Dealing with bad podcast reviews

by Rhys Waters

From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.

Isaac Asimov

Gone are the days that critics were only focused on theatre, movies and books. Today, most of us are mass creating and critiquing on a scale that humanity has never known. Youtubers get mean comments, Tiktokers get nasty duets and podcasters get bad reviews.

Apple Podcast reviews cause real highs and lows for podcasters. A good review can inspire you to keep podding, but a bad one can really hurt.

You’ve poured your heart into a creative venture, you’ve opened your soul to the world, and to top that, you’ve served it up for free to anyone willing to listen. Suddenly, as if from nowhere a 1* review appears on your public Apple page. Near impossible to remove and front and center to scare away new listeners.

Some are constructive, others plain old trolling. All I know is that the thickest skin still feels something.

So how do you deal with bad reviews?

A friend of mine is a professional comedian in the UK, and he frames it really well. For context, most comedians have a turbulent relationship with critics in the UK, they can very influential in determining your career trajectory. He believes that if someone tells him he is the worst comedian in the world, then they are simultaneously both 100% right and 100% wrong.

Everyone sees the world differently, so to them the best podcast/movie/book/comedian in the world is never going to be the same as the person stood next to them. Framing negative reviews through that perspective can be very helpful.

You’re just not their ‘cup of tea’ is very different from ‘I’m terrible at this’.

See bed reviews as audience development. If you can observe other reviews on other shows that person has posted, you may be able to build a profile of a non-listener. Understanding who isn’t your audience can be as useful as knowing who is. It’ll help you be more focused in your promotion and production. It can make even the most unconstructive review become a constructive step forward.

You can take that high road, or you have a little more fun.

A few years ago we started turning bad reviews of Canadian Politics Is Boring into t-shirts. As a show that talks about politics, you can probably imagine we can get some heated feedback. Making merch out of the bad ones is our way of owning the good and bad.

A particularly mean one came through a while back, which launched a whole new line of exciting products. Being bold and wearing your feedback doesn’t make your skin thicker, but it can show that you won’t let it define your creative path.

And honestly, getting reviews good or bad shows you are being discovered and having an impact. Isn’t that what you wanted?

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