion; 

Strive to connect with fans. Thank reviewers. And never take bad feedback to heart, turn it into something that motivates you to carry on. Most bad reviews include some advice. How can you improve your story? If they don't include that in their review or comment then ask them what you could do to improve! If you don't ask, you don't get.

What's your opinion? Did I miss anything? Comment and tell me if I did, and comment to tell me your opinions too! Is there anything you really agree with? Something you don't agree with? 

Is this advice good? Has it helped you? If so then why not recommend it to a friend, or fellow writer? I'm hoping to help as many writers as I can!

The next part will be about First Chapters/Prologues.