So why do I have such a problem obliging these requests?
I believe that, for me at least, it's largely due to the potential for a conflict of interest. It's a valid concern because the conflict can be quite real. I worry too much about the oddest of things.
Should my reviews overlook or forgive shortcomings simply because I know the person and their efforts to overcome the insurmountable? Am I to hold a gifted high school student to the same standard that I'd use for a Robert Jordan review? What about the struggling single mom who dropped out of school and now self-publishes paranormal romances? Would my five-star for her be a three-star if Nora Roberts had written it?The conflict of interest could also be nothing more than someone's erroneous assumption or perception.
Does anyone take seriously one author's review of another author's book? Do they assume that a favorable review means that the reviewing author is a friend of the reviewed? Or that they're soliciting a favorable review in return? Or if both authors are published under the same imprint that their publisher is requiring them to promote each other?
Doesn't everyone with a Kindle view the self-published masses as a unified armada that would never sabotage another indie with a bad review? Wouldn't the indie armada consider that nothing short of treason and punishable by the heretic's excommunication? (Please forgive my hyperbole; I'm merely showing how my mind makes mountains of molehills.)
And what about the negative reviews written by authors? Do people perceive them as the author's attempt to eliminate competition? Retribution for some slight? Ego run amok?How can anyone dismiss these doubts with any degree of confidence? Isn't a buyer supposed to rely (at least to some extent) on ratings and reviews? Must readers research the reviewer to determine if that glowing or scathing review was warranted or habitual?
It doesn't really matter if I do my dead-level best to review everything fairly and honestly. How can I compensate for biases I'm not even aware I have? Or different standards? Should I even try? A review is, after all, essentially little more than an opinion.
I have no problem critiquing--even reviewing--an author's book. My hesitation is in making that review public. Besides, I will tell an author something privately that I would never write in a public review. And until that changes, I just don't think I'll be comfortable writing public reviews.
And all other things being equal, I may still be a little insecure about how much weight my personal opinion should carry, whether I ever publish my own novels or not. :-)
How about you? Do you have the same reservations? Have you overcome them? Please share!
I try my best to only make positive statements in a review (like when you get a reference from an employer). If that means just one line then so be it. I don't leave reviews for books I don't like - a three star review is the lowest I'd leave. Luckily, for author friends, it's so far not been an issue.
ReplyDeleteI feel wierd about reviewing too. I did manage to write 3 reviews on Goodreads and did give my true opinion. But I'm always uncomfortable to go under 4 or 5 stars because I know how hard it is to write a book and get it out there. So I simply avoid reviewing when possible.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point, but as more and more weight is given to reviews as a form of publicity and marketing, I'm not sure how to get around the idea that other people's opinions are what sells books to some extent. And it's hard to get the ball rolling without asking for a little help.
ReplyDeletemood
Moody Writing
I value honesty...and write honest reviews, when I write them. I do shy away from reviewing works of friends.
ReplyDeleteI've encountered this same thing with acting..."Great costumes!" If an actor hears that, it means his acting sucked. "Lovely cover" is the writer's equivalent. :o)
I don't like reviews much. I've given star reviews on Goodreads and a few paragraphs, but not a whole lot. If I start reading reviews I generally stumble upon the lowest-rating ones, which are infuriating for my favorite books. In some cases, I believe it's an issue not of the writer, but of the reader. Nevertheless, when giving reviews of anything I'm entirely honest. Even books that I really like only get a 4/5 unless I couldn't put them down.
ReplyDeleteI think reviews are helpful to some extent. I have heard so many cases of authors who get his friends make good reviews on their books AND troll the competence books, giving bad reviews even without reading the book. I also heard Amazon doesn't allow authors to review authors. I perfectly understand what you say about 5 for one 3 for other. It's conflicting but reviews are relative. I shall write the Theory of the review relativity for you.
ReplyDeleteJeff, you nailed it! I'm not crazy about reviewing books either, and I worry about the ones by people I know. I want to be honest but I don't want to offend. I also don't want to negate my reviews by making them all great. But I want to support my author friends. It's a catch-22.
ReplyDeleteIt's a difficult situation. I just try to find the positive things about the book, and talk about them. I'll put a negative out there if it is glaring, and not just my opinion about something. And your review is not going to sway many readers to read or not to read a book. It's the aggregate of reviews that help me to decide. So the more reviews a book has, the better. And the more thorough the review, the more seriously I take it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jeff. I too have the same problem. I try not to be unduly harsh and take the middle path (mentioning both the good and few less good points).
ReplyDeleteJeff, you make a great point. I think helping promote another author's book (guest-blogging, Writers 4 Writers) is one thing, offering a review starts treading on delicate ground. Of course, that's some of the current hub-bub over at Amazon right now.
ReplyDeleteThought-provoking post, Jeff. I like what you said here, "What about the struggling single mom who dropped out of school and now self-publishes paranormal romances? Would my five-star for her be a three-star if Nora Roberts had written it?"
ReplyDeleteFor me, yes, because I would hold Nora Roberts to a higher standard. But for the self-published struggling single mom, I would be what author Caroline Starr Rose calls a generous reader. But that is only if I genuinely liked the book. If I halfway liked it, perhaps 4 stars. If I didn't like it at all, I wouldn't review it.
It's a very slippery thing those reviews. It would be good if there were checkboxes where you could say if you were an author and if you know the person. That wouldn't solve the whole convoluted issue, but at least then authors or friends of the author wouldn't feel unethical writing the review.
ReplyDeleteYou said it yourself, reviews are opinions. I think people should strive to be as unbiased and un-egocentric as possible, but we must remember when writing a review or using reviews as we make a decision about a book that it is their opinion.
ReplyDeleteI started reviewing in my own name for a review site with quite a good reputation for being picky but fair before I had my first work published. I still write the reviews, as honestly as possible, in my own name, but use a pen name to publish [because my own name is incredibly common and I wanted something Googleable]. I don't feel I can stop reviewing completely, though I have slowed down a lot, because the owner of the site finds it hard to get people to review for her.
ReplyDeleteThe situation with Amazon is awkward because publishers do urge their stables of authors to support each other. Nothing less than a 4* I was told. I've stopped reviewing on Amazon.
I absolutely have those same reservations. For years I didn't write reviews for other author's books. I would give them a starred rating on Goodreads, but that was all. Lately I've jumped in to writing a few reviews for friends' books. I don't expect anything in return. I certainly don't think my opinion matters whatsoever in the grand scheme of things, but if the accumulation of positive reviews helps them attract a new reader, I don't mind contributing to that.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where you're coming from. Reviews can be so tricky. As much as we try to remain unbiased, some degree of preference is impossible to avoid, IMO...
ReplyDeleteWe all have the same reservations. If I don't really like a book, then I won't review it. I know how hard the author worked on the book and so wouldn't go public with my opinion if I didn't like it. There are a lot of different authors writing genres that I don't normally read and so I might not like it. But the more I read the different genres, the more I can appreciate the story the author is telling. But yeah, I have reservations about writing reviews for all the reasons you mention...
ReplyDeleteI struggle with reviews for the same reason. It's tough to review in an unbiased fashion, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably never going to be completely unbiased. I'll use an example from a non-indie book. I love Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card because the MC spoke to me at a particular time and place in my life. I've suggested the book to others and some love it, and some hate it. I can't even say for sure if it's written exceptionally well, but it is still one of my top five books of all time because it touches my heart and that makes me biased.
ReplyDeleteI'm a writer, not a reviewer. I don't feel like I have to put much effort into a review...that's a reviewers job. I will never trash a book. There is a human behind that title. I will not give a review below a 4. If I hate your book, I will probably never let you know I read it. If you send it to me specifically for a review, you'll get my honest answer in your inbox, but I will never trash another writer in public.
ReplyDeleteI have similar reservations, and I do think we tend to review differently for well-known authors we've never met vs. people we know that we're already excited to see succeed. I do reviews, but I have a pretty careful process for doing "friend or fellow author" reviews.
ReplyDeleteYou offer great questions. I wonder about the same things. And reviews are after all, only opinions and should be taken with a grain of salt be they good or bad.
ReplyDeleteI haven't written any public reviews yet, but it would be horrible to have to write a review for a friend's book that I didn't like. Hopefully, that day will never come.
ReplyDeleteJulie
If I don't have anything nice at all to say about a book, I won't put up my review. I tend to focus on the positives more when reviewing, but I do make my reviews honest. I've wondered in the past if author's give more positive reviews to other author's who they know.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love this post! So insightful and well-thought-out! I often have the exact same doubts when accepting a book for review (I'm not an author, just a book blogger) and the request happens to be from someone I'm on friendly basis with. Moreover, I've been accused before of not being honest, just because I gave a glowing review to an author whi is not my friend. She wasn't at that time - I didn't even hear about her before I got the book for review - but people don't bother checking the chronology, they see you tweet together on Twitter and they assume the worst. I suppose same goes for authors. Should I trust a review written by a fellow writer? What if that fellow writer also happens to be friends with the author he/she is reviewing? Isn't there some unspoken rule between authors to always support each other, no matter how shitty their books might be? Say you're an author and you give another author a bad review - I'm pretty sure you automatically become the pariah of the writers club!
ReplyDeleteIt's a thin ice and one needs to thread carefully. To be honest or to be supportive?
Reviews can be so arbitrary. Just because I like or dislike a book may have nothing to do with the actual goodness of the book. It may be solely a function of my particular taste. So I don't like to review a book unless I really loved it or hated it, but only if there are specific reasons I can spell out in the review. That way the reader of the review could decide whether my concerns mattered to them.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know why: "I will tell an author something privately that I would never write in a public review." If we're all aiming for excellence, why should we lie to each other? You mentioned giving one person five stars when maybe you would give Nora Roberts three for the same effort. Why? We aren't out to be nice. We're out to create good art, tell great stories. That said, we're also a team, I think. And team members should support one another. But they shouldn't build one another up when, well, it's a lie. True team members can laugh at one another's failures, be honest, and move on to create better work. Writing is a never-ending process, after all. To coin a phrase from one of my favorite's, you're not good until you've written at least 1,000,000 words. I say, don't fret. Review some work! Do it openly! People want to know what you think, and they appreciate honesty.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with this, too. Partly because I was reviewing books before I started writing. I'm a tough reviewer, and I feel obligated to the people who follow my reviews to continue being honest and measuring what I read against the same standards as before.
ReplyDeleteFor a while, I had a strict 'no public reviews' policy for my author persona. But I finally realized that wasn't going to work. One day I'll want reviews from my colleges, and I can't every well expect to get back what I haven't given. Writing with a pen name allows me to separate the two, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem.
The rub comes when my author persona encounters a book I wouldn't normally give 5 stars. (The real me rarely gives 5 stars.) What do I do? The writing community is cohesive and supportive, but it's also political. I despise falsely-inflated reviews, but now I feel pressured to give them. It's like walking through a mine field with integrity tugging me on one side and benevolence tugging the other.
It can be so tricky, can't it? I guess I feel obliged to be HONEST, but I also, if the author is small (like me) feel a little bit of 'if you can't say nothing nice, don't say anything at all'. My readers need to trust me... so honesty matters. But I don't want to hurt anyone. If I notice something that might improve their next book, a private note is better than a public outing. I will give a 3 star review (liked this, didn't like that) I give a lot of 4 star reviews (because honestly, I like most books) and I am probably slightly generous with the 5s--have to love it, but can still overlook a bit. I WILL though, refuse to leave a review rather than giving a falsely good one...
ReplyDeleteSo many excellent replies from this post! Thanks, everyone. I normally reply to comments individually, but I lack the brainpower to do so tonight. :)
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling, Jeff. Only once did I have the awkward moment of reading a book from an author's request and, while I thought the idea was awesome, the writing caused me a headache after the first three pages, so I did a brave thing and said I could write you a review, but I do not think it will help your book. Writing no review was decided.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, I research books to see if I am going to enjoy it or not before I buy them, which is why my reviews are generally glowing. :)
I usually reserve 5 stars for when the book has changed my life in some way, or helped me gain greater insight into life in general.
Yes! I totally understand! Especially because I've gotten the chance to read a bunch of ARCs lately. When there are only five reviews total, and it's a book I'd normally give three stars, how in the world can I do that when so few reviews are figuring into their total? It feels cruel to, in a sense, handicap them early on. Especially when they've been nice enough to let me read their ARC, and at a time when they haven't been fully acclimated to reviews.
ReplyDeleteBut I still give stars to every book I read. I've been using Goodreads for so many years, it seems weird to do it otherwise. Yet at the same time, I really think I need to change my policy, for about a million reasons. It's one of those things I'm sure will make it to the top of my to-do list sometime....