Today's Topic: How Do You Approach Writing Negative Reviews?
Yay another easy question!
As I said yesterday, I really don't like writing negative reviews but I will if they are necessary. I'm not one to sugar coat the truth although I will admit that I try to see the good in everything (which is why there are so few books that I rate under 3 stars). I do have a strategy though!
Whenever I read a book, after I finish I put together a list of everything that I want to mention in my review and all the points I want to make. If there are more bad things than good things, it ends up being a negative review. However, I try to put at least one good thing about the book in my review. The author spent so much of their life on this manuscript and the least I can do (in my opinion) is to be courteous and acknowledge that they did try to make it interesting.
Especially if something is an R&R book, I'll be as courteous as possible. If it is an R&R book, I'll try to have a conversation with the author and let them know in more detail what exactly I think went wrong and what I think they could do to make it better for other people to enjoy. It may be a simple fact of missing information where the author thinks something in their head but they don't put it on paper and then the reader doesn't pick up on it.
I also make sure to always note in negative reviews that it is entirely my opinion and that someone else might enjoy it. I say that in positive reviews but I try to make it even more clear in negative reviews. The aim of this blog isn't to criticize everything with no feedback - it's to help both authors and readers and to provide honest and productive feedback.
How do you approach negative reviews?
No comments:
Post a Comment