Why I read reviews
The other day a question came up on Twitter: what value do you get out of reading reviews? I’d been thinking of writing about this topic anyway, so I thought it was time to put my thoughts in writing…
A lot of writers refuse to read reviews of their own books, on the grounds that if they read the good ones, they are honour-bound to read the bad ones, and they find the latter too painful. I can understand that attitude, and if that’s how you roll, you have my sympathy. Writing is hard enough, without getting stressed out about the things you can’t control—like reader reaction.
So why read reviews at all? Clearly you have to have a thick skin (or be a masochist), but I think they can be useful if you approach them in the right way. For me, it’s a kind of market research. We’re constantly being told that, as 21st century writers, we need to be aware of our audience—our market, to put it in even more commercial terms. But who is that market?
Some writers have an instinctive feel for it, like Jack Sheffield, who spoke at the Winchester Writers’ Conference a few years ago. He uses his experiences as a headteacher to write novels set in a fictional primary school in the 1970s, and he targets readers in their 40s who were at school in that period. Nostalgia, pure and simple. Maybe I’m just not commercially minded enough, but I don’t have a clear demographic in mind for my books. I simply write books of the kind that I would enjoy reading, and hope to appeal to the fans of authors whose books I enjoy: Lynn Flewelling, Tim Powers and so on. Hence, reading reviews by book bloggers and other fantasy fans helps me to find out who is reading my books and what they enjoy about them.
I should also point out that for these purposes I focus on the positive reviews and ignore the negative ones. Not because I’m looking for an ego-boost, but because if someone doesn’t connect with my books, they are by definition not my target audience. Of course if the majority of your readers are dissatisfied, you have some serious work to do, but if the critics are in the minority, you’ll just be shooting yourself in the foot by trying to please them.
Most importantly, it’s not about individual opinions so much as trends. The more reviews you read, the more you realise how idiosyncratic an individual’s response to a book is. One person may love Character A and find Character B annoying, another feels the exact opposite. Some reviewers say they find The Alchemist of Souls slow-paced, others that they couldn’t put it down. They can’t all be “right”, in the sense of providing objective criticism! So, I’m looking for a consensus, of the “this was a great book apart from…” variety. For example, I have to admit that the “slow” comment crops up quite a bit, so I have to at least consider whether I can up the pace a little in the next book without throwing away its other virtues.
I’m also on the lookout for comments of the “I love X and would like to see more” variety, where X is something I enjoy writing, and particularly where no-one else singles out X as something they hate. That’s a no-brainer for the writer, really. Sometimes you’re just too close to the writing to see what needs bringing out, so this kind of feedback is invaluable. Yes, a good editor may also provide this kind of feedback, but editors are individuals too and they can sometimes overlook the elements that really click with the audience.
One last word on negative reviews: never, EVER respond. It doesn’t matter how justified your complaint—baring your ego in public is not pretty, and will not win you any respect. If an Amazon review is offensive or totally irrelevant, you can ask Amazon to delete it, but for the love of God do not comment in person, or ask your friends to comment on your behalf. You chose to put your writing out into the world, and the reader is entitled to their opinion, however wrong-headed.
The only thing that really gets under my skin is when a reader accuses me of factual inaccuracy—and is wrong. I try not to over-explain everything in my novels, with the result that some readers will miss connections and go with their gut reaction. Still, I bite my tongue and hope that other potential readers seeing these reviews will also know that the reviewer is wrong. I know for sure that a comment from me will only hurt my case. If the topic is big enough, though, I might blog about it (as I did about homosexuality in Elizabeth England); that way I can have my say without attacking individuals.
What it comes down is that whatever you write, not everyone is going to “get” it—and you’re going to have to live with that. Either you stay away from reviews altogether, or you discipline yourself to take the rough with the smooth and learn from it, like with the rest of life. Your choice. Just choose wisely…
Thanks, Anne.
I had posted sometime back that I hoped authors would read my reviews of their work, even if they don’t engage with me directly afterwards. I take it then, that you read my own review of AOS.
I link to all the blogger reviews from my website
Good post, Anne. A lesson new authors and even those that have been around for some time that should know better, ought to know.
You can only please some of the people…or however it goes. I like your way of using the reviews and will file that away for future information. It might come in handy one day (fingers crossed).
I’ve just got your book at long last. Can’t put it down. It’s fascinating!
Aww, thanks!
I actually want and need to reread the book in order to write the review. It’s been playing around in my head and in this post, I was surprised to read that some people thought the story moved ‘too slow’. Well, my husband has been out of town for 3 weeks [now back] so I had way too many interruptions reading it. So I figured in order to do it justice, I will read it again, in peace and quiet. I’m impressed that you are comfortable reading reviews as some people can be unnecessarily ascerbic and it’s easy to find fault in something that is, on the whole, subjective. It is to your liking or not. Mistakes for people who write historical novels or even historical non-fiction, is not that common. There is a LOT of research and sythesizing that goes on prior and during the writing. Kudos Anne! I’m looking forward to my next go around
Ingrid
Count me among those who don’t read reviews — mostly. It’s too easy for one negative review to drag my mood down, no matter how many positive reviews there may be out there. Except I do respond to comments on my stories with Daily Science Fiction — whether on Facebook, Twitter, or my own blog. I figure people who care enough to comment on a short story when they’re getting new ones every day are potential fans, so I try to nurture those connections. Of course, those don’t tend to be deep reviews, either.
I think if I were to get a professional or otherwise well-argued review that ripped my work to shreds, that would hurt – but so far the negatives have been either “meh” or something so idiotic that it caused me nothing worse than a few minutes’ grumbling. In fact an early draft of this post had a detailed rant about a reader who found something unrealistic in my book (which a few minutes’ googling would show to be entirely plausible), but I discovered that the act of writing it down was sufficiently cathartic in itself, so I deleted it.
A very good point, Anne, and a wonderful way to do market research. I will say that especially in these times of indie publishing, reader reviews are essential, even the bad ones. As never before, authors have the chance to go back and correct typos and the like so the next reader has a cleaner experience.
That said, I’m always stunned when one of the authors of books I’ve reviewed stops by and leaves a comment. I guess too many years of shouting in the darkness just to hear my own echo
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Correcting typos is good – unfortunately some self-pubbed authors go further than that and actually change the book substantially in response to negative reviews, which I think betrays a deep-seated insecurity about their work. You con’t ever please everyone, and you shouldn’t try to. In fact I’d go as far as to say that if you’re not turning off a sector of the reading public with your ideas or voice, your writing is too bland!
A very good point!
*makes note*
An opinion is just that. It isn’t a fact.
The art is seeing what is useful in a review, lifting it out and using it, and leaving the rest to sit quietly in cyberspace.