Guest Post & Giveaway: After Dark by Emi Gayle (Blog Tour)

Today we have the lovely Emi Gayle, author of the YA Paranormal book After Dark (Book #1 of the 19th Year Series). Emi has provided us with a great guest post about how she handles negative criticism. And don't forget to enter the international giveaway below for a chance to win either an After Dark ebook or bookmark, first winner's choice, two winners all together.

How to handle negative criticism.

So this is a hugely hot topic among writers of all kinds and bloggers. Do I have some epiphany to share? Some method by which I won’t cry or lash out when a bad review comes in?

Not really.

But I do have a method.

First off, I never respond to anything that’s seemingly negative. Sometimes, that’s even in a 3* review! Can you believe it? Some people love a book, but ‘not enough’ and responding can be seen as negative. This is very true of 2* and 1* books which most everyone associates with not liking it. So while I’ll read it, I won’t respond. It’s not about the reviewer, it’s about me.

I don’t want someone to think I’m responding to the criticism. I want reviewers and readers to know I love hearing from them, but negatives do hurt. That’s just part of the subjective nature of a book. Some will love it. Some will like it. Some won’t want anything to do with a book.

Second, as an author, it’s my job to remember I didn’t write this book so everyone would love it. I wrote what was in my head, in my heart and the story I wanted to tell. Sometimes, that doesn’t mesh with a reader and that’s OK! Yes, it is! Really! It’s okay if a reader doesn’t like a book. That’s why reviews are opinions. We don’t all like the same cars or ice cream or wine, do we? Nope. Books are like that too.

Third, if there’s a big bad review (as my opinion might declare) I need to take the time to digest or process or forget or forgive or whatever and none of that needs to be public fodder. Nope. That’s for me to do with my friends and family. Let them build up the blown confidence and carry on, because ... see point 2 and ... see point 1 if I were to follow up.

So yes, I’ve shed tears over reviews (some good and some bad) but I will never, ever fault someone for their criticism. Here I must use the old phrase, ‘to each his own’ and let it go.

That’s how I handle it (or rather my alter-ego does) and how I will handle it as reviews come in for After Dark.

Of course my hope is that everyone will love the story, but I know not everyone will. I just need to be grateful that I’m able to have the book published at all.

Summary

What eighteen year old Mac Thorne doesn’t know will probably kill her.

In exactly eight months, five days, three hours and thirteen minutes, Mac has to choose what she’ll be for the rest of her life.

She has no choice but to pick. As a Changeling, it’s her birthright. To Mac, it’s a birthchore. Like going to school with humans, interacting with humans, and pretending to be human during the pesky daylight hours.

Once darkness descends, Mac can change into any supernatural form that exists — which makes her as happy as she can be. That is, until Winn Thomas, the biggest geek in her senior class figures out there’s more to what hides in the dark than most are willing to acknowledge.

In this first of the 19th Year Trilogy, Winn might know more about Mac than even she does, and that knowledge could end their lives, unless Mac ensures the powers-that-be have no choice but to keep him around. ~ Add on Goodreads

Links:

Website: http://www.emigayle.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/emijgayle

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EmiGayle

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5421861.Emi_Gayle

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository

One winner will receive the ebook of After Dark and the other will win a bookmark. The first winner will get to decide. This giveaway is international.
 

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Author Bio

Emi Gayle just wants to be young again. She lives vicariously through her youthful characters, while simultaneously acting as chief-Mom to her teenaged son and searching for a way to keep her two daughters from ever reaching the dreaded teen years.

Ironically, those years were some of Emi's favorite times. She met the man of her dreams at 14, was engaged to him at 19, married him at 20 and she's still in love with him to this day. She'll never forget what it was like to fall in love at such a young age — emotions she wants everyone to feel.