Book reviews via the web have begun to take another turn. The more you look, the better chance you have finding someone who is willing to review your book. Reviews help others to see if there's a chance they would like to purchase the work and read it. But what happens when you have someone review your work and they post a review your not very happy with? Do you comment on it or leave it alone?
Here at The Writing World, I believe it's always right to comment on those posts. It doesn't matter what type of review it was. In my opinion, the reviewer took time out of their day to read your work and then took that extra step to write down their thoughts on the work. I'm not saying to voice how you feel within your comment. But I think the time should be taken for a small "Thank you for reviewing my work. I appreciate all my reviews and take each of them very serious." - Or something close to it.
I do book reviews. Do I like giving the books I read a negative review? No, I don't. I'm a writer myself. But it's not going to help anyone if I pretend it was the best book in the universe. Instead of crawling under your bed with your tail between your legs because you just read a bad review, I think the author should take each review and find the useful aspects of them. Sometimes this is the only way we can see what we need to work on within other books we write.
So, do you comment? Yes. When my work gets out there, I will be more than happy to read each review and thank the reviewer in an email regardless of the type of review. Many people/authors don't realize how much time some put into reviewing other peoples work. It's not easy to post a less than perfect review. So, I think it's the right thing to do. Acknowledge the reviewer for taking time out of their day and even their work so they can spend a little bit of time helping you out.
I feel reviews are only part of what make us better. We learn from them. We take them into consideration when we write our next book. I think it takes a great writer to use their bad reviews for good.
Find out what others are saying about this topic: Here.
7 comments:
Very well said, RaeBeth.
Although I'm fairly new to book reviewing I never thought about it much until after I started getting replies from authors for reviewing their books. It was nice to have that acknowledgement.
Pam
I don't expect any comments but a thank you from an author is always welcome.
I agree that reviews help us become better writers by helping us strive to improve on our craft. Good manners cost us nothing.
"Many people/authors don't realize how much time some put into reviewing other peoples work. It's not easy to post a less than perfect review. So, I think it's the right thing to do."
People often forget we do it because we LOVE books and that's it! Nothing else ; )
Thanks for participating!
I always try to thank the reviewer, even when it's a less-than-stellar review. It seems the polite thing to do!
I'll keep this advice in mind for when my book is finished!
I usually do not drop many responses, but i did some
searching and wound up here "Authors on Reviews: To Comment or Not to Comment?". And I do have some questions for you if
it's allright. Could it be simply me or does it appear like a few of these remarks look like they are left by brain dead people? :-P And, if you are posting on other online sites, I would like to keep up with everything new you have to post. Would you make a list of the complete urls of all your social pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?
Also see my webpage > By Carlos Santa Rosa
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