Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The thing I hate about reviews is...

Not my reviews of course. I mean, I'd have to actually publish  something to get a review. I started doing book reviews on See Spot Read not long ago. I decided I would only do reviews of indie books and I would post author interviews on the same day. I'd been doing those on What Passes For Sane On a Crazy Day, but will be moving them over here to essentially separate the two parts of my life. And the ones I've done? Loved the books (and getting books for free is not a bad gig let me tell you), loved the author interviews and have made a few friends and clients. Sounds good right? Then there's the down side.

The down side being that I don't actually like every book I'm given for review. Unfortunately you can't please all the people all of the time. And sometimes, I'm the one who's not pleased. Sometimes it's a matter of bad writing (in my humble opinion of course). Sometimes its just too many errors in the copy. Sometimes I think the person would have benefited from a good editor. Whatever the reason, the fact is, there are some books I just can't recommend. And so I send the author an email letting them know that I won't be able to do the review or interview. I send the politest most apologetic letter I possibly can. I know what it must be like to receive that letter. But I'd far rather get it in an email than to have a bad review. And since I started the reviews/interviews with the intention of promoting indie authors and self-pubbers and pointing out the good books that are out there, I refuse to put up a bad review. And that is why you will never see one on my site. I sincerely hope I'm not making enemies, but I feel honesty is always the best policy.

I do tell each and every writer that I send that email to that I am NOT a professional critic or editor. I only know what I like and consider to be good. I also tell them to take my opinion with a grain of salt because that's what it is- an opinion. And we all know that everyone has one.

That said...do check out the reviews on See Spot Read, do spend the dollar or two for the ebook, do support indie authors. I may one day be one.

♥Spot (also known as Stacey)

1 comment:

Claudia Lefeve said...

You know, I'm not a book reviewer (my reviews usually entail, "loved it, buy it") for the very same reason. I tried exchanging books with fellow indie authors, but while many of them were great reads, some I couldn't get past the first two pages.

Having said that, I feel honored NOT recieving an email from you :)
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