As a writer, I knew that I'd never be able to please everyone. I've always dreamed of being a published author, and although I never aspired to fame and fortune, I'd always hoped that folks would enjoy my books at the very least. I feel as though I'm a decent writer, maybe not as skilled or imaginative as my favorite big-name authors, but I think I do pretty well. I knew that there would always be those out there who would not like my work, whether because of the subject, the storyline, the characters, or my sentence structure. If I wanted to put my books out there, I had to be willing to endure the opinions of the masses, both good and bad.
Up to now, my reviews were pretty positive. Of course, the first people to read Mage's Burden were those who knew me, so they were far more likely to be supportive. However, I also got other reviews and positive feedback from folks I'd never met, so that got me pretty excited! I always want honest appraisals of my work, and I do a happy dance for every good review that I get.
Along with the good opinions, suddenly came the bad ones. In the last 2 days, it seems that a handful of people signed on to Goodreads.com as new members in order to review my book, and wow, they surely didn't like it at all. Comments about my writing skill, accusations of racism and sexism (seriously?!?), and even suggestions that my use of punctuation was off-putting. Fair enough. Everyone has a right to their opinion, even if it's one I don't share. It was a bit shocking to hear such negative comments on something that I had worked so hard to create. I want to tell a story of heroism, a battle of good versus evil, magick and monsters...this is supposed to be fun!
In thinking about all this, I realized that I don't like pumpkin pie. Honestly, I never have. Millions of people out there LOVE pumpkin pie. It's a staple at almost every Thanksgiving dinner, and I don't like it. I know there are others like me out there, but most folks enjoy it, and that's just fine. It's also fine that I don't. The fact that I don't like pumpkin pie doesn't change what the pie actually is, what it is meant to be, or the fact that so many love it. It's just my opinion. My favorite authors all have quite a few horrendously negative reviews sprinkled among the shining, positive comments, and they're doing just fine. You can't please everyone.
All in all, I'm grateful to each and every person who takes the time to read my book, whether or not they like it. I hope that more people like it than don't. Having someone write how much they hate my work isn't the end of the world. I plan to keep writing, keep working, and I'll improve my storytelling skills as I go.
Those of you reading this, if you've read my book and want to share an opinion, I'd truly love to hear it. Here are all the places you can write a review. As much as I'd like to ask for good reviews, I really just want honest ones.
Mage's Burden on Goodreads
Mage's Burden on Amazon.com
Mage's Burden on Barnes & Noble.com
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