The Anti-Promotional Poster

TODAY I STARTED working on a few images I could share on social media.
After a while, I got bored of fixating on the positives. I know my books aren’t perfect. No book is (except maybe LOTR and War and Peace. Yes, I’m a nerd).
So, I thought, just for shits and giggles, why not share some images of the most damning reviews I’ve received to date for my two novels PATHFINDERS and SIGIL?
I think us writers have a tendency to brush over the negatives and give a myopic impression that everything is wonderful. The truth is, it’s a struggle. Reviews are the lifeblood of our success so receiving a bad one sure does stings. That’s the game we’re in though with so many book options out there crying out ‘pick me!‘.
In any case, I thought this would be a nice bit of light relief. 🙂


 
If you enjoyed reading either of these books, you can leave a review on their page (Pathfinders, Sigil) and help restore balance to the Reid Universe.

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20 Responses

  1. I can’t decide whether to love or hate this. xD
    I think this idea is so cute, and way to take a negative and turn it into a positive. As a writer, I dread the bad reviews that will inevitably come, but I also accept they are a way of life. The one about *whispers* you-know-who *clears throat* made me laugh. I just can’t imagine anyone childish enough to leave a one-star review for that. I mean, obviously they exist, but really.
    As Rosepoint above me said, if I’m ever tempted to leave less than three stars, I generally just don’t leave the review. In the grand scheme of things, not every book is written for me (sadly — what a shame), and there will just be books that aren’t my cup of tea. It’s why I have a Did Not Finish list. Can’t like everything that’s out there. Sad fact of life. If I manage to make a brain control tool that makes everyone write according to my tastes, though, I’ll let you know. Until then, I suppose I’ll just have to accept that the world doesn’t revolve around me. Shucks. 😉

    1. It’s either laugh or cry with bad reviews Sammie! Ideally things balance out over time. Brain control tool that makes everyone write according to your tastes…what is it the advice I’ve heard given to writers? Write the book you’d want to read. I’d love to read ‘The Simple Author Blueprint to quitting your job and making millions as a writer’. One can only hope!

  2. OMG, i’m so sorry you got reviews like that. as a reviewer, if i find that the book is so bad i can’t finish, i notify the author, but do NOT leave a review, and do not remember ever leaving less than a 3*–that’s my point. as a couple others have said, maybe they didn’t understand, but shouldn’t have trashed it. there might be 5 more who thinks it’s better than sliced bread. keep plugging away; glad you can look at it with a sense of humor!

    1. That’s a nice policy to adopt. I think most author would appreciate constructive feedback like that too instead of hit with the blunt stick. Thanks for visiting and commenting ☺

  3. Totally agree on Lord of the Rings — that’s about as close to perfection as it gets. Thanks for following my budding book review blog (River of Reads), and I agree that these readers seemed a little out of their depth 🙂

  4. It’s good to have a sense of humor about these things. It seems like at least a few of the readers were reading out of their comfort zone and/or didn’t know how to read.
    Thank you for following my book review blog, Contemplate and Intimate, earlier today.

  5. Uhh, not even LOTR for me… for real. One of my famous DNF books of all times. Your books were not on my radar yet, but I love thrillers so will give it a go 🙂

      1. Oh, that’s a hard one! I don’t like to commit and declare favourites, but probably anything written by Stephen King would be on the list if I had one 🙂

  6. Those are some funny “bad” reviews. 4 out of 5 on both books ain2bad. I still haven’t jumped through the many fires in my kindle to get to these two gems, but when I do, tharrr’ll be sumpin’said ’bout ’em. I think I can definitely close my eyes when Jesus and Christ profanities happen in Sigil, but I don’t know if I can get beyond that dreamy Pathfinders cover. It just takes me to soooo many places before efforts are made to touch my digit on the glass and open the virtual book. I am one of them weird wired ones that likes to read everything from start to finish (and as a kid would even read the isbn code just to prove it); that one’s a portal for me, so I like to meditate/dream on the cover a bit first, absorb, shake it, sniff at it, turn it over and around etc.. I may even have some blazing world adventures first as I keep the cover in crystal (poster-on-wall) memory. So, I guess I could say Pathfinders already took me to a place of dreaming and motivated me to walk amongst the earthlings a bit more before I even get to the REAL plane, or place inside the cover. How’s that for a review? Since some who left one never even got through the read, eh? Ok, arm twisted. I’ll go over and post (under ‘AliceLost-got stuck in the hole’ for reference).

    1. 4 out of 5 om both books isn’t bad if I had 100’s of them, though I don’t, but it’s a marathon not a sprint. So they keep telling me. With such glowing praise, I hope Pathfinders won’t fall flat on its face now 🙂 It’s the second cover I’ve used for it actually. The first looked like someone had a bloody nose and wiped it on the sleeve. It wasn’t bad but it was just a little too ‘out there’. Happy reading Sabell and thanks for taking the time to comment!

  7. I still have to finish your reading your books, Aidan! Now that I got my iPad back from the hubby, I can and will leave a review as soon as I finish!

  8. OK, so I know the “devout” one read the books, but did the others? I read both and found them
    1. interesting
    2. well-written
    3. compelling at times (I read Sigil in one day and didn’t get to sleep for hours afterwards…just waiting…for???)
    4. amusing and downright funny at times
    mind-stretching (ok, that lucid dreaming thing got me researching it)
    well developed characters
    just enough descriptive scenery to make me see it and not get annoyed with it
    Maybe you should make sure the ones reading the books can read past the third grade level? oh wait, that’s impossible.

      1. oh if that were only true! i do tend to get a bit….well, annoyed is the best word I can think of when someone slams something I happen to like.