Why you should never grovel for a great review
Posted: 21 Apr 2014, 00:12
I have recently joined quite a few Facebook groups over the past few weeks. A few have been random author groups, but I have also found some review groups that I thought would be fun to hop on as well. I think any chance to meet some fellow authors and introduce myself to new readers is great publicity for me, but I have become a little bothered by a request I received on one of these pages.
Now, do I expect everyone on these pages to buy my books? Well, yea, I kinda do…..Ok, not really, but it would be really cool, don’t ya think? What I don’t expect, however, is a stellar review if you did not like my book (blasphemy in my opinion), but I know that not everyone may like it (it hurt just to even type that). I give fair and honest reviews of books that I read, and I expect the same in return. I recently got a message from a certain author literally asking me for a 5 star review… I was shocked, to say the very least. Who would have the nerve to do that? And before I even read the book, no less.
I started reading the book and I actually liked it as far as the plot and storyline were concerned. What I didn’t like was the editing (see my previous post about the need for a good editor) and it was the horrible editing that threw me off from wanting to finish it. How could I possibly give this book a 5 star review? The answer is simple – It just plain wasn’t going to happen. I took a different approach and decided to message the author back and “privately” say that the editing was a little hard to get past. What she said next left me speechless, and for those of you that know me, that is extremely hard to do. She told me that her husband edited the book and that she was happy with the way it was. That wasn’t the part that shocked me. What got to me was the fact that she still asked for a 5 star review even though I hadn’t even finished reading the book. So, I got to thinking how many of those “5 star” reviews on her Amazon page were actually legit. What would make an author sink to such low levels just to get a good review for their book?
Maybe her readers really did enjoy the book and loved everything it had to offer. I am in no place to argue that because I did not finish the book. But maybe, just maybe, she messaged all of those other people as well asking for a great review to make herself look good. That bothers me…and more than just a little.
I would never message a friend or relative, let alone a random reader, asking for a great review. Now, will my friends give me a better review if they liked it? Absolutely. That part is beyond my control. But I always ask them personally what they thought of the book after I read their reviews. Do I like seeing 5 star reviews? Again, absolutely, but not at the expense of me being made to look like a fool further down the line just because I begged for that amazing review. As an author, I am extremely humbled when I see a good review for my book. It is a feeling like no other to know that someone liked what I worked so hard on and put out for the world to read. The flip side of that, is that no author will ever get better by having reviews fed to them on a silver platter.
Maybe that bad review you get (knock on wood that doesn’t happen) makes you look at something and say “Hey, maybe that does make sense. I can look at that when I’m writing the next book”. The review may not make sense to you if you disagree, but maybe other readers have thought the same and just not commented on it. I am a firm believer that reviews, good or bad, are there to help me as an author. I want people to buy every novel I put out there. If I take constructive criticism as just that – constructive – then my work can only get better. That’s not saying I will take every review to heart and change every little thing that people may not like, but it is a small stepping stone to get more people interested in my work.
We aren’t going to please every reader no matter what we do. There has never been a book that everyone has liked. So, it is pretty safe to assume that not every review we get is going to be positive. What we do with those reviews is what will separate us from the competition. Having meaningless “support reviews” from friends and “forced reviews” from readers will do nothing for you as an author, except to hinder your rise to the top.
Now, do I expect everyone on these pages to buy my books? Well, yea, I kinda do…..Ok, not really, but it would be really cool, don’t ya think? What I don’t expect, however, is a stellar review if you did not like my book (blasphemy in my opinion), but I know that not everyone may like it (it hurt just to even type that). I give fair and honest reviews of books that I read, and I expect the same in return. I recently got a message from a certain author literally asking me for a 5 star review… I was shocked, to say the very least. Who would have the nerve to do that? And before I even read the book, no less.
I started reading the book and I actually liked it as far as the plot and storyline were concerned. What I didn’t like was the editing (see my previous post about the need for a good editor) and it was the horrible editing that threw me off from wanting to finish it. How could I possibly give this book a 5 star review? The answer is simple – It just plain wasn’t going to happen. I took a different approach and decided to message the author back and “privately” say that the editing was a little hard to get past. What she said next left me speechless, and for those of you that know me, that is extremely hard to do. She told me that her husband edited the book and that she was happy with the way it was. That wasn’t the part that shocked me. What got to me was the fact that she still asked for a 5 star review even though I hadn’t even finished reading the book. So, I got to thinking how many of those “5 star” reviews on her Amazon page were actually legit. What would make an author sink to such low levels just to get a good review for their book?
Maybe her readers really did enjoy the book and loved everything it had to offer. I am in no place to argue that because I did not finish the book. But maybe, just maybe, she messaged all of those other people as well asking for a great review to make herself look good. That bothers me…and more than just a little.
I would never message a friend or relative, let alone a random reader, asking for a great review. Now, will my friends give me a better review if they liked it? Absolutely. That part is beyond my control. But I always ask them personally what they thought of the book after I read their reviews. Do I like seeing 5 star reviews? Again, absolutely, but not at the expense of me being made to look like a fool further down the line just because I begged for that amazing review. As an author, I am extremely humbled when I see a good review for my book. It is a feeling like no other to know that someone liked what I worked so hard on and put out for the world to read. The flip side of that, is that no author will ever get better by having reviews fed to them on a silver platter.
Maybe that bad review you get (knock on wood that doesn’t happen) makes you look at something and say “Hey, maybe that does make sense. I can look at that when I’m writing the next book”. The review may not make sense to you if you disagree, but maybe other readers have thought the same and just not commented on it. I am a firm believer that reviews, good or bad, are there to help me as an author. I want people to buy every novel I put out there. If I take constructive criticism as just that – constructive – then my work can only get better. That’s not saying I will take every review to heart and change every little thing that people may not like, but it is a small stepping stone to get more people interested in my work.
We aren’t going to please every reader no matter what we do. There has never been a book that everyone has liked. So, it is pretty safe to assume that not every review we get is going to be positive. What we do with those reviews is what will separate us from the competition. Having meaningless “support reviews” from friends and “forced reviews” from readers will do nothing for you as an author, except to hinder your rise to the top.