The right response to a negative review is usually no public response at all: read it once, let it sit, look for anything genuinely useful, and move on. A single critical review, even a harsh one, rarely sinks a book. How you react to it, publicly or privately, matters more than the review itself.
This is part of the Book Reviews 101.
It's tempting to reply, correct, or defend the book in the comments. Almost every experienced author will tell you the same thing: don't. Publicly arguing with a review, however wrong it feels, tends to look worse than the review itself, and it can turn one critical reader into a story other readers remember. If a review crosses into harassment, abuse, or violates a platform's guidelines, most sites, including Amazon and Goodreads, have a reporting process. Use that instead of a public reply.
Read the review once, then step away before deciding whether it's worth thinking about further. A sharp comment can feel much larger the moment you read it than it will a few days later. If you write back to anyone about it at all, do it privately, to a friend, an editor, or a fellow author, not in the review thread itself.
Some negative reviews contain real information: a pacing problem, an unclear plot point, or a mismatch between the book and what the reader expected from its genre or marketing. Others are about taste, mood, or a reader who wasn't the right audience for the book in the first place. If a criticism echoes something a beta reader flagged earlier, that's worth paying attention to for your next book. See How to Handle Conflicting Beta Reader Feedback for a similar approach applied earlier in the process, before the book is published and a reviewer's opinion is permanent.
If the criticism is really about mismatched expectations, that can point to a marketing or blurb issue rather than a problem with the book itself: maybe your cover or description promises something the story doesn't fully deliver.
A single review, even a one-star one, is one opinion. Readers browsing a book's page generally look at the overall pattern of reviews, not any single one, and a book with mostly positive reviews and one critical one still reads as trustworthy. Trying to remove or suppress an honest negative review, through threats or false reports, violates most platforms' rules and can draw more attention to the review than leaving it alone would.
A paid professional review works differently. With most reputable services, including Entrada's, you see the review before it's published and can choose not to have it go live if it isn't positive. That's different from a customer review, which you can't control or withdraw once it's posted.
If enough reviews mention the same issue, whether that's pacing, an ending that doesn't land, or a factual error, it's worth taking seriously for future editions or your next book. A pattern across several reviews carries more weight than any one review alone.
Reading your own reviews, especially early on, can be hard on morale. Some authors check periodically instead of constantly; others ask a trusted friend to flag anything worth seeing. There's no required approach, only the one that lets you keep writing.
Build a Body of Reviews You Can Stand Behind
A professional review gives you something you've reviewed and approved yourself, alongside the honest reader reviews you can't control.
Generally, no, especially not publicly. If the review violates a platform's guidelines, use the platform's reporting tools instead of replying directly.
Only if it violates the platform's actual guidelines, such as being off-topic, abusive, or fake. An honest negative review that follows the rules generally stays up, and trying to force its removal usually backfires.
Less than it feels like in the moment. Readers tend to weigh the overall pattern of reviews rather than any single one.
That's worth paying attention to. A pattern across multiple reviews is more informative than any one opinion, and it can shape revisions to future editions or lessons for your next book.