Are all those actors, writers and musicians who claim they never clap eyes on a review of their work for real? Because, honestly, who can resist?
Those first reviews are agonizing, in a pleasure/pain kind of way. You want to look. Then you don’t. It was a rush to discover that Romantic Times gave my first novel, Explosive, 4.5 stars and a Top Pick rating. And five stars from Harriet Klausner, the top reviewer for Amazon. Yes, it’s all good but then you wait for the other shoe to drop. It’s a wildly subjective business after all — a fave for one reader is a snooze for another.
In any case — do you believe in reviews? Do you read them, search them out? If that’s a yes, which blogs, websites, magazines, Amazon?
Well, I’m a plain and simple reader
but I might read a review on Amazon.com or the like but I look for the ones that summarize the book a little bit more than the blurb. I guess summarize is a bad word, but just tell a bit more. Usually, I ignore reviews because so many times I like something that many others didn’t and just didn’t care for something that everyone else loved. But I like having a bit more info, so those reviews and reviews are helpful. But I do figure that if you have a book, movie or anything that has 10,000 reviews and everyone of them is negative, maybe that’s something to avoid. LOL But I haven’t hit into that just yet. 
Lois
I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes the summary — just the facts — tells you more about the book and whether you’ll enjoy it than somebody’s opinions about what they liked or didn’t.
I read a few reviews of books. But, the main reviewer I read is RT. I do “listen” to what other readers have to say about books as well.
From what I’ve heard over the past few months, the reviews at Amazon are subjective, so I don’t usually give them much thought anymore.
I never read reviews before I published – not even movie reviews. I chose books by back cover copy and reading excerpts. (I pretty much ignored cover art as well.) I also had my autobuy authors (I still do). Once I started reading my own reviews, I realized how subjective the process is. Two reviewers can love and hate a book for the exact same reasons. I’ve been blessed by lots of reviews and hurt by others.
As a reader though, I like the summaries too. I agree – a well written summary can tell you a lot more about a book than the back cover copy. And when they stop putting back cover copy on books and just review quotes? Aargh! A good summary will usually let you know if one of your hot buttons is in a book you’re not sure about purchasing.
The one thing I know is that reviewers do a hugely important job and seem to get little thanks for it. While I may not buy based on reviews, I know a lot of readers do and I’m grateful so many talented writers turn their pen toward describing what they have read.
That’s a good way of putting it, Lucy. We’re blessed and hurt when it comes to reviews. How do you handle the good reviews and those that aren’t so great (which I’m sure are few and far between)?
I’m just a reader and I sometimes read reviews–I tend to like hearing what other readers think. On the other hand, reviews are just one person’s opinion, and I tend to take them with a grain of salt–also, you can usually tell if a reviewer has actually read the book and has valid comments or is just spouting off.
congrats on the great review and top pick. i do read them and i get my resource from romantic times. i think they are the most reliable source for me. but eventually i will get the books i want.
Charlotte…one of the things I do is to keep the positive reviews handy – for those times I need encouragement (just like happy reader letters). I think some of us are more impacted by negative reviews than others. I actually try to avoid reading mine. LOL
One thing Kate Duffy said to me early on that has helped tremendously, is that not everyone gets a vote. Just because someone says something about a book, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they represent the readers I’m trying to touch. Not everyone is going to enjoy every book, or every author. Full stop. Period. Once we acknowledge that, it takes a great weight off when we’re under fire from a single reader, reviewer or faction of such.
I will say that a reader or reviewer who has taken the time to let me know they’ve enjoyed my books previously will have a lot more impact on me than someone who rarely reads my work, or claims to read all of it, but only bothers to post a review online or email me if they don’t like something.
That said, I was reading a blog post on Dear Author and something one of the reviewers said to another author really struck home for me. It made me realize I needed to look at my own stories for this particular piccadillo and work harder not to take the easy route. The criticism resonated with me even though it was not directed at me. I actually, was pretty happy about that. LOL
Great advice and insights, Lucy. Thanks!
Charlotte