Reviewing
Reviewing
It’s always hard to know if you’re striking the right balance, how to develop your style. What are some of the more common ways of reviewing and what wisdom can you gather from those around you? Well, as always, we’re here to help!
Negative Reviews
Recently there has been an uproar from a few authors on the practice of reviewing books, specifically on GoodReads. They think reviewers are too harsh, they hate the use of pictures and GIFs, and they feel like majority of the negative reviews author bash. I’ve found that majority of authors complaining happen to write in the YA genre.
Now, here are my thoughts. Sure, some reviews are harsh, however those reviews are usually of the books that truly are awful. And I’m not talking about the reviewer just not liking the book. Oh, no. It’s way more to that. Those books may personally offend a reader by portraying anti-feministic views, unhealthy relationships, anti-gay views, racial stereotypes, acts of plagiarism, ect. Should the reviewer hold their tongue to these things? In my honest opinion, no. Here’s why. The reviews are not for the author; they are for other readers. If an author wants to read them, then they should take them for what they are: a reader’s opinion of what they read.
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Reviewer
“Little Author, little Author let me in.”
“Not by the feathers of my quilly pen, pen!”
“Then, I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blooOOOOoow your book in!”
These days it seems like there’s a new version of the Big Bad Wolf roaming the inter webs, specifically in the book blogging community. I like to call it the Big Bad Reviewer. Dun, dun, dun, duuuuuunnnnn! Did you cue the Michael Myers music yet?
Five Ways I could Be More of an Asshole
Critical Book Bloggers aren’t always very popular in the publishing and book blogging world. And why should we be? We write and say unpopular things, have unpopular opinions. But we’re not exactly going anywhere, are we? For those who don’t like critical book bloggers, GoodReaders and reviewers, well on the positive side, it could be worse. Because I may be a little bit of an asshole, but it takes a bit of work to only be a little bit of an asshole. To be a complete asshole is like a free ticket to funville! So here are five ways I could be more of an asshole.
I’m Not Pretending to Be a Professional
I think we all know where this post is going. I’m going to pretend you all have been informed of all the recent drama between reviewers and authors. But in case you missed the wankfest you can check out this recap. Once upon a time I wrote a review for a book called Carrier of the Mark and it happened to ruffle some feathers. At the time of writing the review, I was an angry little reader flabbergasted by a few issues I noticed. I wasn’t thinking of what the author would think of the review and contrary to popular belief, I couldn’t have cared less what she thought. Because once I care, I’ll be forced to sugarcoat. Anyway, usually I write my reviews with the reader in mind, but the Carrier of the Mark review is the only review I have written for myself. So for all those who have been “reviewing” my review and hating it?
The Growing Pains of the Book Blogging Community
In 1944 a children’s book club sent a volume about penguins to a 10-year-old girl, enclosing a card seeking her opinion.
She wrote, “This book gives me more information about penguins than I care to have.”
American diplomat Hugh Gibson called it the finest piece of literary criticism he had ever read.
From Futility Closet
The growing question in the book blogging/Goodreader community since the New Year began has been, what’s in the water? Why all the drama? It does seem like the community is in an uproar. This has created an incredible divide amongst the differing camps. It separates book bloggers from other book bloggers and authors from other authors and it also causes friction between book bloggers and authors.
Ummm… No! 5 Goodreads Myths Debunked
Ah, GoodReads. I can’t deny that I love that site. It’s where both Kat and I first entered into the big world of reviewing before we started blogging. And even today we are very active there partially because we are crazy addicted and we have no lives. But seriously, there is no better site to get great book recommendations and find hidden gems. It’s a gold mine full of people who love books just as much as I do.
Great Posts from other Bloggers
A Really Long Post About the Author/Reviewer Relationship - This is a really great post written by YA Highway’s Veronica Roth. It gives the perspectives of both authors and reviewers in regards to reviews.
