This post is about book reviews, from those on Amazon.com to those in Publishers Weekly. I’ve always wanted to talk about reviews–bad ones–but in order to do that I’d have to tell people that I’ve gotten ones. And nobody wants to advertise they’ve gotten a bad review.
People are really funny about bad reviews, especially author friends. Nobody mentions them. It’s as though they never happened. I got a bad review in an Atlanta paper on my second book (yes, I remember it), and nobody in my writing group mentioned it. Now I know they’d read it because the book reviewer had visited our RWA chapter meeting and agreed to review romance novels. It’s like when you know you’re having a “bad hair day” but nobody comments on it, not even to joke. That’s when you know how seriously we writers take these reviews.
PW has reviewed a couple of my books. Back in the day, it was hard for a romance novel to get a review, and one without a back-handed insult was hard to find. But we writers learned to deal with PW. Let’s say the PW reviewer writes that “the author butchered this book and destroyed what could have been wonderful characters.” Well, the creative author turns lemons into lemonade. The next thing you know, the author has a quote from PW on her web site or the cover of her book and it says ”. . .wonderful characters. -PW” Just lose a few words and a bad review becomes a good review.
In all fairness, I don’t think we do that anymore. It’s pretty clear it’s not an honest representation of how PW felt about the book. Just goes to show the lengths we’ll go to get a good review.
Amazon reviews are another matter. I don’t really look at the ratings. Okay, sometimes I do. I get a good laugh off some of those 1- and 2-star reviews, unless of course, they’re on one of my books, and then I tear-up everytime I think about it.
Anyway, a bad Amazon review won’t stop me from buying a book and a good one won’t make me buy it. A lot of good reviews look suspicious. Why? Because I wonder if the author has asked all his/her friends to post a review. How can everybody who read the book think it’s great? I look more for the number of reviews. If a book has a lot of reviews, I think a lot of people read it. Doesn’t really matter to me if they liked it.
It stings when somebody writes something like, “this is the most boring book I’ve ever read,” but it hurts when they write “this book is not about Christians. It’s about a bunch of hypocrites in church.” Now that hurts.
I love to read and I love talking about books. I tear them apart and put them back together again. But I could never do that publicly because I know how hard it is to write a book. You know, there are some authors who are reviewers. I can’t do it. I can’t blog about what I disliked about somebody’s book. I just can’t do it.
i also don’t discuss other authors’ work with readers, unless I have good things to say. I could never bad-mouth another author’s book to a reader or potential reader. You’ll remember a while back I critiqued Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne.” That’s the most critical (and I didn’t speak badly about the show) I’ve ever been (or ever will be) on this blog, or in any public forum. You’ll never know how many times I thought about deleting that post. I left it up because I convinced myself that it was more positive than negative.
The best reviews come directly from readers. Now I figure if you plunk your money down to buy a book and take the time to read it, you’re free to talk about it. My best letter was from a reader who told me she loved the book “until it got to the end and then I threw it across the room.” The good news is that she told me she’d give me another chance. What more can I writer ask for? All I need is another chance; I’m sure I’ll win her over.
I do have one kind of review that drives me crazy–the review that gives away a major plot point. That drives me crazy. About as crazy as it drives my brother when I tell him the major plot point of a movie. Why do I do this with movies but not with books? I’m not sure.
I’ve never written a letter to an author about a book, but I’ve been tempted on two occassions. The first was Julie Garwood’s “For the Roses.” That was a wonderful book, not for the romance, but for the way she portrayed the relationship between a runaway slave, Adam, and his white adopted brothers and sister. I loved reading that book. The second was Sharon Foster’s “Passing by Samaria.” What a great book! If you haven’t read it, you must read it TODAY.
So tell me about you and reviews. Do you read them? Where do you read them? Do you make buying decisions based on them? Do you write them? If so, what guidelines do you use? Have you ever written an author to tell him/her you didn’t like her book? If so, what kind of response did you get?
Enjoy the rest of your week!
