I noticed this morning that Identity had a new review on Amazon, so I clicked over to see what the reader had to say.
This was not one of those “Wow, this book is awesome, I must find everything this author has written” kind of reviews. It was two stars — my very first two-star review on Amazon.
Some authors freak out over negative reviews, writing scathing responses to the reader, recruiting their friends to vote the review as “not helpful,” and generally making asses of themselves.
When I read about that kind of behavior, I think, “Wow, I guess you’ve never been in a book club. The book has yet to be written that appeals to everyone.”
(Raise your hand if you’ve ever recommended one of your favorites to your book club and been crushed when someone hated it. It happened to me with two different favorites in the same book club!)
If I were to interact with my two-star reviewer, here’s what I’d say: “Thanks for taking the time to read Identity, and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I’m heartened that you found most of the book engaging, but I’m sorry the ending didn’t give you all the answers you were looking for and disappointed you. I’m especially sorry you ended up feeling that you’d wasted your time. I wish I could make it up to you.”