Say NO to INDIE BOOK BULLYING
Those who know me : I am not one to talk negatively and I try and keep The Phantom Paragrapher a happy place to read and discover reviews , but today something really struck me and I feel the strong urge to write about it or in this case - Rant about it.
Firstly, I will say that I Paula Phillips am a voracious reader and have never faked a review :
A site that was put out today listed this as one of the criteria for a fake review :
- Any review written by an author's friends, relatives or acquaintances, especially reviews requested by the authors themselves to push up their ratings.
That is what I perceive a REAL REVIEWER to do.
Alright, I'm not the sort of person who rants and raves but really enough is bloody enough. I am sick of seeing authors who have spent so long writing their books and perfecting them as it does take a long time , just to see their work ripped into shreds by so-called readers and haters. Just imagine if you were to write a book and you poured all your heart and soul into it -only to be told negative things about it. How do you think you would feel? And unfortunately it's not just authors doing the slagging which is bad enough as you think they should know how it felt but today what has really annoyed me is the readers and the reviewers doing the slagging
Really people , who cares if they have 500+ great reviews - it obviously means its a wonderful book but what someone else might like , might not be for you- so instead of coming up with the statement "oh, they must have brought fake reviews " instead really, GET OVER YOURSELF.
Second of all , If a book has a warning statement that it contains vulgarity etc - then hello - you would expect it to contain vulgarity .
Don't go slamming the book , because you didn't read the goodreads synopsis properly. Maybe you need glasses.
And really - Reviewers - you write a book review based on the book ( the book alone) not the author otherwise it is you who is writing a biased review and you in the wrong not the author. The most simple thing is -If you don't like a book, then bloody well - Don't write a review. A good reviewer should never bring Bias into their reviews. It's like Review writing 101.
You've got a few good points here, Paula.
ReplyDeleteI have decided not to accept books from authors directly again, since it places me under a duty to write a 'friendly 'review', which is not honest.
I do not read books otherwise that I have not chosen carefully. If it is in the genre I enjoy, or find acceptable, then I know something positive will come out of it. I also prefer to judge a book by the content of the story and how it was constructed. Sometimes I do not agree with what is said, but base the review on the 10 rules of writing a novel by Elmore Leanard. I feel it is only fair to do that. If I did not do this, I would rate the book according to how I felt after reading it, or my opposing opinion, which will of course ensure a very low rate.
Therefore, I can be highly annoyed by a book but will still rate it 5 stars, which not all people will understand.
If I buy a book and review it, and I get something totally different than the blurp promoted, I rate it 1 star and explain why. I prefer honesty in my reviews.
I also do not appreciate books that was reviewed by family and friends in doing the author a favor.
I was asked on several occasions why I mostly rate a book four- or five stars. My answer is: I chose to read that particular book and do not waste much time on reading books I do not like or writing reviews for books I did not personally chose.
There are Indie authors who harass reviewers and become extremely abusive if their books are not rated well. That is a problem in the self-publishing market. It is one reason why I avoid it.
Great opinion, Paula. Nothing wrong with a nice tantrum once in a while ;-)