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writing a negative review of a book.
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Bieke {Istyria book blog} wrote: "M.W. wrote: "Bieke {Istyria book blog} wrote: "M.W. wrote: "I agree that everyone is entitled to his/her opinions. You can't appeal to everybody--"I know, right? I can see accidentally buying som..."
Good for you on passing on it if it's not in your genre. I think a lot of people accept free books because they are free and then the ones who really wanted them don't get a chance.
Kelly wrote: "Bieke {Istyria book blog} wrote: "M.W. wrote: "Bieke {Istyria book blog} wrote: "M.W. wrote: "I agree that everyone is entitled to his/her opinions. You can't appeal to everybody--"I know, right?..."
What's the use of a free copy if you know you won't like it? XD Just waste of free space.
Amanda wrote: "I have never had to write a negative review and would like some pointers on how to do this in a constructive way that won't hurt any feelings. any thoughts?"I'd say, simply be honest, but not cruel. To my mind an honest reviewer spells out what they disliked about the book rather than making some sort of sweeping generalization along the lines of "The worst book ever!," or that sort of thing.
I've read some fantastic books that had reviews of "worst book ever"
Leonie wrote: "Reviews are for readers. When I look at reviews, I often skim over both the five and one star reviews and focus on the two, three and four stars - because they're often reviews with substance."I find myself doing the same thing of late. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks along these lines.
Vardan wrote: "short and sweet is the name of the game"
I respectfully disagree. I would rather read a 200 to 400 word thoughtful but negative review -- even if I disagreed with it -- than a gif heavy proclamation that this is "The bestest book everrrr!!!!111!!!"
Of course, I'd also like to read some thoughtful POSITIVE reviews, but that's beyond the topic of this thread.
Maybe we are using short and sweet differently? I don't do long intense reviews as I just don't have time between running a business, writing my own books, and reading a book a day. So a consider my reviews short as they rarely go over 200 words and sometimes on Amazon I'm struggling to meet their minimum word requirement. But that does not mean they are "best or worst book ever". Vardan was responding to my comments about my reviews when he made that statement.
Tasha wrote: "Maybe we are using short and sweet differently? I don't do long intense reviews as I just don't have time between running a business, writing my own books, and reading a book a day. So a consider m..."I was and indeed we were not talking about the "worstest book ever" or "bestest book ever" syndroms. At the same time, many people, me included, seldom write reviews of works that are well known as I do not feel that there is much information I can and should share with the prospective readers of, say, The Treasure Island and giving a rating in that case will be all I do (rated it 5, of course!)
I find writing negative reviews to be the hardest thing. I truly have to totally hate a book to write one. Otherwise I am always trying to find something that is redeeming about the text that I have read. I sometimes just can't write it if I feel overly negative. I am always afraid of keeping someone from continuing to write. I think this comes from the fact that I had a teacher be very critical of my artwork and now I have a block and have never been able to get past it to draw again.
Brook wrote: "I find writing negative reviews to be the hardest thing. I truly have to totally hate a book to write one. Otherwise I am always trying to find something that is redeeming about the text that I hav..."I am sorry to hear that Brook. Remember, who can do does... who cannot - teaches. Although there are some amazing teachers who provide guidance and education and inspiration there are also unfortunately cases when people just crush a budding talent for no reason at all or perhaps if they are somehow jealous. So, Brook, what you have to do today is take a paper and a pencil and draw something - anything. Let it be something simple (like a stormtrooper:)) but get it done and you can post your artwork in a thread and you will see how many people give it a thumbs up. I know I will
I hate reviews with a lot of gif's or pictures and to much bold sentences.... Seriously, I hate those. They're annoying to read. I don't care what you think the MC looks like? Just tell me what you think about the book without an overuse of pictures and gif's... Sorry, that has been irritating me for a long time now and I had to tell it somebody. XD
I like the idea of balance. I've never read a book that was all bad, even if it wasn't my cup of tea. Well, if there are so many errors, it hurts the eyes to read it, I just set it aside, unread. I tend to be too nice so when it's bad I may email the author and give him/her my concerns and reasons why I won't leave a review.
I dread being sent a free book by a kind author and not enjoying it! It's not easy to write a review after that.Ok, think about elements and whether you liked or didn't like them ie
-writing style
-character development
-descriptions/world building
-info dumps
-plot
Pick what you think was good and write a bit about that first. Say why you liked what you liked. Then explain what didn't work for you and why. If the book was ok for its target market but it just wasn't for you, say that. It's something that authors will understand. We can't like everything or we would all drown in books!
chucklesthescot wrote: "I dread being sent a free book by a kind author and not enjoying it! It's not easy to write a review after that.Ok, think about elements and whether you liked or didn't like them ie
-writing sty..."
Well said, chucklesthescot. Writers actually learn from constructive reviews. They learn especially who their ideal reader is and how they can produce even better work for that market.
I had to write a 2 star review a few days ago and I know the author was disappointed, though she was nice about it. It wasn't a bad review as it wasn't a bad book or anything, just not quite for me but I hardly got any sleep the night before writing it. I was composing it in my head and planning how to be nice about it. After I wrote it, I felt like such a slug! It took me HOURS to stop thinking about it! I still feel bad for her!
chucklesthescot wrote: "I had to write a 2 star review a few days ago and I know the author was disappointed, though she was nice about it. It wasn't a bad review as it wasn't a bad book or anything, just not quite for me..."So true, and I feel that way even after giving a 3 star review.
chucklesthescot wrote: "I had to write a 2 star review a few days ago and I know the author was disappointed, though she was nice about it. It wasn't a bad review as it wasn't a bad book or anything, just not quite for me..."If the book wasn't you cup of tea why the 2-star? I'm seriously wondering. I read plenty of books that aren't for me but its the genre or they write a POV that doesn't work for me. For those books I'm starting to not star (here on GR) or do my stars strictly based on quality of writing and mention that because it was not "my cup of tea due to... I may not be the right audience for the book". But to me a 2-star rating means the book has plot holes, bad writing, is full of grammar/typos, or other major writing problems.
Geez I'm afraid the above sounds defensive. I'm really just curious as my reviewing is going through some changes this month after reading a few posts on authors doing reviews and also thinking about what I as a reader am trying to convey to other readers.
Speaking from a reader perspective and not an author perspective. I gotta say, that if I saw a review with no stars, I probably wouldn't read it. As shameful as it is to admit, the stars help me to gauge which reviews I should read that will have what I'm looking for.I'm one of those readers that jumps straight into the 1 and 3 star reviews, and then based on that will read the 4 or 5 star reviews. If there's no stars for me to sort through, I'll probably just go to the starred reviews.
As an author, any stars with a review attached to them are great, even if it wasn't your cup of tea. Author's love feedback, but any author that's selling their book to the public wants the stars so that more readers consider making a purchase.
At the same time though, there have been instances where I was glad a reviewer didn't leave any stars because I knew they were going to obliterate it, because it definitely wasn't their cup of tea. I'm talking about expecting a romance when you're reading a historical biography kind of cup of tea.
It's tricky for sure. Stars are a very powerful influence in the book buying process, it's sad but true.
I go by Goodreads ratings Tasha.3 star on goodreads is 'like'. If I didn't like it I can't give it a 3 star rating. It's that simple. I can't justify 'like' for a book that I didn't like just because others might like it. That's not my honest opinion of how the book worked for me and when you sign up to read and review, you are asked to be honest. If the author only wants great reviews, don't ask strangers to read and review your work.
2 star is 'ok' on goodreads. In my reviews, I fully explain why I have given it that rating and why it didn't work for me. It can be plot holes, too slow, don't like characters, too much of something, not enough of something or confused writing etc. If you had read my reviews before saying 2 stars should be given for the reasons you mentioned, you'd actually see that these things ARE often the reasons for 2 stars or lower.
Every book we don't like is liked by plenty others so if I went by their opinions I'd never rate anything except as 3. I am happy with the way I review and I have had authors liking low reviews of their book so they obviously feel I'm being fair and constructive.
sample 2 star reviews:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
sample 1 star review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Wilmar wrote: "Speaking from a reader perspective and not an author perspective. I gotta say, that if I saw a review with no stars, I probably wouldn't read it. As shameful as it is to admit, the stars help me to..."I feel the description in my review is more important on a goodreads review than what stars I gave it, because of the feedback. For example, the 2 star review I was talking about in message 65 I indicated was worth 2.5, not 2 but of course we can't give half stars. If half stars were available the 'not my cup of tea' books would mostly be rated 2.5. But I can only work with the tools I have and I must be honest or there is no point in reviwing at all.
Obviously stars are more important on sites like amazon for sales, but only a fraction of my reviews go on there.
chucklesthescot wrote: "I go by Goodreads ratings Tasha.3 star on goodreads is 'like'. If I didn't like it I can't give it a 3 star rating. It's that simple. I can't justify 'like' for a book that I didn't like just bec..."
Totally agree that the description is more important. I only meant that the stars served as a highlighter of sorts.
Wilmar wrote: "Speaking from a reader perspective and not an author perspective. I gotta say, that if I saw a review with no stars, I probably wouldn't read it. As shameful as it is to admit, the stars help me to..."Some books have elements in them that I find very offensive. But the writing is fine. I'm no longer rating books on GR that contain rape/abuse/incest/falling for the guy trying to kill you/abusing you, major sexism, racism, etc, I will be explaining in my review why I felt I was unable to rate the books.
People were asking why ask why I didn't leave a review of books id mentioned i was reading. When i said it was because of those elements I get asked to please write those warnings/triggers which leaves me in a quandary as negative reviews can come back to haunt authors. So I'm trying to find something that works for me within the constraints of the system.
Tasha wrote: "Wilmar wrote: "Speaking from a reader perspective and not an author perspective. I gotta say, that if I saw a review with no stars, I probably wouldn't read it. As shameful as it is to admit, the s..."Makes sense, but it also goes to show that reviews are highly subjective. In the way that authors can't please everyone, there is no one hard and fast rule that will sit well with all reviewers.
chucklesthescot wrote: "I go by Goodreads ratings Tasha.3 star on goodreads is 'like'. If I didn't like it I can't give it a 3 star rating. It's that simple. I can't justify 'like' for a book that I didn't like just bec..."
Ah, I find a number of readers have no clue what the stars mean that I'm always confused as to where to go with ratings... The definitions of the system or the way many readers & non-professional reviewers actually think the ratings mean.
Frankly I wish rating systems would be done away with and people would base their decisions on what reviews actually say. I'm know for a fact that many readers have no problem with rape/graphic abuse/sexism/racism in books as a number if the books I'm grappling with are NYT or USA Today bestsellers and winners of various awards.
Wilmar wrote: "Author's love feedback, but any author that's selling their book to the public wants the stars so that more readers consider making a purchase."Recently I've been reading a number of blog post on authors writing negative reviews. And it wasn't that long ago that we had the GR bully problems. Many authors don't take what they perceive as negative comments/reviews about their books well and behave badly. From attacks on the Internet to attempting to blackball authors in publishing.
I wish we could rely on authors taking negative reviews but whether they are a NYT bestseller or an indie with their 1st book out its not always true. 2012 saw many review scandals and review bullying. But it's been going on quietly behind the scenes for much longer.
Try and be respectful. The author must have put a lot of work in so if you only talk about that bad things he/she'll be pretty offended. However, point out why you didn't really like it, say at least one thing you did like, stay respectful and it'll be fine. I know that especially if the person's a GR author or a RaR author they often reply and change the things you didn't like.
Tasha wrote: "chucklesthescot wrote: "I go by Goodreads ratings Tasha.3 star on goodreads is 'like'. If I didn't like it I can't give it a 3 star rating. It's that simple. I can't justify 'like' for a book tha..."
I agree, it's important to make the content of the review informative and detailed so that potential readers of the book can make an informed choice based on it, not just stars.
This is my dilemma weeks ago when I was procrastinating to write this: http://biography-book.com/book-review...I read this thread and so glad to follow your pieces of advice. I do not want to write a positive review for the sake of pleasing the author. But, I also don't want to attack the author. I understand how much work, effort, and passion is put in every book. It is hardwork. Always try to be respectful, and comment on the book, not the person. Also try to be constructive so it will help the author to improve.
Biography wrote: "This is my dilemma weeks ago when I was procrastinating to write this: http://biography-book.com/book-review...I read this thread and so glad to follow your..."
I totally agree. I hate leaving negative reviews, and always try and do it in as constructive a way as I can when I have no choice. I used to avoid posting such reviews, but that never felt very fair .. so now I do post them, and I try and point out any positives I see. I know on my own work, as painful as it might feel, I do want honest reviews ... otherwise what is the point?
I got a beautiful one star review for my novel I, the Provocateur:"If someone would tell me that a troubled teenager wrote this book I would not be surprised. Just like this book doesn't offer much surprise or entertainment. It's a cheap, unimaginative thrill ride with empty characters and a ridiculous story."
Vardan wrote: "I got a beautiful one star review for my novel I, the Provocateur:"If someone would tell me that a troubled teenager wrote this book I would not be surprised. Just like this book doesn't offer mu..."
Ouch! Yep - I have to agree ... very beautiful ;) ... love your take on it. Onwards and upwards is my motto ...
I recently wrote a review on a book that I wanted to love, but couldn't finish:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I also made sure to note in the review that it was my opinion, and how other readers might not mind what stopped me dead in my tracks.
The author commented, and I wrote a response to his comment. Since the problem was beyond his ability to do better, I offered my help. He hasn't taken me up on it, but that's his prerogative.
one grows to be philosophical about such things as negative and positive reviews. Both are subjective and both should be appreciated as the people leaving the reviews have put time and effort into reading your work
Shut Up & Read
Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)J.K. Rowling (other topics)
I know, right? I can see accidentally buying something or gra..."
I read reviews too, but mostly the ones from friends who have similar taste in books as me. And if they haven't written a review yet, so be it. But I always stick to my genres, even if it's a freebie.