There are some who say that for every critical book review you need seven good ones to counter it.
For others, there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Although the manufacturers of a certain motor car may disagree with that statement, for authors and novelists, any publicity is better than none.
With the book market flooded with the latest celebrity story, and Print On Demand making new authors every day, the competition for a few column inches has never been stiffer.
GETTING PUBLICITY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME Most authors look upon reviews of their books with a sort of love-hate relationship.
In a sense they're the life-blood of a book: good book reviews serve the same purpose as a shot of adrenaline in the arm, or a stiff G&T.
Even a poor one may incite a degree of curiosity in potential readers (a sort of, I'll decide for myself whether I agree with the reviewer or not).
No review at all, and rigor mortis may rapidly set in with your newly published body of text.
THOUGH PROFESSIONAL BOOK REVIEWS MAY HURT...
That doesn't mean that bad book reviews don't hurt, however.
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist and author best known for her acerbic column about political and social issues, slated me in a review of one of my earlier books.
Written as an inspirational piece to enlighten and encourage the parents of drug-addicted adolescents, it contained elements of autobiography about my experience as the mother of a heroin user.
In fact, I'd made myself pretty vulnerable! I remember calling into question why it was that two of your children could turn out to be docile and compliant, when the third was anything but.
My book was a genuine attempt to examine the difference between children raised within the same environment, and the way in which their response to the same parenting might be so diametrically opposed.
Ms Phillip's stinging reply was to trash me, both as a mother and a writer.
...
USE THEM TO MARKET YOUR BOOK I suppose some might say that if you've put yourself in the public domain you deserve everything coming to you.
But believe me, it hurt! When you've already spent the best part of a decade wondering where you went wrong, and wringing every drop of personal guilt out of a situation, you don't need someone else to rub it in.
It wasn't in my nature to stand up for myself when I was a child.
However, my father brought me up never to run away, but to confront any conflict in my life, face to face.
And I'd urge anyone else on the receiving end of a similar tirade to do the same.
Rightly or wrongly, I wrote to Ms Phillips in an attempt to explain and justify my observations.
I never heard from her.
But being proactive in this way helped not only to take the sting out of the situation and soothe my wounded pride - it has also become one of the methods of publicity that have worked for me.
Well - I'm writing about it now, aren't I? And you're reading what I've written.
TURN READER FEEDBACK INTO GOOD PUBLICITY Like any author, I'm always delighted to receive feedback from readers.
I've been fortunate in that the letters and e-mails that have come my way have almost always been positive.
Sometimes, superlatively so.
Only one, written many years ago in response to one of my books, has been truly dreadful, hauling me over the coals for daring to have an opinion which didn't coincide with that of the writer.
Better that, I suppose, than being damned with faint praise.
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE As an introvert, my natural instinct was always to be self-effacing.
That is until my Minister took me to one side and told me, in no uncertain terms, not to hide my light under a bucket.
"It's not your light to hide," he admonished me! And continued with a small sermon on what it means to let your light shine.
So, when I received a letter from a reader of A Painful Post Mortem which displayed all the elements of very positive feedback, combined with a critical appraisal which left me wondering whether it would be wiser to bury it or flaunt it, I decided that this was a case in point.
A FAINT STREAK OF HUMILITY v...
On the positive side, it was from Canon Michael Saward (an author, prize-winning journalist and regular broadcaster and, for five years, Radio and Television Officer to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey).
If anyone knows how to turn a negative into a positive, Michael Saward does.
His autobiography is titled A Faint Streak of Humility, a phrase coined by a fellow clergyman who, knowing him well, used it, affectionately and sardonically to describe the Canon.
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THE CANON'S RUDDY COUNTENANCE Naturally I was delighted to hear that my book had been well-received in such quarters.
Who wouldn't want to be reviewed by so illustrious a person? Following positive feedback, the letter finished with a critical comment which - since my book cannot be unpublished - cannot be viewed as constructive criticism.
It is, however, very funny.
Taking courage in both hands, and with Canon Saward's permission, I have reproduced the bulk of what he has to say, below.
Thank you for 'A Painful Post Mortem' which I have read with much interest.
I am greatly impressed with the book and, not least, your actual written style.
Congratulations! I have only one critical comment and that is the use of the word 'ruddy'.
You include it scores of times which seems distinctly excessive.
Your character Mark would, I suspect, have been far more likely to say 'bloody'.
I can't imagine why you regard 'ruddy' as an acceptably reduced adjective.
It reminds me of W.
S.
Gilbert's response to the suggestion that his operetta, originally spelt "Ruddygore", might just as well be called "Bloodygore.
" He replied "you might well think that if I say that I admire your ruddy countenance it's the same as if I said 'I like your bloody cheek!' Well - it isn't - and I don''t.
" The letter then finishes: Anyway, it's a splendid effort.
I hope it sells well.
I was tempted to do what I did to Melanie Phillips and write to Michael Saward, to explain that "bloody" might well have been the preferred profanity for my character, Mark, had he not been rendered inarticulate and repressed by overbearing parents.
But I found that more than a faint streak of humility inhibited any desire I might have to cross swords with the Canon's ruddy countenance! MAKE YOUR OWN GOOD PUBLICITY OUT OF BAD BOOK REVIEWS But the point is never to allow bad book reviews to get you down.
The fact that someone, somewhere, has bothered to read your book and to comment on it has to be good publicity.
Especially if the someone in question is a well-known name! Use it and turn it to your advantage.
Make use of humour.
Or irony, as Michael Saward did with the title of his book.
Always be gracious.
Your aim is not to tell your readers what a pleasant, reasonable person you are, but to show them - despite what the professional book reviews may say about you! Readers will admire you for having the courage to stick your head above the parapet.
Besides which, your comments on adverse publicity will make your readers curious.
If you don't believe me, or you're still not sure how to go about it, read the libellous comment made about me in the London magazine, Time Out, and see how I responded.
See? It works every time!