I've heard I should not read Goodreads reviews. Yep, that's going to happen, not. It's too hard to see that someone has reviewed your novel and then not read that review. Do I wish they were all 4 and 5 star reviews. Of course. But that's not reality. In fact I got a 3 star from the Reading Housewives on Indiana the other day that I thought rocked. Click here to read it. The reviewer was very honest. She like the book, was entertained, but could not connect with my main character. I'm good with that. She was respectful and tactful and I appreciated that.
I recently got a horrible 2.5 star review on Goodreads (and subsequently the reviewers blog). I'm okay with the review. I felt the language was a little harsh, but I respect the reviewers opinion. It's a subjective business. As writers, we hear this all the time.
And reviewer's followers sometimes take their word as gospel. Again, fine. They follow them, maybe they have some of the same opinions on certain books, so they take their reviews and base their decisions on them. I'm down with that.
However, (of course there's a however) I think if someone reads a synopsis of a novel, and they think it sounds interesting, they should make their own judgment. Plain and simple. I mean, reviews are important, but if you doubt that review in any way, just pick the book up and try it out.
There was one thing that bothered me about this particular review. It was the fact that the blogger stated that the people that gave Never Eighteen
five stars must not have read the book. Yes, she has her freedom of speech, I just find this comment reckless and unprofessional. That's just my opinion and I'm free to voice it as well.I was researching opinions about Goodreads reviews, and only came up with a couple sites. I think we as writers worry about criticizing reviews, as we should, so we stay away from the topic. Here are a couple good blogs, click here for one by Alissa Grosso
about the pros and cons of the site. And click here to read one from Faerye.net about Goodreads vs. Librarything.As you see, I've linked to the review in question above , only so you can read it, please do not feel the need to defend me or my novel. Like I said, it's a subjective business. Some people will hate your work, some with love it. My friend Gae
made a good point, that the bad reviews give the good ones some legitimacy. Balance, Yin and Yang and all that.Even you don't read or don't like Never Eighteen, I will still love you. :) You are my blog readers and followers and I hold you close to my heart.
I hope no one is offended by this post. It's just something I think about and wanted to talk about. I would love your opinions on Goodreads, review bloggers, and Amazon reviews. Do they hold water? Are they gospel? Do you only trust ones from your friends?
Goodreads seems like a mix of these really serious bookies who provide the most thoughtful, fantastic, heartfelt, and skilled reviews (teachers, librarians, bloggers) and sort of those engaged in reviewing as a blood sport. I, too, am trying to learn not to read them, good or bad, but honestly, i believe there are things to be learned from our reviews. So, I haven't figured it all out yet either. Nice post, Megan. I think, very balanced and thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, :)
ReplyDeleteHi Megan, Interesting post. I have just begun to post excerpts of my books on my blog, and have, thus far, garnered only a few critiques from people I don't know. I cannot speak to the reviews on the sites you have mentioned (I did bear witness to some serious ugliness on the ABNA boards), but I can share my opinion on the reviews of family and friends. Ever since I began to write, family and friends have raved about my stories, and even though many of them read everything they can get their hands on, I still had that lingering doubt in the back of my mind--the thought sequences go like this: *pretty good story-writing for someone who works in lab* or *wow, that's pretty good for my daughter to have written*...etc. But, the few comments left by complete strangers who happened upon my blog gives me a serious lift. They have no agenda, no connection to me, no reason to not point out what does not work out of fear of hurting my feelings OR qualifying their opinion of me as writer by thinking of me first as family, friend, or coworker. I hope that made sense :-) I can get long-winded... must be why I write ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the first ABNA contest, I really appreciated the reviews by complete strangers. Now that I have a book coming out, while I still do, they scare the crap out of me. LOL. But like I said, if they were all good, you would question their validity. While getting bad reviews totally sucks, it makes the process more real and grounds us and makes us understand all those agents that have told us the business is subjective.
ReplyDeleteI find goodreads a great source to find good books to read and it's also a way to see where a book you've written is reaching. However, every book is going to have good and bad reviews. Even the best classics are hated by some people.
ReplyDeleteWhy did you delete my comment? I put a lot of thought into it. It wasn't mean at all
ReplyDeleteI think if you blog about someone, they have the right to respond. I guess I'll just have to do that on my own blog.