Negative Book Reviews

Originality, great characters, a terrific plot, beautiful dialogue and prose and appropriate pacing are all key to a great story and influence how books are rated. Any book that meets this criteria would be a keeper on my bookshelf. Unfortunately, a percentage of the books I read and review fall short of some of these elements, resulting in ratings that are below the 'recommended' level, which brings me to the purpose of this post.

As a reviewer, from time to time my reviews and those of the guest reviewers on the blog will upset a few authors. Not because we're insulting or mean, but because we point out, politely, what we believe are obvious flaws in their books . Our job, in my view, is to write reviews for the readers who trust us to be honest and give them the straight goods, and we take this responsibility seriously. There are no pot shots at authors on this blog and the reviews are not vicious or self serving; we don't try to build our reputation by being satirical at the authors' expense and we don't skewer the books. We believe a good review is constructive and objective and talks about the book, not the author, because we recognize that it's tough to write a book - some reviewers may even be frustrated would-be authors so they understand how difficult it is to write and get their books published. When we review a book we stick to the facts and talk about the characters - whether they are stereotypes or nuanced three dimensional people, the plot, the pacing, if the total package had that indefinable WOW factor and, generally, what moved us (or not) and what worked or didn't work in the stories. We also mention errors such as switched names, spelling mistakes and typos.

Authors love us when we praise their books but when we write negative reviews on their stories a small percentage crap all over the review sites or the reviewers. In extreme cases they diss the reviewer in print. As an example, on Monday mediabistro.com reported that author Alice Hoffman was incensed because another writer and freelance critic for the Boston Globe, Roberta Silman, gave Hoffman's newest book a less than 5 star review in the Globe. To say Ms Hoffman wasn't pleased by the review is to put it mildly and she got her revenge by venting on Twitter. Here's the post on mediabistro.com. This demonstrates why a bad review is not something authors should complain about on the internet - just write better books and who knows, that same reviewer may give you a glowing review next time. Not everyone is going to love every book you write because tastes differ, but on balance, if you receive a string of bad reviews maybe you should look closer to home for the reason.

Sometimes when they receive negative reviews authors write the sites requesting that they do not review their books anymore or they demand that their publishers do not send their books to those sites. It is an author's prerogative to refuse to have their books reviewed by certain sites or blogs, but in my opinion it might be a better strategy to read the reviews, and if they find something in them that they think is noteworthy, good or bad, then take it for what it's worth -- maybe there's a little kernel in there that might be helpful in future. If one reviewer criticizes your book you can ignore his/her comments but if several say the same thing, perhaps you should listen.

A few weeks ago the reviewers on this blog had the misfortune to read several books that were below par (these things seem to run in cycles) and consequently the reviews were not enthusiastic. Although we try to couch our comments in very polite terms, a few authors were upset because their books had received a string of bad reviews and they decided not to have them reviewed on the blog in future.

Every author puts out bad books from time to time and negative or uncomplimentary reviews are part of being in any creative field or endeavour. Actors learn to suck it up when their new play opens on Broadway to horrible reviews, but they don't fold their tents and go home unless the play folds. Similarly, restaurants get their share of 1 star reviews and they realize that they would not be in business for very long if they were mad at every customer who said that the food sucked, or every reviewer who gave the restaurant an unflattering review; instead they try to correct the problem. Many authors, even the best ones, write their share of books that should never have seen the light of day and most of them recognize that the problem is theirs and they correct it in future releases. But there are those who blame the messenger!

Josh Lanyon wrote an interesting post on this subject here in which he makes quite a few valid points.

Sol Stein, a writer of many books and plays who is also an editor, said in his book Stein on Writing that a writer should "provide a reader with an experience that is superior to the experiences the reader encounters in everyday life." I always remember those words and look for "a superior experience" whenever I open a new book. More often than not I'm disappointed, but I don't despair because when I least expect it I find a wonderful treasure that becomes a keeper.

So to close this post, I have a question - Authors, do you believe that your books should not be honestly critiqued if reviewers don't find that they come up to the same standard to which we hold other books?