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Is it ok for authors to comment (politely) on reviews
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Hannah
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Mar 30, 2013 10:41AM
Reviews are opinion based solely to talk about a book for other reviewers. It doesn't have to be professional, especially since this site is for 13 and up. Jeffrey could have fairly well commented to someone who was still in high school. Authors' always complain about proffessional reviews whether good or bad. It's time for everyone to accept that this goodreads is a reader based site and the readers do not owe the authors anything. I am an author and reviewer. I try to be professional because I want a career reading and reviewing but int the beginning when I was only a reader my reviews where not professional at all.
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Hannah wrote: "Reviews are opinion based solely to talk about a book for other reviewers. It doesn't have to be professional, especially since this site is for 13 and up. Jeffrey could have fairly well commented ..."Hannah,
When I referred to not being "professional", I was talking about my own behavior not the review. I do not advocate responding to reviews just because they are negative. However, when the review is harmful to the reader or simply untrue, I think there may be cause to respond. That is true in any case. It is not that I think that readers owe me anything. It is the opposite. I want to give them a work with surprises that have not been spoiled by reviewers.
Hannah wrote: "Reviews are opinion based solely to talk about a book for other reviewers. It doesn't have to be professional, especially since this site is for 13 and up. Jeffrey could have fairly well commented ..."Hanna with an H is going to faint, because I whole heartidly agree with her...
I think there's a certain amount of common sense involved in all this - there are certain reviews where I know there's a 2 km exclusion zone (good or bad), but there are others where it's clear that a comment from the author won't be a bad thing. I was allowed to participate in a Buddy Read of my book a couple of weeks ago, and it was fantastic - I got to see how others interpreted my book, and I offered to answer any questions, as long as they were hidden as spoilers. The readers were smart, critical and entirely welcoming, and picked up on an absolute beaut of a tiny continuity error. Asking *very* nicely, not butting in where you're not wanted, and being prepared to take the crap, have worked for me so far.
Jeffrey you commented that you commented on a review that told you what was wrong with your book with something negative. It's that person's opinion and to say what was wrong with it they most likely read it. So your post doesn't really make sense to me.Omg! Did I just hear what I think I heard from Nick???? -<3
Hannah, Sorry, I guess I didn't express myself clearly. When I wrote "I did have a review for my first book that complained about things that were wrong", I meant that the things that the reviewer was citing were incorrect. For example, the review mentioned that a character in the beginning of the book is not mentioned until the end. However, it is easily shown that the character is mentioned on specific pages throughout the book. I hope my post makes sense to you now.
It indeed does make sense now. Thank you. However, I cannot help but think that maybe this person did read your book, but didn't understand it. My brother has a mental disability and he often misunderstands the books that he reads. He works with a college tutor to help him understand better. He recieves audio books to help guide his readings. If your reader knew a few specifics perhaps he simply misunderstood what was read.
Here's what I think, after being the one to ask the question initially, quite some time ago.Goodreads policy is that it is officially discouraged, but not prohibited. It is possible that you could do it without any trouble. But there is no conceivable benefit to it, and it looks unprofessional under the best of circumstances, and in the worst case scenario, in this world of mass Goodreads groups and trolls and viral anger, and so on, you could get into real hot water, even destroy your career. Even if you think you are being nice in your communication with the reader, there is the risk of a misunderstanding. A "nice" response could be misconstrued as a sarcastic one! And it could blow up in your face.
If someone read your book and didn't like it, that ship has sailed - there is no point in engaging. If someone not understood it - well, you're not going to convince him. He didn't like your book; and he doesn't want to hear from you. And if you are worried about the review sitting there with some sort of mistake in it, your comment isn't going to change that. Many fewer people will see the comment than who will see the review! Unless it is interpreted as a jerky comment, and then look out! Even if you want some clarification from the reviewer to help you with your writing, leave it alone - reviewers are really not here to help us, they are to tell other readers what they think. If you want to have a meaningful communication about your book, join a writers group. (I once received a comment from an author on a 4 star review I wrote calling me "mean and unfair". This was kind of mild, but it frightened me a bit.)
So even if an author thinks he has something useful to add, or something that could help the reader, my conclusion is you should just leave it alone and say nothing. The risk is just too great. Leave reviewers alone to say what they want to say. The book should stand on its own, to live or die without any explanation from us. Take the time you would spend writing to readers, and write your next book instead.
So it falls into the category of rating your own book - you could possibly, theoretically do it without it hurting you, but it won't help, so why do it? I have (kineh hara) not had any particular problems on Goodreads or the web, but my conclusion after thinking about it is a strict rule - never never never do it.
This kind of thing is more prevalent with Indie authors, I think, because big firm published authors (1) have way more reviewers; and (2) have people to help calm them down (editors and agents and PR folks) when someone says something about them on the web.
I know some people will disagree with this, but this is my view after a lot of thought on the subject.
Cheers to you all.
In my humble opinion, never. It's hard not to, especially if the facts are dead wrong but you always end up looking peevish and small. Just whine for 3 days (same as you do for rejections) and move on.
I've just read another thread where an author demonstrates exactly why an author commenting on a poor review can lead to all kinds of problems. Admittedly, it appears that this author stooped to confrontation and rudeness, but it made an enormous impact on potential readers as evidenced in the comments section of the review.I am absolutely certain that at some point my own book will experience a poor review. And I will probably be somewhat devastated, but I'm hoping to remind myself that it's impossible for every human being in the world to like the same thing.
While it's tempting, I'm in agreeance with the Goodreads guidelines here.
Leonie, my wife told me, "Not even God can write a book everyone likes."
The best approach for all authors is simply ignore criticism, but in the extreme examples, never, never, respond with rudeness. For every one reader cheering on the author, there will be ninety nine thinking, "What a berk"!
My suggestion re. bad reviews is to complain bitterly...to your spouse, mother, best friend, dry cleaner, hairdresser, and anyone you can buttonhole in a parking lot.But not to the reviewer. Never to the reviewer.
Barbara wrote: "My suggestion re. bad reviews is to complain bitterly...to your spouse, mother, best friend, dry cleaner, hairdresser, and anyone you can buttonhole in a parking lot.But not to the reviewer. Neve..."
So very true!
Leonie wrote: "I've just read another thread where an author demonstrates exactly why an author commenting on a poor review can lead to all kinds of problems. Admittedly, it appears that this author stooped to c..."I went over one of the reviews on your book. Here we have an example of a person not understanding the book. Can you help it that some people can't follow your mind set? Some people have no imagination or at least a different one than the author and need extensive descriptions. But this doesn't mean you've written a bad book.
My take on this: NEVER. Just never comment on a review, good or bad. (Now if they privately email you something, that's different, but maintain a professional, courteous demeanor.)Comments in general look unprofessional. If you can't resist, you might be better off not reading the reviews at all. Just keep writing.
Barbara wrote: "My suggestion re. bad reviews is to complain bitterly...to your spouse, mother, best friend, dry cleaner, hairdresser, and anyone you can buttonhole in a parking lot.But not to the reviewer."
Yes! Couldn't have said it better. It's tempting—oh, so tempting—but it can't help. It can only hurt.
That's right - there may well be cases in which it is justified, and cases in which it doesn't do any harm. But it will never help. And something that will never help us isn't something we should do. That's why I say it's like an author rating her own book - it may be honest, it may be justified, but it won't help, and it could hurt.
How does it hurt for an author to rate their own book?
Let me put it this way. If you go to a book page, and the first entry (or more) you see is the author saying, "This book is great! Everyone should read it!" do you think this book is great, I should read it? When I see that, I think the author sounds desperate and the book is probably horrible. I usually decide on the spot not to read it.
Which doesn't mean I am always right. Still, I'm guessing I may not be the only person who has that reaction.
If the author uses that space to post non-GR reviews, though, I feel differently. That seems reasonable to me, as it is still readers, not authors, rating the book (assuming here that the reviews are genuine and no money changes hands).
So you're talking about an advertisement/review, not the little 1 to 5 star graphic.
I'm talking (and I think Steven is talking) about authors who give their books five stars and write reviews for themselves talking about how great their books are, based solely on their own opinion of the books. Many of these authors are self-published—which is an additional problem, because the behavior reflects badly on all indie authors, just as spamming groups and strangers does. But some authors who behave this way are traditionally published. Either way, it does not help the authors sell books and often drives readers away. Of course, authors love their own books. Why else would they release them? So readers take that for granted. If an author nonetheless insists on telling them how great the book is, many people begin to wonder where the flaws are.
To me, any writer that gives his or her own work a review or star rating, says to me the author has no clue...5 stars tells me the writer is pretty arogant.
4 stars tells me they are trying to game the system.
3 stars means they know something is wrong with it but published it anyway.
2 stars or less, why should I even trouble myself if the writer feels that way?
It's a catch-22 situation. The writer has confidence in that they put out the best they can, but the best they can still may not meet the expectations of the reader, and its the reader that matters on what they think...
Me 2! I know what you mean Nick but it seems some well to do authors rate their books.
C.P., You say not to rate your own book 5 stars, but you've rated both of your books as 5 stars.You say not to post glowing reviews about yourself but you import 5 star reviews from Amazon and post them in your review spot.
Is this hypocritical or am I missing something?
I did make a distinction between reviewers' opinions and authors' opinions. I didn't ask for the reviews or the ratings. I merely reported them. And I state explicitly in both cases that these are not my ratings but readers'.I would not actually do even that next time. By now, I think my books have been out for a while and are finding their audience. But when I was learning about Goodreads, that use of the space seemed acceptable to me. And when I see other writers' sites, it does not bother me if they report readers' views. It does if they report their own.
I am also not telling you what to do. You asked how it could hurt to rate your own book. The answer is that it could hurt if it turns off readers. If my posting other people's reviews turns off readers, then that's a problem for me, too.
Well, that aside, I have a question about the original post.I got a gnarly 1 star review today and my wife, my editor, wants to argue with the guy.
At first I was like, "Yeah, go for it," she's not the author after all, but then I got this weird feeling like we were in uncertain territory.
It reminds me of when I first started posting on the internet and I wrote everything in all caps, because I thought that was easier to read.
That seemed like a good idea at the time.
Should she avoid interacting with my reviewers?
I'd never rate my own book, but I'm quite happy to report what other reviewers have said. As is my publisher. Obviously we all have to do some kind of self promotion, but how we do it is really important.Yesterday I had a "like" on one of my reviews. I was curious to see who had "liked" my review (as this isn't a common occurrence for me), and clicked on the name. It was the author. That didn't bother me, quite the contrary really, and I was pleased to see that she'd taken the time to read my review (favourable) of her work. Particularly because I'd noticed a formatting problem that cropped up occasionally in the eBook. Hopefully she can now feedback to the publisher and they'll correct it.
Having said that, I probably won't "like" reviews of my own book on Goodreads, because I'd feel weird doing so. Maybe that's a contradiction, but it's just the way I feel.
William wrote: "Well, that aside, I have a question about the original post.I got a gnarly 1 star review today and my wife, my editor, wants to argue with the guy.
At first I was like, "Yeah, go for it," she's no..."
The questions that you have to ask yourself are about professionalism and integrity. And this applies to both yourself and your editor.
You've used the word "argue," which I think is problematic to begin with. Is it professional to argue with a reviewer? In my opinion - no. I think it would reflect badly on you, and potentially turn readers away. Is it unpleasant to get a one star review? Absolutely. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll run to the bedroom and cry when it happens to me. :)
I had a quick look at your profile and it looks like your book Antioch (The Circle #1) has some great reviews on Amazon (I'd be honoured to be compared to Joss Whedon), and a number of five star reviews on Goodreads that were unfortunately short on words, which is a pity. There are lots of "to reads" marked though, so hopefully you'll get some more reviews like the Amazon ones.
I might add, that as a reader, I'd automatically discount author and wife-of-author reviews. If your wife had not begun with "even if the author wasn't my husband" I probably wouldn't have noticed the same surname.
Leonie wrote: "Is it unpleasant to get a one star review? Absolutely. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll run to the bedroom and cry when it happens to me."One star reviews are great!
All I had to do was mention that I got one and you looked me up and said a bunch of nice things about my work.
If I had said any of those nice things, no one would click on anything and I'd look like a self-promoting douche.
Don't be afraid of bad reviews, they cause traffic.
Alright, so the guy's review is fine by me.
My wife wanted to argue with him because he's just wrong on several points.
We've been talking about it tonight and she's decided to ignore the review but it's still an interesting question to me.
How far do you have to be away from the author before you can talk about the work with reviewers?
It's a weird but real boundary.
Even if a reviewer is totally wrong about something, never respond with a comment to the review. Someone mentioned that the technology in my books seemed a decade or so in the past. But they liked the characters, even if they misspelled one of them. Does it matter if I try to set the record straight? From the feedback I receive from readers, I know that they have unanswered questions they'd like me to answer in subsequent books. While it's nice to know people are so involved with my characters that they want more backstory, it doesn't mean I'm going to cater to their wishes. I don't do 'exposition'. Backstory has to be put together by the readers from the snippets of dialogue that reveal the history of the characters. If you're not good at 'connecting the dots', you might miss some details, but that's the same with real people. You will never know somebody 100%.So, I do read reviews, but I rarely let them influence my writing. Feedback is something else - if someone privately emails me concerning issues in my books that they figure are incorrect, I will do my best to either correct them or make the issue clearer to avoid misunderstandings.
My first book got a one star review on Amazon, and that one irritated because it said he didn't like the first person narrative. Since I've never written in first person, I was intrigued as to which book he was reviewing.The first "fan" letter to my editor documented 21 inaccuracies of history. I won't go into details - suffice it to say I was able to prove them all wrong.
But on a lighter note, I always put a five star review against my own titles. I'm not an indie (for all my titles, anyway - 32 published with Headline and Simon and Schuster), but I reckon it's the same as a politician putting him/herself up for election. You would wonder about the intelligence of a presidential candidate who, after the counting, didn't have a single vote. It would mean they'd voted for someone else themselves. In the same way I think it's legitimate for an author to give their own work top ratings. I'd probably ignore their stars, just as I'd ignore their own blurb, but at least one set of 5 stars would mean it kicks the Goodreads algorithms into a higher gear and may mean the book gets seen by more people.
On the other point: do you copy other people's comments. I'm wary about them. There has been so much sock-puppetry going on, they always look suspect. On the other hand, there could be a valid claim for copyright infringement if you take someone else's words and use them. I take the easier approach and ask those who have read my books (people who "like" my facebook author page, people who read my newsletter, people on my blog) to go and make their own comments. I've been touched by the number of people who have done just that.
I have a bad review on its way. The reviewer warned me it would be negative. There are several things she either doesn't understand or doesn't like. But hey, that's her opinion. I must admit some parts in the book are somewhat confusing, but I'd done this on purpose. I did this to let the reader crawl into the mindset of the mc.I don't believe in extensive character descriptions. My story might have too many characters, but in real life they are a lot more people around you, even though you might not interact with does.
Christine wrote: "I have a bad review on its way. The reviewer warned me it would be negative. There are several things she either doesn't understand or doesn't like. But hey, that's her opinion. I must admit some p..."I have to say, I absolutely agree with you, Christine. Life isn't neat and tidy, and when depicting characters, I tend to leave as much as possible to the reader's imagination. There shouldn't be too much need to describe in perfect detail.
I once had a gig in a library where a couple smilingly listened all the way through, and then admitted candidly that although they liked my talk, they wouldn't ever read my books. When pressed, they said that they had opened one of my books once, and saw a cast list. It put them off, because if there were so many characters, the book would be too complicated, so they wouldn't try the stories.
One of those rare occasions when I was utterly unable to comment!
Bad reviews will come. They always do. You just have to hope that the reader's being objective and move on. After all, all the dreadful comments made about the appalling writing of, to pick two from a hat, JK Rowling and EL James have not hit their income too badly!
Mahala wrote: "Just ignore the review. Readers/reviewers don't like authors or editors snapping at the hand holding the credit card."That is the truth.
William wrote: "C.P., You say not to rate your own book 5 stars, but you've rated both of your books as 5 stars.You say not to post glowing reviews about yourself but you import 5 star reviews from Amazon and pos..."
Can't speak for others. My decision was to post reviews that were on Amazon, and not here in my "review" but did not rate it. My ONLY purpose was for people to see more reviews because at the time I did that, I had very few reviews.
I think that is the best, IMHO, because I am providing other reviews as a service, but I am not influencing the rating total at all here at Goodreads.
I am in the camp that has come to feel that the author already has an opportunity to talk about their book in the description, and that reviewing or rating one's own book on top of that is pointless, and possibly even damaging, reputation-wise.
I know I am a new author, but that is what I've learned thus far.
I have a one-star rating from a reviewer, but so what. She says she skimmed the book, so I doubt anyone would take much store in what she says. On the other hand, if all my reviews were one-star, I would pull the book off the market and make a better attempt next time.As to rating or reviewing my own work, I think I rated it five stars when I put it on the market. Any further rating or reviewing would be redundant.
