I have been thinking about why so many authors are so absolutely resistant to readers sharing negative opinions of their books in any space. There are obviously a lot of reasons but...is the main one that we think a negative opinion = lost sales?

Because like that's...not the case? Negative opinions of books can often lead to the *right* people finding your book. I can't tell you how many times I've read a bad review and thought, wow this sounds right up my street! Honestly, negative reviews help me decide to buy a book..

...more than gushing 5-star reviews.

Also a good content creator can have negative opinions of your book and still go to bat to support it. As a previous book reviewer, I can tell you that I've absolutely hated books that I've heartily recommended to people who I think would...

...love it. I've even bought books that I'm not particularly fond of just to pass it onto people who might be into it, or to donate it to appropriate spaces that I think might need a book like this.

Even when it comes to things like "worst of" lists, I can't tell you how many times I've walked away from something like that thinking about which of these books actually sounded pretty interesting and I might give it a go!

Then there are times when I see people speaking negatively about a book, be it review, worst of lists, just random tweets, and it'll lead me to texting my friends to have entire discussions about this book or surrounding topics. All of this is engagement for your work.

And yes, I can bet that you're gaining readers too.

You know what's only ever going to lose you readers and sales though? Shitting on content creators, calling them mean-spirited, and insulting them on Twitter.