A note on review bloggers

So being a review blogger and an author gives me a chance to see things from both sides of the equations. We’ve all seen it, authors moaning and groaning about bad reviews from bloggers or readers. We all know my stance on that. (If not it boils down to this: put your big person panties on and get over it. You’re a professional) I may be beating a dead horse here, but I keep in contact with other review bloggers and I’ve seen and heard some interesting stories about authors. Okay, so authors here’s the deal…Review bloggers are not your friends. Got it? You can’t hand them a book an expect them to lie to you, even if you’ve built a good relationship with them.

I just heard you gasp. If they aren’t our friends, what are they? Think of them almost as a boss. No they don’t get to tell you what to do, but let’s face it, they get to judge the work you do. You go and you write a nice letter asking them to read this book, you make it appeal to them, you want them to review it. Some blogs have a policy that if they rate it under a particular amount of stars, they will let you know first and you can say if they can post it or not. (You will find no such policy here at SPE) As an author I think that defeats the purpose of sending it to a review blog.

I am sending my book to a stranger (if it’s the first time that blog has read one of my books) I may be sending it to someone I consider a friend. But they are a review blog first, I expect that they tell me the truth about the book. If I want an ego stroke, I’d got to someone who feels obligated to lie to me. (We all have those friends.) Giving me a chance to say no or yes to posting a review tricks the readers into thinking that all blogs will only give me a certain rating or higher. As a reader, that pisses me off. I’m the person who reads the bad reviews to see what I’m getting into.

As a blogger I don’t think it’s a good policy, which is why you won’t find it here at SPE. Authors say they want honest reviews, that is what they are going to get. Readers deserve to see those 1 or 2 star ratings. The problem is that there are mobs out there so quick and ready to label reviewers as bullies because of low ratings. That is not right and is a whole other blog on it’s own. That being said, author’s if bloggers give you a choice and a low ratings, suck it up. Do not be rude back to them. They have spent their time reading your book. Just because they didn’t like that one doesn’t meant they won’t like the next. Being a pompous twat isn’t going to help your relationship with them. And by the way, just like authors talk so do bloggers.

My point is. You are an author, learn to take feed back and deal with it. You don’t get to screen your readers’ reviews, why should you get to screen your review blog reviews? Honest feed back, it’s what we need. Remember, especially as an indie author, you’d be no where without your readers. Your readers turn to those bloggers, if they shut down because of rude authors, you’re only hurting yourself.