Musings on reviews

Someone on the Kindle Author and Readers forum on Goodreads asked "Should authors review each other?" which led to a three people discussion (I jumped it at some point, but apparently it was useless, and I got called an amateur) about the fact that apparently it's unethical.

My post: uhm… just wondering if reviewing fellow author novels is really unethical? I mean, every writer should also be a reader, so he/she can appreciate also other people's works, right?

I mean, whenever I read something that I like, I always review it on my blog (and here and on Amazon) – did it with Prue and other authors – what's wrong with it?

I swapped manuscripts only once so we could each write a sort of endorsement for each other's book (I have no idea if she used mine, I put hers on the back cover of my second book of the Immortals, Fire) and I admire Prue for having found two mainstream authors who did it for her.

So what's the big deal? Just wondering… thanks for explaining your POVs to me…

OK, please note that in the rush to reply to the drama, I didn't express myself very well – which probably prompted the "amateurish" comment – I did not swap manuscripts with Prue for endorsment, but with another author. I'm adding this note here, leaving the original post as it was – apologies for having come out as amateurish, next time I'll think twice before posting in any forum.

Not that I'm going to swap manuscripts again – it was something I did because I had just published Air and had found someone on Six Sentence Sunday who suggested it – but that's apparently the unethical thing to do, which leads to fake reviews and stuff.

Now, I'm obviously against fake reviews, but I'm sure there are plenty of genuine ones as well. So OK, the manuscript swap is unethical, or whatever. But the original question is "should authors review each other?" and I think the answer is "yes!".

Because to be a good writer you must also be a reader, and what's wrong with telling the author if you liked his/her work? You know my review policy is not to review what I didn't like – you won't even know I read it – but I do want the author to know if I enjoyed his/her work. What's unethical about this? The book is out and anyone can review it, why not another author?

Unless we're talking about those endorsements (like the one I got from my manuscript swap), but that's different. I don't think it's a review. Actually it was mentioned as "writing each other's book blurb" (and for me the book blurb is something else, but when I discovered it, it was too late). And if someone can pull it off like Prue, kudos, she had the balls even if she's a lady to contact mainstream authors, and I bow to her. In my eyes she's a professional writer, and she did the right thing. And no, I'm not going to ask her to read my books only because I loved hers, I think the offer should come spontaneously, but that's shy me!

By the way A Thousand Glass Flowers is due for Kindle release at the end of this week, and it's on my ToBuy list. Hopefully I'll even have a Kindle then – I plan on ordering mine soon after my birthday. So stay tuned for more stories of Eirie!

Oh, boy, this is so complicated to explain… I hope I'm making sense! I don't like some of the discussions going on in the Goodreads forums (bickering between two or three in a group discussion sounds… amateurish! ), but I guess it's my natural dislike of forums themselves (and I even joined another one, yikes!), the reason why I don't go to Kindle Boards and why I want to be a hermit! So I don't know when I'll actually be an interactive Goodreads author and will be able to find my readers there… or when and where I'll be able to get reviews of my books by someone, anyone, really!