We have all heard the cliche that all publicity is good publicity, but a new survey show that is now not entirely true.

For books by established writers, a negative review led to a 15% decrease in sales. For unknown authors, a negative review increased sales by a healthy 45% (The Millions).

I can testify to this.  When my first book came out, an author (that I don't want to continue to argue with so I will not name her) and I got into a big argument at a convention.  So she blogged about me, and my sales went up.  When Amazon banned my second book because it had a gay character in it (or as they say, because it was accidently caught by their porn filter), my sales went up.

I do not recommend either of those as a route to success, but I found the negative press helpful.  On the other hand, I have received several really positive reviews, and I didn't see an effect from those at all.

Publicity is hard

I wish I had some wise words to share here to everyone looking to promote their work, but there is no magic bullet.  If there were, the magic would soon be drained away.

The best thing I can say is to write and get your words out in as many places as you can.  The best thing I did for my work in a long time was a story I wrote for Horror Addicts.  In fact, I will probably do that again.

The moral of the story is: don't be devastated by bad press.  It may help you out, especially at the beginning of your career.