Quote:
Originally Posted by ficbot
That said, my own feeling is that as a reviewer, the responsibility is imho more on the reader's side. I'd go for 'protecting other buyers from wasting their money' every time, even if it meant 'crushing the heart and soul' of the author, simply because the customer is the one being asked to shell out money there
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I agree. I think fiction being sold on a venue like Amazon and Smashwords is different from the free fiction amateur sites like fictionpress.com or whatever's more active these days. I don't give negative reviews to amateurs, that's the last thing they need, they need a critic-buddy that can help them improve. But Amazon/Smashwords is a bookstore where final products get sold, and must be judged as such. Ultimately, readers aren't evaluating authors, they're just recording their subjective experiences to (what is essentially) a work of art. Whether that piece worked for them or didn't is really up to them.
Of course, I completely ignore those two star reviews that say "I hate horror books, I don't know why I read this one." It's like, okay, why did you read it then? I *like* horror, your review is not helpful for me as the target reader. I think readers are pretty smart regarding which reviews are informative/relevant and which ones aren't.
As a book blogger/reviewer. I only read books when they fit my mood, because I want to write the most enthusiastic review possible for it. I would find it a drag to read through another space opera when I've read 2 others in weeks prior, whereas an urban fantasy would be very refreshing at that point. I also spend quite a bit of time writing my reviews, and I let a draft sit for a week before editing it and publishing it, because I want to get the tone right, and I want it to convey exactly the right amount of praise/criticism that I have of it in my head. I don't write negative reviews often, since I try to pick what I'm enthusiastic about and I spend more time sampling books than what is efficient. But hopefully when I do write negative or lukewarm reviews, they help point out who the target audience is, because even genres like SF/F have specific subgenres that people are attracted to and avoid.
Another SF/F book blogger I'm acquainted with gave 3/5 stars for a sci-fi romance book, which he said he didn't like, but he would consider to be up the alleyway of sci-fi romance readers... he just doesn't like romance-focused plot. I think that's fairly positive exposure for the book, because sci-fi romance readers would probably sample the book because of that review.