Ego searching on one's work

[scarlettina]

It's dreadful to find bad reviews of one's work online. As an editor, I hated it when reviewers didn't like a book by one of my authors; I always felt responsible, as if I was being told I missed something important. And then I'd go for days reminding myself that book reviewing is a subjective art, what works for some doesn't work for others, and one person's opinion is one person's opinion. I always took everything so personally. As for finding reviews of my own writing, well, my short fiction has rarely provoked a review, and it has been published so infrequently (yes, yes, I can do something about that), that I haven't really sought reviews of it (although one [relatively] recent experience bore tasty fruit). Of course, you know, being rational about this sort of thing can be a pointless exercise but one does try.

Last year, I edited a collection of essays on worldbuilding for Kobold Press. I looked for reviews briefly, but stopped when I found one review that singled out my own essay in the volume as not belonging there. Whether or not that reviewer was correct (I and my publisher both disagreed, obviously, as we'd included it), it stopped me from trying to discover what other people thought of the volume. Whether or not it was right, that one review made me feel like a failure.

But last week, after a conversation with the_monkey_king about the possibility of putting together another book on a different subject, I decided to suck it up and try to discover what people thought of the book (forgetting entirely that the book did win two ENnie Awards). I was pleased with what I found--and I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“Class is in session . . . The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding SHOULD be considered a textbook on intelligent setting creation.”--Dave Hinojosa, The Gaming Gang

"A fantastic resource"--Skyland Games

“While the book is aimed at the RPG crowd, a huge percentage of the material would be just as valuable to an author writing a novel set in an original world. . . . For anyone who’s ever had the drive to create a fictional place . . . The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding will spark some new ideas and help you add the proper doses of verisimilitude and outlandishness.”--Ed Grabianowski, i09

So . . . maybe it is time for another collection, and maybe I shouldn't be so timid about reviews. They are what they are. When they're bad, they're awful. But when they're good? Ah, the sweet smell of success!

Comments

[bedii.livejournal.com]

Remember that when Burt Lancaster and Richard Brooks were developing the Elmer Gantry script Sinclair Lewis told Lancaster "Don't forget to look at the reviews that came out on publication. There were some pretty good reviewers then and they said useful things." The key here, I'd say, would be to look over past work by the reviewer before taking their opinions to heart--Lewis had the luxury (?) of being reviewed by Mencken, a ship that has sailed.

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

Opinion really is often just opinion.

Short of obvious stuff like horrible grammar.

Just because I like science fiction doesn't mean I automatically like ALL science fiction.

As someone who hates to hear negative commentary on pretty much anything I do, I spend lots of time reminding myself that opinion is just opinion, and I should look for concrete, 'this can be fixed' sort of problems.

Most of the time, it is just an opinion. Even if I have to spend hours convincing myself of that.

*HUGS*

[oldmangrumpus.livejournal.com]

He probably didn't like cuz you're a girl. Screw him.