And I thought I was nervous before when I self-published the original version, Gulliver Travels.
As I'm sure someone once said: "Daaaah you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Let me level with you, folks. This has been a scary and challenging time. A bittersweet one. There's the sweet victorious bit: my dream came true! I'm finally ACTUALLY published! There's a legitimate publishing powerhouse behind me and my book will be in the hands of thousands in no time!
But, then there's the tougher part: Oh shit... people who don't know me will be reading stuff that came from inside me... and judging me for it!
What I'm talking about, of course, are bad reviews. I have been getting my fair share of 1- and 2-star reviews since Gulliver Takes Manhattan was put into Amazon's VINE program - which is a great program that allows the site's top reviewers to get a free copy of the book, so long as they review it in advance on the site.
Well, while a handful of those reviews have been glowing and quote-worthy 5- and 4-star ones, some have been rather rough. I've been called a hack. The book has been called "Kensington Romance Trash." A reader in London said he only read through the book in the hopes that the main character would die.
Well then. You have to understand that this is tough. Yes YES I know that not everyone can love something. I get that. But, still, I've been so wonderfully supported since I self-published the novel, that I guess I got stupid and assumed EVERYONE would love it.
But BUT I have found some consolation. Let's look at some quotes...
That's one of 59 1-star reviews of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City. And as we all know, the 1-star reviews ensured that that book would never go anywhere, and Candace died in vain.
An additional note: Sex and the City has more 1-star reviews than it has any-other-star reviews. In fact, ALL of Bushnell's novels are panned by reviewers on Amazon. Seriously.
But wait. Let's go on.
"After finally finishing the book I realized "Oh, wow, that was such a page-turner, I'm surprised it wasn't some cheap dime-store pulp." I agree with many of the comments that I've read, but mostly the negative ones, which are severely lacking"
That is one of the 173 1- and 2-star reviews given to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
And then, one more... just because I need to:
"Do you like 2nd rate sex scenes/references?
Do you like main characters getting killed off or never catching a break?
Do you like the rug continually being pulled out from under you in the name of a sweeping epic?
Do you like books that have no individual goal to be resolved?
Do you like stories that end abruptly with no conclusion?
Then this series for you."
Well that's one of the 171 1-star reviews slathered onto Game of Thrones.
In the end, I suppose the point is exactly what I said in the beginning: People are going to hate what you do. I won't even get into Stephen King, who has more 1-star reviews on his novels than higher... and yet is one of the richest and most frequently published in the WORLD. Or other polarizing authors.
I just need to take a deep breath and stop doubting my talents and skills every time someone hits my Amazon page with a rough and rash review. ANYONE can say your plot is contrived. ANYONE can say your characters are 1-dimensional. Or there's no goal. Or there's no action. Or there's too much sex. Or not enough sex. Or they hope you never write again.
How do I know? Because I just read a bunch of them on the reviews of Candace Bushnell, JK Rowling, Stephen King, and George R.R. Martin.
So, let me brush this off and say this, readers: Let me be your inspiration. I STILL think you should put yourself out there. Whether it's as a writer, an artist, an actor, a musician, a whatever.
Allow me to add that you should expect haters, angry people, and those who think you are a hack.
Let me conclude by saying: work on building a thick skin and press on. You have to. And, when you start to feel some doubt, go to one of the most famous musicians, writers, directors, or whoever... and check out some of the 1-star reviews on their Amazon pages. It helps a little, and there's plenty of them.
xo Justin Luke
JustinLukeNYC.com
my philosophy on life is to accept any constructive criticism or praise that comes my way, but not to put too much weight behind anything not said by either a relatively close friend or a professional for whom I have a great respect for. And I tend to completely ignore any non-constructive criticisms, those to me are just hateful people trying to make a person feel bad for whatever reason. So I'd say ignore nonconstructive criticism, take constructive criticism but not too seriously unless you trust or respect the person, and take praise, fully from strangers and with a grain of salt from people you are very close to. But most important is what you think of whatever it is that you have done or attempted to do. If your happy with it, then praise helps bolster that, and constructive criticism helps you refine what you do, and the negative stuff doesn't matter at all. Just how I see life anyway. p.s when I get the extra cash I look forward to reading it, hopefully this month. I haven't read much gay literature but the ones I have I have generally enjoyed.
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