Four Tips for Minimizing Bad Reviews on Google

Bad reviews suck.  Whether it's  for a book, a new hair-style or the color you just painted your house, it can feel rotten for some stranger to diss it.

We've all gotten bad reviews at some time in our lives, but when you're writing books and they're out there on the Internet for anybody to comment about, that book, your baby, can be even more vulnerable to fly-by snarks.

Some people say to just ignore those nasty reviews, which is wise advice, but you can be even more proactive than that.  Below are four tips for minimizing beastly reviews on Google.

#1 Don't Press That Bad Review Link Again!

I know, you're tempted.  You just read it, and you feel as though you swallowed a tray of ice cubes.  You want to show that nasty, mean-spirited review to your mother, your best pal, a coworker who wants to commiserate...DON'T.

Don't click that bad review link again!

Every time you click that button and re-read that bad review, you're sending a signal (literally) to Google and other search engines that the review is interesting to people.  And when a search engine thinks people are finding some webpage interesting, that page gets boosted in rankings and more people see it.  Hey, you don't want that so resist the urge to read and re-read that bad review, and don't pass on the bad-review link to others, either.

#2 Okay, You Clicked It Again.  Now Fix It.

If you just couldn't resist pressing that bad-review link, click the back button on your browser and go visit one of your gushing-positive reviews.  One of those 5-star babies that made your day.  Good.  Now close your browser.  This sends a signal to Google and other search engines that this second interview, that effusive, darn-near lyrical one, has more impact that the previous one.

#3 Don't Search for That Bad Review Again, Ever

That rotten review might bug you -- did he/she (couldn't tell if it was a man or woman from their IEATCLOCKS Amazon ID) really say that your free book wasn't even worth that price???  As Tony Soprano would've said, fugghitabout.  Re-read numbers #1 through #3, above.   Don't even look for a keyword in that snarky review because guess what?  You'll again be signaling Google and other search engines that those vile keywords are significant when it comes to your book.

#4 Don't Post a Rebuttal

Some people think it's a good idea to post a rebuttal, but I think otherwise. For starters, you're...yeah, you know the answer.  By adding a comment to the bad review, you're adding relevant content to that review, which signals search engines that the review and its nasty keywords are significant.  

Okay, so you're staying away from that bad review.  Good!  Here's a few more things you can do to proactively boost positive reviews of your book:

• Write content about your book.  Write about some facet of your story, research, etc., and post it in your blog, your Twitter account, your Facebook page, and any other web presence you have.
• Sign up for interviews.  There's all kinds of book bloggers and fellow writers out there who actively seek interviews with writers.  Or, research the different book review blogs at BookReviewBlogs.com or Book Blogger Directory to see if there are any book blogs that fit  your genre--then query those blogs for interviews.  
• Hang a sign to encourage you to write, not mull over bad reviews.  I have several writer-pals who do this.  One has hung up a sign next to her computer that says "Be Your Best!"  Whenever she has a moment of self-doubt, or has the urge to check out a lousy review, she looks at that sign and gets the boost to keep working at her craft.  This writer is a New York Times best-selling author, by the way.
• Ask book fans and others to post positive reviews.  

Carole Lombard Wore Her Bad Reviews!

Carole Lombard in the 1936 screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (photo courtesy Wikipedia)

This Hollywood star had a great, and bawdy, sense of humor.  She once wore a gown covered with her own bad reviews to a formal party!  

But first the backstory.  Seems when Lombard's husband Clark Gable got some hideous reviews for his acting in a film, she decided that laughing at himself was the best medicine, so she posted some of the bad reviews around the MGM lot so he would come face to face with them wherever he went.

The below excerpt, from the site  Dear Mr. Gable tells how Gable got back at her...but she had the last laugh at her own expense:

To get her back, for a one year anniversary present, (Gable) gave her a custom made gown designed by Adrian, with newspaper headlines plastered all over it: “Parsons Pans Lombard!” “Lombard Flops Again!” “Lombard Limited–And How!” “Critics Cauterize Carole!” Carole, head held high, defiantly wore the gown to the next formal party they attended, despite Clark’s protests.

Maybe having a sense of humor about life's bumps (and bad reviews) is the best advice of all!

Too Serious? Five Writing Tips From the Masters

Time for a laugh break!

I'm plugging away on a new book.  It's the first few chapters, the set-up of the story, which is the toughest part of a book for me to write.  During this part of the writing: I'm uber-serious, worried, self-critical, at times bereft. This is not the time to diet.

So I thought it time to bring a smile to those who are toiling away on the keyboard. Below are five quasi-serious to tongue-in-cheek rules of writing from some of the best in the biz.

Elmore Leonard.  Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue that follows an introduction that comes after a foreword.  But these are ordinarily found in nonfiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it anywhere you want. There is a prologue in John Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday, and it's OK because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about.  He says, "I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy's that talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks."

Roddy Doyle.  Do not place a photograph of your favorite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.

Anne Enright.  The first 12 years are the worst.

Neil Gaiman.  Remember: When people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

David Hare: Never go to a TV personality festival masquerading as a literary festival.

Richard Ford: Don't have children.

Now, get back to writing!

Online Stay-Focused-on-Writing Tools

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where writers are challenged to write a novel in a month.  I'm not trying to write a novel in a month, but it's made me think about the kind of focus it takes for writing.  Unfortunately, when I'm struggling with a scene, I have a bad, bad habit of  skipping over to the Internet to check out things that are suddenly of vital importance, like when did Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith start United Artists?  Yeah, that's interesting film history, but it has nothing to do with the contemporary romantic suspense novel I'm writing.

Fortunately, there's some handy online tools to help writers stay focused.   I'll start with my go-to anti-distraction tool, whose name says it all.

Write or Die by Dr. Wicked

Write or Die is my favorite anti-distraction tool.  When I know it's time to light the fire and write, write, write, I use Write or Die.  It costs $10, and it lives up to its claim that it puts the "prod" in productivity.  

From its website:

Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you’re fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

You can set up how "punishing" those consequences are, from gentle (my choice) to kamikaze (strict!).

Other Online Anti-Distraction Tools

Below are a few more online stay-focused-on-writing tools, all of which are free.  

750 Words: The name sums it up: Write 750 words, or approximately 3 pages (based on 250 words/page).  A gentle prod for productivity.

Ommwriter: The Zen approach to staying focused on your writing. Available on Mac, PC and iPad.  

FocusWriter: A "distraction-free writing environment" whose features include alarms, timers and daily goals.  Available on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.

Happy writing!

Know How to Sell a Book via a High Concept?

​"Memories of a Hollywood Script Girl" will be back. Promise.

Note: To those searching for my post "Memories of a Hollywood Script Girl," the post got eaten by the Internet.  Sorry about that.  I'll write another post about those wild '70s studio days in the near future. 

Got High Concept? by Lori Wilde: Make It Part of Your Writer's Toolkit

I've pitched stories to editors and agents before, falling back on the old "[movie title] meets [movie title}" high concept description--for example, for a time-traveling private eye story, I pitched that it was a "Back to the Future Meets Emma Peel" story.

Thanks to NYT-bestselling author Lori Wilde's book Got High Concept?, I've  learned such a description is not a high concept, but a framing technique.  And that while a writer can certainly use such a framing technique to prep an editor/agent for the high concept, comparing a movie to another movie is not a high concept.

What a High Concept Is Not

In the beginning of Lori's book, she lists what a high concept is not--for example, it's

• Not a TV-guide style summary

• Not a series of hooks.

• Not a book blurb.

What a High Concept Is

• Different

• Universal

• Has Emotional Appeal

• Lets the Person (Editor/Agent) "See" the Entire Story.

For example, the high concept for the movie Speed: 

A cocky cop must find a way to save people stranded on a city bus that will explode it if slows below 55 mpg.

Another high concept example for the movie Double Jeopardy:

When a young wife discovers the husband she's convicted of murdering isn't dead, she escapes custody to track him down and kill him.

A High Concept Isn't a Quick Fix

Although it might sound easy-breezy--hey, just come up with a snappy 25-word pitch, right?--Lori warns that a compelling 25-word high concept is as difficult to write as a 400-page novel.  But it's not something to get discouraged about--as the old Nike ad said, just do it.  And, lucky for you, Lori shows you how.

I'm Prepping a High Concept for my Current Proposal

I'm almost half-way through Lori's book, and I'm getting a handle on the high concept for a story proposal I've been working on for the last month.  I'm also inspired that Lori, using her techniques in the book, sold two novels to Time-Warner books based solely on a 25-word high-concept pitch.  Wait, there's more.  The sale was announced on Publishers Marketplace and her agent received interest from 8 movie production companies.

I'm not expecting to woo Hollywood, but I hope to spark my editor's interest in my proposal by placing the high concept at the top.  A compelling "proposal intro" if you will.

Below is an Amazon link to Lori Wilde's book:

Apps for Writers: Evernote, Idea Sketch, Write or Die

Although I still carry a small notebook and pens wherever I go, I also use apps on my laptop, iPhone and iPad for writing as well.  Today I'm sharing a few of my favorite apps--the first two are great for ideas and structuring a story, the third for cranking out the words.

Evernote: This app lets you capture everything from ideas to photos to web page clips to audio.  Although I have the app on my Mac, iPhone and iPad, I tend to only use it on my iPad (it's easy to cart someplace to write, yet large enough to not feel cramped for space when using it).  Later, I can look up my notes "on the go" with my iPhone if I want.  Evernote is also available on PCs, btw.  You can get the free version or for a small fee (something like $2.99) the bells & whistles version.  I use the free version and it's great.

 I used Evernote to capture ideas for my next book--I enjoyed being able to categorize topics as well as set tags for my different notes.  It was then a breeze to refresh my memory on ideas by looking them up via tags.

To "see" how a writer uses Evernote, check out writer Christopher Gronlund's YouTube "Evernote for Writers" that offers step-by-step directions.

Idea Sketch (for iPhone & iPad): This app is great for those of us who like to see the "big picture" as we're structuring a story. You can craft your ideas as a mind or concept map/flow chart, then see the layout in text (or vice versa).  I use the free version, but there's also a premium version for $3.99.

Write or Die.  I know, it sounds heavy.  But sometimes, especially when you're facing a deadline, what you need is a heavy push to write, write, write.  This app is available for the PC (although I easily downloaded it to my Mac) and iPad, and costs a minimal amount (currently $4.99 and worth every penny).

The app has built-in "punishments" but for me, writing can be punishing enough without making it more so!  Punishments aside, you can set word goals and time goals, then save your writing to a text file, Dropbox, email or clipboard.  A writer-friend recommended this app (she actually wrote an entire novel in 2 weeks--no, I'm not kidding--and the darn book was nominated for a prestigious award, too!  Of course, she's a NYT-bestselling author so she certainly knows her craft, but she swears Write or Die helped her meet that crazy-tight deadline.

I use other writing apps, but these are three of my faves.  What about you?  Got an app that you love for writing?

Researching a Book: Sinatra Wanted Certain Pictures Taken Down When He Dined

I like to do on-site research, whenever possible, for my stories.  While writing my current book The Next Right Thing (release date March 2013), which is set in Las Vegas, I wanted an "old Vegas" type of Italian restaurant for the story.  Trolling the Internet, I found Piero's.

What a find!  The restaurant, off the Las Vegas strip, just celebrated its 30-year-anniversary.  Here's an excerpt from its website, with details that make a writer's creativity drool:

The list of notables who have visited Piero's is long and impressive. Former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton are customers, along with Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Justin Timberlake, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.  Las Vegas regulars include Jerry Lewis, Mike Tyson, Phyllis McGuire, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.

"No one gets bothered in our restaurant," he said. "I don't care who the celebrity is or what they have done, they come here to enjoy the food, and I see to it they are allowed to dine in peace... No exceptions!"

A portion of the movie "Casino," starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone, was shot in Piero's.

My husband, who had a Las Vegas business trip coming up, said, "Let's eat there."  We made reservations.

I'd already researched the restaurant, read its stories, from Sinatra ordering all pictures of the Kennedy brothers (John and Bobby) being taken down when he ate there, to Sylvester Stallone refusing to leave his table and his wonderful dinner despite the "little" problem of water seeping onto the floor and his shoes during a plumbing crisis.

This kind of stuff is a writer's wet dream.

During my husband's business trip, we visited the restaurant three times.  I'd like to say it was pure research, but the truth is, the food is amazing.  I ate what the characters ate in the book.  I drank what the characters drank.  I took photos of the dining room, the bar, even the guy who parked the cars.  

​"The Boss" didn't like pictures of the Kennedys around as he dined.

I interviewed waiters, learned their histories, why they're working there, what they think of the place.  One waiter, who shall remain nameless, said, "A lot of people think this restaurant is a Mafia hangout, but it's not.  Really."

I hadn't asked about the Mafia, but he felt compelled to offer that tid-bit on his own.  

On-site research.  Nothing like it.

Google for Writers: Search Tips

Some writers say you should turn off the Internet while you're writing so as to not be tempted to distract yourself, but I like to research as I write.  And when it comes to online research, Google is my favorite search engine.  It's also the most comprehensive, free and public search engine available, so until another one comes along with its power, I'm googling.

I've also used Google in my "other job" as a private investigator, so I've learned a few tricks for conducting quick, efficient searches.  I'm noting a few of these in today's post.

Use Quotation Marks to Indicate Exact Search Term

I use this a lot, especially when I want to research a multi-word term (otherwise, Google will be too helpful and provide information about the different words within the search, not that exact term).  For example, let's say I want to research an event that occurred in 1966 in Omaha that involved a person named Beatrice-Alice Smith (I'm making this up).  I don't want Google looking up instances of Beatrice and Alice and Smith associated to 1966 and Omaha, so I'll type:

"Beatrice-Alice Smith" 1966 Omaha

Search images

In my investigations business, I've sometimes needed to find images on the Internet.  Although there are other image search engines (such as TinEye), I've found Google to dredge up images other utilities can't find.  

To use the Google search engine, click here.  You can search by a name, URL or download an image that is the basis of your search.  

Find Definitions

Type the word define: followed by the word you want to define.  For example, if you type:

define: regalia

Google lists definitions from the Web for the word regalia.

To define a term or phrase, use the word define, without the colon, followed by the term:

define sly as a fox

Look Up Words Within a Web Page

The command allintext: looks up the following words within a Web page, which could be a newspaper, document, blog, website and so on.  For example, let's say I want to see any mentions of Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary within Web pages, I might type:

allintext: Abraham Lincoln wife Mary

Hope some of these search tips are helpful for your writing research, too!

Have a great day, Colleen