Not everyone will like your book. Some will love it, while others might say, “meh.” Like art, books are subjective. Readers come from all walks of life, carrying with them, different perspectives and life experiences. These play a huge role in whether or not they like a particular book. Even Book-zillas like The Help, The DaVinci Code, and Pulitzer Prize winner, The Gold Finch, were not liked by some. It happens.

If you’re lucky enough to get any feedback from an agent regarding your query, sometimes their response includes a line about the book industry being subjective. Hence, don’t give up. It’s true. Yesterday, I talked about how my mom and I share books and more often than not, we have differing opinions on them. She and I are a lot alike, so it’s interesting to see that we don’t always like the same books. But that’s how it is sometimes. 

This is so important to keep in mind when getting a not-so-good review on Amazon, or receiving a rejection from an agent; it’s subjective. (However, when they all start pointing out the same things, you might want to investigate whether or not these things should be fixed.) Otherwise, ignore them and move on.

Subjectivity is something we just have to deal with; you can’t please everyone. 

Any advice for dealing with an agent’s rejection, and/or those who leave a less-than-positive review?