A critic said my book was SHIT!
My feelings about my one star book review
In 2016 I published my first (very vulnerable) ‘poetic memoir’. I spilled my guts in this book. I almost felt like I was dying a bit while writing it. Although it was also saving my life.
It took me a year to feel brave enough to publish it.
It felt like a large feat getting this book up and OUT of me.
Check out this ONE STAR REVIEW I got after publishing it.
It’s quite embarrassing sharing this review but I want to share it because I became a far stronger writer afterwards.
Also I want to share it because a few of my writer friends have mentioned how some trolls have thrown them under the bus about their writing. They seemed really freaked out about it.
Please remember, we will ALWAYS have haters. Anyone who’s brave enough to throw their work out there — Brave enough to publish something has to risk this sort of thing happening. SOMEONE WILL HATE YOU and your work.
I have finally gotten used to my critics and I KNOW it is part of the game.
I want to let anyone know who might be afraid of criticism that you will get over it and you might even get more motivated after receiving it.
Ok, here’s the lovely review. By the way I bolded the parts that make me laugh. The bolded comments were total B.S. I can say now.
Amazon Customer(Anonymous)
1.0 out of 5 stars MICHELLE MONET IS NOT A POET: THIS IS A FRIENDS AND FAMILY BOOK
September 7, 2016
The headline says it all. If you actually read and love poetry, then this nor any of Michelle’s is for you. This is novice work, written by a novice (I had the word amateur there too but I don’t even think she has reached that level yet either), and the fact that it can sell at $15 is ethically perplexing as well as disappointing.
The woman claims to just “do the work”, and she clearly states that she just discovered and started writing poetry. She has no experience and no prior knowledge or formal education about writing poetry, and to anybody that has respect for literature/poetry this is actually an atrocity. The literary market is weighed down and it will never stop with a world full of Michelle Monets. Her site says shes working on a 3rd and 4th book too?
Anyhow, do the work Michelle. Do the work that real poets do for years to study and learn the craft (and write at least hundreds upon hundreds of poems before you write something half decent like an actual poet) before you just throw some words on paper and call it art.
NOTE: People writing these positive reviews are almost guaranteed to be primarily friends and family members. Nobody that actually reads poetry is reading this. Save your money, and better yet you can get an entire year’s subscription to a lit mag with REAL poetry! Rattle is one of the best and is about $20 a year! I’d suggest that!
After I saw this review I was like WTF?!?!
It felt like getting punched hard in the stomach by Mike Tyson!
It shocked me a bit but then my boyfriend said “You know what? If someone hates you THAT MUCH you must be doing something right!”
“HUH? What do you mean?”
He said, ‘Anyone who takes the time out of their day to write how shitty you are means you got a rise out of them. So, you ARE making a difference! You ARE a real writer now!!”
That meant a lot to me. I’m so glad I have a smart boyfriend who never has taken much personally!
I was so damn proud of that book, honestly. It was a heartfelt piece of my soul that I was sharing with the world. I worked my ass (and fingers off) getting it done. It took almost a year to write it and to get the bravery to publish it.
After I got this shitty one star ‘anonymous’ review it could’ve discouraged me but — guess what? It eventually mooootivated me to keep writing even more.
Now I write on a steady basis.
It is said to never ever respond to a negative review directly so I didn’t.
I do want to point out that the statement, ‘She hadn’t had prior knowledge or formal education?” is INSANE. I mean, who the heck goes to ‘poetry school’?? I learned poetry from my ‘school of hard knocks’ anyway.
Also the comment that I should do the work (well I HAVE done the work), and that I should write ‘at least hundreds and hundreds of poems..” welllll…
I DID that too.
I’ve published 4 poetry books with far more than three hundred poems in them . lol. So, do I get to call myself a ‘real poet’ now? FUCK OFF!
(Ok I’m done ranting! That was fun.hehe)
I decided to write a tribute poem to this Anonymous Critic in my book, Word Explosion called ODE TO ANONYMOUS CRITIC.
I felt it was a perfect response to his/her comments.
It felt redemptive.
I didn’t stay anonymous either. I am brave enough to sign my name to all my work.
THANKS FOR READING! www.michellemonet.com
After publishing this a friend suggested I post some of my glowing reviews too. My book did get over 60 reviews. I’ve heard that any poetry book getting 65 reviews is almsot unheard of, so I am rather proud. 85% were 5 star. If you’d like to see them they are all here: https://www.amazon.com/Catch-Poem-Tale-Poetic-Memoir/product-reviews/1535295031/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_hist_5?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=five_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar
This review came in shortly after that scathing 1 star. I like this one a lot:
Sept 18, 2016 5 stars out of 5 Erin rated it. It was amazing!
“To be honest, I’m unsure of why I didn’t write a review right when I finished this book. Maybe it would have meant more than because you’ll hear my thoughts from the very moment I finished.
I LOVED THESE POEMS!
This book hasn’t left my mind since I finished it two or three months ago. Maybe I hadn’t wrote this review because I didn’t know what to say. I was scared of saying anything wrong that would ruin how greatly this book touched me. But it did reach it’s fingers out to me, it took my hand and showed me a path, a journey, showed me I was someone. I could do something. It helped show me that times go bad, don’t give up, get up, get stronger, lean on someone sometimes.
These poems saved my life in a way I never thought possible and for that I thank Michelle Monet, the outstanding writer of them all.”
Thanks for reading Writers Guild — A Smedian publication
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