Dealing with Bad Reviews

I did something that, as a writer, you’re never supposed to do. I read the reviews for my book From Parts Unknown.

And I have to say -- some of those reviews were right. So let’s get into it.

My name’s Adriano. I’m a writer here at Pesto Comics, and the publisher, and we get all kinds of books out there into the world.

One of the series that is ending very soon in the direct market is From Parts Unknown. The first four issues are available widely.

I’m not counting the Kickstarter run here, because I will say that the Kickstarter crowd is a totally different crowd. Everyone is there because they want to be there. If they have anything negative to say, they certainly keep it to themselves.

When we get to the direct market, we are going wide. We are getting every type of person, and not everyone who took the risk knows what they’re getting into right away. So you do get a little bit more of a distilled opinion, where on Kickstarter people are going to be generally supportive.

They’re there to support indie comics, warts and all. And I do appreciate those people. You people have made it so that I can get as far as I have, and I always, always appreciate the feedback I get. It does mean a lot.

But I will say the direct market can be vicious.

All that said, most of the reviews of From Parts Unknown have been wonderful. Everyone has really enjoyed the series.

But there’s always that naysayer in there. You can get dozens of people saying how much they enjoy the book and one person who says they don’t -- and that’s the person that gets all of your energy.

So I’m not here to fight the reviews. That’s not what we’re doing today.

But I do want to talk about something that I think led to those less than generous reviews, and it’s because of something I did intentionally.