Putting your heart into your work without risking it being stabbed to death by bad reviews, low sales, or other's opinions can be the most challenging aspect of any artist's career. Especially in erotica opinions abound and many readers - and many non-readers too for that matter - feel they have the obligation to share that opinion.
Take in case the fiasco we had this last spring with Paypal demanding the removal of certain erotic topics from sites all around and the running backlash of some erotic romance sites. Even people that once "supported" the more intense writings of Taboo, Fantasy, and Rape were suddenly hating on it. Thanks in large part to the opinion of Smashwords and going over Paypal's head their opinions were left at that. OPINIONS.
Many author's - especially indie authors - feel that any review is a good review, even if the reader spends the entirety of it bashing our book. Luckily my "worst" reviews have only been at 3 of 5 stars and were graded down because I write very short pieces. But I have been a part of enough writer's groups that I feel I would be fine being told "your work sucks" because frankly I have been told it. To the face. In person. There is nothing like pouring your heart and soul into a story and being incredibly proud of it only to have your peers read it and have them all point out its flaws and tell you its lacking. The hope you can have with those reviews is it will tell you where its lacking.
Was your dialogue falling short? Was your setting too unbelievable? Any time I put a bad review out (which is relatively rare as I usually put out reviews for favorites or not at all) I will attempt to give the author constructive criticism.
Too Deep: A Third Rape Fantasy was originally scheduled for release This Friday - but my editor sent it back with comments that it felt choppy and too fast. So I set it aside for my husband to help with - he's an expert of pointing out ways I could transition better, in fact we've considered co-writing a few times, but his time restraints prevent him. So Too Deep will come out later, and I will work on other projects until then, allowing for us to ensure a level of quality.
Take in case the fiasco we had this last spring with Paypal demanding the removal of certain erotic topics from sites all around and the running backlash of some erotic romance sites. Even people that once "supported" the more intense writings of Taboo, Fantasy, and Rape were suddenly hating on it. Thanks in large part to the opinion of Smashwords and going over Paypal's head their opinions were left at that. OPINIONS.
Many author's - especially indie authors - feel that any review is a good review, even if the reader spends the entirety of it bashing our book. Luckily my "worst" reviews have only been at 3 of 5 stars and were graded down because I write very short pieces. But I have been a part of enough writer's groups that I feel I would be fine being told "your work sucks" because frankly I have been told it. To the face. In person. There is nothing like pouring your heart and soul into a story and being incredibly proud of it only to have your peers read it and have them all point out its flaws and tell you its lacking. The hope you can have with those reviews is it will tell you where its lacking.
Was your dialogue falling short? Was your setting too unbelievable? Any time I put a bad review out (which is relatively rare as I usually put out reviews for favorites or not at all) I will attempt to give the author constructive criticism.
Too Deep: A Third Rape Fantasy was originally scheduled for release This Friday - but my editor sent it back with comments that it felt choppy and too fast. So I set it aside for my husband to help with - he's an expert of pointing out ways I could transition better, in fact we've considered co-writing a few times, but his time restraints prevent him. So Too Deep will come out later, and I will work on other projects until then, allowing for us to ensure a level of quality.
RSS Feed
