An Ode To Time-Traveling Goodreads Reviewers

This post was inspired by Patrick Rothfuss’s hilarious “Letter To Time-Traveling Goodreads Reviewers,” who seem to be showing a lot of 5 star love to his as-of-yet unwritten novel. While reading this (and laughing), it reminded me of something about Goodreads that has been bothering me recently. Don’t get me wrong; I love the site. But they’re doing a poor job of keeping reviewers from leaving ratings of books that don’t release for another two years. So, this happened.

Dear Time-Traveling Goodreads Reviewer,

I’m not stupid; I get that you’re trying to show you’re excitement or lack of it about a particular book, and that’s fine. Really, it is. What isn’t fine is when you give an unreleased book that you haven’t read a one star rating because it doesn’t interest you.  This isn’t about me unleashing my Wrath O’ Doom on you. This about fairness. It’s not fair to the author, to the publisher, to other readers, or to anyone to rate an unreleased book when you haven’t even read it. I’m fine with you showing your opinion in review form as long as you don’t rate the book. I’ve seen books on Goodreads that have 2014 release dates and have 3 star, or 2 star, or even 1 star ratings because people “aren’t excited about the book” and therefore give it a low rating. People, YOU HAVEN’T EVEN READ IT! For all you know, it could be the best book ever written. Giving an unreleased book a bad rating deters other readers, especially if there are few, if any, other ratings. Plus, it annoys the author, agent (if applicable), and publisher. It’s not fair to anyone. I don’t mean to yell at you; if you do rate unreleased books that you haven’t read, whether five stars or one star, based on your excitement towards it, that’s okay. But please take those ratings down. If you want to say “This premise is just awful,” you can. Just don’t attach a rating. I’m more lenient towards rating sequels of already-released-and-successful books because I get that fans want their “squee” moments and people usually know whether they’re going to read a sequel or not beforehand. And, after all, it’s surprisingly difficult to give up on a series. My real beef is with the reviewer of a debut author whose book releases from Random House in late 2013, and who have only the one rating, and it’s three stars. (Yes, I’m thinking of one book in particular. Poor author.) Of course, when readers click on the book, they’ll realize that the reviewer hasn’t read the book and will dismiss the review. I get that. But c’mon; honestly, does a three star rating really make you want to click on the book to find more about it? The answer should be “no,” unless you’re to the point where you’re aware of these time-traveling reviewers. Although I haven’t done this, I know some people–mostly authors whose unreleased books have been permanently branded with that low rating that happens to be their only rating–who have complained to Goodreads about getting these ratings removed. Again, I think Goodreads is awesome, but these people report responses from Goodreads that say something along the lines of “it’s a way for fans to express their excitement about a book.” Although I can see where they’re coming from, I just don’t think this is fair. But that’s obvious, since I’m writing this post. At least Amazon restricts people who aren’t members of their “Vine” program (the top reviewers are usually members) from rating books pre-release.

…So, what’s my point? To rant a little, make people aware, be my annoying self (again), and to broadcast to these time-traveling reviewers: Please don’t rate unreleased books (unless you beta-read, received an ARC, etc.). If you have to make a comment, make a comment, just don’t attach a rating. It isn’t fair to anyone. Let me repeat: It isn’t fair to anyone.

Has anyone had similar feelings/thoughts about this? Or does anyone have a different perspective they’d like to share?

Happy reading!

Why I Write

 

Well, it’s that time again! Time for the TCWT blog chain. This month’s prompt seems pretty simple, but it’s… not. However, it’s definitely a topic I’ve been meaning to talk about, so I’m glad I have the chance to. So, the prompt:

“Why do you write?”

Um…

Um…

Um…

Um…

I’ve sat here for the past hour, trying to come up with a coherent an answer. Or any answer, really–coherent or not. And I’ve come with nothing. Yeah, I wish I were kidding.

I’m trying to find a sensible way to approach this without screaming “I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!” which, to be perfectly honest, is what I’m thinking right about now. You see, my reason for writing is not really clear for me. My parents aren’t authors.  I’m not the son of some English teacher. I’ve never had an author I know in real life mentor and inspire me to write. I just, well–I just picked it up one day, I guess.

But since this is a question of “why,” let’s start simple to find an answer:

I have ideas. I have whims. I like to create things.

 It’s a simple chain of events, really. I have ideas–both good and bad, though bad is much more prevalent–and I follow them. I have whims, and I follow them. (Hey, a whim started this blog, you know.) I like to both create and try at these ideas and whims, despite the act that they usually fail. I have no idea why, I just do. I’m one of those “Wow, that’s cool. I want to do that!” kind of people. For example, I almost started a book meme last week. Yeah…

I guess this translates to my passion for writing. I love being able to freely pursue my whims, express my ideas, and create anything I can imagine without any repercussions (except insanity, of course…). It’s like governing my own city, running my own country, creating–molding–my own people. It may seem dumb, and it may in fact be dumb, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love it.

Plus, I’ve always loved to read. Then again, I don’t know any writer who doesn’t love to read. So my point? I was inspired by those authors I loved and still do love. I loved the stories, the worlds that they were able to create. And a mixture of awe and envy inspired me to try the same. Writing gives me the chance to express myself, to pour out the many ideas that have overrun my mind.  I write because if I don’t, these voices in my head will find a way to kill me.

I’m not even joking.

I hate to make this awkward all of a sudden, but to me, writing a book is like raising a child. I obviously don’t know what it’s like to raise a child, but I’m aware of the pride that parents have of their children and the enjoyment of raising one–although it may not always be so enjoyable, of course (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge*). Nevertheless, in the end raising a child is a life-changing journey. And to me, my novels are my children, on a much less grand scale. I create them from scratch, then raise them, and then put them through draft after draft until they’re ready to see the light of the world, if ever. I can shape them as I please, express and weave my ideas into them, create and control my characters however I want, etc. and know that’s its all my doing. My characters. My plot.

My writing. 

Of course, writing a novel is not an easy journey. At times all I want to do is curl up in the corner and die, regretting “wasting my time on such a useless thing.” But in the end, I look at my finished product and think: “yeah, I made that.”

Something about that feeling, whether the novel gets published or not, is… Amazing. Surreal. Beautiful. Like raising a child, just minus some.

I write because I love it. Because I’m addicted. Because I can’t just NOT write.

So, this is my simple solution.

I do write.

(Disclaimer: If we’re to continue this writing a novel is raising a child metaphor, the fact that I’m fine with doing major revisions of a novel, cutting numerous scenes, etc. does not equate to me, if I were a parent, tearing the head off my child. ‘Cause, you know, that would be cruel and all…)

So to all of you writers out there, why do you write?

Want to follow our blog chain? Here are the participating parties, day by day:

May 5–http://towerofplot.blogspot.com–The Leaning Tower of Plot

May 6–http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com–Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish

May 7–http://cassidymarierizzo.wordpress.com–Cassidy Marie Rizzo

May 8–http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com–This Page Intentionally Left Blank

May 9–http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com–You Didn’t Really Need To Know This…

May 10–http://inklinedwriters.blogspot.com–Inklined

May 11–http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com–The Word Asylum

May 12–http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com–Lily’s Notes In The Margins

May 13–http://laughablog.wordpress.com–The Zebra Clan

May 14–http://planetaryelastic.blogspot.com–Tangential Bemusings

May 15–http://realityisimaginary.blogspot.com–Reality Is Imaginary

May 16–http://otherrandomthings.wordpress.com–Dragons, Unicorns And Other Random Things

May 17–http://lonelyrecluse.wordpress.com–The Lonely Recluse

May 18–http://delorfinde.wordpress.com–A Farewell To Sanity

May 19–http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com–The Incessant Droning Of A Bored Writer

May 20–http://allegradavis.wordpress.com–All I Need Is A Keyboard

May 21–http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com–Teens Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)

 

*Also, a quick note: Miriam, who was supposed to post today (May 18th), informed me that she was bogged down and wanted to swap so look for her post tomorrow (May 19th) instead.*

 

Trusting Book Reviews

A few months ago I did a post on Fake Reviews on Amazon, which has actually become my most popular ever. So, I decided it was time for a follow-up post.

In the book world, you hear about reviews all too often. After all, they’re vital to most readers. And for that very reason, authors try to game the system, hence fake reviews. Spotting fake reviews is relatively simple. If a book has only not-so-detailed four and five star reviews, each by reviewers with only the one review and obvious pseudonyms, it’s probably faked by the author or author’s friend. Or both. So, that’s it. End of post, right?

Wrong.

Actually, fake reviews are not the only reviews you can’t trust. Most people don’t understand this, though. So here’s my solution: Go to Amazon. Look up any popular book. Read a few of the reviews, and you’ll see. The average (Well, okay, maybe “average reviewer” is an overstatement because I know plenty of amazing Amazon reviewers, but some are just… clueless.) Amazon reviewer does not know much about books, and seems to think that when a book has three adverbs per sentence it’s ”well-written,” or doesn’t understand that characterization is important, or the reviewer can’t even get past one particular thing in a book and gives it one star because he or she “dislikes the main character’s religion.” Unfortunately, this is not a lie. People write bad reviews for reasons like this. I’m talking one sentence reviews that say something along the lines of: “I didn’t like this book because I don’t like YA and the plot was weird.” Needless to say, why in the world would the reviewer read this book in the first place?

But those types of reviews are obviously bad–you don’t need to even consider them when deciding on a book. Or, at least, I hope you don’t. However, the reviews that convince some readers are the overly-ecstatic five star reviews. So, a reviewer loves a book. That’s wonderful! Must be a great book, in that case! Then you read some of their other reviews. And they loved every single book. And they’ve written eighty reviews in total. By then, you can tell that either this reviewer is an extremely positive person or doesn’t want to give a poor review. In any case, all of their reviews come into question. Or take the flip-side. All of a reviewer’s reviews are extremely negative. Right away, you know that either this is a very hateful person or someone who’s trying to gain attention by hating on every book they see. Or both. Again, ignore the reviews.  

The same applies for book bloggers. Unfortunately, many book bloggers feel compelled to post only positive reviews to get attention, keep publishers sending review copies, and because they don’t want to disappoint the hopeful authors who send them their books. When you read a blog that posts short, blurb-like and consistently positive reviews (I’m thinking of one right now), the excitement gets old relatively quickly.

So, here’s my advice:

- Look for a variety of ratings from reviewers on review sites. This includes 1 star, 2 star, 3 star, 4 star and 5 star reviews. Also, seek out the detailed reviews that tell you specifically why or why not a reviewer liked the book. Some reviewers are so busy saying “This is a great book! READ IT!” that they fail to state why they liked the book.

- Find a book blogger you can trust. It isn’t hard to root out book bloggers who love every. Single. Book. They. Read. And then they write short reviews, not much different than the blurb itself, saying you should read this book. Which would be great if they also disliked a decent amount of books as well and stated why they felt this way. Try Dear Author. Even though I don’t like romance (what they review), their reviews are always well thought out, intelligent, and honest.

- Goodreads is awesome. Really, it is. I love how people there aren’t afraid to express their opinions. Most users post a variety of reviews, from good to bad, and are completely honest about their thoughts. Plus, they know what they’re talking about. USE GOODREADS. It’s fun, funny, and it’s a great tool for readers.   

- Find reviewers with similar tastes as you. If you love YA and are considering purchasing the latest YA debut, don’t let the opinion of a reviewer who normally reviews erotica sway you, even if they give clear reasons for disliking a book. If you love YA, they aren’t like you; their tastes are different, and your opinions probably won’t match up. However, if you’re an erotica reader trying to break into reading the YA genre then you should pay more attention to this reviewer’s thoughts because they’re relevant to you. It is all subjective. Let me repeat: It is all subjective.

…I think I was going to say more, but I forgot what. Oh well.

Happy reading!