# Reacting to lack of reviews?



## DeadHorus (Jul 1, 2010)

How do you normally cope to a lack of reviews to your particular piece of fiction or non fiction? I currently need some help with this as I tend to just give up on it.


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## jinxtigr (Jul 1, 2010)

What type of thing is it? I never got reviews, I got complaints and readers. Past a certain point I just ended up with readers. They never talk to me but the numbers grew... it seems like sometimes you don't get praise, the praise is either people returning, or things like this- a guy's hard drive crashed and he emailed me begging for a copy of a book I'd written ten years ago. That was the praise- he needed it back, just to have on his disk.

It's funny because as a personality I DO need reassurance. I had a really shitty childhood in lots of ways and I'm really the last person who should be trying to stand on his own paws and do stuff without encouragement- but I do, day after day. Maybe ten years from now I'll get some guy emailing me who needs a copy of what I'm doing NOW, as if it were life or death. I can tell you I'm at close to 100,000 words and there's nobody who's said a word of encouragement, and I'm doing it publically and have 75-100 readers a day without any sort of advertising or promotion. 

That's 13,000 page visits, 5,000 absolute unique visitors, 65,000 pageviews since I started the novel version and zero reviews or even complaints. No mentions anywhere on the web that I can find. I STILL have more people reading daily than I can fit into the room in which I'm sitting, and I'm kind of letting them drift off to see who stays interested on the strength of the work alone with no encouragement of any other kind...

You might consider not giving up on it?  It seems like one of the prerequisites for this is ability to keep doing it without immediate reward. If you do manage to do something good, that's forever, and surely that counts for something?


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## Term_the_Schmuck (Jul 1, 2010)

90% of what I see as revisions for writing is stuff that we already know is wrong with our story that you're just looking for confirmation from other people that we were trying to get away with, if that makes sense.

The best thing you can do with a lack of people commenting on your writing is to be your own worst critic at times.  After you write your first draft, review it and look for where you think you didn't put enough detail, to much, made metaphors that don't work, etc.

I'd recommend, if you ever get the chance, to be part of a writer's workshop in any facet.  Usually the point of those is for people to give feedback on works that other people do, including yours in an effort for everyone to improve themselves, both as writers and critics.  I recently wrote a short story as part of a workshop I was in and got great feedback from other writers about what worked, what didn't and how I could cleave/expand on.  I'd post it, but it's not furry related soooooo.  :/

Power through it, dude.


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## Rakuen Growlithe (Jul 1, 2010)

I just get depressed. I still keep working though and hoping for comments. It's all worth it when someone does like you do. It's also a good idea to post widely. You also find that different sites give totally different reviews.


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## VÃ¶lf (Jul 1, 2010)

I live. I hardly get any reviews anyhow XD

Although when I do get a comment, I can feel that little bit of happiness in my heart. And then about five minutes later it goes away, and I'm back to normal again.


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## Glitch (Jul 2, 2010)

I don't go into any writing with high hopes.
Yay pessimism!


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## reian (Jul 2, 2010)

Well, I have a built in review system as my mate does my editing XD....but as for putting it out there publicly, I rarely get reviews...some comments occasionally, but very few reviews.  I do enjoy watching the number of people who at least glance though my stuff grow at least, and I suppose that is enough for me most days....


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## VÃ¶lf (Jul 5, 2010)

It's all about art. God forbid anyone (at least on FA) gives a crap about writing. All the more if you don't have it in .txt format so everyone can instantly see it when they go on. Although I did post a fake "yiff" as an april fool's joke and got nearly 400 hits lol. 

Ppl have suggested listing work as M-rated in the past. I wouldn't recommend falsifying a piece as yiff for reviews tho, b/c all you'll really get is flamers and plenty of ppl pissed at you.


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## Lucien Pyrus (Jul 5, 2010)

I submit every work expecting to get no reviews. If I do I am pleasantly surprised, but if i don't... No disappointment.


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## grygon (Jul 6, 2010)

DeadHorus said:


> How do you normally cope to a lack of reviews to your particular piece of fiction or non fiction? I currently need some help with this as I tend to just give up on it.



I don't write fur stories but I have some fan fiction and similar to what jinx said... people usually read to read.  The readers go up, and sometimes you get a "nice!" comment but other than that... just be happy you have readers I guess.  It's not very easy to leave a critique for writing as so few people have been schooled in how to critique writing.  It is easier to critique a piece of art than a piece of writing for most people, I would think.

That being said, what I would recommend is asking for a beta.  A beta is someone you hand over your not-yet-published work and ask them to critique it for you.  First you post a brief summary of the story and a quick sample and let people look it over.  Then one or two will reply with interest in being your beta.  It's like having your own personal helper if you get a good one! You switch to email and handle the rest of the work on a one-on-one basis.


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## Aeturnus (Jul 6, 2010)

I don't know. I gave up posting stories on this site a couple of months ago.


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## steamtrain (Jul 21, 2010)

I find it very frustrating, because it really doesn't matter if you think that the story is good or if you like it, you want people to review so you can see if people like it, or your doing anything wrong, I myself am still going through this frustration and feel like no one will ever really read or review, but i don't give up mainly because I just love to write and if i get an idea i have to write it down, it just lets me see how far I've come.


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## Nyedyr (Jul 22, 2010)

jinxtigr said:


> It's funny because as a personality I DO need reassurance. I had a really shitty childhood in lots of ways and I'm really the last person who should be trying to stand on his own paws and do stuff without encouragement- but I do, day after day. Maybe ten years from now I'll get some guy emailing me who needs a copy of what I'm doing NOW, as if it were life or death. I can tell you I'm at close to 100,000 words and there's nobody who's said a word of encouragement, and I'm doing it publically and have 75-100 readers a day without any sort of advertising or promotion.


 
That's pretty amazing. I definitely need encouragement.

If I don't feel like my work's being noticed, I tend to panic and wonder what I did wrong. I go through and try to find something to correct.


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