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Everyone Is Right About My Books, And That's Okay

Long road trip. Games. Peleos update. New keyboard. Satellite realities vs Z-Tech. How I take feedback about my books.

Ryan Southwick

22 Jul 2025 • 9 min read

Image credit: Pexels | Pixabay

What a ride! I spent more time on the road with my workmates this past month than at home. We had a great trip, however, spanning Eureka, San Francisco, Los Angeles, June Lake, and Santa Maria. I'm so lucky that the people I work with are also close friends. It's great to be home, though! The kids are still settling into their new apartment (attached to our house). Happy to say they like spending time with us in the main house, so it really is the best of all worlds. Also glad to report that at least one of them now knows how to use the lawn mower. 😇

In my not-so-much downtime, besides writing, I've been playing Ghost of Tsushima, which is a great samurai single-player RPG, and Aska with my wife. I also made the mistake of firing up Cyberpunk 2077, so that may take over my life again.

But I have been writing. Peleos (Timeless Keeper Saga Book 3) is at 96,000 words and climbing. I'm right in the middle of a sequence of big events leading to what will hopefully be a huge climax and suitable end to the series. And a main character might have gone off script and been grievously shot. Not sure yet how this will affect the rest of the story, but I guess we'll see. 😅

I also just found out that Enigma has progressed to Round 2 of the Book Bloggers' Novel of the Year Award 2025. I think that means they liked my 2,000-word sample and will be evaluating the 10,000-word sample next. Who knows what'll happen, but it was still nice to hear.

I treated myself to a new keyboard for Father's Day. What a difference! It's smooth, comfortable, reliable, fully configurable, has hot-swappable switches for easy repair, and is open source. If you're a writer or do a lot of typing, I can't recommend this one enough. See my full writeup here:

I can't remember if I mentioned that I started working for a satellite company a few months ago. "Fascinating" doesn't quite describe it. I knew nothing about the industry until my friend started dragging me into conversations with industry experts. Now I'm drowning in acronym soup and more versed in export regulations than I ever wanted to be. The good and bad news is that it touches on subjects I've written about in The Z-Tech Chronicles, set in the modern day, some of which I now know are completely wrong. For example, the arms trading the characters supposedly engaged in could probably never have happened, at least not the way I portrayed it. On the plus side, I validated with a real satellite expert that orbital ion cannons aren't entirely unfeasible. 😁

Ever wonder how authors really feel about the feedback they receive about their precious books? This month's feature dives into exactly that—specifically how I take it.

Taking Feedback About My Books
Book Sales and Events
Currently Reading

Taking Feedback About My Books

Even fiction authors pour a heartbreaking number of hours into every novel they publish, from research to drafts to editing, formatting, and publicizing. Each isn't just a story, but the author's soul on display for everyone to judge.

It's no surprise, then, that authors can be touchy about criticism. Critiquing their work is like insulting their perfect child, and they'll defend it with momma-bear ferocity.

But… hang on, we're talking about fiction, right? Not technical guides or self-help books, but made-up stories crafted for pure entertainment. Nobody depends on them to learn new skills or improve their lives. Nobody needs to read them; we choose to because we want to escape reality for a minute for something better. Something that stimulates us in ways the real world doesn't. And what stimulates us is different for everyone. Some enjoy high fantasy, others horror, science fiction, and (especially) romance.

Genres are just broad strokes, however. The devil, as always, is in the details. A fantasy fanatic may hate a popular fantasy novel because the protagonist is too similar to someone they despised in their youth. An urban fantasy fan may feel similar about a book where the protagonist's trauma hits too close to their own. A minor character may behave in a manner inconsistent with the reader's view of the world. The story may broach topics antithetical to the reader's core beliefs. There may be a single event that, in the reader's experience, is too improbable to suspend disbelief.

Any of the examples above should be ample reason for the reader to put the book aside. Or, in the worst scenario, they continue reading while hating every minute of an opt-in experience that should ideally bring them joy.

Okay, so, duh. Of course we all have different tastes shaped by personal experience, and no one is making us read fiction at gun point. No new information there, I hope.

Except that it is easy to forget when hearing not-so-great things about your word-child. "I didn't like the protagonist" too easily becomes "Your protagonist sucks" which spirals to "You suck as a writer," followed by sulking and the inevitable bowl of comfort ice cream.

Now don't get me wrong: there are definite do's and don'ts when it comes to writing a compelling protagonist—many of which I've learned the hard way. But I have learned. I have applied those learnings, and I've received enough feedback over enough books to feel confident in my ability to craft a solid protagonist.

But that doesn't mean a particular protagonist, solid as they may be, will appeal to everyone. They can't—and, in a way, I don't want them to.

"Don't want them to?" you say? "What career-sabotaging blasphemy is this!"

It's easy. To craft a compelling story, I—the author—have to be 100% invested in the telling. If I'm not invested, it will be disingenuous. Any reader with a modicum of intuition will pick up on that immediately. That means creating protagonists that I care about. Addressing topics that are important to me. Forging character relationships that conform to my ideals and my experiences. Using humor I think is funny. Focusing on details I feel are important, while skipping those I don't.

Yeesh, that's a whole lot of me! Maybe too much for some people.

Yes. Yes, it might be.

And that's a-okay.

As a rule, I write the kind of stories I want to read, and they aren't for everyone. Don't like strong relationship components? Don't care for injected humor to balance the mood? Don't like corny dad jokes? Don't care for romantic themes? Want detailed descriptions that span entire pages? Mysteries so abstract you can't even guess where the plot is going? A doctorate-level reading experience that requires a dictionary every other sentence? Titanium-grade science fiction that describes each space ship down to its base components? Poetry? Conventional romance arcs? Alphahole male characters?

Readers who answered "yes" to any of the above will probably want to avoid my books—and I don't say that to be mean. Those are elements I enjoy or avoid in stories. It doesn't make me right or better than anyone else; it's simply a mark of my very personal preferences.

Which brings us to the heart of the matter. Each review is essentially a comparison of the reviewer's preferences against my own, and that's exactly how I see it—no more, no less.

Praising my book doesn't necessarily mean it's great, simply that that particular reader liked enough of the same things I do that they were able to experience my joy. Wonderful!

Hating on it means a misalignment on one or more points that were important to that reader—points we may never align on—and that's absolutely fine. The beauty of fiction is that it's optional, and whether it's enjoyable or not is 100% subjective. Readers don't have to agree with my views and, if they find my books too uncomfortable, can stop reading at any time and never look back.

And so when someone tells me awkwardly that one of my books "wasn't for them," or "they couldn't get into it" because they found the humor lacking, the women too amorous, the plot too simple or complicated, the tech overwhelming or under-detailed, the characters too in their own heads or not in them enough…

They're right. Every single one of them.

It's all of those things, and none, and a million shades in between because what constitutes a "good book" is solely up to the discretion of the reader.

And guess what? I'm a reader, too. You may not be surprised at this point to learn that I periodically re-read my books for the pure joy of it. I love them! And why wouldn't I, since I essentially wrote them for myself?

And I love to hear what other people think—good and bad—because not only do I occasionally pick up great tips to improve future books, but, through their comments, I learn about them.

That, to me, is priceless. In the process of writing and soliciting feedback, I've learned things about close family and friends that I otherwise never would have. Horrible things. Wonderful things. It's brought us closer in ways I couldn't have imagined.

The same goes for strangers. When they leave a review or drop an odd comment, I learn something about them that makes them not strangers. I learn just how diverse humanity is in our likes, our dislikes, and our larger world views, conveniently and directly compared to my own. It's awesome in an almost too-good-to-be-true way.

Do I take it personally? Not anymore. I used to be in the "oh, I'm a failure!" camp, where every criticism stung. Now I treasure those people who have not only taken the time to read my works, but to expose their own souls by providing feedback they didn't have to give. I don't have to agree with it—or even like it—to appreciate it.

And I do appreciate it. Every time.

Book Sales and Events

August 13–17, 2025 — Seattle Worldcon 2025. Arguably the biggest book event of the season. Guess where? And guess whose books will be at the Water Dragon Publishing table?

Currently Reading

In addition to Old Man's War, I've been re-listening to The Z-Tech Chronicles audiobooks. It's been a while since I heard or read Once Upon a Nightwalker. I forgot how much I liked it. =]