To review or not to review?
When I started the blog, I did a bit of research about the art of the review. The words of Jessica Parker rang in my ears "When it comes to love and life, why do we always believe our worst reviews?". The google searches and Netgalley advice all pointed to the always see the positive approach. My mum's favourite saying seemed to be at the forefront: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?". Looking back, this did explain the long drawn out silences in our house. Particularly when I got a new haircut......
I cannot always see the positive though. I'm a real person. And books that I do not enjoy make me angry. I feel like I have wasted my time. In the wise words of a psychoanalyst though, I cannot control the book but I can control my reaction to it. This public reviewing lark should be a good exercise for life methinks.
So. I got asked to do a review. I was so excited. I say "asked" it was more like an independent author requested reviews via twitter and I did my best impression of Hermione Grainger, arm stretched so high that it touched the ceiling accompanied by squeals of "me, me, me, me, MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!".
I was still excited - the book was to be emailed in pdf form, I went to sleep that night feeling like a real reviewer. Then I woke up in the morning and thought about this. It was a children's book. I can hear you all groan, you know why don't you? Yes, everyone who has read a children's book thinks that they can write a children's book. Unfortunately, as soon as we had children, not helped by me posting pictures of my book hungry kids on social media, the books started arriving.
We received beautiful looking books from friends, relatives, and relatives and friends of friends. They were all signed with a nice message. Some of them were complete sets. There were stories about ants, rabbits, elephants (with a cold) - you name it, we got it. In some cases, the story was good and the illustrations made me have nightmares, sometimes everything was awful and sometimes they were just OK. But it turned out my children were critical, had not read the advice on NetGalley and certainly did not want to read them again. The awkward conversation of thanks and appreciation followed. We have kept them all. They were a part of someone's life, a result of hard work, but just not destined to be part of ours.
So to review or not to review? I had committed to an Amazon review - what if it was awful? What would I do?
I printed off the pdf. That was a painful experience but I won't bore you with my printer and the cartridges that only run out when you really need something (surely it is not just me?).
What happened?
Read my review of The Macroodelzig by Beffy Parkin and find out.........
Oh and I have another book in my inbox to review. It's a children's book. I didn't even ask for it. What is happening here?
I cannot always see the positive though. I'm a real person. And books that I do not enjoy make me angry. I feel like I have wasted my time. In the wise words of a psychoanalyst though, I cannot control the book but I can control my reaction to it. This public reviewing lark should be a good exercise for life methinks.
So. I got asked to do a review. I was so excited. I say "asked" it was more like an independent author requested reviews via twitter and I did my best impression of Hermione Grainger, arm stretched so high that it touched the ceiling accompanied by squeals of "me, me, me, me, MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!".
I was still excited - the book was to be emailed in pdf form, I went to sleep that night feeling like a real reviewer. Then I woke up in the morning and thought about this. It was a children's book. I can hear you all groan, you know why don't you? Yes, everyone who has read a children's book thinks that they can write a children's book. Unfortunately, as soon as we had children, not helped by me posting pictures of my book hungry kids on social media, the books started arriving.
We received beautiful looking books from friends, relatives, and relatives and friends of friends. They were all signed with a nice message. Some of them were complete sets. There were stories about ants, rabbits, elephants (with a cold) - you name it, we got it. In some cases, the story was good and the illustrations made me have nightmares, sometimes everything was awful and sometimes they were just OK. But it turned out my children were critical, had not read the advice on NetGalley and certainly did not want to read them again. The awkward conversation of thanks and appreciation followed. We have kept them all. They were a part of someone's life, a result of hard work, but just not destined to be part of ours.
So to review or not to review? I had committed to an Amazon review - what if it was awful? What would I do?
I printed off the pdf. That was a painful experience but I won't bore you with my printer and the cartridges that only run out when you really need something (surely it is not just me?).
What happened?
Read my review of The Macroodelzig by Beffy Parkin and find out.........
Oh and I have another book in my inbox to review. It's a children's book. I didn't even ask for it. What is happening here?
Oh man. Negative reviews are HARD. There are different kinds of negative reviews, though. The ones where the book was a perfectly fine book, just not something I connected with, those are the easiest. I recently read one of those. Beautifully written book with a few flaws, but overall, it was okay, just not the book for me, and that's basically how I reviewed it. I've learned to differentiate between, "This was a meh book" and "My not liking this is more about ME than the book," and that's really helped me to be able to sort out how to review certain books.
ReplyDeleteI've reviewed a few books where the story was good, but the writing struggled, and I have no problem pointing out that the book suffered for lack of a strong editor, but I always look for the positive and make mention of what's done well in the book.
And then there are THOSE books. The terrible ones where the writing is poor, the grammar/syntax/punctuation are all abysmal, the plot is ridiculous (I'm thinking of one book in particular that I read years ago. I won't name titles, but it was a hockey romance and it was...not good). I haven't read one of those since I started my book blog, but they're out there, and those reviews are difficult to write, especially if you've had personal contact with the author. I've written reviews for books like these in the past and I find the process to be terribly uncomfortable, because I don't want to trash another author, and I think that growth is always possible, but...ugh. Some things just aren't ready for publication.
I've got a children's book coming for review soon as well! Hopefully not the same one. :D
Thanks for the comment and your points are very interesting. I definitely need to be able to differentiate between a "meh" or a "me" bad book. That distinction will stay with me forever! I love it. This will hopefully help me to learn what my genres of preference are. I feel in total awe of those bloggers who are sure of their identity as a reviewer....I should know by now....
DeleteYou've also made me think that I need to understand morea bout the whole process of publishing a book. That will be my next point of research methinks.