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If you’re an author, whether of fiction or nonfiction, one of the things you must learn is how to deal with negative feedback.

As soon as a novel (or book in general) reaches a public audience, it becomes a potential subject of critique. Most authors welcome that – or at least they claim they do! And yet, what they really are after is not feedback but positive feedback.

To an extent this is human nature. Most people would prefer to hear good words and praises about their work, not criticism and reasons why someone thought it was bad. But you can’t please everyone – neither should you try – and hence it’s inevitable that negative feedback is something that you, as a writer, will have to deal with sooner or later.

In today’s article I show you how to deal with negative feedback. Sneak preview: it’s not what you think it is!

What is Negative Feedback

This might sound self-obvious, yet let’s take a moment to separate a few things, because before we deal with how to deal with negative feedback, we should have a clear view of them. I’ll place the following statement in a fancy quotation box to emphasize it:

Negative feedback and a critical review are two vastly different things.

Take a look at my article on learning how to review fairly. I then said how “A fair and honest book review cannot be predicated on whether you liked the novel or not”. In other words, there is a differentiation we need to make here.

Whereas negative feedback can be as simple and short as “I didn’t like the book”, a critical review is a much more elaborate, and more objective analysis of what occurs in the narrative. At least, it ought to be.

In which way is that important? Because the best way to deal with negative feedback is to simply… ignore it.

Ignore Feedback, Process Criticism

Feedback is something I personally always ignore. I would be a liar if I claimed I didn’t prefer someone liking my work to someone disliking it, but the life of either feeling can be counted in seconds. A feedback in the style of “I liked it” (or 5 stars) makes me think “cool” for a few moments. One in the style of “I disliked it” (or 1 star) makes me think “screw it”, again for a few moments.

I pay no attention to feedback, in the sense that it neither affects me nor inspires me to change anything. The reason is that feedback is subjective.

Criticism, on the other hand, is where you, as a writer, should focus on. The fairer the criticism is – that is, the more objective – the more you should pay attention and process it. Processing means to reflect on it and then decide for yourself whether you need to do something different. You might decide that you will not and that’s alright too.

So, How Do I Deal with Negative Criticism?

The term “negative criticism” might sound like a tautology, but that’s only because the word “criticism” has acquired negative connotations. It doesn’t need to be so.

Criticism – especially if it’s fair and objective – is a godsend to the author. Even experienced authors need a little perspective and a fresh pair of eyes, and an objective, fair piece of criticism can be crucial in finding out what works and what, perhaps, doesn’t. It’s all subjective, still, but using beta readers can help you in that sense.

And so, in our context, “negative criticism” should mean a fair an objective review of your work that points out problem areas and things that can be improved. To “deal” with it, all you have to do is assess the points it raises as objectively as possible. Here’s a short checklist for you to keep in mind:

• Remember, a critique of your work is not a critique of you as a person. Don’t feel offended or taken aback by what you read, and disassociate your feelings from your decision-making.
• Even well-meaning, fair criticism cannot be entirely objective. Learn to filter out those details that indicate author preference.
• At the end of the day, only you know what works and what doesn’t. Perhaps a reviewer thought that A doesn’t work and suggests B. It’s up to you to decide, should you stick with A, perhaps go for B, or use C instead.