When you receive a harsh assessment what do you do next?

First let me answer your question with another question/s… What do you want? Do you have passion for that book? Do you feel inspired, it could help people etc? What is your vision for the book?

Looking at the report the issues you are finding were a concern in the book are • Show don’t tell • Point of view • Inconsistency and some characterisation issues

Each of these things can be worked on. If you start a new book without first learning to develop those areas of writing first you may very well make the same mistakes again. Sometimes the first writing project one writes is never published and sometimes it is. Either way when you get an appraisal or a rejection letter it is an opportunity to learn from it and develop your writing further anyway. Whether or not it means that first book ever gets published in some ways doesn’t matter at the outset. I know it may feel like it is your baby (a lot of writers have this attachment to a book – I know I do even when I occasionally write), but it is your skill you are learning. Each appraisal or edit you get may look like it is destroying your style or voice, but generally editors, appraisers and publishers do know a little bit about what they are talking about. You may find even that there are some things you don’t agree with – that is fine! But I find most authors accept 80% approx. of their suggested edits as they are aiming to help improve your work.

Knowing how to write doesn’t happen overnight and even established authors find they are still learning!