Why People Don’t Like Your Book

So here is a thing that happens: you write a book. You give copies to your friends, your family, their friends, and their family, and basically you spread that sucker like chlamydia to everyone within a moving fifty-meter radius of your person.

If you’re lucky, some of them will read it. If you’re very lucky, some of those will give you honest feedback. And guess what? A lot of people aren’t going to like it.

There are basically two reasons this can happen.

First: your book sucks. This is a sad an unfortunate condition that afflicts roughly 99% of all books that are written every year. Fortunately, the cure – revision – is well-publicized, and if you actually bother to apply it, you’ve already separated yourself from a good chunk of the competition.

However! It is also possible that your book does not suck, that it is in fact pretty good. Why, then, do the people not love it? Are you not merciful?!

Here’s a handy thought experiment that will help explain.

Think of your favorite book. (For me, The Lord of the Rings.) Now think of all the people you’ve ever tried to convince to read that book. What are the reactions?

Well, most of them say they’re too busy, or they’re not interested in that type of book, or they say they will and it turns out they are lying liars who lie. And the ones who do read it, they find all these silly things wrong with it. Like, it’s hard to keep track of the names (but, but that’s because his worldbuilding is so rich!) or the beginning is too slow (but the suspense is growing!) or they just couldn’t get into it (why, because it was too awesome for you?).

Any of this sound familiar?

The sad truth is that awesomeness alone is not enough. There is no awesomeness threshold, no badass event horizon, that if you can just cross it will guarantee that everyone loves your book. Books are subjective. That’s just how it is. And guess what? Those people who were all meh about your Special Book? They have Special Books too, and they think they’re the most amazing life-changing wonderful things in the world, and if you read them, you’d be all: meh.

The exception, of course, is Ender’s Game. I have honestly never met a human being who read that book and did not like it.

Friggin’ Orson Scott Card.