To turn this thread into a positive spin, how do the lyrics go . . .?
~You Ain't Nobody Until Someone Hates You~
Our first hate message ever was here on Tapastic in response to our ending up on the trending page for a short while. We were very flattered to make the home page so quickly with the Crowned! series. The reader however was very upset that we could be trending with just a single coming soon page. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though. Regardless, we are going to keep moving forward with the series as planned.
Bottom line: Don't let others dictate how you want to do your series, especially when you are spending 100s to 1000s of hours creating it. Maybe this reader will change their mind, maybe they won't, but early hate actually is a good thing because you know you are on to something worthwhile enough to make others passionate, whether good or bad passion.
It's probably better to rip the duct tape off on page one than get into things a ways before getting your first taste of how tempers can flare when people are passionate about something. Entitlement, jealousy, vanity, etc. readers are people too and you are going to get the good and the bad that comes with having a fan base.