Does your opinion matter at all?
Barbara Vey, who blogs for PW has a post up today called, “Reading the Book: A Novel Approach to Reviewing.”
Yes, yes. I hear you groaning now, “Dear god, please, not THAT!” But after reading Richelle Mead’s whinepost on BAM’s blog about the evol that is amazon and blog reviewers who are too stupid and incapable to pick up on anything subtle in a book running across another blog on the evol of reviews…
Well I figured I would be the charming third in the blogging review pile-on.
Vey says: “That’s why we don’t write actual reviews here, we just blurb about the book (my blog, my rules). The WW ladies and friends just do it for the love of the written word.” As well she states she doesn’t read reviews because she wants to make up her own mind.
I don’t understand that at all. Where does it say a review is meant to take place of a book? If you read the review, what? You no longer need to read the book because now you know how you feel? Really? Do I not enjoy books, reviewing or the ‘written word’ because I know what I like and what I don’t and have the nerve to tell people?
And why is it that people who can see the problems in reviews, be it at amazon, review sites or whatever, decide to not be a part of the solution? I have always thought that if you see something being done wrong – well, do it right. No? I totally believe some reviews on amazon are meanies. Some are bad bad peeps out to ‘get the author’. But every bad review an author gets, doesn’t have an agenda. No really. And if you honestly believe that, you are a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
Some people will love your book. Some people will hate your book. Some will be ‘meh’ about it. And others won’t even read it cuz it just doesn’t float their boat. They will ALL be right. And if you really, really need to believe all bad reviews are just people ‘out to get you’ for god’s sake stop saying so in public. Because it makes you look like a dumbass and screws with my enjoyment of your book. Damn it.
I did respond to Vey’s post but I haven’t see it show up yet… so just in case I am spammed or something… for your reading enjoyment I have pasted it here. You are most welcome. Sybil Sez:
Why don’t you review? Knowing all reviews are subjective and that oh so many authors only get bad reviews because people are ‘out to get them’ or ‘are 15 year olds telling them how to write’ why not provide your own honest opinion?
Aren’t people who don’t want to say anything bad that may be mean, part of the problem with amazon, blogs and review sites? If a person can’t say anything but praise than they are never there for the reader. They are there for the author.
And authors who want nothing but praise have to know that isn’t an honest view of their work because no book will be liked by all. So what is the point?
How can any author be proud of nothing but 20 5 star glowing reviews when they know, as well as anyone reading it, that it is not a true reflection of them or their work.
Great post.
Amazon aside-(ick, Harriet Klausner) I don’t read all the review sites that have glowing reviews for every single book. You know, the sites that give away green clovers, lips, coffee cups, etc. Every book is soooo good.
Yeah, sure.
Those sites are for the authors and the only the authors. So that they can say “such and such site gave me 5 clovers”.
Sure, Richelle can bitch and moan about bloggers who don’t get her or say that Amazon who is confusing. Free country, and all that.
I just see someone who is annoyed that a lot of people didn’t like SOT as much as they did SB.
Not every author can write the best book every time. That is okay. Really.
Sorry, I’m blabbering now.
I love what Sabrina Jeffries says about every author has ‘their million’. I think that is so true. Some readers will LOVE some books that make me blink in shock and go really?
That doesn’t make them wrong and it doesn’t negate my opinion. I just am not that authors reader. And there are authors I really love their ‘voice’ or style and keep trying them but they don’t work for me. Does that mean I should stop?
I don’t like the funnah and HATE slapstick. Lynsey Sands has some awesome historicals and she can be slapsticky. I adore Erin McCarthy’s books, she is very much one of my fave funnah authors. I love some of MJD books. If I had just said ok, all funnah, OUT don’t read that it isn’t ‘fair’ if I don’t like it. Then I would have missed books I love.
Reviews are teh awesome. That anyone takes the time to write about what they loved, hated, what worked for them or what didn’t is great. I don’t have to agree. And I do NOT want anyone (reader or author) to check their brain at the door when they hit the blog. And I just can’t see how you can’t be happy if you moved someone to write about your book. Even if it was to say they didn’t like it… they took time to talk about it. And for everyone person who hates it there is one to love it.
Maybe I am wrong or just odd but I buy more books off of ‘bad’ reviews than gushing.
The only problem I have (personally) with negative reviews is that they can point out warts on a story that can seriously impair your enjoyment of the story, even if it’s something you might have otherwise liked. Sort of a ‘hmm, I never noticed that, but now that you mention it…yeah, now it really bugs me! I can never look at that character the same way again!’ kind of thing.
I also love (not) the reviews that complain about a book and then go on to say they couldn’t even read past the first fifty pages. Now, life is short, and I give up on books that aren’t doing it for me pretty quickly so I understand all that. But if you can’t be bothered to read it, why do you have time to go post reviews of it? If you finish a book and hated every bleeping word, you’re entitled to tear it to shreds, imo, but…if you didn’t even read most of it? How do you know it didn’t get better? Or perhaps comically worse? I have read books in both of those categories–usually when in desperate lack of alternative reading material, but still. I do think those reviews are just worthless, because they are based on almost nothing.
Sabrina is so right about finding your ‘million’ (although for most writers it’s more like your ‘few thousand’). For every review/email I’ve gotten that didn’t like X about my book(s), I’ve gotten a review/email that absolutely loved X about my book(s). *shrug*
I think that it’s relevant in certain situations to write something up about a book you haven’t finished. *sheepish smile* because for some of us, we have our circle of friend/bloggers and we are all reading from the same list. It becomes more of a book group discussion. Why didn’t I finish this particular book? This is why. I’ve not entered the arena for any reason than to find other folks reading the same sort of books I enjoy. It makes a lot of sense to say: NO. DNF. Here is why.
Oh, that is so here. Many of the big hit books from last year were huge flops for me.
I also blog about DNF’s. I like to share why I was not able to finish certain books.
I tend to read reviews *after* I’ve read a book. I like to compare what I think with what the reviewer thinks. If I’m casting around for a book to read, I go with a recommendation from a reviewer whose taste I know is similar to mine.
I like negative reviews, if they’re not vicious. I get that it’s tough to write a book and I would never denigrate the effort. If I don’t like a book, I try very, very hard to say why it didn’t work for me in a constructive way.
I just kind of figure we all have to put on our big girl panties and take it like a woman if someone doesn’t like the work. I’m not an author, but I have one of those jobs that every thinks they can do (I’m a meeting planner), so I get that criticism can be really tough. I just think there’s a way to be grownup about both giving and receiving criticism.
The interesting thing for me is that some negative reviews have made me buy the book! LOL Sometimes the reviewer will point out something that irritated her, but I’m thinking, “I like that!”
OR the opposite~some excellent reviews have made me think “Glad I read this, I don’t want to read this book!”
I sometimes write about DNFs for the same reasons as Lisabea and Chantal. Sometimes, I also think that although the book may not have been my cup of tea, it might have appeal for others, so I write about it. Then maybe someone else will read it and I’ll get to see what they think.
The things that always bugs me about the evil reviewers/reviews argument is that it seems to assume that readers are too dumb to separate the wheat from the chaff, whether in the review or the book itself. Reviews are one person’s analysis, and it’s up to the reader to glean what they can from the review.
There is some value to a blurb site as a promotional tool, but I find some “review sites” so useless. The language is canned and vague (“oh you’ll need a cold shower after this one!” why? because it was so hot, or to clean out your eyes and brain). I want the good, the specifics.
Ulitmately everyone need to find what works for them. Too many meanies? There are plenty of vague, goody-goody sites as well.
I buy the books Mrs. Giggles gives the single digit grades to. Just so 1) I can see if she’s right 2) schaedenfreude 3) masochism.
I don’t mind DNF ‘reviews’ as long as they are labeled DNF. And I would agree they really don’t belong on Amazon or the like. As lisabea said there are readers other readers connect with so if your reader twin couldn’t finish book X, there is a good chance you won’t either.
That is where commentary is so important, well I always think so because even in the case of a ‘reader twin’ there will be things that work for one that will not work of others.
To say, this book was horrid and no one should read it evah, and follow it with I couldn’t get passed the first 50 pages (of a 400 page book) is just beyond dumb and not useful to me as a reader.
I admit it, I love reading reviews. If the majority agrees it is a good book, I will go pick it up. So was the case with The Spymaster’s Lady. I saw the cover (erp. naked abs of steal) and even after reading the blurb on the back I was still on the fence. But then the reviews exploded about how great this book was and I got it and was so impressed.
But again every book can’t always have positive reviews. Someone is not going to like something, and you really can’t blame them if they don’t.
I don’t see why DNF book reviews don’t belong on Amazon, I certainly think they are useful. If someone says in a review why they didn’t finish a book, and the thing that bothered them is something I know would cause me to DNF that book, then I’ve saved myself the money/time. I once skipped buying a book because of a DNF review where the reviewer said she stopped reading the book (it was a romance novel) because the hero raped the heroine. I knew I wouldn’t enjoy that book so I passed on it thanks to the helpful reviewer.