I know we took a week off last week, and we will try to not have that happen again, but to be honest, with our personal and professional lives it may happen again. But we will try our hardest to make sure that every week you get quality GBU posts, at least 3 reviews, as our blog hop on Friday.
This one hits a little close to home since we are bloggers, and lets all be honest, there are books that we don’t like. It maybe because the book just sucked, it may be that the editing was bad, it may be the cover that really turned us off. Whatever the reason every blogger* has had books that we Do Not Finish. You know what? There is nothing wrong with that.
*Blogger who receives books from authors that they do not know, genres they are unfamiliar with, or for blog tours. Bloggers who blog about books they buy, already love, know the author, etc are not included in that.
GOOD
Sometimes the author will learn from your review. If they read them at all. I know a lot of authors don’t read reviews, period. Sometimes what I don’t like is what someone else absolutely loves, so it will get them to read it. Should authors read reviews, sure, but we are human and usually not enough hours in the day? One thing that we tried to do for books that we did not receive directly from the author is to send a message on Goodreads letting the author know we did it.. Yup that lasted about a week.
BAD
It sucks. I hate writing negative reviews. I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings if I can help it, so for each negative thing I say, I try to balance it out with something positive if possible. Negative to be negative isn’t fun, but if you write a good negative review that showcases what went wrong, and the author sees it and actually puts some thought into what a blogger says and either fixes the issues or at the very least appreciates our feedback then we have done what we should have done. Not all books are going to be our favorites. You can see that by Andi not doing a lot of 5 star reviews. It isn’t because she intentionally chooses books that she isn’t going to love, it is that to get a book that blows us away is hard, books can be good, they can be great, but to be mind blowing takes a special kind of book. It is okay if your book doesn’t have a full 5 star rating, if it has above a 3 then you are doing something right. Heck if it is a two star but there is something that really grabs at a reader, take that and run, you may not make a million sales, but those sales you make will impact your readers.
UGLY
You aren’t seen as a “trustworthy” blog if you don’t post negative reviews on your blog. This is bullshit. My time is valuable. I don’t have time to waste reading books I don’t like just so someone else can see me as “trustworthy”. I don’t watch movies I don’t like either. My TBR list is waaay too long to waste my time like that. I’ve got 3 kids (one of which is an infant) and I don’t get paid to blog or write reviews, so how does that make me untrustworthy. Do you wear clothes you don’t like? Do you listen to music you don’t like? Why should books be any different?
I am going to tell you a little blogger secret. You know when you do a blog tour with a “major” online blog tour and for some reason none of the blogs reviewed your book? That could be because the blog tour has told us that we can’t review it if it is under 3 star. Heck I have seen some blogs that say they wont post reviews for books under 4 stars. WHA?? So the book has to almost be perfect for you to review it? Come on. I have read amazing books that others would have been like “Oh Em Gee there are issues with editing, formating, etc etc etc” but I have read it because the STORY was good.
Oh and another thing authors, you wrote a book, congratulations, it is your baby, and I understand that you don’t want people bashing your baby. BUT!!!! If a blogger writes you and says “hey, did you get it edited?” or “Hey, it should be edited again”, take that friendly advice and GET IT EDITED. Don’t say shit like “I had XXXX do it, and she/he/it is a professional” in a snarky tude. You know what that will do? Yup Black List. Editors are human, to make ends meat I am sure that some editors don’t spend the amount of time they should on your book, OR you found a blog, they advertised editing services, you were like Hey they read and like my books why not, and they sucked. Not everyone is cut out to be a editor/proofreader and just because you read X books a year does not qualify you.
