If you’ve recently written and published a book and started to receive traction on it – you may notice that you’re getting reviews, both negative and positive.
You should know that even well-renowned books have negative reviews. Books that are considered classics or great literature have many negative reviews. Why?
Expectations
Because expectations play a huge role in our perspective of a book. If you believed that a book would be a five-star, phenomenal read and then get it home and actually read it and find out it’s a three-star book in your view, that is going to dampen your thoughts on book and because your expectations weren’t met – you may review it at a lower rating with a negative rating.
But the opposite can happen as well. If you believe that a book is going to be a zero or one-star read and you have little to no interest in the content – if for some reason you pick it up and begin reading, you may find yourself actually enjoying it. Finding the information inside valuable. Suddenly the one-star book that you thought it was has now become a four or five-star book because it far surpassed your expectations.
Motive
Sometimes there are incentives given to a reader in exchange for a review. Such as the exchange of a free book for a review. This means the reader is more likely to leave a review (positive or negative) because there is an incentive to do so.
However, the biggest thing at play is association or disassociation. When someone really believes in something (like a book), they’ll do everything they can to associate with it, including leaving a positive rating and review for it. They’ll share that review, maybe even share the product. They want people to know they endorse it. On the flip side, if someone finds a product to go against what they believe in or finds it unsatisfactory, they too, want to be heard. They want people to know that they disliked the product. That they feel others shouldn’t like the product either – resulting in a negative rating and review. They want to disassociate with the product.
It’s important to remember you can’t please everyone. If your positive reviews outweigh your negative reviews, you shouldn’t spend too much time or energy focusing on it. If you have more negative reviews than positive ones, you may want to evaluate the common themes and try to revise or edit your product to improve.
Resources & Helpful Tools
eBooks
Business Launch Pad Book
Build a Profitable Blog Business from Scratch
