In the Public Eye

I always find it amusing when an author finishes her/his book and then starts realizing there is going to be public fall-out and scrutiny from the project. Some will quake in nervous realization they just "put themselves out in the public eye." While I'm entertained by the fact that they perhaps didn't think this far in advance and realize the obvious about the results of publishing a book; I do have some words of wisdom about it -- especially in light of yesterday's realization that a group of nasty writers decided to take 3L to task without doing their homework. First, when it comes to your book you will run into critics. Most of 3L's books have done well under the harsh spotlight of public glare. In fact, we've only had maybe two negative reviews of two of our books in the catalog -- that's pretty impressive. Here is the thing. You will always have "haters" -- people who are either jealous, envious or just angry about something. I'm sure even the most popular authors have their fair share of "haters." I once had a writer do an entire editorial on one of my editorials and make personal remarks about me as a person (I was apparently communist ... who knew). This writer knew zero about me. We had never even met or talked. The same goes for the recent blog-fest where these vitriolic writers made some pretty serious accusations about our business with absolutely no basis for their statements -- not a one called 3L or spoke to any of my staff or our contented authors; but they sure had plenty to say about what they didn't know. You have to put your coat of armor on when you release a book. You get to enjoy the good stuff. The nice comments. The support and adulation. That's the stuff that feels great. At the same time, you will have a hater or two floating around out there. My best advice: unless what they're saying is as serious as those misguided bloggers who accused us of "scamming" authors, ignore them. Stay on your path. Keep doing your thing. Stay positive and focus on the positive. Keep your eye on the fabulous reviews, and if you happen to get one bad reviews, here is the thing: it's one bad review not 10. Is it really worth your angst to worry over the one in 10? Probably not.