When Reviews Really Matter

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Before I went to bed last night, I did something I don't normally do. I checked my reviews. That's a real double-edged sword when you're about to go to sleep. That's why I don't usually check them at night.

Every author has experienced the exhilaration of an awesome review and the despair caused by a less than favorable comment. An author I've always admired is the great Shel Silverstein, and he said he stopped reading reviews because if you're willing to accept the good ones, you should be prepared to accept the bad ones.

Rather than to stop reading them, I've chosen to learn from them. What made the reader like or dislike the book? This is the sixth book in the series, and I'm still learning. By now readers are generally coming back to my next book because they at least enjoyed the last one enough to keep reading the series, but sometimes I learn more about myself than I do about my writing. I've learned what really matters to me.

In the acknowledgments of Buried for Now I mentioned Tim & Teddy Moriarty. Tim wrote an email to me saying that he and his teenage son read my books together. That mattered to me because I had an impact on a father and son relationship, and I had a feeling from his email that his hope would be that I cared to know about that impact. He was so right. Was his email about my writing style or what I needed to do differently? No, it was about how I influenced their lives.

That's what I found last night when I checked my Amazon sale page and read this five star review from Lisa Greene:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So Worth It

March 1, 2019

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I stumbled onto this series by a set of random clicks. I stayed with this series because a story presented itself in a way that was intriguing and thought provoking. I have loved reading about characters and getting caught up into the suspense like they had become family members updating me at Christmas in a card. I don't like spoilers so I am going to end with a happy ENJOY

I don't know Lisa personally, so I can't picture her face, but what really matters to me about that review is that I can "feel" the smile. I MADE SOMEONE SMILE!

Yes, I know all caps is shouting, but that's what I want to do right now. I want to shout it out to everyone who reads this that I made a reader smile, and that really matters to me. Bob