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Should authors review each other?
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I took the bull by the horns with A Thousand Glass Flowers which is due to be released for Kindle at the end of the month. I swallowed my fear and approached two mainstream authors, asking them would they review in order to give me a strapline for the cover.Making it quite clear that if they didn't like the book, they would let me know, they kindly took time from their frantic writing schedules and reviewed and I for one and am thrilled that they did!
They liked the book!
Prue: With all possible respect, do you see the questionable ethics posed? Not that they provided a review, but that they could consult with you.
Dear Prue,Congrats. It took a lot of courage to even approach them!
No Larry, I don't.I am humbled by the fact that they took the time to read a book by someone they didn't know from Adam, delighted that they liked my book. End of story.
Randy, thank you so much for the vote of confidence. After Larry's comment, it makes me feel heartened.
And Prue, I'm disheartened that you don't see the ethical questions involved.
It wasn't an argument for me, merely a frustrating discussion.
Prue, Don't sweat Larry. He's so far above the rest of us.
Randy, I might take offense if I knew what that meant. Translation?
Prue, non prioccuparsi di Larry, lui e sopra il mondo
Mmm, patronizing. Should I be impressed?
Randy, looked at your bio. Impressive and similar in some ways. Sorry, no art history. I'd have loved that after my first real exposures to art while in Europe with the Army. Ever seen the Winged Victory at Samothrace? To me, it was more impressive than the Venus de Milo or any of the other sculpture at the Louvre. Also like Degas' sculptures, but then, that's not really fair. I've been in love with the impressionists since visiting the Jeu de Paume and seeing them displayed there.
Funny that you are both journalists. I was too. That said, I shall leave this discussion forthwith, but Randy, once again, thank you for your support.
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...
Larry, I was fortunate to go to Italy in 1968 to study the language in Perugia. I also lived in Florence. And this was at a time when in February when I went to the Uffizi it was just me and the guards. Quite extraordinary. My favorite statue is the Boxer at Rest. Greek sculpture is amazing. It's too bad we have no or few (I haven't kept up) extant examples of Greek painting, but one source from the time tells of a painter who created a work so lifelike that birds tried to eat the depicted grapes.
Barbara wrote: "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, whenev..."
I'm constantly amazed at people here who claim to be writers but fail to do the most elemental research or even read what's gone before. Look up the labor department's official description of a professional writer and look up the dictionary definitions of ethical.
Barbara wrote: "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, whenev..."
You describe exactly what's wrong with it when you say: "I swapped manuscripts only once so we could each write a sort of endorsement for each other's book." When you decide in advance to write an endorsement of each other's book, that's unethical. Don't they do ethics as part of a religious upbringing anymore?
Randy wrote: "Larry, I was fortunate to go to Italy in 1968 to study the language in Perugia. I also lived in Florence. And this was at a time when in February when I went to the Uffizi it was just me and the gu..."Wow. you're right that would be amazing. As to lack of painting, perhaps it was a more basic lack of pigments in Greece? Greece is an island with, as I understand it, limited resources.
Most of what I recall seeing was colored tiles built into walls and floors to create pictures. That was at the NY Metropolitan, so may not have been truly representative.
It seems I'm a trend-setter. In another Goodreads group, Shawn just posted the following, along with my response. Shawn wrote: "Here's an interesting article very pertinent to this discussion and reviews from the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/tec......"
Shawn, thank you so much for posting that story. Interesting that fake reviews are dilluting the value of the remainder. Didn't I say something like that? :-) Oh yeah, I did. I especially liked the following passage from the New York Times story: “The whole system falls apart if made-up reviews are given the same weight as honest ones,” said one of the researchers, Myle Ott. Among those seeking out Mr. Ott, a 22-year-old Ph.D. candidate in computer science, after the study was published was Google,.."
I also must admire the mild language used by the Times: "...an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up to buy and sell raves for a pittance." I would have used stronger terms: ...an industry of liars and con artists attempting to defraud book buyers.
And if you had chosen to read my comment exactly as it was written you would have seen that I mentioned mainstream authors (ie highly successful ones) approached for a STRAPLINE review for my cover, NOT in the context in which you mean. My comment was offered as information for other new authors who may be trying to get their books out and noticed.The thing with all these forums is that we can give each other HELPFUL information and pay it forward. It's the way we learn and move on in this fast-changing publishing environment. I had help from successful authors, both mainstream and independent who are far more experienced than I and I remain eternally grateful.
You're correct in the earlier comment that this discussion is going nowhere. I originally asked a simple question, but rather than simple answers I get deluged by everything from amateurish opinions to being blamed for wanting to see a smidgeon of ethics among the amateurs aspiring to be professional authors.
Goodreads is proving to be, like other social platforms, a monumental waste of time.
Larry, I fear you are more of an Aristotelian than a Socratic participant. Aristotelians tend to place things in neat boxes and understand things from that vantage point. Becomes rather rigid rather quickly. Socratics ask questions. Consider this simple question: what is the essential quality of an excellent journalist. You come up with your answers and I'll give you, I'll bet, a much closer-to-the-truth one-word answer.
Oh my, seems like I was right about you. You fit right in with the pseudo-intellectual amateurs here. Not that you are an amateur, you just fit in. I have a wall full of awards from regional to national. Including either two or three for investigative reporting (I lose count). I've asked questions all my life as a writer and journalist, so I have a pretty sensitive BS meter.I'm so sick of the phonies here on Goodreads who are convinced they know the business, and haven't a clue, but keep reinforcing themselves with quid-pro-quo reviews that threaten to bring down the newly found freedom of EBooks. Bye.
I have twice won the award given by the William Allen White School of Journalism (as it was called then) at the University of Kansas for investigative reporting. One year, I won both the column and editorial writing awards from the Kansas City Press Club, partner. Oh, and I had one of my columns picked up by Ann Landers for her Sunday column which ran in 400 plus papers around the world. Bye to you, too!
Larry, the answer to my Socratic question wasn't to list the number of awards you received. The answer to the question of what is the essential quality of an excellent journalist is.... curiosity.
And, Larry. No discount or free promo code for you. Pay the full freight to read: "Crazy About You" and learn a little bit along the way about Kant:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
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Not being a novelist, nor having pretensions in that direction, I had no answer but his question does raise a similar question in my mind. Should authors review each other? I'd love to hear the comments of all professional level writers at the Published Authors Biz group.