Wednesday 13 March 2013

Writing Bad Reviews

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I am in a bit of a quandary this week and I am hoping that you may be able to help me. I have been given a book to review and it's not going well. So far I have been lucky and any books I have been given to review have been really good, but this latest one is a struggle. I am only about 45% of the way through (I will read it all before I write the review) so it may improve, but if I had not agreed to review it I would have given up on it by now.

I believe that it is important to be completely honest (as long as it is constructive) when giving a review but at the same time I know how hard this writing gig can be. Personally, as a writer, I would want people to be honest so that I could then go away and look at what isn't working and improve. However, I would also be crushed.

Have any of you ever faced this problem? How did you approach it? As a writer, what would you expect from a reviewer?
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4 comments:

  1. Jessica Ferguson13 March 2013 at 17:55

    Oh my, oh my, oh my. I've been where you are. I hate reviewing books for this very reason. The book I reviewed was by a well-established Christian writer who had written 30,40, 50 books--can't remember exactly how many. The one I was sent to review was the equivalent (I thought) of a first draft. Gaping holes, no transition, and very little, if any, internal thinking by her characters. I suspected she had whipped it out to meet the deadline. I tried to be tactful but honest because I can't recommend a book if I don't think it's worthy. I did take the liberty to chastise her editors. They didn't do their job. As far as I'm concerned they let her down as well as her fans. Still, I've felt guilty ever since I published that review. I've read that we should find one little thing we like about a book and concentrate on that. I wish I had --unfortunately, that one thing would have been the idea of the story, or the title or maybe the cover. This is a sticky situation and I suggest you be as good and kind to the author as you can be so you'll have no regrets. Good luck.

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    1. Unknown13 March 2013 at 20:08

      Thanks for taking the time to comment Jess. This one also reads like a first draft that has not been edited at all, lots of repetition and scenes that don't go anywhere. I think there is the root of a good story in there and I still have the second half of the book to go, so fingers crossed I will have more positive things to say to counteract the bad. I'm glad I am not the only one who struggles with this aspect of book reviewing.

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  2. Candy @ So little time...17 March 2013 at 15:51

    After you've finished (or if you can't finish) contact the author or the person who sent you the book, and tell them that you can't write a positive review for them.Tell them why and give them the option to opt out.

    Here's Misty - The Book Rat's take on this subject. It helped me out.

    http://www.thebookrat.com/2012/02/book-chat-negative-reviews.html

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    1. Unknown17 March 2013 at 19:48

      Thanks for the great link Mandy, it's really useful. I'm not in direct contact with the author but the site I am reviewing on behalf of do state they want you to be honest and have posted negative reviews in the past. I am just going to make sure that any criticism I do give is constructive and not personal.

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