Top 10 writing tips from 1-star Amazon reviews
“The only mystery is why I bought it!”
I can’t stop reading 1-star book reviews on Amazon.
Some are hilarious (“I was looking for a good post-apocalypse non-zombie book. This wasn’t it.”) and others downright mean (“My first time with this author, and it will probably be my last if this disjointed drivel is anything to go by.”)
But once you get past the trolls and complaints that the book didn’t download or arrived damaged, bad reviews fall into a few broad (and potentially informative) categories:
1. Readers are swift (and merciless) in calling out mistakes:
“Dude, get an editor, for pity’s sake.”
“Murdered a good story concept with 10th-grade English syntax errors and poor word choices. He even messed up the zillion cliches he used.”
Yeah, get an editor — and a copyeditor/proofreader. Or at least turn on spellcheck.
2. “You can maim and kill human characters, but YOU DO NOT HURT THE DOG!”
Enough said.
3. Church Lady reviews a lot of books:
“I could not enjoy the interesting plot of this book because of the extensive — over 200! — swear words and the sexual exploits of the characters.”
