Friday, July 20, 2012

About Book Reviews


As a writer, I am always interested in feedback on my work. Naturally, I want to hear glorious reaves about my prose but a well-made point about a character flaw or plot inconsistency is really appreciated, too –as long as it’s done tastefully!

Reviews can let a writer, like me, know what readers do and don’t like about their work. It can spur us on with a current writing project or make us change direction. The problem is we don’t get very many.

Think about all the products you buy in a week, a month, a year even. How often do you run to your computer and sit down to write a glowing review of the new dish soap you tried, the handy new kitchen tool you bought or the last boo you read? As a rule, the average person doesn’t have time to write reviews on everything he buys. If he did, he’s have no time to wash the dishes, putter in the kitchen or read that book.

Conversely, when we go to buy something these days, we very often turn to websites seeking review information on the item we want to buy. This seems prudent when reviewing new cars or refrigerators, doesn’t it? More and more though, we as consumers look for reviews on movies, CD’s and books before we plunk down our hard earned cash. In some parts of the country anew paperback book costs as much as some people make in wages for an hour, so why wouldn’t they be judicious about how they spend their money?

It’s true that there are thousands of book-reviewing websites in cyberspace where an author can try to have his book reviewed. The trouble is many of those sites come with strings attached. Some charge for reviews. Many are dedicated to one genre or another. Some only work with established authors. Some require that you already have reviews on book at other sites before they will even discuss doing a review on their site. And even if they do feature a book, what guarantee does the author have that his audience will see it? Virtually none because the competition is so steep.



So what is an author to do?

Places like Amazon and GoodReads allow readers to have profiles (you can supply just basic information to set one up) where they can leave reviews for books they’ve read. You can rate books on a scale of 1 to 5 stars and leave comments on Amazon while GoodReads allows you to leave comments and tell your friends about the books you’ve read.

The process takes only a few moments to set up and leaving a review can be as easy as just clicking the number of stars you think a book is worth or leaving a detailed review. It’s really up to you, the reader. I can tell you that we authors read every one – at least this one does. It is your way to communicate with the writer as well as the rest of the book-buying public.

Next time you read a book you absolutely love – or hate – will you leave a review?

10 comments:

  1. I always leave reviews when I read books simply because they always fall into 2 catergories: 1) I love it and want to tell everyone else how great it was, or 2) I hated it and wanted to let other's know.

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  2. That's wonderful, Lisa! So few people actually do that!

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  3. In 12/2011, I began writing reviews for every book I read. Before that, I rarely wrote reviews for anything. I remember when I first became interested in being a reviewer, I reviewed items on OldNavy.com and a couple of electronics items. It was fun, and I still enjoy reviewing! I think more people should review the books they read. But that's also because I'm an author and like getting reviews :)

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  4. I, too, leave reviews for books but before becoming an author myself, I never did either. I did enjoy reading others' reviews though.

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  5. I have started writing reviews of the books I read and now have 14 reviews on Amazon and a similar number on Goodreads. I recently published my first novel and am in the process of writing more. I find that reviewing other author's works is very good for honing my own writing skills because you have to say a lot in a few words. I highly recommend the practice for any aspiring writer.

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    1. That's an interesting thought process. I think writers are more apt to leave reviews because they understand the importance of reviews.

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  6. How do you feel about writers who ask people to NOT leave negative or low-scoring reviews? I often feel conflicted in this regard. Some people complain that some writers have nothing but good reviews, making them feel as though they're not honest reviews (or that they're all from family or friends). Some people think negative comments should be given directly to the writer in private. Where's the happy medium?

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    1. I can understand how you feel Deborah. I had a bad review that I decided to email to the author directly as I didn't want to hurt his sales. But I often wonder if I did a disservice to other readers by doing so. All his reviews were raving and I didn't feel his book was that good.

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  7. I don't think anyone should specifically ask someone NOT to leave a negative review. That seems wrong to me. I would have to say, that if I received negative feedback, I would try to understand the commenter's point of view and what is complaints are. If he/she has a legitimate argument, then I can learn from that. that said, there are all sorts of people wo leave negative remarks for personal reasons too. I think you have to read reviews, take them with a grain of salt because you don't know who is making them and make your own decision.

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  8. Great post and great points brought up here. I think reviews should be honest but I have seen many that just seemed out to get the author or like someone put them up to posting them. I like to see what other readers have to say but at the same time, I have enjoyed movies and books that critics said not-so-good things about so I always like to make my own opinions.

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