Broken Frontier

Creators who say they don’t read reviews of their own books are full of shit.

I see and hear this all of the time.  “I generally don’t read reviews of my own stuff.  I just don’t have the time.”

Full… Of… Shit!

The fact is, if you spend your days and nights pouring everything you have into a book or a series of characters that were birthed from your imagination, you don’t just turn the other way when they see the light of day.  Creative people have egos.  It’s true.  We just do.  Sure, some have bigger egos than others, but to say that you don’t care what people think of your work is like saying you don’t care how your current lover ranks your sexual gratification quotient against past partners.  It just doesn’t happen.

Maybe it’s mock modesty, or maybe it’s a way of protecting a fragile sense of ones self, but saying you don’t read your own reviews is about as transparent as the Invisible Woman.  99.9 percent of the reviewers who work in the comic book media are fanboys first, (let’s face it, they don’t do it for the money), so saying you write your books for the fans and not for the reviewers is an instant contradiction.  They are the fans!

Which takes me to my next point.  Maybe they’re just not your fans.

Yes, negative reviews can be a kick to the groin region, but why let one bad apple spoil your whole damn career?  I’ve been there myself on numerous occasions, and I know firsthand how a negative write-up can bring about those same uneasy feelings of a multi-car freeway crash complete with mangled bodies strewn about in various unnatural poses.  You don’t want to look, but you just can’t help it.  In fact, sometimes they’re more compelling than the positive reviews you receive.  You see, this is where the ego comes in again.

You want people to like your work!  No, you want people to LOVE your work!  Let’s face it, nobody gets into writing so that they can read their own books, the same way that musicians don’t perform music for their own ears.  That’s just plain asinine, and anyone who says otherwise needs to be punched in the nose.  A negative review ignites something inside you.  It’s like asking the pretty girl out and then having her shun you without even the consideration of a lame excuse.  When that happens, you want to know why she doesn’t like you.  And then after that, you want to make her like you because goddamn it, you’re likeable!

Well, in an oddly similar way, a negative review ignites the same kind of reaction.  You want to know why the reviewer didn’t like your work (which is usually written in graphic detail in the actual review, hence the numerous readings), and then you make a personal pact with yourself to do whatever you can to make them like your next published work because goddamn it, your work is likeable!

This is the mentality of a creative person.  It’s our curse.  We are who we are, so why hide it beneath faux modesty by saying that you can’t be troubled to read what people think of you.  That’s a crock of steaming, fly infested horseshit.  We’re comic fans.  We’ve spent our entire lives being shunned by the majority and wanting to fit in.  Don’t you remember high school?  For the love of all that’s holy, just admit the fact that you care what your peers think of you and your work, because in case you forgot, the reviewers are your peers… Your peeps… Your equals.  Without them, you wouldn’t even have a career, so climb down from that high horse of yours and get a grasp on how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things.

And oh yeah, if you’re going to say that you don’t read your reviews, stop posting the positive ones on Facebook.  It makes you look like an asshole.

Named Best Indie Writer of 2008 by the Project Fanboy Awards, Jason M. Burns made the leap into the comic book industry in 2004 after being approached to write a short story for Dead@17: Rough Cut, Volume 1.  Since that time he has written and created a number of projects, including the critically acclaimed releases A Dummy’s Guide to Danger, The Expendable One and Curse of the Were-Woman.  While he has been working regularly in comics, Burns has been concentrating on a career in Hollywood as well, developing a number of projects for film and television.

Burns was born and raised in Massachusetts where he began his career as a journalist and public relations professional.  He is currently Editor-in-Chief for the newly formed Outlaw Entertainment.

www.outlaw-entertainment.com

www.jasonmburns.com