Blogger Tips: The Case of the Negative Review

Blogger Tips: The Case of the Negative Review

I noticed recently a ton of negative reviews on different blogs I follow as well as Goodreads. That being said, I’ve also noticed a lot of people lamenting having to write these negative reviews on twitter, facebook, forums, and a whole bunch of other places. That being said, here’s my stance on negative review and why they’re important:

1. It’s Not A Bad Review

Let’s clear one thing up first: A negative review is not a bad review. A bad review is someone who misspells every other word, has more grammatical errors than not, and/or flames an author or their work for the sake of being snarky (read: bitchy) or mean (read: asshole-y).

A negative review simply means you didn’t like the book. It’s not a criticism against the author as a person, against a genre, or anything else. But if you’re going to write a negative review you have an obligation to the author and your readers to back up why the book didn’t work for you.

2. DNF Is A Three-Letter Word

The dreaded “did not finish” stamp. It took me a long time to accept that this wasn’t me quitting or something bad. For years I operated under the belief that even if I skimmed every page, I had to finish a book. I’ve realized now that there are too many books out there to get caught up in the one that didn’t work for me.

Books are like shoes. Some fit, some don’t. Some make you feel like going out to a club and partying while other rub you the wrong way and give you blisters. We all have different likes and dislikes.

Some people think if you didn’t finish a book you have no right to review it fairly. Other say review it as is. I say do both.

If there is a reason why I didn’t finish a book that I feel is valid (bad plot, unbelievable characters, etc.) then I will review it if I think there are people out there that will glean something from my review. If I stop reading a book because we just didn’t click? Then I say let it go, no harm no foul.

3. Stand Your Ground … As Long As It Isn’t Quicksand

Don’t let other people make you feel bad about writing a negative review. But also don’t put yourself in a position where you look like an jerk for writing negative review.

It’s fine to not like something, but you have to back up why you didn’t like it. Don’t just say, “I didn’t like it. The character was stupid.” Give examples and be as specific as possible. You don’t need to lay out a one-hundred point essay on why it didn’t work, but touch on the main reasons to show you put some thought into this.

4. Objective vs. Opinion

I know the rule of thumb is that all reviews are supposed to be objective. I get this. Problem is, there’s no such thing as objective in this world. We are all tainted by our personal experiences, life events, and memories. Those forces are what drives us to either connect or not with a book. I’m not saying this is bad or wrong, but it simply is.

I grew up in a very Christian environment and I hold a lot of those beliefs to be very true. I can’t say I wouldn’t be offended if I picked up a book with a protagonist who burned crosses and set churches on fire. But that’s not to say someone else wouldn’t enjoy this book.

You have to make a choice: You review can be as unbiased as you can possibly make it, but then isn’t that more of a book report? Or you can stay true to yourself and state you opinion, but make it clear that this is your opinion and respect that others may have a different view than yours.

5. Against the Grain

Sometimes the hardest reviews to write are the ones for a book we didn’t like when everyone else is raving about it. I felt that way about several books. I was so excited to read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer because everyone RAVED about this book for months. I was so excited when I got my copy and then I felt like an idiot because it fell kinda flat for me.

I still wrote my review and I was surprised to find a lot of people coming out of the woodwork in support of my review. I promise you won’t be the only person who feels this way about a book.

6. Save the Catfights for the Club

A review is no place to air out your dirty laundry. If you have a problem with an author, or even a publisher, being a snarky wench in you review might earn a few giggles but it won’t earn you an ounce of respect. A blog is no place to show how easily you can cut someone with words. It’s petty and childish and just don’t. OK? Don't be an ass for the sake of trying to look cool. No on buys it and you look like a bigger ass.

  

7. Blogger Compromised

Raise your hand if you’re on twitter.

Raise your hand in you follow an author on twitter.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever chatted with a really sweet author on twitter .

Raise your hand if you read a book by a really sweet author on twitter and strongly disliked that book.

I’m pretty sure we all have our hands up right now, myself included.

One of the coolest things about social media is how accessible it has made authors. I love that I can tweet an author and they freaking respond back!!! But that only makes it all the more difficult when I read their book and I don’t like it.

There is no easy answer here. I wish I could tell you what to do, but I can only tell you what works for me. I will admit that I have simply not reviewed the book I didn’t like. I have also review that book as honestly as I was able and then buried it between a bunch of other posts, praying no one saw it. Mostly now I review the book honestly, and I’ll post extra links after my review to reviews that raved about the book to prove it’s just my opinion and there are plenty of other who did enjoy the book, even if I didn’t.

Ultimately my goal is to see authors succeed. I don’t want any author to fail. As a blogger it’s a duty and privilege to promote books and encourage people to read. I don’t ever want something I wrote in a review to discourage someone from picking up a book.