I have been musing lately on how my books come across to others. I wrote them. Until they were published they were mine. Now, of course, they belong to whoever bought them and my opinion of what I wrote hardly matters anymore. But I still find it intriguing. Quite a few people have left reviews…
When I was a kid finding something to give me for birthdays and Christmas was easy – just buy me a book. I loved to read and would often lie in bed after lights-out reading a book under the blankets with a torch. Actually, even when I was much, much older, buying me a birthday…
Everybody gets rotten reviews. It’s part of the territory. Your first one or two star is a coming of age, your movement from beginner to seasoned veteran. I’m not going to lecture you on survival techniques. The world and his wife has done that already. I’m usually a subscriber to the DO NOT READ THEM…
Reviews. It’s one of the buzz words in the author world – especially if you’re self published or small press. Many articles have been written about how to handle negative reviews, how to get reviews, how to write reviews and whether reviews actually matter. One thing that constantly comes up, in comments or in the…
A review is just somebody’s opinion. It’s something of a truism, of course. And sometimes, it’s not even true. Some reviews are deliberate attempts to undermine a book’s (or a movie’s, or a restaurant’s) reputation. Sometimes they’re the reverse – paid-for reviews, or reviews left by well-meaning family and friends. Let’s exclude those from the…
The honesty or dishonesty of reviews has been the hot topic of the month, with many people expressing opinions on sock puppets and purchasing reviews, as well as the practice of writing scathing negative reviews on books with the express purpose of driving down a book’s ranking. The fact is that practices such as these…