How to Handle Criticism

24th June

Authors have a fantastic job of writing things down and putting these stories out for the world to see. People read our work all the time but sometimes their response to it isn't what we had hoped for. Writers love to get feedback off their fans, who doesn't love it when someone else thinks their fabulous? But what happens when people leave negative remarks or spiteful comments. How are you going to deal with them?

1. The most important thing to do is keep everything said in perspective. Negative feedback is not how the entire world sees your writing. It is one persons view. There are people out there who won't agree with the review because every single person is different. And unfortunately this means that there will always be negative feedback towards your writing, as well as all the positive reviews. No matter what we write, there will always be people who dislike it.

2. Look for positives. Once you're over the initial sting of the criticism, read the review again. Is there anything that's constructive that you can learn from? Does the person try to help you with advice? Thank them if they do and keep their advice in mind. If it's a personal attack then nothing can be gained from listening to their spiteful remarks so the best thing you can do is move on.

3. Do not stoop down to their level. If the criticism was malicious, just ignore it. If you don't respond at all, the person responsible for the attack can't get any more pleasure from seeing you hurt. Dealing with these sorts of people is usually just a waste of energy anyway. Direct your energy towards more positive things instead.

4. Don't let it get to you. After we've seen harsh criticism, our confidence is knocked. We don't want to write anymore, we don't want to promote our next book. But if we don't write anymore we have let this person win. Don't let that happen.

Remember, if our work is available online there are more opportunities for negative criticism. People who post nasty remarks often do so because they can remain completely annonymous. They might not feel so brave if everyone knew who they were.