Welcome to Book Blogging 101, a weekly feature on Parajunkee’s View that answers your questions and strives to share great book blogging tips and some helpful hints to help you on your way.
Today’s discussion is not based on a question posed to me, but rather a question that came to mind as I was following the recent drama that ensued after a snarky review on Goodreads. If you aren’t aware of what is going on, it is really quite simple and happens every now and again — someone wrote a negative review and an author got upset. But, really it wasn’t even the author that the review focused on that got upset, it was other authors and it was brought to twitter and then there were blog posts written about it, people were insulted, tirades began, names were called — and then finally it went mainstream, with an article in The Guardian. That article also cites a blog post that narrates all the BS that went down – because you know, it’s not news unless it is dissected in graphic detail.
Now, I’m never one to get in a tizzy over these sort of things. I think the fact that we are not saying things to people’s faces makes us write dumb things on social media sites and it has to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s not like we are all politicians or anything. What authors sometimes forget is that they are a public figure and everything they do is being monitored and their words can affect the sales of their books. It may seem like they are just chatting back and forth with friends — but on twitter it is like they have a megaphone and are screaming it into a microphone that is blasted through a global satellite that goes into a searchable database. I digress though, because this post is not about proper social media behavior. It is really about what constitutes a a reviewer.
Because that Guardian article prompted this post, which was written by my favorite YA author, Maggie Stiefvater. In this posts she calls the review in question, a negative “review” and the Guardian article “fairly ridiculous” and then goes on to point out that what these authors are lashing out at aren’t “reviews” at all but nothing more than posts and that reviews are actually “little academic paper(s)” that “are hard to write”. She states that in a “real” review her opinion is secondary to her defining the strength and weaknesses of the book.
Okay. I can agree with that, somewhat.
But, what caught my attention was later in the post when she stated: “Let’s talk about the negative “reviews” that authors have been lashing out at. They often involve animated gifs, swearing, and snark. They’re often quite funny. But here’s the thing, though. When a blogger writes a biased, hilarious, snarky rundown of a book they despised, he/ she is not writing a review. They are writing a post about a book.”
She also says it’s not wrong but they shouldn’t be respected like “real reviews” are respected in the author community.
She then goes on to state that when you get personal in your “post” you are just being a jerk and even professional camps that push out mean negative thoughts cause a stir and I think she was implying that they weren’t reviews also.
Personally, I think she is mostly correct in her assessment — how many times do we have discussions on reviews and say DON’T GET PERSONAL. Personal jabs and mean spirited-comments are not something you want to include in your review. But, making it out that reviews are only these long winded, hard to write, literary dissections — well I don’t know if I agree with that. Because I think there is a middle ground somewhere, a little gray hopefully??
On first reading her statement, “I’m not saying that bloggers shouldn’t write biased, hilarious, snarky rundowns of books. I’m saying that those rundowns are not reviews. Bloggers who regularly write them cannot expect to garner the same respect and treatment from authors that pro reviewers or non-pro reviewers do.” I felt like I was being scoffed at, yes I’m being sensitive. Yes, yes, I know this. But, everyone wants respect right? And that was hard to read.
I think if a blogger handles themselves in a professional matter, just because they don’t follow some per-ordained academic guideline, can’t they keep the title of reviewer??
Maggie Stiefvater is still my favorite YA author, I’ve never written to her about her strange relationship with wolves — who does that??? But, I still feel like she made what I do here on Parajunkee’s View something not that important and trivial. Her post implied that my thoughts on books would only be considered “real” if I was published in a literary journal or followed certain guidelines. I thought I was a blogger / reviewer but according to Ms. Stiefvater, I’m nothing more than a woman that posts about books and should know my place. Did I read too much into that post? All stemming from the fact that I don’t do literary reviews — which frankly I wouldn’t want to, I did that in college and would get Ds on my paper if my opinion didn’t coincide with the professor. My reviews are a statement of my opinion and my negative responses are usually followed up by reasonable explanations.
I didn’t like this book because…
I loved this book because…
I thought that constituted a review?
Dictionary.com states a review:
1. a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.
If I’m dissecting that definition correctly, if I write a critical report about something it is a review, right? Therefor, I can still call myself a reviewer? I would hate to have to redefine myself. My current definition goes as such, I am a blogger that does book reviews and POSTS book info.
Saying this person is a reviewer and this person is not, I believe is just another way to judge one another. To be an author you don’t have to write in a particular way — there are plenty of academic ways to write, how our teachers told us we must always write in this fashion and do this certain thing. But, lucky for us, most authors don’t listen to what their teachers tell them. They break molds, they try new things, the profession morphs –
Not to mention, not all authors get published with big respectable publishing houses, like Scholastic or HarperCollins, does this make them less of an author, less deserving of respect? Does this make them…only a — *gasp* — writer??
I think that everyone’s opinions should be respected and tolerated, and if that opinion differs from your own you have the free will to ignore it. Even if the “reviewer” gets snarky and uses animated gifs — or *gasp* curse words — that is how they express their opinion. It might not be your way of doing it and maybe their methods might actually turn off more readers than it does turn them on — but once again it’s theirs and let them have it.
Yet, the funny thing about this whole thing is, I actually don’t agree with the “review” that started it off. Because in actuality the person didn’t even read the book, she read the excerpt and was already forming opinions. Does this constitute a review? And by calling into question her review, if it is a review, does this make me judgmental and snobby?
See, once again, I just want your opinions!
Should book bloggers change their names to something like “Book Opinionaters”? Or should we proudly wave our Reviewer Flags and stand up for defining ourselves? I personally would like to be a reviewer instead of just some “book post writer person”. But, I also don’t want people to think that I’m a total poser — pretending to be something I’m not. Miles away from the “cool people” respected club, nope don’t want to be that girl.
As always I await your verdict, dear readers.
Here are the links:
Maggie’s Post
The Guardian Article
The review that started it all.
The post that broke it down.
Update
The review mentioned later in comments from Amazon
The plot thickens with a PW article
I can’t get to all the questions, but please ask your BB101 Questions here…bring it on.
Posts Related to Book Blogging 101: What is a review?
165 Responses to Book Blogging 101: What is a review?
Leave a Reply
165 Responses to Book Blogging 101: What is a review?
Leave a Reply
I have seen this post by Maggie and well.. I took from it what you did. I still say I’m a blogger that REVIEWS books and offers book information. I’m not really into what the Authors have to say *don’t get me wrong I LOVE them* but I do what I do for Readers!
I do not make long and very detailed reviews..why? well I think most people are like me in that when you start reading a review after the first minute you’ve read what your going to then you move on.
*WAVING MY REVIEWER FLAG*
SupaGurl
Wave it sweetie! – I’m glad to hear I wasn’t the only one that thought this way.
Kari and I were talking about that the other day. Maggie Stiefvater seemed to be belittling the role of bloggers, which really irritated me because I don’t think she would be anywhere without book bloggers. How many people read her books based on “professional reviews”? Who reads professional reviews in newspapers anyway? Like little old ladies that actually have time to read that section of the newspaper. That’s mean. I’m being mean now.
We try to be honest about how we feel about books without being outrageous. We try to be respectful and balanced in our criticisms. So far, we haven’t had any issues with publishers pulling the plug on us yet. If anything, it’s helped put us more out there…like with our “We Didn’t Finish” Posts. We say we didn’t like it but try not to be complete brats about it.
I think that is a good idea Autumn. The We Didn’t Finish. I think if you keep a professional air – then you will garner the respect. I think the review that started it all was horrible and the reviewer did exactly what she was against — she sounded angry and sensitive and off the chain. It got personal with her so she struck back. It’s hard when we are passionate about a subject to not get personal, but I think if we want to keep things professional and respected we have to stay away from passionate tirades. I do believe that might be what Maggie Stiefvater was trying to say in her post. That reviews should be like news stories, we should instill our personal opinions on the books. That if we have a hatred for people that write about vampires – we shouldn’t be able to state that is the reason we hated the book. Therefor if you do this — it is technically not a review, but a post. But, see I don’t really agree with it. The thing about book bloggers and their reviews is that you can get to know your blogger – as opposed to the literary reviews. You can discern their tastes and figure out if they align with your own. You can’t do this with these literary reviewers – most of the time my tastes are very far off from theirs. This is why I actually respect other bloggers reviews much more than these literary reviewers. *phew* that was long.
If book reviews were lengthy academic articles, I wouldn’t read them. I think I speak for most people when I say I read book reviews to get a BASIC idea of what the book is about and insight on its strengths and weaknesses. Generally I would read a few reviews of the same book to fish out the consistencies and base my book purchases on that. Most certainly you are a Book Blogger, your site was one of the main reasons I started my own blog. Your opinions are clearly expressed, and you supply a reason for your thoughts . I realized I don’t need an English degree to share my own opinion, and thus my blog was born. I just don’t understand the politics, are we not all here for the same reason? A life long passion for the written word? And the person who wrote a review based on a books summary, THAT constitutes the title of “book post” NOT review. Whew, that was a lot of ranting lol. Kudos to you for sticking up for us lowly “book posters” =D
Tristan @ Reads With Wreckless Abandon
No I hear you, Tristan. That was good, I want your opinion on this. It was an excerpt and she noted in it that she was reviewing it based on the excerpt. She felt strongly about the subject that was talked about in the excerpt and strongly went against it. I can’t put fault to her about what she wrote. The passion was there – it just didn’t align with my take on things. Does her statement hold less credit because her opinion differs from mine? I think if you draw a line in the sand of what is a review and what is not — we might find ourselves on the other side of the line when the dice are rolled.
I’ll be the first to say that my book reviews on my blog, are no where near the high technicalities I’m expected to have in a college paper. However, I still make it a point to say what I liked, disliked, and state my opinion honestly and tactfully. I think that if an author can’t take a negative review, maybe they shouldn’t be writing to begin with. I admit fully in those reviews that just because it wasn’t my cup of tea, doesn’t mean it isn’t somebody else’s. But it’s a lot harder for me to stand up and say this book just wasn’t that great, than it is for me to say how awesome a 5 star review book is. I don’t want to offend authors, but if I don’t speak up honestly, then what am I doing here to begin with? People come to my blog to hear what I really think. If I start lying, I have no credibility. Now that doesn’t mean because I rate a book 1/5 that I need to just trash the author/ book. Like I mentioned earlier, I do my best to tactfully and respectfully say what I feel should be heard, without being mean. But it’s a bit of tough love too. I love Amanda Hocking, the Trylle Trilogy was easily 5 stars, but Virtue, no way, I believe I gave it a 2. Does this mean I don’t like Amanda Hocking? No, I just didn’t feel like that book was as successful as her others.
So I still consider myself a reviewer. But everything in my blog says that I’m doing this because I love doing this- not because it’s a professional job (though blogging is definitely a job). And authors should take that into consideration.
Excellent points Joey. I think you bring up some wonderful ideas. I think we need to stick with our honest opinion and the scary thing is — these negative reactions from authors are going to scare some bloggers into taking the “ONLY POSITIVE REVIEW” stances and unfortunately I don’t consider that a good blogger/reviewer. How can you trust someones opinion that way?
You put the perspective of negative reviews do not mean you don’t like the author very well. Thank you for that. I think sometimes when you critique an authors work they take it personally because the book is a part of them. But, once you send it out, they have to understand that it is no longer just theirs. And not everyone is going to like it.
Wow, I found her post to be rather demeaning and kinda of high handed. I always try to stay out of these crazy debates and messes. (same as I stay out of politics) However, I do not appreciate my writing being called second rate just because it isn’t in her “perfect” format. I never claimed to write a literary or academic review, but by gone it, I put a lot of time and effort into my reviews. The statement about them being hard to write, well let me just say that there has been times where I have spent hours on a single review trying to get everything just right.
To be be honest I think what she said is even worse than an author behaving badly and commenting on a negative review. At least that author isn’t putting down all the wonderful bloggers out there, just the one their focus is on. There are so many of us who pour our heart and soul into these blogs and REVIEWS for no other reason than our love of books and desire to promote awesome authors and even the industry as a whole.
I’m sorry if I have gone off on a rant here, and I do believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just simply have a problem with someone treating what I do as second rate. Like I should go back to the sand box and stop trying to play with the big girls.
I will always wave my REVIEWERS flag high and proud. Otherwise what am I doing this for?
Thanks KT, I was giving her some credit, because I do think that she didn’t mean to insult all bloggers out there. But, the post did give me a snobby feel. She is loved by bloggers and I think she didn’t give them enough credit.
I’m sorry, but she’s wrong. She’s attempting to downplay the significance of online reviewers. She’s not being mean about it, but she’s still saying “This opinion is worth less than other opinions…” and that’s wrong.
To me, an opinion about a book becomes a review the minute you are able to articulate WHY you did or did not like something. Those one sentence “reviews” people write on Amazon? “OMG THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME, GO READ IT!” are opinions. When I write a five paragraph post on my experience with a book, proofread that post, add pictures, and publish it–that’s a review. It might not be 100% “professional”, but it will always be honest, specific, and hopefully helpful. So it’s a review, like it or not.
Great analysis. Completely agree – I think as long as you state your reasoning behind your like or dislike it becomes a review.
I also read the articles you are talking about and I think it’s really all just semantics. I consider my posts to be reviews, yes. Does it bother me that Maggie Stiefvater doesn’t? Nope. Not even a little. I don’t run my blog for her. I don’t write my reviews for her. I do it for me and for my fellow book lovers.
No, my reviews are not literary critiques. But let’s be realistic. Most of the books I read are not likely to be picked apart in some lofty literary or academic setting. I read about vampires and werewolves and dirty sex. Not classic literature. Does that make the books I read anything lesser? No. They’re still books that I like to read, whether they meet the connotative ideals of “literature” or not. I doubt Maggie Stiefvater gives a rip about whether I consider her books to be literary masterpieces any more than I care about whether she considers what I write to be a real review.
I don’t need her validation and she doesn’t need mine. (Neither do you!) We’re all just sharing our thoughts and people can take it or leave it.
Holla! Girl that almost made me cry… I want to grab a flag and march down the street with you. Preferably with a half naked cover model as company!
This is great! I agree with you … I don’t run my blog for the authors, either. I write my reviews for me and feel so lucky that I have some readers who enjoy reading what I have to say. Thanks for this.
I think that it is ridiculous to say that a review is not personal. To me reading a book is an immensely personal experience. And as a reader I know that I want reviewers to share that experience with me. As a reader, I find reviewers that seem to share my “aesthetic” and then *stalk* them to see what they’ve liked (again personal). I also try to visit reviewers who don’t necessarily share my tastes as I’ve found that actually has opened me up to many great things that I may have missed.
As a Blogger/Reviewer, I state in my review policy very clearly that I’m not pretending to be some academic critiquing a work based upon some predetermined (by whom?? lol ) criteria. My reviews are a quick summary of my opinions and thoughts about a work. Take it or leave it….your choice…
Of course I am respectful of the authors and their works when reviewing…but that doesn’t mean that my lack of a doctorate in English prevents me from having the right to voice a negative opinion.
♥ Melissa @ Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf
I think the key is to keep things respectful, the problem lies when the book loses your respect, that is when the reviewer might turn. Books that are blatant rip offs of other books, ones that try to convert you into thinking a certain way (and you feel the opposite) things like that will bring out the worst in a reviewer I think
At least for me. I try to be respectful, I guess when the reviewer gets passionate it is hard to keep things on the even keel.
I felt her post was very condencsending to book bloggers. If you read her comments, specifically on her LJ mirror post, they are even worse.
I’m not even sure why she brought up personal attacks on authors because none of the recent reviews did that and I’d wager most “reviewers” do not do that. We all work hard at what we do and to just be told your opinion won’t be respected is a slap in the face.
Personally, I don’t review to get noticed by authors or publishers. I do it because I love discussing books and my opinion of said books with other readers.
In the comments on her blogger post she said she was referring to the incident regarding the email, which would be my review of Carrier of the Mark. Hmmm…let’s see. I didn’t use GIFs in that review nor personally attack the author. My GoodReads review has 3 curse words out of its 2,200 word glory. The Amazon review and the review on my blog have no curse words. The review is supported by tons of evidence. Was it an academic paper? Of course not. I, myself, considered it a “ranty review”. If my reviewing style turns people off, I’m totally okay with that. I think that is the beauty at what we do. We are able to read through various reviews to find the one that will help us decide if we want to purchase a book.
I think there *is* a difference from a professional reviewer and what we do, but I think they are both reviews. They just cater to different audiences. Are you a visual person? Then maybe you will enjoy GIFs used in reviews. Are you looking for the technical aspects of the novel? There are lots of reviewers that dive into that. Do you want a detailed review? There are some reviewers who can break it down for you. Do you like to laugh? Perhaps a review with a humorous twist will suit you. Just want the facts and nothing else? There are reviews of that style too. We all have a different way of doing things and I don’t think one stayed invalidates the title of “reviewer”.
I think my biggest was that she sprouted this off as if it was fact and not just her opinion.
Sorry for the typos. I’m on my phone.
Stephanie — I just gotta say, your Carrier review, rocked my socks. <–opinion. And I’ll agree there were not gifs, and I read the Amazon one first, so I didn’t see any curses. It was hilarious though. Mainly because it was sooo true. I actually had held back putting my Carrier review on Amazon because I usually just post the negatives on Goodreads and my blog — (negatives hurt my feelings sometimes) but I threw mine up the moment I read yours. Solidarity in opinion of course!
You brought up some excellent points, there are thousands of bloggers, they all review differently. My opinion of the post is going down even further after I’m reading everyone’s thoughts on the matter. I tried to stay neutral in my assessment of it in this post, because I didn’t want to look like I was attacking back. I haven’t been able to go through all the comments, because I got rather sick when everyone was so quick to agree with her and cry their undying love. Which how can you fault her? When you have fans that scream you are so right all the time, you do tend to get inflated and look down upon the little people that are nipping at your heels. Classic.
Your point that she wrote her post like it was fact instead of opinion brought it all home. It’s true, just because she said it doesn’t make it true. The reason it hurt more than any number of other nasty posts I’ve read was the fact that I respected her as an author and those opinions usually matter more to me.
Thanks. I felt bad aboutthat review because I meantwhat I said: I hate writing 1 star reviews for debutauthors.
Shiveris on of my favorite book. It really touched me and had me go into an “ugly cry” spell. So believe me when I say I understand your disappointment.
If bloggers’ opinions weren’t important, we wouldget ARCs,authors wouldbe emailing us personally for a review, there wouldn’t be a need for book tour or author interviews on our blogs,ect.
I added your amazon review onto the post also, since it was mentioned as the review that started it all in the comments…LOL I guess you caused all this!
Well, according to Maggie, I made it personal and had it coming. *eyeroll* I’m not out to get any authors. I’ve got betterthingsto do, like read.
Congrats on being abstractly mention on Publisher’s Weekly – big time baby.
First of all – Thank you for such a well written, level headed and intelligent post. In all this fiasco, I think this is the first post that is so well thought out and not just full of emotional lash out. (Of course, I’ve tried to avoid a lot of the drama…)
To simply answer your question? Yes – Book Bloggers are Reviewers.
Now, really? Sure – some of those snarky, animated gif filled, jabbing posts? Are posts, and not reviews. I think once you’ve strayed from discussing the book to jabbing at the author – it’s no longer a review. ESPECIALLY when the “reviewer” has not read the book she is reviewing. (I hope this is making sense!) But that said? Authors (and agents, as one of the drama laden twitter incidents was) need to take negative reviews with some grace. (I hadn’t even touched the incident you talked about – I was more following the Wendy Darling/Selection review drama.) Calling reviewers (or posters, bloggers, random internet strangers) names for not liking your product is just uncalled for.
/rant (sorry this got too long!)
I hear ya. I think sometimes people lose site of who they need to make happy. As an author your readers should be the ones that you respond well to. I know other authors and agents and publishing people are your peers, but frankly — they aren’t the ones buying your book. When you respond to a negative with an even greater negative it can only get worse.
I also think as a reviewer, it’s easy to forget that my reviews are for me and for other readers – not to please the authors.
“She states that in a ‘real’ review her opinion is secondary to her defining the strength and weaknesses of the book.”
I read this, too, and my first thought was, “how does she define the strengths and weaknesses of the book — by her opinion?” The problem with ANYTHING that involves reviewing, whether it’s at a “professional” level or a blogger is that there is no such thing as objectivity. Sure, perhaps you play by different rules when reviewing for an academic journal, but how one determines what is a strength and weakness will, in some way, depend on opinion.
When I first started blogging, I wrote a review philosophy, which touches on the idea that a) I cannot be objective because who I am and what I like (or don’t) influence the way that I view a book and b) my reviews make an effort to talk about WHY I felt the way that I did (just because *I* dislike a book because of a love triangle, for example, doesn’t mean that others will, too; in fact, that might be the reason other people pick that book up). All this author/blogger nonsense makes me want to revisit that review philosophy.
It is based on the Golden Rules of writing — you can state the book lacked focus, plot etc…but you can’t say the book was bad because the character was a raucous lunatic. I’m assuming that is what she means anyway.
I usually state when it is a personal preference… like I don’t enjoy simpering female characters. Some people might like simpering female characters…
I could care less about literary reviews. I don’t think they get books sold. At all. For me, the best books I’ve ever read have been found through word of mouth from friends and family. They are from us little people. When you know someone that liked a book it makes all the difference, not a literary review with a bunch of big words in it. I hate that authors think bloggers don’t do much, but at the same time I don’t care. I do my blog for my friends and family. Who cares what anybody else thinks?!
The last literary review I read I couldn’t understand half of it because it referenced things I had never heard of and used words that wrapped around my head in weird ways. I swear half of it didn’t sound like English — or English that the writer had use a Thesaurus for every other word and picked the most obscure phrase that was somewhat close to the meaning. And granted, I read a lot — so to get it over my head is something. The last time I read an article where I didn’t understand most of it was in a Science Journal and they were talking about the String theory. Now that should go over my head.
And right, who cares what anyone else thinks? I’m down for it, just sometimes they do get past the wall…
Personally I think we readers write the kind of reviews we like reading. We readers don’t want official reviews. We want book reviews with opinions and heart.
The best recommendations have come from friends — and other bloggers. Not a magazine.
If you read the book and are expressing an opinion about the book, it is a review. It really is that simple in my opinion.
Aaron (Dreaming About Other Worlds).
Simple. I like simple.
This is a great discussion! I really didn’t get offended by Maggie’s post (and I don’t mean to offend anyone by saying that!) I just interpreted it as her saying to authors to not get so upset by people’s posts & that if you are going to write books, they are going to get read and judged, liked, disliked and even get discussed. (This is just MY interpretation! I could be totally wrong!)
I agree with Jen from Red Hot Books…a lot is semantics. I don’t consider myself a “reviewer” even though technically what I’m doing is “reviewing” a book. However, I just like to think of my blog as a platform for talking about the books I read.
Thanks sweetie for your opposing side. It is semantics and how sensitive your are…LOL I never thought I was sensitive.
And I’m usually uber sensitive : )
PS I love negative reviews. Sometimes a negative review makes me not want to read something but, more often then not, someone’s rant or opinion makes me want to read something even more.
I say that post too and I had the same issue – and I have an academic background. Too much emphasis is placed on the “label” of things – call it a review, opinion or discussion – bottom line is – somebody is writing something about your book – good or bad. And if that website has 100,000 people visiting it per month – well you are going to get RESPECT. Period.
Oh – I so wish bloggers would get together and show their power – i.e. show just how they can influence a Google search term for a particular book. Then authors such as her might see – it really doesn’t matter what you call a spade – it’s still a tool that performs the same function as a spade.
I hear ya! 100,000 people is 100,000 people whether you respect that medium or not.
Bottom line — GOOGLE likes terms that are being discussed on blogs and websites. The more your book term is placed out their on the internet the more GOOGLE likes it – and the more it will come up in the rankings when paired with other search terms. Like — say you wrote a book ‘Love Zombie Style’ and you are a Young Adult Paranormal Romance. If 100 bloggers write about your book, paired with the term Young Adult Paranormal Romance — then your luck goes up that when someone types in “Young Adult Paranormal Romance” your book will come up in GOOGLE!
That is the power.
I had a wonderful eloquent comment till I hit delete by accident. Grrr.
I wasn’t too upset by Maggie’s post. It summed up for me to mean, “When you sling crap don’t be surprised when some comes back and hits you in the face.” While I love all the, “This is my opinion and I have the right to express it, ” guess what? So does everyone else. And their opinions (to them) are just as important. You want to be treated like a professional, then you need to act like one. I’m not a fan of belittling reviews. I think you can write a snarky review without cussing or belittling the author. If you write a nasty or negative review and get blasted for it-deal with it. You brought, now you have own it. If you can’t handle that then you don’t need to be writing reviews. I’m also not a fan of authors’ who moan and cry that nobody understands them, this book is their baby, and proceed to call on friends to go throw down in the playground. Yes, it’s your baby, who you have sent in to the real world to be commented on-deal with it. If you can’t, then this career is not for you.
I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m a reviewer as long as the books keep rolling in.
Well said. And ha ha about the books rolling in. I just don’t want what I do looked down upon — I don’t care if I’m a reviewer or a blogger.
Awww — look at the cute little book blogger. She thinks she has a place in the publishing industry, but really we all laugh about them behind the conference room doors.
Not saying that’s what was said…
You are as you view yourself. Only you can define whether you are a reviewer, blogger, or book reader who occasionally chooses to express their opinions of a book. Does it really matter how some authors view us? I can review an author’s book regardless if they choose to send an arc or I have to buy it. They have no control over me. I do not need their benediction or approval. I’m here for myself and the readers.
Agreed!
Here here! Tori – I shall strive to not give a shit…
This was awesome.
See ladies…it really is all about us. LOL
This is an awesome post and I completely agree with you. I feel that we, as book bloggers, are being belittled in what we do. Sure, I’ve read the odd book review in a magazine (read: Chatelaine, or MacLeans), but only the little blurbs, and only for books that I’ve seen out in the blogworld or actually have heard of. The way I find most books to read is through blog reviews, or reviews I read on Goodreads. In fact, if I’m in a bookstore and find a title that looks interesting, I’m not about to find some literary review on it … I go to Goodreads, look at the rating of the book, skim a few reviews and decide whether or not to read it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a literary review on anything, to tell you the truth.
I think of book blog reviews–and hear me out–as I would finding a good mechanic. It’s word of mouth. If you find a good review on a book, you want to spread the news, you want to read it and express your thoughts on the books so that your readers will want to read it. If someone finds an author and falls in love with them, that’s said on their blog, people read the blog, and more people want to celebrate the author! It’s like wildfire!
And who wants to read pages and pages of the dissection of a novel — I’m sure in those pages and pages, there will be spoilers and what do I want to read before I’ve read the book? Naturally something that doesn’t spoil the whole thing for me.
I wrote up a brief post about this the other day relating my experience as a musician and recording artist to that of a writer — not everyone is going to like what you say. I’ve had a vast amount of reviews from newspapers, to magazines, to actual listener reviews from little websites like GarageBand. To me, they’re ALL a review, regardless of how many words there are or what’s being said. What matters is how you, as the artist, handle the review. I’m not about to say, “Well, this isn’t a real review!” because to me, something is still being put out there about my music and someone is going to read it. That’s enough for me.
I’m also curious why Maggie Stiefvater says that a non-review is a “biased, hilarious, snarky rundowns of books” — I point out what I like and didn’t like about a book, I don’t add humour and/or animated gifs to my reviews, and I am not snarky. I’m relaying my thoughts on a book and that should be considered a review–my review–of the book. Period.
I think book bloggers are the ones that really hype up the book–I’ve seen so many great books floating around in the blog world in the past months that I want to read, having not once seen reviews for these books anywhere else. How many readers does Stiefvater think actually read long-winded “reviews” from official publications?
Sorry for the long reply … hope some of it makes sense!
No it does make sense and thank you for your thoughts. You know there are books that are five months before release — and they are buzzing throughout the book world about a debut author or this book that is forthcoming. My friends that are readers have never heard of the book — but people that frequent the book websites know about it. Its all a matter of perspective.
Goodreads is the first place I go to as well when I run across a book I’ve never heard of. Check the ratings and skim the reviews, particularly those of my friends….who are generally book bloggers and in my opinion usually know their stuff.
Thanks for all the great responses everyone!
Thank you for writing this post. I’m really feeling a lot better about all of this after reading it.
I stayed out of all the drama. It wasn’t until I read Maggie’s post (because I follow her) that I knew about most of this stuff. I’m a fan of hers definitely and I met her at a signing over the summer. She was fantastic. But, I generally have to agree with you and all of the other commenters because her post shocked me a little. It came off in a really strange way and at times I couldn’t telling I, as a book blogger and reviewer, was being subtly and cleverly attacked or not.
I think by now most people have seen how influential book bloggers can be and I really felt belittled and a bit offended. Even more so after another discussion, but I won’t go further into that.
I believe we are all reviewers. How can we not weave our opinions into our book reviews? Reading often takes me on an emotional journey. Reading is cathartic. How can I say anything about a book without telling why it affected me so much, whether positively or negatively? I always strive to do so in a respectful, honest manner.
So yeah, I was a bit offended. I don’t hate Maggie. I’ll still read her books. But I am disappointed.
I think Book Bloggers in generally have good intentions, but like every group we have our bad seeds and those are the ones that stand out to authors and vice versa. They might read 100 good reviews by book bloggers about their book, but the one ranty, snarky, animated gif encrusted review and that is how they view all book bloggers. I really hope I’m wrong. I don’t want us to look like a sniveling and snarky group that just bugs authors for ARCs.
I say if you take the time to read someones book, you have every right to review it any way you want to. Whether your review is a literary masterpiece or rant review. Both are reviews period.
If you want to say what you loved, hated or even critique the cover then that is what you should do. This is supposed to be fun and it should add to your reading experience. Nobody should feel that they have to write this academic piece, because that would take the fun out of it.
Imagine everyone’s reviews were all sweet and pleasant. If you take your own experience out of a review then the review becomes boring.
Write it, read it, review it anyway you want to I say!
This is why I don’t sit on the “only good reviews” on the blog fence. I think you need to voice your opinion loud and proud. Tell us what you think – don’t be afraid to let it all hang out. Reactions like this in the author community scare newbies and old hats alike — they fear writing a bad review of a book that the author solicited will get a bad flash. You shouldn’t be scared. They gave you the book — they want your honest opinion. If they didn’t want your honesty they should just pay you to put a promo piece up…which I suspect is now happening on some of the larger blogs. They read like announcements — check out this book – synopsis – WOW!
I also wanted to say, I review foremost for myself. Then the readers who visit me.
*I wave my reviewer flag*
I agree with you Rachel, the definition of reviewer shouldn’t be limited to academic paper like articles. Yes, this is definitely a way to critique a book, but personally, I prefer reading about other people’s opinions.
I couldn’t care less if book X was written in Y fashion, with W style etc. What I want to know is, did you like it? How do you feel about the characters? What about the plot? The emotions carried through the book? This is what’s important to me as a review reader and it’s what I try to share as a review writer.
I’m not one to support snarky reviews, but I have a big respect for negative reviews written in a professional way because those are the hardest to write.
I wrote some negative reviews myself, but I always make sure to mention why I feel that way, because if it doesn’t work for me, It could work for someone else because this person likes exactly the kind of stuff I don’t like. We all have different tastes and it’s what makes things interesting I think =)
Wave it girl! I was done with XYZ when I took my last Algebra class!
I’m of the mind that if someone reviews something, they’re a reviewer. Personally I prefer the book blogger type of review to a critical analysis anyway. I don’t have all day to read a bunch of flowery critical jargon about what the book embodies in terms of societal mores or whatever. Just tell me if you liked it or not, what did or didn’t work for you, critical flaws, etc. And please do it in fewer than 50 paragraphs.
Also, as far as I’m concerned there’s snarky and then there’s flat-out mean. I like reading reviews with a little personality. I’m a somewhat snarky person by nature, so unless it’s beyond the pale that doesn’t bother me. Taking personal shots at the author is a whole different thing and totally uncalled for, IMO. I’ve written negative reviews but tried to frame them as a book that didn’t work FOR ME, but not necessarily a bad book. As far as animated gifs, I use them occasionally when I’m trying to strongly express something (and I usually use them in a positive manner). Does that scare people away? I hope not since I’m a new blogger getting my feet wet, but it fits how I talk in real life. To me it’s the reviewing equivalent of facial expressions or talking with your hands. I also swear. I try not to overdo it because I’m aware that a lot of the books I’m reviewing are YA, but I also try to be who I am in my reviews.
As far as authors getting prickly over negative reviews…eh. They’re human beings, it happens. That doesn’t mean it’s ok or that it should happen – if I called one of my company’s customers or clients and ripped them a new a-hole for complaining about one of our products I’d be looking for a new job. That said, I can say unequivocally that even before I started blogging I read *tons* of book blogs and they influenced my reading/buying habits a billiongajillion times more than any professional review or critical analysis ever has, so getting shitty with book bloggers is really in the opposite of their best interest. I think it gets lost in the shuffle that most bloggers aren’t doing this as a popularity contest or for free books. Speaking personally, I have plenty of friends and a library right down the street from my house with more free books than I could ever read. IME most of us do it because we love books and we love sharing suggestions and opinions with other like-minded people. And frankly, it’s no small time investment. I can understand getting feelings hurt over a negative review but putting down or disregarding people who spend a large chunk of their free time pimping out your product – time for which we are not compensated, I might add – is pretty lousy.
That said…my blog is for readers, not for writers so I can’t really care all that much. You can’t please everybody.
Great points. I’m glad you pointed out that you read book blogs before you became one yourself. And no you can’t please everyone.
It would seem the authors are also getting mad at the big boys too…LOL I guess we shouldn’t feel so bad: http://www.salon.com/2012/01/19/the_agony_of_the_male_novelist/singleton/
The drama surrounding this is a bit for me to wrap my head around. I would think that regardless of what it’s called – anyone saying ANYTHING about your book – is good. Your book is being talked about. The person took the time to write something or rate your book. Just because someone calls someone names or is angry about a book, doesn’t mean that people won’t read it. I, in fact, like when people rate books poorly because I feel challenged to read them and prove their rating wrong. I don’t understand how any author could belittle someone who is taking the time to read their book and put word out about it (whether it be a good word, or a bad word).
Mike Mullins (author of Ashfall) posted a little diddy on this drama: http://mikemullin.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-all-authors-are-trolls.html
As for that review on Tempest, I’m not offended by those passages that girl posted and I still want to read the book.
Thanks for pointing out Mike Mullin’s post – I loved Ashfall. It’s funny how he pointed out that this controversy probably does drive sales up on the book – get’s articles in The Guardian, that sort of thing. Funny.
I think that Ms. Stiefvater forgets that “professional” reviews are just that “professional” – the reader is getting paid real dollars to read and comment on the “literary” value of whatever book they are reading – regardless if it’s a book on computer basics or a book where the central character is a werewolf. A reviewer on a blog is either the person who “owns” the blog or a person who’s a member of a volunteer staff who in exchange for their opinion gets to read the book for free. They don’t get paid by the publisher, author, a literary magazine or a newspaper. It’s their time and effort which they are in essence donating to promote their love of books. While I disagree with either a professional reviewer or with a “blogger” using swear/curse words in their reviews because it detracts from the professionalism of what they are attempting to do – if a blogger wants to curse – it’s their option. I personally have come across situations where an author whose books I loved behaved badly either in person in my presence, Twitter/Facebook, or even on their own blog and I’m honest enough to say that it has affected how I perceive their writing – would I review a books of theirs after that – maybe -but only if I can give an honest review or opinion without letting what I feel about their behavior be a factor. If I can’t separate it from my opinion and I still want to read the book – then I buy it and don’t review it.
Good suggestion – buy it and don’t review it. Ha.
A few minutes after reading this I open up Switched by Amanda Hocking to begin reading it for the first time. The first sentences under her “Acknowledgments” are: “First and foremost, I have to thank the readers and book bloggers. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating – I could never have gotten this far without all your support and encouragement. I want to thank you all by name, but if I did that, the acknowledgments would become a novel itself. So I just want to say thank you to every person who read Switched, told their friends about it, left a REVIEW, tweeted about it, blogged about it, or liked it on Facebook, thank you a million times over.” I think the authors know that without us, their books wouldn’t get as far as they do. She even acknowledged the fact that we review books, not just blog about them. If what we did wasn’t called “reviewing”, publishers wouldn’t be sending us ARCs for reviewing. Even though I’ve never received an ARC and have bought all the books that I review, I still consider myself a reviewer. I’m new at it, but I’m still waving my reviewer flag high!
Thanks Kelly. Amanda Hocking owes a lot of her success to the online book readers. They spread the word, they loved her books. They made her half a million dollars — LOL. She wasn’t supported by this huge publishing house with six figure marketing campaigns. That is awesome.
I spent a lot of time reading Maggie Stiefvater’s post yesterday. And, even more time reading the comments and her responses.
I understand what she’s trying to get at, but I thought it felt belittling to book bloggers and to the people who actually buy her books. It felt like she said that what we had to say doesn’t matter before we’re not professional reviewers. But, what I have to say about a book does matter. I’ve pointed so many people to so many books because of my blog, including Shiver and Linger. (I still haven’t read Forever.)
Book bloggers’ thoughts do matter. They push sales up. And, in my opinion, anything said about a book is publicity, even good publicity. Look at Banned Books week. If a bad review made people not want to read a book, then would Banned Books week be as popular as it is? I think not. People like bad reviews because it causes controversy and it makes them curious enough to go read the book. Yes, some people won’t read the book because of a bad review, but they probably wouldn’t have read it anyway.
I still consider myself a reviewer. I review books and I’m not changing my blog to say recommendations because I wouldn’t recommend the 1- and 2-star books.
I don’t understand this negative feelings — I just don’t.
Thanks for this post. I read Stiefvater’s post yesterday, and at first wasn’t really offended. I got what she was saying, sort of. But the more I thought about it, the more put off I became.
I’ve never even looked at a literary journal. I’m pretty sure I don’t even want to. The last time I read a magazine review was 5-6 years ago in a freaking People magazine (btw, most of the books they review are books I’m not interested in). You know what I got out of those reviews? Nothing. No personality + high-handed phrasing = no buying from Andrea
I look to fellow bloggers for recommendations for 100% of the books I buy, not the “esteemed” journals. Not every author is as lucky as Stiefvater to get their books reviewed by professional reviewers. So what about the other thousands of books out there?
I feel what I do is write reviews. My reviews include my personal opinions. Sometimes they’re more serious, sometimes they are funny, other times they’re gushy. Does that make them any less valid? I hope not.
I think what hurts the most is what you were saying about what might go on behind closed doors at publishing houses. We bloggers spend so much of our time, unpaid, reading and talking about books. We are the consumers. We are the sellers, actually. I don’t do it for thanks. But I also don’t think we deserve backhanded comments, either. When I come across authors saying snarky things about reviewers and GoodReads (not all of us are on there to cause drama. I only go to post and read reviews), a piece of me loses respect for that author.
I’m sorry. I meant to keep this short and to the point. Thank you, very much, for standing up for us “little folks”!
No problem with the long post – I look forward to hearing everyone’s opinions. I think we do have respect in most circles, just when the negative stuff comes out it gets everyone ruffled.
I read those reviews on Goodreads and personally I thought they were very distasteful, I think a review that rants on and on attacking the author and the content, discredits that reviewer and from that stand point I can understand what Maggie was saying. I love Goodreads but lately its becoming a place where people can bully each other, not what I signed up for….but hey, Im still going review books….and call myself a book reviewer, not a book post writer or a grocery list maker!!!
Great post Rachel..!
I thought they were distasteful also – would have angered me also if I was the author. But, you know, you don’t respond to crazy, right? When my schizophrenic aunt rants and raves we just ignore her….
ROFL…………….
Maggie didn’t insult anyone. Everything she said is absolutely right. Bloggers are NOT professional reviewers. We never will be. That doesn’t mean we can’t be professional in our posting and that doesn’t mean we can’t be respected, but we will be respected through how we act and what we do. You are a professional reviewer as a job when you are paid and your reviews are printed somewhere. Sure the term ‘review’ applies to what most bloggers do and we can hold ourselves to professional and even journalistic standards but that doesn’t mean that what we do is considered a review by people who do reviews for magazines and papers. The basic definition of any word rarely covers the myriad of ways it can be used or interpreted.
Put the claws away Pam — that is your opinion that Maggie didn’t insult anyone and understandable because she’s your friend. A lot of us did get our feelings hurt a bit. Our feelings, our opinions. And we are not claiming to be professional reviewers, just reviewers — we aren’t professional reviewers, non of us get paid.
For me the very simple rule is: Review the BOOK, not the author.
As for what constitutes a review – I think that what we as book bloggers do is most definitely reviewing. It may not be a high-brow academic treatise, but any one of your, mine or any other blogger’s reviews have been thought about and written to share our opinions on the book. Our readers enjoy our reviews and use them as a guide when buying books. So they definitely have merit.
I totally agree with you that bloggers should be PROFESSIONAL in their approach, That doesn’t mean you can’t use slang or rate books using bananas or figure skating poses – but it does mean that you need to think before you post. And review the book, not the author!
*end of mini-rant*
Good point and rule. I think everyone needs to think before they post, comment, tweet…
I have read all the articles and I understand where you are coming from. No, you did not take that out of context cause I feel the same way. I have thought about these questions this past year as to what am I. A book blogger, book reviewers, etc. The way I see it, I blog about books but that also I am a consumer. Most bloggers I know go to book events and BUY BOOKS! I brought Maggie’s last book cause I enjoy her work. Now, I just feel wronged. I buy books to support the authors but if I am not “real” then….IDK
Thanks for the wonderful post!
It makes you think. I’ve bought 6 of Maggies book, I got Forever and The Scorpio Races as an ARC — if she were to come to another signing I would purchase the TSR and Forever (even though I didn’t enjoy it) in hardcover to finish my set. It is what it is. Take it how you get it and I guess right now I feel under appreciated. LOL
Oh, good. I thought I was just being sensitive when I read that post and thought, “Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying that, because I blog about books and I’m not paid or published in a literary journal, that I don’t review books? I only post about them? That’s not right!”
Sure, her post was well written and gave a detailed explanation of her thoughts and sure, I do respect her as an author but come on now. Don’t demean what I do–and spend a lot of time doing–because it’s not what you consider “literary”.
Your post, btw, is awesome and made me want to cheer. Instead, I’ll wave my flag, join your parade and say, “I AM a book reviewer. Hear me roar. Or write semi-intelligent reviews, as the case may be.”
Grab the flag — we’ll have a parade!
*jumps around waving reviewer flag*
I sometimes get told that I’m not a *real* reviewer because I don’t have as many followers. Well. Those few that I do have read my opinions on books and sometimes even go pick them up because of what I say. In my mind, that makes me a reviewer. I may not have been published in some academic journal, but then again, neither have some of the “professional” reviewers (think People Magazine reviews…I bet no one would call those just book posts).
Loved this post. I felt like it validates all of us, big or small.
That was the best compliment ever, Ems!!!! And yes, those People Magazine reviews aren’t all academic either.
I really don’t understand why authors seem to think that our reviews don’t matter, if anything ours matter the most. I’m more likely to judge a book based on what my friends/goodreads say than what an office in New York claims. I want people who are like me with similar interests and who will completely thorough with their review. And we bookbloggers are being used as an important part of book promotion now a days, I think we more than deserve our title of reviewers based on how much time we dedicate to something that we are not even paid for.
Fabulous post Rachel!
Sometimes I feel like we get used a lot — LOL, where is my sign
“Will Work For Books”
How cheap is that???
THANK YOU. When I read Maggie’s post yesterday, I was caught somewhere between righteous indignation and flat out offended.
I am a book blogger.
I write reviews of the books I read.
I am a book reviewer who posts on a blog.
Do I get paid for it? No. I do it because I love to read and I want to share that passion with the world. Maggie’s take on the whole thing, while not meant to belittle anyone (I hope), made me feel unappreciated and about 2 inches tall. I understand her point was meant to be that authors shouldn’t get so up in arms about what people post on blogs – but by doing so she threw all of us under the bus.
I agree Mandi, I don’t think her post was to belittle – but coming from the opposite side has no idea what it is about. It’s like when clients ask why I charge so much — because don’t I just “Make Things Pretty?” You know it’s never easy to sympathize with the opposing force but looking down at someones profession or hobby just makes that person look judgmental, even if it is done with the most innocent of intentions.
Great post Rachel and I am so tired of the drama . Waving the reviewer flag. Just because I share my love of books, doesn’t demean what I do or blog about.
I have my passion for reading good books by good authors, If I am able to let people to read a book or not , then my job is done. I have always loved to read, and blogging is my platform. I do trust reviews by friends whether or not to read an author.
Thanks for chiming in Jules. I don’t know why spreading your passion of reading is wrong in any case.
After receiving your email newsletter and seeing the link to The Guardian, I had to check out what’s been going on, because clearly I’ve missed a ton of the drama as of late. I’m glad, actually.
But I also read and commented on author Maggie Stiefvater’s post after reading all comments and responses from the author.
My immediate knee-jerk reaction was the same, that: Hey, it’s insulting to bloggers. And why are my reviews being called otherwise?
But I took a step back, and while the instant response was that it read that way, I think the intent was different. When I first thought about blogging I had to research what a review was, because I’d never written one. I looked up what was supposed to be part of a review (and I don’t think it is really encapsulated by the dictionary definition, but what was generally expected) and so I think that what the author mentioned in her post was using review in that way. And that’s sort of how I’d tried to tailor my reviews, because of that traditional format.
I think the disconnect comes from that traditional expectation of a review. If you look at what meets the criteria of a review from that definition, then no, technically anything outside of those lines isn’t a review. But I think that needs a serious adjustment with just how valuable bloggers are becoming to the industry. Because if there is an analysis and an opinion, is that not a review?
While your reviews don’t fit that traditional format, I still think I’m reading a review when I read your posts. It shares a bit about the story, a bit about the writing, a bit about your likes and dislikes, and allows me to form my own opinion – whether I agree or disagree – based on what you wrote. To me, what you do is write a review.
And I suppose it really just comes down to what “school” you are – traditional/old school or a more modern interpretation. And while your reviews may be seen by some as being in a grey area, not all are so fuzzy. But it boils down to should the definition be adjusted? Then, where do you draw the line? When is a review not a review? And if you draw the line somewhere else, who is going to be insulted that they haven’t made it to the other side of that line?
Thanks hun – that was a great compliment rolled into an informative comment. No I do not think that I fall within the guidelines of writing traditional reviews. But, I think with the onset of sites like Amazon.com and online retailers that have copied that style — our thoughts on reviews have to change. It’s not just about books and movies and art anymore. It’s about everything from baby strollers and paint and yes, books. Maybe we should revise our terminology with consumer reviewer or something of that nature — but we are reviewing the product.
I think everyone’s pretty much said what I’d say about Maggie Stiefvater’s blogpost, so I’m not going to go into that. I am, however, gonna mention the ‘review that started it all’. You said you don’t agree with this ‘review’ because she only read an excerpt, not the book. I think this is really unfair. She didn’t write a review of the whole book based on the excerpt, she wrote a review of the excerpt, based on the excerpt. She wrote about the, honestly AWFUL portrayal of a character IN that excerpt, that’s all. You can’t even claim it was taken out of context, because it doesn’t NEED context. The reviewer was well within her rights to comment on what she read, which is what she did. Plus, I don’t think anyone can argue that she didn’t make a good point. It’s foul and unfair stereotype and not one that should be encouraged.
I’m sorry Caitlin. I don’t agree with how she handled herself. I would never think to review an excerpt — and especially not in that fashion. She ends it with cursing and I think that does more to destroy her cause then it does to aid it. Of course she was within her rights, I just didn’t agree with how she did it. No big deal. Everyone has every right to express their right in any fashion they see fit as long as it doesn’t hurt or harm anyone. It doesn’t mean I’m going to get behind her. I don’t think she deserved the backlash, but I think she was trying to incite drama. We Have A Right to review, we have a right to post that review anywhere we want — but if we post inflaming comments and thoughts, we should expect a verbal retaliation. Sometimes we need to stop and think before we post something — and voice it in an intelligent and thought out way. Because when you get angry and say anything — all people hear is the angry.
I agree with you, Rachel. Here’s my thing: I have a Literature degree, but I don’t have a job in literature. So one of the big reasons that I blog is to provide myself with a creative outlet in the field that I love. When I write reviews, I do discuss some of the things within a book that I feel are its strengths or shortcomings. My reviews include both my feelings/opinions and my critical thoughts. I’ve included critical theory in some of my reviews on my blog. In others, I’ve acted like a total fangirl and probably sounded like an idiot. Despite what Maggie says, the things I write in my blog reviews can be helpful to authors (and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, to readers), so to say that what I write isn’t a review just because it isn’t a critical essay that I wrote for Kirkus would be untrue. I don’t like to spoil a book for my blog readers so I purposely do not do an in-depth analysis as a review (even though I actually read and think that way more often than not), solely because of the quoting and plot information (read: spoilery info) that sort of thing would require me to include. I save that for book clubs and discussion topics and such, in which people have presumably already read the material. To me, that in-depth analysis of a book’s strengths and weaknesses that Maggie talks about is closer to a literary criticism than it is to a review. So basically, I disagree with Maggie on this.
I know what you are saying, I think as she comments more and more and repeatedly says — that people are reading her wrong, that she didn’t mean how people are taking it. I believe she failed in that post in getting her point across. She might have meant that only “negative and ridiculous and jerky” reviews should be respected. But, I don’t think it came across very well. Maybe she should have tried to rephrase things a little instead of putting all that hoopla in there about literary reviews and the such.
I consider myself a blogger who writes book reviews. I always read critically because that’s just how I read, but I don’t feel that every has to be academic or even serious. I’ve gushed about books I’ve loved, I’ve written humorous posts to books I’ve read in sections during read alongs and I’ve written about books I didn’t like. i don’t think that any of that invalidates my work or my dedication to what I do.
While I do occasionally review books at the publisher or author’s request, I feel that I don’t write reviews for them. I write reviews for the people who want to read their books and for myself. And just like not every reader will like every book, not every author will like every review they receive.
Additionally, I am working on my own novel and I know that if it is ever published though I hope many will like it, I hope that not everyone will. Hopefully the people who do like it will out number those who don’t and that I will be gracious enough to thank everyone who reads it regardless of their opinions.
I write the reviews for readers — never the authors or publishers. If I were to do that then they should hire me for their marketing department – I could right promo copy all day long.
Like you I am a big Maggie fan and was so excited that I got to me her in the UK at the end of last year. I thought she was brilliant, very funny and had so much to say about so many things! But I have been left a little upset/annoyed by her post.
Not only do I REVIEW books over at my blog I also REVIEW them in the bookshop I work in! Does working in a bookshop make me a prefessional REVIEWER and mean I’m better than other bloggers becuase I read and REVIEW books to recommend to paying customers? Does it eck!!!
At one point Maggie say’s:~… “Publishing houses bend over backward to send review copies to these journals in time for a timely review, because good reviews can make or break a book’s success with libraries and booksellers.” Well, publishing houses also ‘bend over backwards’ to send review copies to us bloggers too! Do you know how many books I get a week not only at the bookshop but also to my home address!? A LOT!!!
At the bookshop I do mini reviews for books, almost like a tweet, do you know how many books sell because of those mini REVIEWS, and we also have ‘super-tier’ reviews which means a book must be face-out on a bookshelf with a mini review. I would like to add here that ‘Shiver’ is one of those books, it is constantly face-out and has one of those mini REVIEW cards! It’s not the journals Maggie talks about that sells her books or any books for that matter it’s us!!!! It’s blogging REVIEWERS and bookshop workers that sell books.
If a blogger’s REVIEW isn’t so important then why are we involved with tours/giveaways/author posts and so on? Why are we constantly contacted by PAs to REVIEW books and be involved with blog tours?
Do I think my reviews but people off a book, NO! Does it put me off reading a book if I read a bad review, heck NO! I’ve got my own mind and I’ll decide if I read a book or not. I love reading other peoples reviews no matter if they are long or short, good or bad. I like to read what they think, their REVIEW matters to me!
My REVIEW policy states I will give MY honest thoughts about a book, publishers send books to me knowing this.
I love what I do over at my blog & I love other blogs and their bloggers. Will I start taking away the word REVIEW from my blog because of what one persons says and what others might agree with, heck no! It’s my piece of the web to have my say!
Just like the artist Marcel Duchamp said ‘it’s art because I say it’s art’ I say ‘I review because I say I do!’
Wonderful comment! I like that you post little mini-reviews by the books. I wish we had a indie store that did that. Would be awesome.
I think Maggie has every right to hold this review, but I think it’s an incorrect view. And going by a lot of her back-peddling in the comments to her post, I think that she probably has a fairly complicated opinion on it herself that possibly wasn’t expressed as perfectly as it could have been in the original post.
I think reviewing entails more than just summarising plot, absolutely, but I don’t feel that you need a degree in English (or German, or French or whatever) lit in order to write a good one. If you’re stating an opinion on a book and giving reasons why, that’s a review in my books. The tone of the review and the addition of extra content, like gifs, is irrelevant. And talk about proper reviews being unbiased makes me roll my eyes, because no review is unbiased IMO because everyone brings their own preferences and experiences in when they read a book. That’s one of the things that are good about books!
My biggest worry with this whole thing is the fact that the type of review that Maggie suggested wasn’t “real” is actually the way that her official audience as a YA writer is more likely to interact with a book. Most teens aren’t going to read or write academic reviews unless forced to do so, and I would hate for any author to alienate young readers by saying that the way they approach talking about books critically is the wrong way and they shouldn’t be respected for it
Wow, I didn’t even think of that. It’s true. Her teen audience is so big, they gush and they like animated gifs – and she doesn’t say that is wrong, but what a post like that does is make them feel self-conscious of it. No one wants to feel self-conscious especially a teen.
I think I’m both a book blogger AND a book reviewer. I may not have the most popular blog out there, but I put a lot of time and effort in my reviews. My reviews are generally detailed, and usually several pages long in Word (I type them in Word first). I try to give my honest, personal opinion without getting too personal on the author. I mean, I’m trying to state what I think about the story, the good and the bad, and although I would never bash an author personally, I don’t always end up liking their book.
I write 1 star reviews and 2 star reviews as well, although not that frequently. If a book is that bad, but it doesn’t manage to frustrate me beyond belief, then I just don’t read until the end. If it frustrates me, well that’s a whole other matter. Those reviews tend to be VERY, very long. But constructive, detailed and not a personal attack.
As an author myself (although self-published up till now, but working on that) I have had one or two ‘bad’ reviews on my books as well. I must admit that I’m not always that professional about it. Whereas I personally email people who left awesome reviews, sometimes I tend to do absolutely nothing for the people who leave bad reviews. With that, I mean that I don’t mail them saying ‘thank you’, although I know that I should. I think it’s also something you have to grow in as a person and an author – you have to be able to accept criticism gracefully. I admit I might not be fully there yet. But I’m also a far way from saying that a book ‘blogger’ is not a reviewer, because I believe that we are.
When we participate in memes, do cover comparisisms or guest blog, then we are, in my opinion book bloggers. But when we sit down and put our thoughts together about a certain book and write a review about it? Then we become book reviewers.
Thank you for the very interesting and informative post! I had a great time pondering about this
You are welcome and good luck in your writing — I hope it takes off. It is very hard to accept criticism. As an artist I want everyone to say “Beautiful” after looking at whatever I designed if they don’t I feel that little pang of something that says “What do they know?” It takes my secondary voice to take over and actually hear what they have to say — because most of time it helps. And the next time I think about what they said and I use it to make my next piece better. Now when they come back with just mean-spirited criticism like “this is crap” or your art work resembles “pubic hair” well I usually just ignore that. I do think about it, as you can tell it’s with me — but I try not to let it affect me. They didn’t like it. So what? 90% of them do.
First, let me say, I’m both a blogger and an author (contemporary romance). I can only agree with Maggie to a point. I do believe that reviews should describe a book, outline the reader’s opinion of the book and include details that support the reader’s opinion. I DON’T agree that writing a review has to be hard. I DON’T agree that bloggers aren’t reviewers. Bloggers write for readers, not authors. Their goal is to give readers enough information to make an informed decision about the book – Read it? Don’t read it? That doesn’t mean that all reviews must be formatted in a certain way or written in a certain style to be considered a review. A review is a critique. Those come in all shapes and sizes. I do believe when ANYONE (author, blogger, reviewer, agent, reader, whatever) reviews a book – the review should be on the book – not the author. Leave the author out of it all together. When any reviewer speaks of a book (positively or negatively) they should do so with intelligence and respect. If you don’t like a book, state why, list examples. If you liked a book, state why, list examples. At no point is there a reason to get nasty. If you don’t like a book, big deal. Get over it. Move on. There all lots of books to read out there. Pick one. Bottom line when bloggers (or anyone) reviews a book (not an author) do so intelligently not sensationally.
Fabulous comment and good advice.
The thing with it is, when I’m looking to buy books, I don’t look into reviews that she claims are real reviews. I look at bloggers who post something short and to the point. They write what they liked and didn’t like and THAT is what gets me into wanting to buy a book or not buy it. I think bloggers help to get the word out and sell more books than these “real” reviewers. If book bloggers didn’t exist, I don’t think as many people would find these books or consider picking them up. There are a ton of books I want to read now that I never even heard of until I started reading book blogs. So while she is pretending that we don’t really matter, she is sadly mistaken.
I agree with you and I get all my book suggestions from book bloggers now…
I’ve never really considered myself a “reviewer”. I use the term, yes, but loosely..and usually only when explaining to people not in the community what I’m doing.
When I think “reviewer” I think of those who are actually…paid. So, in that aspect, I do kind of agree with Maggie….BUT I don’t think what we do as bloggers should be discredited. Most of us work hard at blogging. We get frustrated and maybe even sometimes yell or curse at the computer.
But we do it because it’s fun.
I do think that some bloggers/reviewers take it way too far. There is no need for personal attacks on an author in any manner, same goes for them though. I think we ALL need to step back and realize we are all on the same side…to get books out there. Not every book is right for every person…just because one blogger (or even reader) doesn’t like a book doesn’t mean no one else will.
There is never cause to personally attack an author. You are critiquing the book, not the author. And I know where it is coming from…sometimes mean spirited reviews get a TON of attention both negative and positive. Look at what that one review did for that Big Al guy–
But — it is reminiscent of a child. If that child can’t get attention from being sweet and cute it runs around the house like a banshee screaming and waving things in your face. All it wants is attention.
And unfortunately negative behavior sometimes gets more attention than positive behavior.
I do not understand the acrimony here, but it is the internet so I guess these sorts of things are unavoidable.
This is not the first time I have seen a well known author disrespecting blogger/reviewers. I have even seen well known authors say that they do not care about ratings or reviews on Amazon.
Those attitudes boggle my mind.
There are many of us, call us writers, authors, or whatever you wish as long as you pay attention to our books, who live and die with reviews from bloggers and readers. The LA Times literary reviewer is not going to take our phone calls or read our books.
Blog and reader reviews are our lifeline to sales and exposure. Aggravating those people is the LAST thing we want to do. Every author I know uses Google Alerts. We know when you talk about us lol. Tick off the blogging community and word will spread.
I know reviewers need to be objective, but the truth is that reviewers and authors need one another. That doesn’t mean they cannot disagree, but it does mean that respect should abound.
And the authors who got involved on the wrong side of this issue just made things a bit tougher on the rest of us.
Splitter
They can be avoided though. People have to learn that social media is not to be used in this way … LOL Think before you tweet.
I love this — “call us writers, authors, or whatever you wish as long as you pay attention to our books”
oh, WOW, i had no idea this issue had gotten THAT big… let me just say that i very DEFINITELY consider myself a reviewer, I am a reviewer, and just because my site title isn’t Book Savvy Review JOURNAL, my reviews are no less than reviews. I know not every book reviewer maintains the same standards, but authors and publishers can choose which book reviewers to use, and of course on websites like amazon and goodreads, ANYONE can write ANYTHING, that does not make their thoughts reviews…Come on authors, get over it, some people just post wacky things… this is not new… stick with the reviewers who count…argh, I’m with you on this Rachel… I am also gonna
)
*WAVE MY REVIEWER FLAG* (we should totally have a cute graphic for that
Yeah! I’ll make an animated gif!
YES. Thank you. This needed to be said.
And I’m glad you included all of the links. Many keep steering away from them, but it’s nice to be able to visit them to be able to differentiate between the truths and rumors.
Some are including the twitter conversation – I can’t believe some of these people don’t realize that EVERYONE can see your tweets. Gah. PR classes.
‘ “Bloggers who regularly write them cannot expect to garner the same respect and treatment from authors that pro reviewers or non-pro reviewers do.” I felt like I was being scoffed at, yes I’m being sensitive. Yes, yes, I know this. But, everyone wants respect right? And that was hard to read.’
Ugh, I felt EXACTLY the same way. I’m a longtime Maggie fan, and I read the post yesterday. I put a lot of thought, time, and effort into my reviews–postive, negative, or somewhere in between… What Maggie wrote there? It kind of hurt.
“But, I still feel like she made what I do here on Parajunkee’s View something not that important and trivial.
^^^ this. exactly.
And THANK YOU. You’re right. It’s like saying Stephen King is an author, but Stephenie Meyer is not. Oh yes, they both have very different opinions on what constitutes a worthwile work of fiction, but at the end of the day, they’re both authors, and they both sell millions and millions of books. Who’s to say what’s better (snarky comments aside)?
Who knows what we write, really. But at the end of the day, it’s these ‘Not’ reviews, by people like you, Smart Bitches, Dear Author, and my blogging friends and their ‘reviews’ that decide whether I buy and read a book or not. Their opinion? Worth more to me.
And that negative ‘review’ that started it all on Goodreads? She wasn’t even making a judgement on the whole book–just *ONE* thing that upset her, and hell, I can even kind of understand why, even if, on the other hand, I can understand a fictional character having an (unfortunately) very common outlook on a certain issue I don’t even want to get started on.
At the end of the day, the whole debacle just makes me tired and sad. I don’t agree with Maggie’s post, but at least she wrote it fairly professionaly, and level-headed..ly? It’s like a good review: a statement of her opinion without making it personal, not really. But, even so? My reaction was exactly the same as yours. Like I said… it kind of hurt. Especially coming from an author I love and respect, and actually prompted me to write one of my absolute very first book reviews ever, if not my first (too long ago).
Anyhow, I’m SO sorry for such a long ‘comment’, but thank you so much for this post. It makes me feel a little less alone, and it’s prompted a VERY worthwhile conversation xx
DOn’t apologize for long comments — I requested it, didn’t I??? Just me phishing for high comment turnarounds LMAO
I think it was worse because she’s my fave and I think she’s so smart and talented. But, what can you expect. Do you think Celebrities respect their fan clubs?? Nah. The only big name author that I ever heard praise her fan club was Jeannine Frost – she went on and on about hers. It was great.
Jeaniene is amazing, huh? She’s so fun and funny and gracious…
Ugh. I don’t think Maggie was trying to upset anyone or add fuel to the fire. I think she was trying to be calm and rational, but really, I guess, wasn’t thinking. Did you see the Twitter argument between her and @dearauthor last night? Just… Seriously. I’m so proud of the authors have stayed calm, professional and quiet throughout this whole drama.
And Mwaha! Phish away! If anyone deseves them it’s you, and I’m so glad someone managed to post about it without name calling and staying professional.you’re like a blogging rockstar XD
Wow.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/50268-should-authors-and-agents-weigh-in-on-citizen-reviews-.html
Mainstream baby… I said it up there – but congrats on being slightly mentioned by review.
I actually thought Maggie’s post was pretty condescending and I wasn’t terribly impressed with her argument. I don’t think people going out of their way to make someone else feel bad is good, but at the same time, when you put things out there for public consumption and expect people to pay you money for them, not everyone is going to think the product is great. They’re just not.
Dear Author skewered Ms. Stiefvater’s post pretty thoroughly but my bottom line is this: I will write what I please, about what I please, in the manner that pleases me. Thank you and have a nice day.
I saw that. They were a lot harsher than me. But, I doubt she has ever read any of her books. I think that was the nail in the coffin for me.
Love it: “I will write what I please, about what I please, in the manner that pleases me. Thank you and have a nice day.”
If I wanted to read reviews the book section of the Sunday Times would be dog eared, but who has the time to read comparisons of a book I probably won’t read to a book I probably haven’t read? Those articles are as long as the books they review. There are variables on which books can be reviewed, traditional comparisons that can be made, but what it all comes down to is opinion based on having read the book with some care. Styles of writing and review change, what is considered literature and what is considered genre fiction changes, what we call it changes.
PotAYto–PoTAHto, a rose by any other name, blah, blah, blah.
Here is what doesn’t change: writing a book, creating a work of visual art, a film or whatever, is like stripping nekkid and showing everyone your lumps, bumps and cellulite. It’s like having your mother tell your boss stories about your bed wetting as a child. It makes an artist open and vulnerable, and guess what that does? It makes her or him defensive, and reactive. It makes them behave in dumb ways.
Back in the day people fought duels over slights and minor insults (Burr-Hamilton?) now we sling softer arrows in the form of words. But it really doesn’t matter what the writers think, what matters, and the only people I am responsible to in my blog, besides my own self, are the people who read my blogs. If I gave good reviews because someone sent me a book I would be just another form of hooker. And, if I have read the book, think about it and tell you what I think and why in a professional manner then it is a review. Do I happen to have the creds necessary for an author who would want to make a big deal over it ? Why yes, yes, I do. So, as a professional respected and best selling author by the name of Charlaine Harris said at BEA [about someone who said her Southern Vampire Mysteries wouldn't sell or weren't any good], “Neener, neener, neener.”
But the only things that matter is that I make information about the book available to my readers. I think the publishers who keep sending me books for what they call review (including Ms. Stiefvater’s) agree.
By the way, at the Book Blogger’s conference it was confirmed that publishers don’t care if a review is bad or good. They care if it is professional, read “not a personal attack,” and that it gets the book’s name out there.
I would keep writing on this, but I think I will use this and some more on Wingedeffigy.blogspot.com tomorrow.
Rachel, what you do is very professional and well done. What one person says isn’t worth getting up about. You do a good job on a lot of fronts and Maggie should bow before you. You have probably done more to sell her books than the “professional reviewers” at the Times or whatever.
I’ll run and check out the post — send me the link when it is up. Or I’ll just stalk you.
Her blog post actually kind of makes me mad. It’s like a back-handed compliment: “you guys aren’t real reviewers, your opinions don’t REALLY count, but I still love you anyway, and please, nobody else piss them off otherwise you’ll start another sh*t storm.” As if we need to have a literary degree and post our reviews in a publication or literary journal for it to be considered legitimate. GIVE ME A BREAK!
I’m actually a little offended by her post. I’d been looking forward to reading her work because I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but now I think I won’t even bother.
Jennifer @ The Bawdy Book Blog
Yes, I get that. I’m sorry that you will not be reading her books. I really do think they are a work of art.
I have absolutely no desire to write a “literary” review, nor do I think my subscribers want to try to plow through one… or fall asleep to one, take your pick. When a blogger (or any reader) “reviews” a book, they’re giving an overview of their thoughts as they read it. In no way does that constitute any kind of structural requirement about what EXACTLY makes up a review. Para, your comment about the different styles of “authors” is spot-on. Why should reviewers be treated in any different light than the authors we write about… because reviewers are writers too, just a different breed. It takes a lot of skill to write a review that both gives an idea of the plot, characters, and atmosphere of a book AND avoids spoiling the content and surprises of the story. That is a lot tougher than it sounds!
Reviews are primarily for other readers. Critiques are for authors. What’s the difference? A writer generally asks for a critique and it’s usually private or in some other non-general-public locale. Does that mean we can’t include critique elements (“hey author, this is what I think would have made it better!”) in a review? Of course not! So reviews can still be for authors as well as readers, to a lesser degree. When I write reviews, I intend them for the people who enjoy my commentary and generally agree with my choice of genre/author/writing style. People who don’t agree with those things are obviously probably not going to agree with my review opinions either, and are not my target audience. In that vein of thought, authors just looking for a “positive” review should know better than to ask me to review it for them, and generally, I think they do.
Now, snarky is a whole other issue. That’s part personality and part I-can-hide-behind-my-avatar. Some people are just snarky in general, and to those people I say “go for it! Post snarky reviews!” because that’s your style and that’s what your subscribers want. But some reviewers are snarky because its “cool” or because there’s no backlash other than a few digital QQs. So that’s a fine line there and you need to know the reviewer to have an idea what you’re dealing with. In either case, as long as the person read the book and made comments about it and what they thought of it, it’s a review. If their tone offends me, I should just move on and find another reviewer to follow, and not do my own QQing about their negativity.
So yes, bloggers who “post” about books are reviewers, if they a) have actually read the book and b) comment on elements of the book from their individual perspective, even if they’ll never grace some fancy literary digest.
Pingback: Blog Topic: Negative Reviews and the Credibility of Bloggers as Book Reviewers | Pedantic Phooka Book Reviews
Well… I wasn’t up on the whole scoop, so I’ve been reading many (most?) of the links you posted and my Opinion grew. Rather. So I posted my whole opinion…
http://burgandyice.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-in-ya-world.html
And, in a nutshell, who could possibly be a better Reviewer than people who like to read the books? And all that mess is just that, a MESS. And… I’m hosting my first Author Tour tomorrow.
So there.
I saw this mentioned on Goodreads. Personally, I don’t think anyone gets to define what is or isn’t a review. I agree that reviews shouldn’t include personal insults toward the author, but these are still reviews. No one gets to say what is or isn’t a review. If you’re talking about what you thought about something then to me that is a review. Whether you’re a professional critic or not. Personally, I love reading informal reviews with gifs and all, positive or negative! We’re not getting paid to review things so why should we have to adhere to any particular structure?
I’m really inspired by all of the bloggers who have rallied here on Parajunkee to defend and support what we do. We put in SO much time and energy into our blogs in support of the literary community, and we do it for FREE. Where else does this happen? Book Review Bloggers are awesome.
My two-cents on the topics at hand can be found here on my blog: http://parajunkee.com/2012/01/book-blogging-101-what-is-a-review.html
Thanks for starting the parade! I’m waving my flag!
Ooops, added the wrong link
http://www.pedanticphooka.com/2012/01/blog-topic-negative-reviews-and-the-credibility-of-bloggers-as-book-reviewers/
Personally, I don’t think a person has a right to review a book that they haven’t at least attempted to read… That’s misleading, disrespectful, and irresponsible on the “reviewer’s” part.
I don’t believe that anyone has a right to say that an opinion is or isn’t a review! Reviews are meant to critique – they aren’t always going to be unicorns and rainbows. I really love reading snarky reviews, but I don’t feel that insults to authors are necessary. You are reviewing the body of work, not the person who wrote them. Who cares if you aren’t a professional reviewer? Doesn’t your opinion still matter? I think that there is less distance between the general population and book bloggers than there is between the general population and professional reviewers.
Great post, with some really good points! I enjoyed this read.
*Waves Reviewer Flag*
Hmmm… I didn’t think MS was belittling book bloggers the first time I read it, but I can see why others would think that. The posts with the GIFs and such, I don’t really take with the same seriousness as the rational, well-written reviews.
As for myself, I post book reviews containing my opinion.
Thanks again for another great discussion post! I hope I’m not repeating stuff that’s already been said, but I felt looked down on as a book blogger a little bit because of that article. I think she skipped over the middle ground of book bloggers who take the time to be polite and constructive. She made two camps of reviewers: professional reviews and the animated gif reviews. There’s so much in between! And to be honest, the animated gif reviewers have a right to their opinion whether you like it or not.
Well, regardless of how we authors feel about it, bloggers are the new reviewers. I swear more people read book blogs than read the NYT book reviews.
You all have a lot of power. And here’s the thing – you aren’t writing a review for me, you’re writing a review or discussing a book for your blog readers. Go for it.
Nobody wants to be made fun of, but it’s a fact that there are some snarky book bloggers out there whose fans love those hilarious, insulting reviews. I have to admit even I’ve read some reviews and laughed my ass off. And the truth is, often times a snarky review sells more books for an author than a simple – I enjoyed this book – review does.
In my mind, a review is for readers, a critique is for authors. And hopefully we get most of our critiques before we publish. However, I do learn from a well-written review. Does actually help me as a writer.
Thank you Julia for giving an authors perspective. It’s true, while I cringe when reading a really snarky review, the only time I get offended is when it hits personal. Like when they say things like, “you must be an idiot to like this book” — but if it is just generally snarky, most of the time its very funny. Depending on the source of the dislike I think you can learn a lot from any sort of criticism. But, if it is a matter of taste — well you can’t please everyone.
This is silly! Novels are written for the average person to read, not for academic discussion. Therefore the average person sharing their opinion is the most valuable, because guess what, that is the audience!
Pingback: Never Too Fond of Books » Weekly Wrap-Up 01.20.12
Pingback: On a Book Bender
I haven’t heard of Stiefvater post until now. Great super post!
I actually agree with her here- But I think “review” is just a term; I never considered my “reviews” reviews. My German teacher should be blamed here. I loved her, because she was sarcastic and snarky and witty and one of the most intelligent and educated people I’ve ever met. So I listened to the stuff she said and she explained what a review was, although differently than Stiefvater. Anyway – Review or not, the point I disagree with is the respect part. (And the personal level Stiefvater’s talking about)
I think reviewers deserve respect. But on a different level than pro reviewers. We speak to other readers, because we ARE readers. We probably haven’t studied literature – we are people, we read. THIS deserves respect. We take the time to explain why we liked or didn’t like a book and we make it entertaining with gifs or jokes or whatever.
So, yeah, maybe I’ll call our “reviews” .. I don’t know. “Morklach” from now on. It doesn’t change a thing. Because these pro reviews? I don’t think your neighbour will read them and then decide to read a book.
As a person who loves accademic discussions, though, I see what Stiefvater is getting at, so I’ll accept her opinion, and keep saying: I don’t care if it’s called a review or not. The point of people who said that authors had to deal with reviews was that authors had to be able to deal with other people’s OPINIONS. And that’s what we’re doing, when we review. We share our opinion. *sigh*
Morklacher… hmmm has a ring to it.
Anything written about a book is a review and personally speaking I have no desire to read literary reviews. I don’t need a “technical break this book down” kind of review, I want a “this is how I feel” kind of review. That is how I determine if the book is for me. I find even negitive reviews are helpful because what you didn’t like about the book could be something that I do like.
I just recently started blogging when this whole thing blew up and I found it to be discouraging that this whole thing happened.
We all have freedom of speech… you have the right to write and publish a book about whatever you want just like I have the right to say whatever I want about the book, good and bad.
I’m starting to suspect that I might be living under a rock. I haven’t even heard a whisper of all this drama before reading your post, Rachel
My initial reaction from reading your posts and several of the comments above is feeling a bit insulted. I, like most book bloggers, spend a lot of time writing, what at least I like to call, book reviews. I have to set my mind in English mode and try my best to get my opinion about a book across to my readers.
I hate to say it, but I think I just lost a lot of respect for Maggie. While I agree with the difference between writing a review and being a jerk, she seems to be confusing a book review for a literary essay. I’d wager the majority of readers don’t typically form their opinions based on scholarly essays, so when Maggie wrote, “they’re prized and respected in the publishing world,” she’s forgetting that there is a massive gap between the publishing world and the world of the reader.
On the issue of bias, even “scholarly literary journals” have them. Hello, prejudice against fantasy, horror, and scifi from the New York Times bestseller list, anyone?
Honestly, I only ever learned about Maggie’s books from the bloggers I follow. I’d think she’d want to show more respect to the community that *actually* got the word out about her books, not literary publications that legitimately no one I know even reads.
Smiles!
Lori
Lori – I learned about Maggie’s book from a poll on a book bloggers site. I would have never heard of her, or picked up her book if I wasn’t a book blogger. ACTUALLY — I wouldn’t read any of this YA stuff if I wasn’t a book blogger. I only started reading it because of the book blogger trending with all the YA. My YA experience was limited to Harry Potter and Twilight and that was about as much as I had plans on reading in that genre….
here here! well said that woman!
Great post and interesting question. When considering what constitutes a review, I look at who the review is for. Is the review for readers? For the author? My opinion is that reviews are for the readers, and readers are extremely varied so it makes sense that reviews can be quite varied too. As an author, I love reading detailed, well-crafted reviews that pick apart more professional topics like characterization, pacing, and style, but reviews are not for authors. They’re for readers, and I think readers deserve an easily followed, sometimes snarky, often personal review to see if the book is for them. It’s good advice not to get personal but let’s face it, how we react to books is deeply personal. We can’t help it.
I’m snarky. I’m snarky in real life, I don’t hide behind my avatar. Here’s the thing, I write my opinions on books I read. I state up front, I’m an honest, snarky reviewer. I even link author requests for reviews to my post “Indie/Self-Pub authors Discussion” http://badassbookreviews.com/discussion-indieself-pub-authors-help-me-help-you/
If they don’t like my style, its cool. There are a million other bloggers out there. I’ve toed the line on acceptable ranting/reviews before. Once or twice… I also state I’m an emotional or mood reviewer. My opinion fluctuates. I state how I feel. I try to write what moved me or what I hated. I write what bothers me (Love triangles? Cliffhangers, no effin thank you) I swear. I swear in real life. My poor kids… My reviews are my opinions. If all book bloggers wrote reviews/opinions in the same format, book blogging would be so boring.
I also write. Will I get upset when I have negative reviews of my book? Nah. Will I cry? Probably once or twice. I did tell my dh that I should write the first negative review, to get it over and done with (Not that I’m gonna do that mind you, its all kinds of wrong, I’m just sayin’) I have no doubt I’ll get negative reviews, everyone does. Writing is subjective. No two people will read the same book and come away with the same opinion. However, shouting out to twitter and writing posts about it on my author blog? No. I’ll call my best friend and vent. Then I’ll get over it, because in the end, reviews are opinions and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and who am I to say someones opinion is wrong?
Great post Rachel.
Pingback: kanamimi » Blog Archive » What is the definition of a Review?
Great post! It made me laugh, and it also made me a little bit mad. Post about blogs v reviews? Seriously? Of course they are reviews. A review is only ever the reader’s opinion and that goes for pro reviewers as well as the blogging community. I for one am far more likely to take note of a “normal person’s” review than I ever am of a review someone got paid for. Authors would do well to remember that it’s people like us that buy the bloody books so our opinions on whether something is any good or not should be taken seriously. As the for the original offending review. Really? I don’t agree with the review, but then again, it is someone else’s opinion. I definitely don’t agree with posting a “review” of a book based on 2 excerpts rather than having read the whole book, but that’s just me. I
‘m a blogging reviewer and proud of it. I read reviews from my peers to check out my TBR pile before I fork out money on it so there!
If I tried to turn one of my reviews into my English professor, he’d have a field day with it. I snark, I curse, I rarely use proper grammar (because I typically write like I talk, which is very much like a Sailor would since I spent so much time in the Navy, not to mention the fact that I’m Southern and I like using my quaint little Southern expressions)… but I still consider what I do reviewing, because it is my honest opinion about whatever book (or movie occasionally) I’ve just read. I break it down my characters, setting, plot, etc. I don’t just make a generalization saying things like “Wow I liked this book! Go get it!” That would be for Twitter because of the 140 character limit. No, I tell exactly WHY I liked (or disliked) the book. I try to keep it professional for the most part… there have been a few times when I’ve been uber-snarky and I even make it a point to post a warning at the beginning of the post to let people know if there’s massive snark (or any spoilers) coming up.
So I have to say that yes, I took what Maggie Stiefvater said the same way you did. I work very hard on my book blogging/reviewing and it hurts my poor little sensitive heart that it was belittled by anyone — especially a respected author.
That being said though… I don’t write my reviews for the authors. I write them for other readers, like me.
I agree whole heartedly with your assessment of pro-reviewer vs. blog reviewer. I’ve been “reviewing” books for a few years for several blogs, websites and indy authors. I have never attacked them personnaly. Reviews, whether considered professional or not, are still an opinion. I’m glad to know others see it that way as well.
I personally think that you did a great job in explaining what ‘we’ do as ‘bloggers/reviewers.’ I suppose that there are things that I agree with in Maggie’s statements, but the average reader is going to be looking for reviews that are coming from people like them. Sometimes when I read a technical/professional review I feel like the person writing it just wants to be read. Kind of like ‘hearing myself talk makes me feel more important.’ What I really want to know before I pick up a book is whether someone with my basic taste liked it or not – and if not why? I suppose whether we are reviewers or not, we serve a purpose. I’ve interacted with too many authors to think that what we do doesn’t matter. Sometimes, especially with Indie Authors, our opinion is very important. Thanks for sharing Rachel and making us all think.
Right now I’m singing to you…”Have I told you lately that I love you”. LoL No…not really, but seriously. *Grins*
This whole drama thing just gives me a bad taste in my mouth and only causes a lot of mixed feelings and emotions. The only time that I’ve ever been bugged by someone that wrote something on goodreads, was someone that OBVIOUSLY did not read the book and they seemed like they were just looking for attention.
Does this drama make me feel like my reviews don’t matter? I guess in a way they are making me questio I think I need to step back and think, “What is the true reason that I started my review blog?” The answer to myself is, “I started it because I wanted to share my true opinions about a book that I read.” I really didn’t really expect a whole lot of readers at all, but I still thought of myself as a reviewer.
I think that Maggie’s post bugged me more than any of the others. I could see if there is specific points needs to be covered in a review, if that is what is expected due to someone getting paid to write the review. But when it is your own personal blog, you The Blogger gets to decide your own personal style of how you review a book. I don’t think of my reviews as professional at all! Personally I steer clear of sounding too professional. I like to put as much of my personality out in my review or how I might talk about a book with a friend.
After all this drama, do I feel like my posts about books are still a review? Yes. I understand that my style might turn people away because my style is not their taste, or might keep publishers from sending me review books. But I’m OK with that. I started my blog for a reason, to express my feelings about books…and I will not stop thinking that they are reviews.
First off, I was miffed by what Maggie posted. Most bloggers I see do a fantastic job of supporting their opinions with evidence for both strengths and weaknesses of a book. I do believe that most bloggers are writing REVIEWS not just “opinion posts.”
However, reviews like those Maggie spoke of (professional ones in Booklist, School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, etc.) are just as powerful as blogs. What I think some bloggers don’t realize is that most public libraries and school libraries use these sources and have to justify their spending via reviews from these sources. So a good review in one of these magazines could translate into thousands of libraries purchasing multiple titles. So while many bloggers don’t read these “professional reviews” these are still the sources relied upon by libraries with much bigger budgets than individual readers.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think bloggers are extremely influential. Bloggers have a power that I think is under-recognized.
But these professional reviews that you say no one reads… well, they do get read, and they still play a big role in the publishing industry and an author’s career. (Which is probably why authors care about them.)
I came back to read what I had written soooo very late last night, and realized the last bit could come off accusatory “But these professional reviews that you say no one reads” I didn’t mean “you” as in Parajunkee. I read almost every comment on this post, and a lot of people were saying that they don’t read professional reviews, and the “you” was vague pronoun for all the people who said that.
Sorry! Don’t want to offend you! Your post defending bloggers was awesome. And you’re awesome!
I am in agreeance with you. Here’s the thing. If you take away the whole “I’m a reviewer” name and drop it to book thoughts or some other name, it isn’t going to have the potential as reviewer. I think it does sound professional, but if I were to be called a poser, I would start reconsidering things greatly. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing this, it’s just that one simple word means so much and if you take it away and replace it with something much more simple, many wouldn’t be as interested in ‘reviewing’ books. If you are going to get mocked and laughed at, that’s another issue. But how many books do we actually promote? I’ve read tons I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for fellow reviewers/bloggers. Not a big fan of the gifs thing. I’ve seen some rather innapropriate ones. But if it’s your thing then run with it. Now, to review a book only from reading the synposis, that’s just silly.
My definition of a reviewer:
Someone who takes the time to read a book and is moved enough (good or bad) to share the experience.
I honestly wouldn’t know how to write an impersonal review, unless I was faking it and not actually reading the books. I find reviewing to be personal, it’s an account of my experience with the words and story. Granted some of the reviews I write are more or less invested depending on how I felt, but they are all my babies. I find I write the most glowing or harshest reviews for the books or series I love the most, I’m hardest on series that have disappointed me in some way along the line, like the House of Night series. The idea that reviews should be bland book reports is simply sad, since books with most personality or disappointment really bring out the best in me.
My blog is still rather new and I’m starting to implement more discussions and features promoting my views. The blog is an extension of my views not bound by just what I read. I like to read and write and share my thoughts and experiences. Maybe that makes me a reviewer or blogger. I don’t really care because I refuse to let someone who hasn’t taken the time to see or read my work define me in such general terms.
Good Morning Parajunkee!
I’m new to the book blogging communitee and the first major thing I read about is all this drama. I read all the links and I was pretty conflicted by Maggie’s post. Yes she made some good points but then there were the points that I felt belittled me as a book blogger. As a new Reviewer (where can I find me a Reviewer flag to put on my blog?) I’m still trying to figure out all the in’s and out’s of writing a good review, wether it be good or bad, but I’d never stoop so low as to personally attack an author. I even felt compelled to write about this on my blog.
http://notyourmothersbookblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/discussion-post-authors-vs-bloggers.html
Have a great day and I really enjoy your Book Blogging 101 posts.
Pingback: I’m not pretending to be a professional | Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
Love your blog!