I can't say that I'm feeling too joyous right now. I just got another review on Amazon and I am at a loss. Let me post the review:
This story goes from bad to worse. I kept reading to see if it got better, but no chance. The adoptive parents needed therapy as much as the child. A child that has lived four years of abuse needs extensive therapy, not surgery. The whole point of this story was to push the agenda of "transgender, find your inner sexual identity, I'm a boy/girl trapped in a boy/girl body crap". Abuse causes mental problems that can be resolved with counseling and therapy and a lot of love. A four year old who's parents dress him like a girl and call him a girl will be confused and surgically altering his body is a mistake. God help the child.
This "Review" is from God Bless the Child.
Many people might wonder why I ask for reviews all the time. This is the reason why. If you came across reviews like this, would you be eager to buy my book. I need 5-10 reviews to counteract this one.
God Bless the child is kind of my baby. It was the first thing where I said I am going to try to give my very best and tell a story that could explain being transgender. Many in the community realize they are transgender from an early age and wished there was intervention back then. I tried to come up with a compelling storyline to what would make a child change gender at an early age. So when I see reviews like this one, it hurts. There is a growing belief that you shouldn't respond to reviews yourself but I need to vent.
Okay. One, I didn't get the transgender agenda playbook, so I didn't know there was one. Could someone email me a copy. Find my inner sexual identity? No, it found me. I'm a girl trapped in a boy body crap? It is crap, it is a lot of pain and shame and confusion and a lot of bigotry too. I wanted to open some closed minds, not I just want to tuck my tail and hide. I could be writing a nice baseball story and having fun with zombies or space aliens. No, I got to get reviews like this. Grr. I so want to give up writing right now.
Comments
Why?
Katie,
Why are you letting this get under your skin? There are 7 billion humans on this planet. They are all different.
Yet, you want univeral popularity?
It ain't gonna happen.
Take your royalties to the bank. Accept all compliments gracefully, and ignore the rejections. Keep writing, keep loving, keep on keeping on.
Red MacDonald
Don't let a bad review hurt you
I read the review in question. The reviewer seems to be reviewing the subject matter more than the book itself. It isn't a helpful review. She should tell is why she was attracted to the book and what in the book didn't work for her.
I mostly write reviews for non-fiction and I try to be specific in my negatives. I reviewed a book called a The Medieval World: An Illustrated Atlas' and pointed out that it wasn't really an atlas. I gave it 4 stars anyway.
You are going to get negative reviews in Amazon, some of the most successful books written get their share of bad reviews on Amazon.
x
...nevermind. others said it way better
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
huggles, Katie
I'm sorry they're so closed minded. Some people are all "don't confuse me with facts, I've already made up my mind", and there's just not much you can do about them but rise above them.
If I remember correctly
In the book, Jeremy/Jenny IS in counseling, which the reviewer seems to think is a magic wand that solves all problems. So, I'd say this mook didn't even READ the book but just the subject matter and stuck his head up his ass so he could see to write.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
The fact he made it a rant about transgender people...
...and not about the story made me come to the same conclusion you did, Erin. His opinion, therefore, counts for nothing.
I'm reminded of one woman's Amazon review of Dierdre McCloskey's "Crossing." Rather than review the book, she turned her "review" into an excuse to publicly rant about transgender people in general--and her trans ex-spouse in particular. I don't think she even mentioned McCloskey's name during her diatribe. She got a "Not Helpful" from me. I expect a reviewer to review the book, not the author.
Now to Katie: sometimes I think you might be my clone. We're both the sort of people who, when confronted with 23 positive comments and one negative one, will obsess over the lone negative one. As far as I'm concerned, the mere fact you have been able to write not just one complete book, but--what, seven, or is it eight now?--that alone is a monumental feat. I'm still too scared to write my first, after all.
You did more than that, though. Every single one of your books and stories (and that even includes "How Life Can Change") has a storyline that makes the reader want more.
You're a published author. You're doing what you love to do, what you were born to do, and making if not a fortune, a steady income from it. I think it's far more than that idiot can say.
Livin' A Ragtime Life,
Rachel
review
Katie, I think between erins and red macdonalds replies there could not be a better answer. youll never please all of the people all the time. keep up your good work.
robert
G.I.G.O.
“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
Thomas Edison.
Unfortunately, at LEAST 95% of people feel qualified to "review" and judge someone else's hard works without any consideration of their own abilities (or lack thereof). Do the math, and judge for yourself how much weight to give any random selection of commentary.
For myself, if I feel I don't have a valid contribution to make, I will limit myself to tapping the Kudo/Good Story button. I am not homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered ... thus, in a great majority of instances I will be keeping my peace. It has been my experience that conflict and crisis generates interesting, often thought-provoking and almost universally engaging story-telling. THIS is what draws me here, and I am rarely disappointed.
If I were to offer advice on this matter, if you ever encounter the words "(fill-in-the-blank) agenda" ANYWHERE, feel free to ignore and/or bitch-slap (whatever response seems most appropos) the offender.
I wish I would get one review
I wish I would get one review on Amazon, good or bad I don't care. Just to know that someone cared enough to leave a review.
Valentine
To be honest, I didn't even know you had a book. What is the title, what name is it written under. Don't hold out on us.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
It's written under Valentine.
It's written under Valentine. http://astore.amazon.com/bigcloset-rec-20/search?node=1&keyw...
The story is posted here, and I added the tag so that it will show up in the Big Closet Kindle Store.
Don't take it to heart
Easily said, I know, goodness knows bad reviews drive me round the twist, but it's clear that this review wasn't about the book but about the subject matter - clearly someone with an anti-transgender playbook. Even if that wasn't true, the best of writers are simply not going to appeal to some people. Console yourself with the thought that if Shakespeare was alive today that reviewer would be denouncing "Twelfth Night" for the crossdressing motif!
Polly
Is the anti-transgender
Is the anti-transgender playbook published by the same people publishing the pro-transgender playbook? :)
Katie I do agree with everyone else, this 'reviewer' was going to attack your story no matter what you had written. He'd denounce the Bible if the robes were described as dresses.
You do realize that .....??
You do realize that this sort of review is from the kind of people that have already decided that the proper way to treat transgenderism is as a mental illness to be cured, and to convince the transgendered person that their physical birth sex is their gender, period, end of story, no other arguments accepted. What you are seeing is a review form one of this closed minds that is padlocked shut. You can't change those, but you can get to some that are simply unenlightened.
There will always be some who dislike and give bad reviews every work out there. You need to accept that. Otherwise you will give up writing, which I urge you not to. Think of it this way, the ones who like your stories and the ones who's minds are opened to new possibilities by them are worth way more then those whose minds are padlocked shut.
.
About Reviews, just something to give some perspective:
The original review for "Star Wars"(by a professional) was the following.
"An intergalactic toy store of junk
Don't let the haters get you down.
*huggles*
~ Hypatia >i< ..:::