Once upon a time ...

A few weeks ago, I promised you a story ... 

Once upon a time there was a published author who read every review and checked her review ratings each week. Other authors told her she shouldn't read them as their confidence was knocked, if they received a poor review. But this brave little author continued to read her reviews because each written review gave her an insight into what her readers were looking for in her books, their likes, their dislikes and what they wished to read more of. She took notes and planned accordingly.

She continued to read her reviews, taking the good with the bad. She noticed certain patterns in the written reviews and the star ratings. She noticed that negative comments and one star ratings were being made for each book by readers called Claudia, Claude, Claud and Clawed - this seemed very strange. Why could she not please these particular readers with various books? But she took it on the chin, never moaned, didn't complain and didn't mention it to anyone, for quite a while. A long while, in fact. Until the day she did. She told a group of authors on a writing retreat. The other authors were genuinely shocked, surprised and offered her many kind words hoping that Claudia, Claude, Claud and Clawed might one day like her writing. She mentioned it to some others over dinner. Word got around, and over time several other people mentioned to her that they'd heard her tale about Claudia, Claude, Claud and Clawed. And that's when this author noticed a new pattern - written reviews by Claudia, Claude, Claud and Clawed stopped! Many previous reviews were even deleted. The end. 

Note: this brave little author continues to read every written review and notices the star ratings.

I share this story because it came as a shock when I realised in this wonderful world of books that not everyone has your back. Not everyone wants your book to be a success, not everyone smiles at the praise you receive on social media, celebrates your book launch or supports you during NaNoWriMo. Do I think Claudia, Claude, Claud and Clawed have disappeared - nope, I don't. Though I'll continue to live happily-ever-after simply writing my books and supporting my author-friends!