When Should You Rewrite?

Low Rated Items & When You Should Consider A Rewrite!

You've finally done it - the perfect idea for the perfect story. Words leap from your fingers and onto the screen like frogs in a pond. Hours, days and weeks go by while you sweat out each special word. When your story is finished with a resounding *click* of the save and view button, you feel so proud. Your baby has been born and you couldn't be happier with it. You put it out there for all the world to see and set back waiting for the 5.0 rate/reviews that you're sure you'll receive.

The first R&R you find in your mail box is a 4.0, not perfect but maybe that reviewer was having a bad day and needed to take it out on someone. What's this? They say they loved the main character but found the setting to be a bit boring. How crazy is that? The setting is perfect, they have no idea what their talking about.

The second R&R arrives. What!!!! They gave my baby a 3.5, how dare they! Once again they love the main character but the setting seemed flat. They also thought the background story was unbelievable.

In every review you receive you notice that the main character is loved by everyone, but some areas of your story just don't seem to appeal to the general public.

Trust me, you aren't alone if this scenario sounds familiar. Our work is special. We gave birth to it and like all mothers and fathers, we don't appreciate being told that there is something wrong with our 'baby.' My advise to you? Get over it.

Sure, we all love to have every review sent to us with a nice 5.0 slapped on top, with lots of 'It's great!' and 'Wonderful!' strewn about the comment box. But does this help us become a better writer? No it doesn't. So, what should we do when we receive a review thats rated low?

Things To Look For When You Receive Low Ratings.

The first thing you should do is send back a reply, even if it just says 'Thank You.' That person took the time to actually read something of yours and cared enough to take more time to give you a review. Saying 'Thank You' is the least you can do.

If the reviews are pointing out misspelled words, fix them! I don't know how many times I've had to give a lower rate than I wanted when a simple spell check would have solved the problem. Worse yet is when I see the same item later and find that the misspelled words are still there! Run a spell check folks.

Take a look at all of the reviews you've been given for that particular item. Pay close attention to any area that is pointed out. Is there more than one reviewer finding the same problem? Anything that is questioned by more than one person merits a closer look.

Read your item out loud. Do you have any sections where you seem to trip in the reading? Make a note. Are they the ones noted by the reviews?

Be objective! The reviewers aren't trying to be mean. They are simply giving you their opinion. Use the information you receive to make wise choices.

Have realistic goals when you write a story or poem. Not everything you write will be worthy of a 5.0 no matter how many times you rewrite. Expect some of your ideas to fail miserably, it comes with the territory. Chalk it up to 'lesson learned' and try something else.


So, have you made the decision to do some rewriting? What things should you look for after you've finished?

Check and recheck to make sure you didn't leave behind extra words, punctuation and spaces. (I am guilty of leaving things behind myself.)

Once again, read your item out loud. Is everything cohesive? Are the areas you tripped over before now reading smoothly?

Is your item now rate/review ready? If you think it is, send it back out into the WDC world.

Pay attention to any and all reviews you receive after the rewrite. Are they still focusing on the same areas? If yes, then you may need to do a bit more tweaking. If no, then you have solved that problem.

Sometimes a rewrite can take several tries to get it right. My advise to you is to do a bit at a time. Don't take your entire story apart. When I do a rewrite I fix all the little things first: punctuation, spelling, spacing, unclear sentences - things like that. Then I take one paragraph at a time and work on the areas that cause problems for the reviewers.

Don't be discourage because you've gotten a low rating review. If looked upon in the proper frame of mind, you can use them to help you write a clearer more cohesive story.

Listen to your audience. Some day, if you become published, they are the ones who will be buying your books, or not. It's up to you.