So what's up with all this? Are we supposed to write what the writers wanna hear? I believe not. I'm yes for the bad reviews, as long as they have points explained of course. You can't like everything and i don't know why authors get mad. When they are insulting us like "Oftentimes, the people who set up these kinds of blogs have never written a thing in their lives, except maybe a grocery list. ", it's obviously that they just write for the money. I mean when we write a review, even we don't use exceptional words or we have grammar mistakes, it still is what we are thinking. It's our opinion. It's what we will tell to our friends and our families. What exactly do the authors learn from only good reviews? So yeah, people will buy your book but then will not like it even if we told them it's good. They are not stupid.
And from when only people who know how to write, are the ones who can review? We buy the books too, right? What the hell?
I know here, we are sometime harsh with what we write but at least it's the truth. That's why we post reviews on things we don't like as well.
So i'm taking the chance from that and i wanna ask you, what do you think about bad reviews?
I'm not gonna mention neither the blog/s or the author from the situation that appeared. I kinda feel sorry for the author for how unprofessional and childish that was (especially when she changed her post later to cover her mistakes, making it even worse), so i will not do any more damage to her by telling her name. And as for the blog, it always had honest reviews so i don't believe there is something to be said.
Oh I saw all that drama. I pity that author, who surely has lost many potential readers because of her ridiculous behaviour. I feel angry on behalf of the blogging community and especially those 2 bloggers who were insulted by the author. She called us "unprofessional". Who is a professional reviewer? Someone who writes positive reviews only? Her behaviour was not very "professional" in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is an "objective criticism"? It's impossible for a human to be objective. There is a reason we are called "individuals".
I completely agree with you Yiota. As readers, we have the right to state our opinions.As long as the negative review is explained well, I don't see any problem.
If an author cannot take a negative review, why publish a book at all?!! There are over a billion people in the world - it is impossible that everyone will have the same opinion!
Bloggers spend so much of their precious time reviewing books; and they do it for FREE!
BTW, I haven't written a grocery list ever! Sad, isn't it?
Misha I agree with you in everything....I have nothing to add....It's our personal opinion and as long we have this right we are going to tell or talk about it....Yiota thnx for the news, I had no idea....I've never written a grocery list too....
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you guys. I believe that each person is entitle to his own personal opinion and that person has the right to speak up and voice his views. As long as the negative review is done right with valid arguments then that review or reviewer can not be blamed. Of course, even when talking about subjective criteria, mistakes can sometimes be made from the side of the reviewers. We're all human after all, we're not perfect. But even in this case an author can come up with some constructive reply and give his point of view, not bitch and moan and make things worse.
ReplyDeleteSome people say that "If you have don't have anything good to say, then say nothing at all." As a reader I'm not totally against it. As a reader I would prefer to form my own opinion and not be prejudiced against something. But as a buyer, for me a negative review is actually 10 times more important than a positive one. And from that point of view, since time is valuable commodity nowadays and nobody has enough to waste, then even as a reader I would appreciate a proper negative review more simple because I don't have the time to waste on something that just might not be good enough.
...oh and I have written hundreds of grocery lists and I still do. In fact I have 2 of them in my back-pocket right now. I suppose that makes me a better writer than any of you! :D :p
I still don't know who this silly unprofessional author is, but I wrote a blog post in defense of book bloggers re: several criticisms lodged against them lately. I had more to say on the subject of negative reviews than anything else. Reviewers are not required to be writers (though they can be). They are READERS. An author ignores or disrespects the opinion of her readers at her own peril. It's really not my place to speak for all authors everywhere, but if I could, I'd apologize to book bloggers for any of them having to go through any abuse at the hands of any author. Please know that the vast majority of us respect and appreciate what you do.
ReplyDeleteThe post: http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/blog/2011/2/5/more-about-book-bloggers.html
I disagreed with quite a few things about that particular post, but I wonder if her reputation will really get hit over the long run. If any press is good press, well, she just got a lot of exposure. Ultimately, I think an author's work speaks for itself.
ReplyDeleteI write what I think are honest but diplomatic reviews. I will say what I liked and didn't like and in my review policy I make that clear - as well as recommend that authors view a good amount of my past reviews so they can decide if I'm the right person to review for them.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea which author was involved but I hope that they aren't in my schedule.
the other day i wasn't sure what to do because i had received a book and i didn't like it, so i had to do a bad review, but u know i felt bad because the author had send me the book, so after i talked with yiota, she told me to do an honest review, what was good, what was bad, write everything. So guys that's what we all should do honest reviews about what we belive and not think about it twice. On the other hand many people use blogs only to insult others, but that's not the case.
ReplyDelete