–Berthold Gambrel
In our latest chat, we discuss authors reviewing other authors, etiquette for rating books, whether writing is like baking, and more.
One thing I didn’t get a chance to say during the chat was that I always appreciate reviews from other authors, because they know what’s involved with writing and publishing a book, and are in a position to give more meaningful feedback. I know this because of how much better of a reviewer I became after I had gone through the process of writing a few books myself.
Also, there are good negative reviews and bad negative reviews. A thoughtful, constructive, well-written negative review can really help an author improve. (A bad negative review is one that criticizes the author rather than the book, complains about the physical condition of the book, the delivery time, etc. 🙂 )
Writers Supporting Writers 
I’ve only done a couple of reviews, via Goodreads. One I absolutely loved and ended up reviewing all the books in that series [just personally, not through Goodreads].
The other one…It was scifi and had some decent bits, but it was an SFR – scifi romance – and the love interest was a humanoid robot who had all the emotional and hormonal attributes of a real human male. Ahem. 😦
I really really hated that humanizing of a robot/AI because we are never ever going to get to a point in our technology where we can produce an analogue entity via an electronic one. That is biology 101. Robots simply don’t have the capacity to feel either love or lust, both of which are the result of an incredibly complex hormonal, i.e. chemical, process. Why write scifi if you’re going to ignore the most basic of facts?
Anyway, I explained why the romance was not to my liking [nicely], but the reaction from the author and her posse was sharp. That was the last time I reviewed anything on Goodreads so I think Audrey is very brave to do so.
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Sorry to hear that. IMO, authors should be appreciative of well thought-out critiques like that. 😦
Also, I responded to your comment on my review of “Mars Madness” on my other blog before I even saw this. 😀
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I greatly enjoyed this discussion. I didn’t start writing reviews until I decided to review a few books by authors who had been published by the same publisher as mine. I had no idea how to write one, so I fell back on the critical analysis I’d learned as an English major. For me, it’s worked well because I get to think deeply about how the book works, as well as the author’s intent. It’s particuarly useful to use that approach when reviewing books outside my preferred genre. The fact that I don’t like the genre isn’t relevant, I don’t believe. I don’t like the rating system at all, and when I post reviews on my blog, I don’t use one. I also think there is rating inflation that’s happening, akin to grade inflation. I don’t buy a book based on the rating. What prompts me to buy is an insightful review and a compelling excerpt from the book.
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I generally don’t do reviews, since my taste in books is way too narrow. Authors have no obligation to please me. If I come across a story doesn’t suit me, that’s on me, not the author. Besides, what do I know, anyway?
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Based on your books and blog posts, I’d say you know quite a lot. 🙂
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Thanks, Berthold. And just to keep the discussion going, I’d argue that you can, and should, if you want to make money as an self-published author, write books according to a recipe. All the advice on K-boards says that you need to read the top selling books in your chosen genre or sub-genre. Study them. Identify their tropes and story beats, their covers, and blubs. And then write your version of that formula, rinse and repeat with a series. Some people eat in fine restaurants, but many more grab their favorite, familiar, predictable fast food. People know what they like, like what they know. The avid readers of ebooks are most comfortable with slight variations of familiar stories. In the movies they call it “fan service.” But that’s only if you want to make money as a writer. And who’s crazy enough to get into writing thinking they’re going to make money at it?
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