Oh, No They Didn’t (Review My Book and Didn’t Like It) by Bettye Griffin

The first thing any published writer needs to understand is that everybody is not going to like your book.  It is unrealistic to think otherwise. It is as much a fact of life as males and females having different anatomies.

Most of us began as avid readers.  Ask yourself this, and answer honestly.  Have you ever read a book you didn’t like?  So your work should be exempt from this because . . . .?  Is there anyone out there who is willing to stand up publicly and state, ‘Everyone loves my book(s)!’  Talk about having an ego bigger than a breadbox.

You mostly likely have read books you did not particularly care for.  I personally cannot even say I have any favorite authors, because I have been moved by some books and not moved by others that came from the same mind.  For instance, I adored Valley of the Dolls and The Love Machine by the late Jacqueline Susann.  However, I thought her next novel, Once Is Not Enough, was rather silly for the most part (although it had some dialogue gems, such as the line said by a woman who collected men’s ejaculate and later mixed it into a protein-rich facial masque [it was the Seventies, folks, AIDS had not shown up yet, although I do find the idea of patting your face with the ejaculate of a man you had a one-night stand with rather nasty] .  ‘Why do you think I let that guy from the agency stay last night?  I got half a cup from him.’)  And while I rank the late Bebe Moore Campbell’s Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine as a masterpiece of modern fiction, I simply could not get into Singing in the Comeback Choir.  There have been other authors I have read with hits and misses for me, but since I cannot preface the authors’ names with ‘the late,’ they will remain anonymous.

I do not  feel any immunity and expect readers to react the same toward me, particularly since some of my books are traditional romances, some non-traditional, some romantic comedies, and others women’s fiction.  The only way to escape occasional reader displeasure is to write the exact same book over and over again.  Most writers want to spread their wings and try new things.  The same-old, same-old gets tiresome, whether it writing or anything else.  Imagine having sex in only one position.  Imagine keeping your furniture in the same arrangement the same way as long as you live in your home.  Pretty boring after a while, isn’t it?

Bookstore shelving practices might also play a role in reader dissatisfaction with a particular book.  I remember picking up an anthology face out in the general fiction section that I thought was related to sisters.  My disappointment grew when I read each novella and found that the sisterly relationship was secondary to that with a man.  In other words, it was a romance novella and should have been shelved with romance.  The publisher was wrong to promote it as mainstream fiction.  I bought something that turned out to be very different from what I thought I was buying.

I have seen my debut mainstream novel, The People Next Door, shelved with both ‘Street Lit’ and ‘Romance’ in several locations of the same chain bookstore.  I always removed it and placed it with the general fiction.  But anyone who picked up my book thinking it was street lit or a romance was going to be disappointed.  As one reviewer wrote, ‘I was at least expecting a cat fight.’  Well, I do not do cat fights . . . but this reader did not know that, and she was certainly within the realm of probability to expect such unrefined behavior in a street lit novel.  And as for romance . . . well, there was not any, so anyone expecting to find it would surely experience a let-down.

But I do not want to be perceived as someone who makes excuses.  Sometimes a novel just does not connect with its reader.  There does not even have to be a reason, other than it just did not move them.  Then there might be a reason:  The story might have taken too long to develop for their taste.  The writing might strike them as sub-par, or flat.  The story might be familiar.  The dialogue might be more befitting of Masterpiece Theater than contemporary Black Americans.  It might be narrative-heavy, cliché-ridden, or drone on for pages about nothing, or use a word or words to excess.  If I find myself counting adverbs, counting how many times the writer uses a word or phrase, or counting the ‘ing’ verbs while I am reading, it is a dead giveaway that I am not particularly enjoying the story.

Sometimes it is not even the writer’s fault, or at least not entirely.  Readers often reject books that have not been properly edited (sloppy punctuation and typos, a problem that frankly, I have not seen in books written by white writers, but that’s an article for another day), or sometimes the book is a product not from the writer’s imagination, but a storyline provided by their publisher.

Everyone has the right to publicly state that they do not like a book.  It is (sometimes) your dime and (always) your time you have spent, both of which are gone forever.  There are, however, some ways in which to accomplish this which are more efficient, as well as kind, than others.

Every author is different.  Some writers may look upon negative reviews with the attitude, ‘That’s So-and-So who wrote that anonymous review, and she’s just mad at me because I took Leroy away from her,’ or ‘That’s the chick from work I just got promoted over trying to get back at me,’ or ‘Whoever wrote that is just jealous because her manuscript got rejected 58 times.’ or the oft-heard chestnut, ‘That’s only one person’s opinion ’ it doesn’t matter.’  Maybe it never occurs to them that the person writing the review truly did not like their novel.

Other writers might say, ‘Gee, I really wish I knew what they didn’t like about the book?’   For the sake of the latter writer, wouldn’t it be nice if reviewers clarified just what it was they didn’t like?  Was the story all over the place?  Did it seem plotless and rambling?  Was the premise or a major plot turn implausible?  Did it read like it was written by a fifth grader?  Then say so, for heaven’s sake.  (All right, so that last one can be phrased a little more diplomatically).  Reviews like, ‘Awful, just awful,’ or ‘Don’t waste your money!’ tell writers– or readers– nothing.  Although I will admit, my personal favorite negative review of the ones directed at me read, Note to the author ‘ Please don’t ever write another book!’  You’ve gotta love it.

The fact is that consumer reviewers comprise a miniscule percentage of the people who have bought your book or checked it out from the library.  There are going to be many more people who have read your book (the fact that many books on Amazon which were skewered by readers have impressive sales rankings backs this up).  Some of them might think it was the best thing they have ever read.  Others merely enjoyed it but will forget it.  Others will be indifferent toward it.  Still others had to force themselves to finish it.  And yes, some will feel that reading your book was a complete waste of their time.

We as authors often spend months pouring our hearts and souls into our manuscripts, as we should.  But that does not mean people are going to proclaim it as the best book they have ever read.

So believe it, baby.

Author’s Web site:  www.bettyegriffin.com

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