After self-publishing my first book—an audiobook
collection of short stories—I worried about what the world would think about my baby. Would anyone read it? What would the reviewers write?
To my relief, most of the reviewers were very kind—most, but not all. One reviewer's words stung. She wrote, 'Some of the stories are too short.'
Well, I ranted and raved to myself and to my husband. “Too short? Too short! It is a short story
collection.”
“Don’t worry about it,” my husband said, “You can’t please
everyone.”
I knew he was right, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that bad review, "Too short," ringing in my ears.
I'll show her, I thought, and picked up my pen and wrote longer and longer stories.
Would I have made that leap without her bad review? Maybe, probably, hopefully. But that bad review helped me to make the leap sooner.
And I've since discovered that, as far as negative feedback goes, it was relatively mild and even supportive.