That's just, like, your opinion, man

You know the only thing scarier than trying to write a book? Completing the writing of a book and then letting other people read it.

It's terrifying. No matter how confident you are about the work you've done, there's no way of knowing how it'll be received out there in the harsh, uncaring world.

Those first faltering steps of letting your precious words out of your grasp are agonising. Whether it's searching the faces of supportive family members for a tiny trace of that 'I'm letting you down gently here' expression, or scouring evaluations by beta readers for the hidden negativity behind comments like 'I really enjoyed this', the wary writer is on edge, ready for their delicate bubble to go 'pop'.

And that's before the book even makes its way out into the marketplace. Those people – all those readers expecting entertainment, diversion, maybe even a little dab of enlightenment – don't know you. They don't care about your ego. They don't care how long you laboured over every sentence, simile and semi-colon.

Some of them will hurtle through in an afternoon work that took you years to complete, and while you're still fretting about the three-star rating they gave your labour of love, they're already reaching for the next book in their tottering stack of paperbacks. And that's if they stick with the book right to the end at all...

Photo by Lisa from Pexels

Luckily, both 'How Soon Is Now?' and 'End of a Century' have been extremely well-received so far, with a gratifyingly large proportion of five-star ratings and an ever-growing pile of glowing reviews.

Even so, it's taken some time – since last June, in fact, when 'How Soon Is Now?' was released – to erect a more robust approach to negative feedback and get used to the idea that my books won't be adored by absolutely everybody who encounters them.

Because the thing is – and booting any false modesty firmly into the middle distance – I love both of the books I've released so far. They're precisely the kind of stories I'd love to read, told in the style I prefer (clean and clear, with the author keeping himself resolutely invisible). They're great books. There, I said it. But I wouldn't have put them out into the world if I didn't think so, and that's how I remain sane on the – thankfully rare – occasion they don't receive the very warmest of welcomes.

I'm confident about the quality of both books, so if a reader reacts negatively to either of them, I'll happily chalk it up to a difference of taste. They've been rigorously road-tested, and I've read enough to know both can stand proudly against 99% of everything else on the heaving virtual shelves of the Kindle bookstore. So while I'll be delighted to find another nice review or positive rating, I'm not going to get bent out of shape if someone turns out not to be quite so enamoured. As The Dude in 'The Big Lebowski' famously says: 'Yeah, well, y'know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.'

It's down to taste, really. The few negative responses have come from people who may not be – let's be diplomatic here – my natural target audience. The gentleman upset by 'unnecessary character development' might be better served by simpler, less character-focused, fare, and there's little I can do to assist the lady who bristled at the presence of stories about the members of the the Nostalgia Club in a book about the members of the Nostalgia Club.

The simple truth is that not all books are meant for all readers. There are bad books out there, of course, but often what readers (and I'm a reader myself, of course, so I do not exempt myself from this behaviour at all) forget is that if we don't getting along with a particular book, it might simply be because it isn't for us. In this increasingly fractured entertainment marketplace, where we tailor our experience precisely to our own taste, it's easy to balk at anything that intrudes on our carefully-curated lifestyles.

In a lot of cases, our response to our own poor choice is like having no interest in or knowledge of heavy metal, but getting furious at the new Iron Maiden album for not sounding enough like Belle & Sebastian. Put it aside, leave it to the Iron Maiden fans to appreciate its intricacies, and don't worry about it. Something you like better will be along in a second.

UPDATE: I've just had a review from a gent who really didn't get along with 'How Soon..?' at all, but decided to copy – word for word – the review from the other chap who didn't get it (the 'unnecessary character development' guy). Tempted to retitle this post 'That's just, like, that other guy's opinion, man'...

Of course, you can buy my books here and react to them any way you want. That's just, like ... well, you know.