Sometimes friends read
my books and give me a great review. I
sometimes wonder if they are giving a biased review because they know me, or if
they really think I'm that good.
Many friends will
ask me to reciprocate, and I do, but sometimes I just can't give them as good a
review as they gave me. I feel horrible
about it, but I believe I must be honest.
Am I being too tough a critic?
Should I be nicer? I feel like if
I'm not honest then I lose my credibility as an author.
I have suffered a lot of
angst over reviews I give friends.
Should I just decline the offer to read their books for review? I have read many books by friends who are
wonderful authors, and I love to tell them so.
What to do? What to do?
Do other authors feel this way?
Thank you for listening to
me, and I hope I get some great comments to help me. I am really in distress.
Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.eirelander-publishing.comhttp://www.sandramarshallblog.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/sandra.marshall.98
Personally, I don't leave reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. of friends' books. And I don't expect friends to do that for me either.
ReplyDeleteThere is no book in the world that everyone loves and I don't want to ruin a friendship by saying I wasn't thrilled about the storyline, etc.
It's like lending money to friends. You just shouldn't do that either.
I agree it's a tough decision to make. I mean, what if you don't like the book? Friend or not, do you really want to lie to readers and give it a favorable review? How will that make your work look to them in the end?
ReplyDeleteI offer a straight, across the board "no" to whoever asks that way no one ever asks me and I'm not singling anyone out. Less hurt feelings that way. :)
Thanks, Tina and Nicole. If I like a book and really think it's good I don't mind giving a review. It's my opinion anyway.
ReplyDeleteThis particular author has improved, but not above a 2 1/2 or maybe a 3. Cringing as I say those words.
I don't leave public reviews but will comment privately if asked. My beta editor is a good friend and tough as hell as a critic, and expects me to do the same. But that is private, as I say.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jean. I don't mind giving a public review if the book is well written, and I can't put it down.
ReplyDeleteYou can focus on the positive. What did you like about your friends book?
ReplyDeleteIf you absolutely hated it, then I wouldn't leave a review at all.
Janice~
That's a tricky question. The requests I've gotten from friends for reviews were so far all books I liked so they were easy. I've read friends' books where they didn't ask for reviews. If I liked the book I wrote a review. If I couldn't honestly give more than 3 stars I didn't write a review. Sometimes I like a book but forget to write a review. A few months back I got an email from a writer I didn't know. I think she looked at some of my Amazon reviews and thought I'd give her a good review. She sent me her story (unsolicited) and asked me to give an honest review. I read the story (short story) and it was awful, just terrible. I never responded to her email and I certainly didn't write a review, yet I saw glowing reviews for that very same story.
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea she had for the story, Janice. She did a nice job developing the characters, but there was one place where she gave away the identity of a female character who was masquerading as a male. It wasn't intentional.
ReplyDeleteOthers were smaller things, but happened too frequently. For instance: dialogue wasn't always realistic for a man - the hero. The author made him ballastic at times. lol A lot of things just got worse towards the middle and last part of the book. The idea was fascinating, but fell short for me. I keep telling myself it's because I'm not a historical reader, but I don't believe that.
Most of my friends don't ask me for reviews, Cara, unless I read their book.
ReplyDeleteCara, after your experience with the short story doesn't it make you wonder just how valid reviews are? It makes me very distrusting of them.