Sunday, June 23, 2013

Should Authors Review Other Author's Books?

Wednesday I wrote about the Three Nevers of Social Media, one of which was “don’t flame other writers in reviews.” This then led to yesterday’s post, Should Authors Write Bad Book Reviews? And, I have to say, you were all BRILLIANT. I was traveling all day, nearly going blind reading your debate over this issue on my iPhone. Yet, this got me to thinking….
Uh, oh. Right? *smells something burning*
For the moment, hold your digital tomatoes. Bear with me and just noodle this.
Is is fair for authors to write book reviews?
I am not taking a side because I am still pondering the idea, myself. 
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My story: I was a reader long before I became an author. I reviewed like crazy and am an Amazon top-1000 reviewer. Once I was a Vine reviewer, but quit that program because I could never turn down a book, and all my free time was consuming reading and reviewing.
Then I became an author and the rules changed. The first thing I did was go back through my Amazon review pile and delete all the one-star reviews on books. Is this fair to the readers? who had been warned off of some truly bad books? Possibly not. But I was warned that as an author, it would be unfair for me to give one-star reviews because I could be seen as a competitor.
I continued to give reviews because I truly enjoy reading and reviewing. I figured if I stayed with 3 stars and above, I would be safe. WRONG! I gave a 4 star review to a writer friend. I had previously given her a 5 star to the first book of her series. I liked it and thought it was a great story. Unfortunately, I did not like how the main characters reacted to the new challenge and sympathized with a minor character. I mentioned it in my review, because I figured not liking a character is a "reader's" reaction. Any reader can like or dislike a character, right?
True, but when the character is a friend's nearest and dearest creation, they can take it personally. So end result. I lost a friend. I was very sad and depressed about it for a while, and I deleted the review from Amazon as soon as she asked me to. But being emotional and sensitive authors we are, I also deleted the 5 star review to her previous book because I was angry and felt used.
Which gets to the question. Should we give any reviews now that we're "behind the scenes" "insiders"?
If you've been following my blog, you'll see that I still do. But my guidelines have changed. If it is a book I picked up as a reader would, meaning I browsed Amazon or Goodreads, clicked on and bought the book, or loved a previous book by the author, I will give a reader's review, meaning I will talk about my opinion, what I liked or disliked. I will not pick about grammar, story structure, point of view, head-hopping, walk-the-dog, and other things that editors should have picked up. I will occasionally post a 2 or 3 star review if it is a famous nationally known best selling author who I don't know personally because at this level, my reader hat is more important.
If I don't like a book and can't give it a 4 or 5, I'll ask myself. If I didn't know this author from social media--if this author and I hadn't gotten to know each other on a friendly level on forums--would I have ever picked up his or her book? Would I have known about this book? If the answer is no, I would not have naturally read this book, I decide I'm not the target audience for the book and will leave it unreviewed. I also believe I can still be friends with other authors without liking their books. After all, we have a lot more in common being authors and going through the writing process, than whether their genre suits me or their writing style meshes with mine.
That leaves me with the freedom and fun of gushing over books I truly love and can easily write nice things about. Because I don't want to silence myself when it comes to loving books just because I'm an author. I read a ton more books than I write, and when I've discovered a gem, I want the freedom of speech to say something about it. Whether I'm an author or not.
What do you think? Do you think it's fair for authors to give reviews?

14 comments:

  1. Great post, Rachelle.

    In the world of traditional publishing, authors review the books of other authors all the time. Just thumb through the New York Times Book Review. There's nothing inherently wrong with the practice if the reviewer strives to be fair.

    Reviewing the books of friends is trickier, especially if they're sensitive. Recently my novel got a 4-star rating on Goodreads from a friend. I would have preferred 5, but the rating hasn't changed our friendship.

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    1. Thanks Mary. I do strive to be fair, but fairness is in the eye of the beholder, and you don't know in advance who is sensitive until they are upset. I'm happy to take a 4 star or even a 3 if it is a fair review.

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  2. This is a breath of fresh air in what to me anyway has become a torrid debate.

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    1. Thanks Shirley. As you can see, everyone has their opinion. :)

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  3. Of course! Just because you write doesn't mean you don't read. If you read, you should be able to review, so long as it's honest. Most Indie authors appreciate that. However, if all your reviews are 4/5 stars, they might not get taken seriously. There will always be a minority who will abuse the system and the competition, which we just have to try and rise above.

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    1. True. I do feel muzzled by not being able to skewer a book that deserves it. But at the same time, being an author also means being a quasi-public figure, at least in the domain of writing and the genre I publish in. So appearance of conflict of interest is something to be avoided. That said, if I love a book, I don't feel I should silence myself.

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  4. Timely post, Rachelle. I've been struggling with this same question. I don't have a POV on the topic yet, but am getting close to yours. Thank.

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    1. Hi Carol, you're welcome. At the end, it comes down to being honest and maintaining my integrity. I'm always evolving my policy with those goals in mind.

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  5. Interesting post. On my blog,I have a Writer Wednesday section- where I talk about another author and a book of his or hers. That being said, I don't review it- I don't grade it- I just write something about it- something I learned from it, or how metaphor was used- basically, something that I got from it, especially if it in some way relates to writing at large.

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    1. Megan, that is a great approach. You don't give a value judgment and you're helping authors with exposure. Good idea.

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  6. This has been a doozy for me as well. I'm on the fence. At the same time as an indie author, if we don't support and review other authors (not just indies) books, who will? Do we leave it solely up to book bloggers and reviewers? I've only reviewed a few books in the past and my plan is to start reviewing more. Screw it! I'm too much of a rebel to be held back by social restraint and conservative etiquette.

    On the flip side, I won't give bad reviews...just not me. If I like a book and think it deserves 5 stars (friends or not) then five stars it will be. If I don't like it, I'll point out the more positive things in the story. And I don't ask too many folks to review my own book--my hangup (that's going to change soon). I once had an author ask me to buy their book and review it and I did buy it. I then asked the author to buy my book and tell me what they thought of it.

    The response I got was that Amazon didn't approve of sharing reviews. I don't know anything about that rule, nonetheless, guess what book I'm not going to be reading or reviewing because of that. It was a complete turn off.

    Love the post!

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    1. Authors should understand that other author's time is valuable. Sure, we help each other and support each other, but if it is all one sided, then it becomes a burden.

      Sorry to hear what happened to you. Perhaps a better policy is to share the book without buying it with the understanding he or she will try to read it, but is not obligated to. The same should apply to you. If the book is not interesting, then why struggle through it because you feel obligated? You'd then feel like lashing out with a negative review when you should not have even finished the book.

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  7. Rachelle ... thanks for "noodling" this. One group I am in has suggested that if you agree to review a book, but would give it a 3 or less, you give your comments directly to the author, but not post it on Amazon or Goodreads. This allows you to state up front that it's not a genre you are familiar or enjoy, but here are my comments "for what it's worth." I haven't tried it , but I like the concept.

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    1. Hi Mary, I'm not sure all authors are receptive to the feedback comments. I think once a book is published, it is out the gate and for better or worse, I don't want the author second guessing. The time for all of the feedback is during critique and beta reading. If the author contacts me and asks why I haven't reviewed the book, I might ask if he or she wants to hear my comments and only let them know if they want it. Well, of course all of this is "for what it's worth." :)

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