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"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

I agree with that statement up to a point. While there is no excuse for being rude or obnoxious in a review, we all give our "opinions" on how to perhaps make the writing/story better or at least offer an alternative way of saying something. Most authors on this site understand that the review is to offer suggestions for possible improvement, but there are some who enter the domain who apparently become upset if their work is not praised up one side and down the other which of course is not conducive to learning more about the craft.

I do think an author can learn from basically one sided reviews (what might be construed as negative), but the best reviews cover what is good and what could be improved in the opinion of the reviewer. All we offer is our honest opinions, hopefully. It is up to the author to decide if any suggestions should be incorporated into their work; that is part of the learning process also, but can't be learned if only pats on the back are presented by the reviewer. That "great gob, you're ready for publishing" to me is a disservice to the author even if it is all they are looking for.

Please understand I'm not arguing against what MJ has said, merely expanding the thought process a bit in much the way MJ does in her own excellent reviews. Take care. Vern

Do sales == good? It's all subjective of course, but let me give one simple real life example which should end the discussion for most that have read the book.
"A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey sold millions of copies after exposure pm Opray's Book Club. It was later ridiculed because he presented it as a memoir when if fact it was mostly fabricated. Now I was gullible enough to obtain a copy and read a large portion before finally realizing I was never going to get to the "good" part because there wasn't any. Of course there were obviously "professionals" who gave it glowing reviews so I'm guessing they really enjoyed reading a single curse word taking up an entire page -- yes, one word on a page is what you read at times and I suppose I should have lingered over it for the amount of time it would normally take to read a whole page, but I didn't have enough sense to do that and maybe that influenced my overall perception that it was a piece of CRAP -- I would put that in other terms on a page by itself if I could master that technique here and I'm sure that would place this whole discussion on a higher plane.

Okay, as stated at the beginning, I understand that "good" is subjective, but if that piece of garbage (I'm being nice here) is "good" writing merely because it sold millions of copies, then I for one hope I never write anything "good" to be published. I'll save all the "good" stuff for my less than favorite acquaintances. My opinion, good or bad or saleable. Take care. Vern

Tangerine marijuana

Alternative facts

Not true. They can be changed individually. Take care. Vern

Welcome aboard. The ship only sinks if you drill holes in it. Don't do that. Take care. Vern

Tastes like chicken

Dear john

Ja-pan

Hapless (when a country freely chooses  - with a little help from an adversary -- an idiotic pathological liar for president)

I generally "write" the story in my head before putting it to paper. Of course the story often changes in significant ways once I start applying concrete words and sentences. My typing area is upstairs in the bonus/office room where I mostly have nothing playing in the background, but if the TV or something else is going on where I can hear it, it doesn't really bother me as I tune it out the majority of time. I may occasionally take a break to rest my fingers and listen to what is going on before resuming the job at hand. I generally like to finish a complete short story or novel chapter at one sitting. Once it is complete on paper, I will go back and make revisions several times before submitting for others to read. That's my playbook. Take care. Vern