…..review books because they have a passion for the written word.
(Photo by Andrew Neel)
Blogs about this have to go out every so often and I have no idea why. Maybe as a reminder?
Maybe people forget?
I – as well as many people I know – operate book review sites. As a matter of fact, the one I am a part of, spent over 1500 dollars to revamp and rebuild after almost a decade of service to authors. And that was the biggest project the website had undertaken since its inception.
All to support authors and those who love to read them.
And so many more sites out there exist just like that – where average people take their hard earned money and create a space to support authors and readers alike.
Now everyone has run into the snarky reviewer (whom I affectionately refer to as the East German Judge) who’s scorecard never exceeds 2.999. It happens. But even they bring a balance to your work because some people will not buy someone rated 5 stars across the board. It looks suspicious. Trust me. As an author, I know this.
But there are authors out there who just can’t help themselves.
There are those out there who will either, because they’re a newbie say – “Hey, wassamatta for you? This was the best thing since _____(insert great human triumph),” and they’ve gotten their feelings hurt a bit. It’s par for the course. I’ve been there.
But then you’ll get people who are really, really, malignant. Who send angry messages, who send emails demanding a certain thing, and that just isn’t good.
I’ve been on both sides of this issue as an author AND a reviewer (Yes, Doug Does Read.Dooglas Dorsey. Five points to anyone who gets that reference. ) but I really didn’t start appreciating it until recently.
Because – good golly Ms. Molly.
Reviewers exist for the sake of buyers. For readers. And in the process – author’s works and sales benefit or they don’t. (Mostly they do because even a horrible review can spark a sale).
However – an author DOES NOT want to get a reputation of an ‘author behaving badly’. Because that goes around faster than head lice and can negatively impact your sales.
I know it’s hard – especially these days with such close proximity to readers – to be able to hold the ire in. I get it. We’re authors. We stay AWAY from people on purpose. We sit up, cloistered in our writing space, and judge the world as a whole. That’s our jobs.
The other’s job is to judge us judging the world as a whole and yeah….
Just be nice.
They don’t have to do this at all.