By Vincent B. Davis II @vbdavisii

“This was simply not a well-written novel”.

My jaw dropped as I read the sentence. I was stunned. How could anyone think that? My book had been out for nearly a month and hadn’t received a single negative review. I had previously believed (if only in my subconscious) that I had found the magic formula for the perfect book that was above negative reviews. Perhaps I had clicked on the wrong book?

“No mystery, excitement, or important events.”

One of UK readers commented. Ouch. It’s one thing to have tough skin when working with beta-readers and editors, who are trying to help you improve, and another thing entirely to read those words as a declaration of fact!

“I did not like it”.

This was the entire review from one of my UK readers. If it was professional to insert emoji’s into a blog, I would place a crying one here. Or perhaps a crying laughing one, because it is rather funny when you think about it.

So, some people love me. Some like me. Others dislike me. Others probably think I should quit trying. That all makes sense. But how do I decipher this into an understanding of whether or not my book is any good, or whether I am cut out to be a writer? Is it simply whether you have more good reviews than bad ones? Or perhaps it is the vehemence that the reviewer argues their points? How?

In my opinion, you simply don’t. Fortunately, as some of these negative reviews began to trickle in, I attended a conference at which a speaker talked about ratings/reviews, and what little value they have. Marcus Buckingham has spent years on the topic. Apparently, in the world of psychometrics, this is an established fact about reviews. He and other experts call it the Idiosyncratic Rater Effect, and it shows that most of a review tells you more about the reviewer than the product, service, or person they are reviewing.

In one studying performed by Mr. Buckingham, which included over 4,000 participants, results show that 54% of reviews are determined by nothing other than the Idiosyncratic Rater Effect. Put in simpler terms, this is whether the reviewer tends to view products, services, or people positively or negatively. In the same study, it showed that only 25% of a review actually had anything to do with the ratee performance.

I have found this to be true in my own experience. Having looked at some of my reviewer’s other posts, there is almost always a tendency for these people to review things a certain way, be it good or bad.

We can never forget that these were written by individuals, just like us. And reviewers do not live in a bubble. Some days they feel down or sick, and you caught them on that day. Perhaps they just got a job interview and on top of the world. Maybe their spouse is leaving them. Perhaps they’re falling in love.

These are extremes, and there are certainly more consistent, less situational factors that determine how we see things in life. But, I hope that this will help mellow some of our reactions to strong reviews, no matter what they say.

As a caveat to all of this, there is still the 25% of a review that is explained by nothing but your story, your characters, your delivery. This is the 25% you want to focus on. There is true, valuable information in these reviews to help make us better authors and communicators. We just have to search through the rest to find it.

This doesn’t mean you get to pick what you like or look at only good reviews. This means that you read all of your reviews.

This actually means that you read all of your reviews. And with a grain of salt, you remember that these are individuals living lives just like us. Then, when you find that a few of your flaws are brought up consistently, or that a certain strength is highlighted multiple times, you know what to focus on. That’s your 25%.

Vincent B. Davis II is an entrepreneur, soldier, and freelance writer. In December 2016, he founded Thirteenth Press, LLC. His first novel, “The Man with Two Names” is available on Amazon now. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or on his website at vincentbdavisii.com. He loves hearing from other authors! If you would like to be featured on Blueridgeconference.com, e-mail him at vincent@thirteenthpress.com with the subject line “Blog Query”.