Authors don't like negative reviews of their books. Many appreciate a well written negative review, but who in the world goes around asking for negative reviews? Authors want their books to be loved, and it sucks when sometimes they're not.
The other side of the coin that I don't think gets mentioned as much is that bloggers and reviewers want to love what they're reading. Every book is a time investment and no one goes into a book thinking it'll suck. It's even worse when you need to explain why you don't like it.
Generally, if you don't like something, you don't need to dwell on it. Except, reviewers do. What exactly makes the story boring? What's up with the writing style? Is this a personal issue or something others would relate to?
It's hard because after finishing a book you didn't like, you can't just forget about it. You have to write about why.
However, I can't not write negative reviews. I am a person and I have opinions. This blog is about opinions. Every review is incredibly subjective anyway so the only way to really be true is to be true to myself. I can't hide the negative reviews and pretend they didn't happen. I owe honesty to all the wonderful followers and readers TSC has.
So, I'll continue to write negative reviews and I'll fret about every word I write and revise it a million different ways, but I'll feel content because I'm being honest.
I don't hate to write negative reviews, but it's definitely a lot harder than writing a positive review. You have to think about what you dislike and you have to write it down in such a way that you don't hurt the author (at least, I like to think about that. They put a lot of time in their work and I don't want to destroy that). And it's just no fun to dislike a book, because we all want to enjoy what we read. So I have to agree with everything you said :)
ReplyDeleteMel@thedailyprophecy.
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DeleteIt is pretty hard to give constructive criticism without hurting the author. I sometimes think that I'm totally not qualified to give really technical feedback (they're the person that wrote a whole freakin' book!) and sometimes it's especially hard when the book just didn't click for me. Reviewing is just so subjective sometimes.
Delete-P.E.
My sentiments exactly. Readers enjoy reading, and want all the books they spend time on to be good, and it sucks when you don't enjoy a book and have to write a negative review. In fact, I just finished a review book I didn't like. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!
Yeah, it's definitely not the best thing in the world. Hopefully you'll find a book you like soon!
Delete-P.E.
I don't like negative reviews but the worst for me is when I don't really feel anything and it's more neutral. At least a negative review, I can point out specific things that didn't work for me but the meh reviews? I usually just didn't feel any excitement or anger or anything and that's hard for me to convey in words.
ReplyDeleteThose are pretty hard. Sometimes it just doesn't click for you and that's pretty much it. I try to be a little more specific in my reviews but I find the meh ones suck because my best writing is when I'm passionate.
Delete-P.E.
I actually find negative reviews a lot easier to write in most cases. I mean, it's really easy to pinpoint exactly why you hate a book, whereas it's sometimes hard to put into words why you like certain aspects of a book without degenerating into a gushing mess of fangirl. Most of the time I'll be quite brutally honest about why I dislike a book, because it's unlikely that the author will ever read my review anyways.
ReplyDeleteFor me though, it's a bit of the opposite. I can say what I didn't like about the book but sometimes I feel like my opinion is such crap. I mean, I'll say a character was stereotypical while someone else feels like the characters are incredible. At the end of the day, people have different tastes and knowing that, it makes me more uncomfortable to write about books I don't like due to my taste compared to books I do like.
DeleteAlthough I do have to work on not sounding like a complete fangirl :p
-P.E.
Like you said, it's no fun for anyone, but probably useful to everyone. Readers know what to expect; writers can think about what didn't work (even though they can't change it at this point, maybe it'll help for future work), and the reviewer sharpens their ability to select books that they'll enjoy. At least in an ideal world.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're super useful. As much as I don't like writing them, I realize how important they are. People need both sides of the coin and it can be helpful to the author too (although I wonder how often they read a negative review and keep the critiques in mind when writing a new book).
Delete-P.E.
Negative reviews are so hard to write! But I think it's important to say honestly but kindly what you liked or disliked and why. Snarky reviews can be very fun to read, but if you look at them from the author's POW, you're being nasty to their work, and that's gotta hurt!
ReplyDeleteThere's such a fine line. I tend to enjoy snarky reviews but I'm not very good at them myself. I feel like you're allowed to say what you want about the book, but the author is off limits.
Delete-P.E.
This post really nailed it down, P.E. and Mari. The problem with these butthurt authors is that they always think that reviewers solely existed to do some witch hunt or to become the Grinch who visits their windows to steal their books and write hateful reviews afterwards. What they don't realize is the fact that whenever we pick up a book, we always sent a prayer to the Heavens hoping that the book will work for us. Who wants to spend hours and hours of reading a crap book? Not me certainly.
ReplyDeleteThese authors should already be thankful that we also exhausted our brain cells to write a negative review. When I was just a reader, I immediately move on to another book without really thinking why the book worked or didn't work for me. But when I became a blogger, it's already hard to move on to another book without spending some time reflecting over it.
I understand why authors would feel butthurt but they also have to understand that books are like foods. Not everyone will enjoy them. If you are in a restaurant and the food is crap, you are bound to call the attention of the management and complain. It's just like with the book. *sighs*
That was probably one of my motivations for writing this post. I've seen reviewers being called trolls for not liking books, and that's a little ridiculous because we read every book with the intent of liking it. Everyone does have their own tastes and it's unfair that reviewers are called out for writing things that would be perfectly acceptable like you said, in a restaurant when critiquing food.
Delete-P.E.
So true -- I want to love every book! And reading is very subjective. Some books just resonate with you and others don't.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I wish more books resonated with me though :p
Delete-P.E.