A Mini Rant On Reviews
There’s a bit of a brouhaha over RomancingThe Blog . You can read it for yourself. This is one of those issues we can talk about until we vomit and still never reach an agreement. Some people believe the only acceptable reviews are ones that give authors 5 stars, 5 puppies, 5 roses or 5 whatever. These people live in a dream world. This is my blog, so I can say that.
This is one of those issues about which I have strong views. Of course, I can have strong views about anything if you give me 2 seconds to think about it, so this isn’t a surprise. Without commenting on any actor in this little drama (I don’t know them and am not involved in the controversy), here are my thoughts:
1. People who praise every book they read and never write a negative thing about a book are not reviewers. They are people who like to give book suggestions. That’s great but don’t confuse the two.
2. If you are an author and don’t like other authors reviewing your work - find a new profession. Authors can be supportive of each other, can promote books and can promote other authors without being blind followers when they do a review.
3. Not every negative review or negative point in a review is a personal attack. Not every review is motivated by jealously, anger or stupidity on the part of the commentor. Sure, some come from a dark place. Understand that many don’t. Some books aren’t that good. They are flawed or have some weaknesses. We should be able to talk about that.
4. Do a little self assessment. If you can’t tolerate a review that is negative - I am talking to 93% of the romance writing community here - then stop reading them. The resulting whining, complaining and general “you just don’t get it” attitude doesn’t help anyone.
5. If you think you can tolerate a negative review - stop and reassess. There is a good chance you can’t (still talking to those romance authors out there).
6. A good review probably says things that are positive and negative. If the idea of seeing any flaw pointed out is intolerable, then go to those sites that only give 5 puppies/roses/stars to books. They are great for promotion and author insecurity. They also do a nice job of describing plot. The question is whether they are really reviews.
7. Do not believe any - ANY - Amazon and B&N individual reviews. People have agendas. People write “false” reviews under pseudonyms. Authors have overly positive reviews written on their behalf. All of this taints the process.
8. If you are one of those authors listed in #7 who has friends write reviews so that you’ll have positive comments up there, please stop it. This is silly. You are a professional not a teenager fighting for the Prom Queen crown.
9. If you are a person from #7 who writes reviews under fake names to be spiteful or for whatever bizarre reason, you are a complete idiot. You should be unmasked and humiliated.
10. If someone has the nerve not to love your books, do not mobilize your friends and relatives to attack the reviewer. This is not junior high. It may feel that way, but it isn’t.
January 12th, 2006 at 7:42 am
I should have let you write my column
January 12th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Not every negative review or negative point in a review is a personal attack.
Most are not. If you say a book makes you gag and barf, that is not saying the author makes you gag and barf, or that her puppies and kitties make you gag and barf. It’s just the book, man. Just the book.
Do not believe any - ANY - Amazon and B&N individual reviews. People have agendas.
And the supportive agendas are just as damaging to an author as the bashing agendas. Readers are not dumb people. When they see ten mini-reviews (as in, “I read every page of this book and it knocked my socks off it was so hot.) posted within hours of each other, that raises red flags for them about the veracity of said reviews. Like I said. DAMAGING!
If you are one of those authors listed in #7 who have friends write reviews so that you’ll have positive comments up there, please stop it. This is silly.
Silly and unprofessional. Think about how it makes you look as a writing pro. Can you imagine SEP getting her buddies to counter bad reviews by reviewers who didn’t like Sugar Beth? Check out the horrid reviews for Jennifer Weiner’s new book. You think she has sent all her buddies over to Amazon to knock those off the front page? I think not!
IMO, Paperback Reader needs to expand because those are the sort of reviews that matter. They point out the good and the bad and give examples. They are worthwhile, not worthless as are the drive-by gushers at Amazon!
January 12th, 2006 at 9:44 am
I’ve been sitting at my computer thinking about how to write my thoughts on this whole subject, when I discovered this link.
Heck, you said it all and so much better than I would have.
Thanks.
January 12th, 2006 at 11:37 am
[...] Oh, and if you haven’t checked out HelenKay Dimon’s take on the subject, now’s the time! [...]
January 12th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Oh, HelenKay, you’re prefect. I love that you don’t merely espouse ideas, but back up your ideas with actions. There’s no one I’d rather collect hate mail with than you.
January 12th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
HelenKay, you are always so sensible!
January 12th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I take offense to number eight. I was prom queen. ;-P
January 12th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
First, I apologize to Jordan. Let’s Switch the title to Ms. Sweet Potato Queen. If you were Ms. Sweet Potato Queen, email me. We need to talk.
Angie - Yeah for you!
Larissa & Wendy - Nicest things said to me today. This week, actually…
Tara Marie - Welcome! Angie opened the door with her great RTB post. I just followed her impressive lead.
Alison - Thanks for the PBR comments. I appreciate that. We enjoy it but we take some hits behind the scenes (email can be a bad thing). Your SEP and Weiner comments are right on target. Isn’t it interesting to see how some of the ladies at the top of the game handle this? I’ve heard SEP talk about reviews. She’s gotten some really bad ones. Really bad. She says, on the advice of her friend Jayne Ann Krentz, she reads the bad review then gets it out of her house. Seems to me, that’s a good answer. Don’t dwell. Don’t take weeks defending all over the internet.
January 13th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
[..] As Helen Kay sums it up very well, you can’t please everyone, because we’re all unique in our thoughts and reactions. [..]
January 13th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
LMAO!
April 25th, 2006 at 10:18 am
[...] As Helen Kay sums it up very well in her post, you can’t please everyone, because we’re all unique in our thoughts and reactions. [...]
January 30th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Sweet