Booking Through Thursday: Honesty « Books Worth Reading

Booking Through Thursday: Honesty

November 20, 2008 at 2:31 pm | In Reviews | 6 Comments
Tags: Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Today’s question on Booking Through Thursday is:

I receive a lot of review books, but I have never once told lies about the book just because I got a free copy of it. However, some authors seem to feel that if they send you a copy of their book for free, you should give it a positive review.

Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book, even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy authors who get negative reviews?

I am sure this question was sparked by some recent discussion in the book blogosphere. Apparently, an author was miffed that, after sending a reviewer a reading copy, the review was not so glowing. I’ve seen a lot of posts about this on various blogs, but I didn’t bookmark any so I can’t link to any of them.

I am not one of those book bloggers who get a lot of advance reading copies. I don’t know why — maybe I haven’t been prolific enough with my reviews, or maybe I don’t read the types of books that are given out as ARCs. I am not a romance reader, but I do get frequent offers to review romances, for instance.

However, in the course of my everyday reading, I don’t normally post bad reviews on this blog. Why? Because I want this blog to focus on books worth reading, hence the title. I don’t even want to waste your time with a review of a book that is not worth reading. I have made some exceptions, notably for good authors who have written bad books, to serve as a warning to readers and a little catharsis. I think Mr. Stephen King has mainly been on the receiving end of these bad reviews, and believe me, he can take a little criticism. All those millions of dollars must cushion the blow.

I do post bad reviews over on my All Consuming site. However, I recognize that a response to a book is subjective. I certainly have hated books that are beloved by absolutely everyone else. My opinion is just one squawk in the universe.

I was an author myself in a former life, and it was pretty hard to visit my books’ Amazon.com pages. An author has to have a thick skin. The author feels as if the book is a part of herself and any attacks on the book are attacks on her. But the reader doesn’t feel that way. The reader looks at the book as a commodity or art (depending), and when the reader reviews the book, she is sharing whether the book did the job she expected it to. It’s not personal at all.

So the burden is on the author. You put your book out there, and you are going to get feedback, good and bad. The best authors will take criticism in a constructive way and try to learn from it. The average authors (including me, a lot of the time) will just ignore the bad reviews. The bad authors will argue with the reviewers, their readers. That takes the least amount of work. So if the author does argue with you after you post a negative review, then that signals to me that the author probably deserved that review.

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Wow. I appreciate your perspective. Although I was the the blogger that’s been the subject of the discussion around the blogosphere, I did have an author take issue with my review to the point of writing derogatory comments on my blog. I made him back off, but I realize that probably the only reason the author backed off is because I’m a lawyer. But I have heard at least one book blogger was threatened with a copyright infringement lawsuit over the negative review.

Comment by Bluestocking — November 20, 2008 #
Thank you for that input. It certainly helps me understand a bit more about the process. I review, but I’ve never worried about the result of my review. Perhaps because I’m older, perhaps because I’m a retired English teacher, I used to subjectively grading/reviewing. I do believe that we need to be professional about reviews. I look forward to reading your comment on my post.

Comment by Sally — November 20, 2008 #
This is great. I think it’s the best response I’ve read all day. I always knew you were smart and perceptive!

Comment by chartroose — November 20, 2008 #
Thanks, guys. I guess it does help that I’ve been on both sides. Criticism is part of the job description of being an author.

Comment by Shannon — November 20, 2008 #
The reviewer’s first obligation is to the reader. As an author, it hurts to have someone say anything negative about my baby, but it’s something that comes with being a published author.

I just reviewed The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing on my blog. The authors deal with this very issue. Many reviewers are like you—and me—and don’t normally write negative reviews. Reviewers who are assigned books by a review site or publication, though, have no choice but to review their assigned books. In that case, they must be honest, though as tactful as possible.

Many people think that even negative reviews can be good publicity for an author. Some readers won’t remember the review but will recognize the title of the book or name of the author and pick up the book since it’s familiar. Others may look for a book with a negative review because they have different tastes than the reviewer and think they will probably like it if that reviewer didn’t.

Authors and publishers should be selective when sending out review copies and try to send books to reviewers who like their genre and who write honest, fair reviews. If I send my sweet romance to a reviewer who reads primarily erotica—or vice versa—I can expect a bad review.

Comment by Lillie Ammann — November 20, 2008 #
Like movies, music and lot more, books once published are open for critical analysis! I say the same for ARCs!

Read my BTT post!

Comment by gautami tripathy — November 21, 2008 #