I myself have never yet posted an Amazon review, but I've determined in future to post reviews of books I like, so as to support the authors. I will not post reviews of books I don't like, unless they are so abysmally bad others should be warned against them as a public service. Despite having encountered many ill-written books in my life, I have seldom found books so bad they shouldn't have been written. There is almost always a redeeming feature or two that makes them appeal to some readers.
Since I am a novice at book-reviewing, I'm looking for articles on writing reviews. Booksquare's January 19 post tipped me to this highly entertaining "class" on writing book reviews: Miles Kington -- Masterclass: How to write a book review
Sample quote:
Book review writing is very much the same [as the art of fiction], except that instead of telling people about characters, the idea is to tell the reader all about YOU.In addition, I found a link proffered by the Smart Bitches, on a Swedish reviewer who wrote a "terrible review for [a] terrible book -- that doesn't even exist yet." (Is that what happens when book reviewers allow their personal animosity toward an author to take over?)
I am still searching for a good article on how to review a book. If you know of one, please let me know.
I am also interested in knowing what you think of some of the negative reviews on Amazon. Do you believe the reviews word-for-word, or are you skeptical? Do it depend on how well the review itself is written? How much do the Amazon reviews affect your book-buying decisions?
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2 comments:
Negative reviews probably effect me most if I know little about the author of a particular tome. Say I was considering buying a thriller by Michael Connelly and looked it up on Amazon, and the first review was bad. I would quite possibly move on to another thriller. It's not that I would take the reviewer's word per se, but it would raise a question, and with so muchhhhhhh out there to read a negative review could keep from taking a chance on that author.
I have frequently read bad reviews which have given me enough of a book's plot to capture my interest, so maybe the old - "I don't care how you mention my name, just mention my name" adage is true.
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