My Relationship with Reviews as an Indie Romance Author
As an indie author, I have a complicated relationship with reviews of my books.
On the one hand, places like Goodreads, Storygraph, and Fable are reader spaces, first, foremost, and always. Readers are entitled to their feelings and opinions about a book, even if that means a scathing 1-star review. On the other hand, though, a lot can be learned through reader reviews—and while I try not to take negative comments to heart, I do see some reviews as a learning experience of what I can improve in the future when it comes to my writing.
Yes, it’s true—I do sometimes read reviews! Emphasis on sometimes. I like to make sure I’m in the right headspace to sift through them, and I always make sure to have a very big grain of salt nearby. But as a reader myself, I know how valuable it can be to use reviews to find what I want to read, so I’ve let my relationship with reviews evolve into something that protects my peace, inspires me, invites me to think critically about my own work, and even entertains me. But it wasn’t always this way…
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In the beginning, reviews felt personal
When ARC reviews for The Half of It started rolling in, it was almost impossible to not read what people had to say. It was my debut novel, and it felt like so much was riding on that average star rating. Then, the very first rating from someone on NetGalley came in—it was 3 stars with no explanation. I was crushed.
Reviews eventually evened out, and my book thankfully found its readers. But I really struggled with tying my self-worth to the reviews of the book I had just published. My brain required some rewiring to understand that a book review isn’t a judgment of me; instead, it’s just one reader’s experience.
Reviews are for readers…so I look at them like a reader
It’s generally frowned upon for authors to enter reader review spaces and chime in with their own thoughts, so I never interact with reviewers that way. Besides, readers can interact with us on so many other platforms, and they really don’t leave reviews for us. They want to let people know:
if it’s a book they’ll enjoy
what tropes they’ll find in the book
how they liked the writing style
what the reading experience was like
who should add it to their TBR
Ultimately, a review is one person’s experience, not an end-all be-all decision on the book’s (or author’s) value. Even a review that isn’t a gushing 5-star review can sway someone to read the book. If I were looking for a new book to read and someone reviewed it as “a love triangle with a lot of drama,” I’d be pretty excited to read that one! Someone else might not, though.
Readers go through reviews to basically discern if a book will be for them—and since every reader is different, they’ll interpret reviews differently, too. So when I do decide to peek at reviews of my books, I always take a reader approach. I’m looking at:
key moments that stood out to readers
favorite lines or moments
characters they loved
areas of improvement that multiple readers comment on
constructive feedback that seems useful
I actually had a reader mention that they wished the epilogue for The Half of It took place further in the future, and I definitely understood their point of view with that. So it was really important to me with my second book, In a Desert Daze, to give more time between the events in the last chapter and the epilogue. Ultimately, I know I made the right choice with the epilogue for The Half of It (especially because there are still ideas for follow-ups to June & Aidan’s story percolating in my mind…), but it showed me that romance readers really prefer a bit more time to pass so they can see the couple succeeding.
Reviews matter—especially for indie authors
One review is not going to make or break my career—but your reviews do matter. They especially matter to indie authors like myself who don’t have a publisher backing me, promoting me, or providing a marketing budget. So if you’ve ever sat around and wondered if taking the time to write a review really matters, I can assure you it does.
Reviews promote the discoverability of a book and make the algorithms take notice. To me, though, what’s most important is that they help convince readers who may otherwise be on the fence about picking up a book. I’ve certainly been swayed by reviews, and it’s so cool to realize that readers have picked up my book as a result of reviews, too!
The reviews that stay with me
I’m not going to lie and say that negative reviews don’t affect me. They still sting, but they hurt less than they used to. Sometimes they make some good points, too, and if anything, they just show that books are subjective. Everyone’s experience is different!
But the reviews that really stay with me are the ones where I know this book found the right person. When someone writes that they stayed up late finishing my book, that they recommended it to a friend, or—my ultimate fave—that they cried reading it. These are the reviews that make me smile and know that my story was one worth telling.
So, dear reader…
I said it once, and I’ll say it again: your reviews matter. Really! You don’t have to write an essay, and honestly, it doesn’t have to even be that deep—just write from the heart about what you enjoyed and how the book made you feel. We authors thank you, because ultimately, every review is a part of our books’ journeys. You help new readers discover us, and sometimes, you remind us why we write in the first place.
It’s true, I’ll probably always have a complicated relationship with reviews—but I am so incredibly grateful that readers take the time to leave them. ❣️