Authors reviewing their own works?

[ardeegee]

re: family and friends reviewing your book for you.

I've never watched American Idol, but-- not living in a deep, deep cave I've seen approx. 15,000 clips of Simon Cowell telling awful singers how awful they are, and I agree with his philosophy 100%. Those people have likely spent their lives having their friends and family trying to be "polite" and not "hurt their feelings" by telling them what great singers they are, and they become deluded by the idea that they really are great singers. Simon Cowell, on the other hand, tells them that their singing is horrible, and they should stop wasting their time on a dream that ain't gonna happen and they should just move on with their lives.

Telling someone the brutal truth before it is too late is much kinder-- in the long term-- than giving them false hope. That is why if someone writes something that is just a steaming pile of crap with no sign of talent whatsoever, you should let them know that it is a steaming pile of crap with no sign of talent whatsoever. You are doing them no favor by pretending otherwise.

[mrscoach]

If only I could tell my daughter she sings like a bullfrog (like I do), but I can't. Because it isn't true, unfortunately. She has had her heart set on a singing career since she was very little, and is working toward that goal.

As her mother I encourage her to follow her dreams, while still making backup plans. I am happy that she now plans to attend college and major in both fashion design and marketing. She wants to be able to design AND market her own line. If she can do this while singing she will be even happier.

[MrPLD]

ardeegee,

I agree. Of course, it's nice when it goes the other way and you're cringing about having to read someone's work that you know in the family and you end up being genuinely surprised

[mrscoach]

Having read students' work when they think they are 'wonderful' I can agree with the sentiment of cringing when someone asks to have their work read and reviewed.

I had a teacher once ask me to read her, ahem, finished, ahem, book that she was sending to a publisher and I gave her the truth, it was absolutely horrible. Her storyline was atrocious and her grammar skills were definitely lacking. Suddenly she didn't want to know my opinion, she only wanted me to read it. ???? That didn't make sense. If she had said 'read this, but don't tell me what you think' I wouldn't have wasted time reading past the first chapter, unless it was to read the last to see how it ended (If I had read the ending I wouldn't have bothered because it was so stupid). And the dialogue sounded like a 13 yo wrote it, and threw a few cuss words in just to sound grown up.

Needless to say, I never saw that book in a bookstore.

[MrPLD]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

And the dialogue sounded like a 13 yo wrote it, and threw a few cuss words in just to sound grown up.

I had to laugh; these days I find it a measure of maturity when people refrain from curse-words

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

As her mother I encourage her to follow her dreams, while still making backup plans. I am happy that she now plans to attend college and major in both fashion design and marketing. She wants to be able to design AND market her own line. If she can do this while singing she will be even happier.

Sometimes the difference between being good and great is a little encouragement. There really are enough negatives in a run-of-the-mill life without having your dreams crushed when you're young.

My mother, who's in her seventies now, recently took up drawing and painting. When she was a little girl, sometime after ten, and before being a teenager, she joined an art class in her school. In her first lesson, at the end of the lesson, her "teacher" held up her work to the class and said (words to the effect of), "This is a good example of how some people cannot be taught. You can either draw or you can't. And if you can't you shouldn't bother ..."

That little speech shattered a dream that day, and a desire to create. Only some sixty years later was my mother able to put that woman's comments in perspective. The upside of that event was that my mother also taught children and she used that woman's words as a reminder of how not to be.

[MrPLD]

In a lot of ways though also, such 'put downs' can be a good litmus test for your own internal resolve.

These days, I tend to look for a good put-down when ever I bring out a new product or propose one - for a couple of reasons; 1) lets me it's getting someone's attention, 2) makes me double check my reasons for making it.

Of course, people like me will then tend to be referred as "arrogant", though that frequently is the price one pays for believing in oneself and countering other people's arguments against one's own personal choices.

Paul.

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by MrPLD

In a lot of ways though also, such 'put downs' can be a good litmus test for your own internal resolve.

Paul.

I think constructive criticism is valuable. We are straying way off topic but I will say that if I heard of a teacher "putting down" my kid, as a way of testing his resolve. I'd start thinking about ball-peen hammers and mallets to test theirs.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by ManosHandsOfFate

An old college friend just sent me a digital copy of a SF book he published.

It's bad.

All his other friends have given it four stars. On the very slim chance that some complete stranger decides to buy his overpriced, crappy book, I want them to know what they're getting into.

PLEASE put up your honest review! I agree that it's much kinder in the long run to be honest about the quality of a book. That's not to say people should be told "this book is a steaming pile of dog crap" (or whatever quote I recently heard - read- somewhere ), but constructive criticism is worth a lot, imo. (Plus, if I read it, I won't be staring at all the great reviews wondering which book they all read!)

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Sometimes the difference between being good and great is a little encouragement. There really are enough negatives in a run-of-the-mill life without having your dreams crushed when you're young.

I think it can go both ways. I've been told I cannot do things, and it's made me more determined to actually do them, and do them well. I've also been told I am horrible at certain things and I will probably hold that "truth" to my grave, regardless of the fact that I've been told the opposite since then.

No matter what type of person it is who is receiving the criticism (motivated to continue or easy to give up), constructive criticism will go so much further than unspecified "you suck" type comments. If you suck at something, it helps to know what is the sucky part so you can fix it.

When I write reviews, I try to be as honest as I can, pointing out both what I like and don't like. Someone else reading the story may not agree with my assessment, but I have left enough specifics so he or she can identify with what he's/she's not agreeing Authors can then decide for themselves what they will take from my review, if anything. Readers can do the same.

[foreverjuly]

Right now I've actually got a review on Amazon for my first book by another author advertising for his book. Has anybody heard of Robert Stanek? Apparently this guy does this a lot. There are only a few passing references to my story, including misspelling my main character's name, while he goes on and on about his. It's written under the name DayReader if you want to read it: http://www.amazon.com/Powerless-The-...R2L6LR6NC34R5K

The worst part about it is that I emailed Amazon to have them remove it, and they wouldn't!

[meromana]

Okay, I know this is a bit off the main topice, but...

Originally Posted by foreverjuly

Right now I've actually got a review on Amazon for my first book by another author advertising for his book. There are only a few passing references to my story, including misspelling my main character's name, while he goes on and on about his.

I can't believe Az is letting that one stand. It's just blantant advertising for another author's work (an author I strongly suspect is related to the reviewer). I mean, it's not even subtle. If I was Az, I'd at least be keeping that guy on the "watch list" or whatever. Sheesh.

--Maria

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by foreverjuly

Right now I've actually got a review on Amazon for my first book by another author advertising for his book. Has anybody heard of Robert Stanek? Apparently this guy does this a lot. There are only a few passing references to my story, including misspelling my main character's name, while he goes on and on about his. It's written under the name DayReader if you want to read it: http://www.amazon.com/Powerless-The-...R2L6LR6NC34R5K

Turnabout is fair play-- do the same thing with his books. In fact, everyone here should go to his books and write reviews of other books there!

[ManosHandsOfFate]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Turnabout is fair play-- do the same thing with his books. In fact, everyone here should go to his books and write reviews of other books there!

How about reviewing other products?

I enjoyed this author's book. It gave me gave me a warm feeling just like the wonderful ACME 2000 space heater gives me on a cold winter's day. Pumping out 30,000 BTUs and sporting a state of the art thermostat, the steady, quiet operation of the ACME 2000 reminds me of the relationship between Character A and Character B. . .

[foreverjuly]

Originally Posted by ManosHandsOfFate

How about reviewing other products?

I enjoyed this author's book. It gave me gave me a warm feeling just like the wonderful ACME 2000 space heater gives me on a cold winter's day. Pumping out 30,000 BTUs and sporting a state of the art thermostat, the steady, quiet operation of the ACME 2000 reminds me of the relationship between Character A and Character B. . .

This is awesome! LoL thanks. I've written another email to Amazon, hopefully I get a kinder representative than Courtney O.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by foreverjuly

Right now I've actually got a review on Amazon for my first book by another author advertising for his book.

I've seen something like this happen on a bunch of books, not necessarily indie. Someone will give what looks like a glowing review to the book in question, then go on to write, "and if you liked this, you'll love INSERT LINK TO OTHER BOOK HERE, which is also a really great read!" And they do it across practically all the books they "review".

The other thing that happens is that people tag completely unrelated books with the name of the author they're essentially spamming.

See this author for a particularly egregious example. She's written only two books, but has personally tagged her own name and her series title across 125 and 113 items respectively, including works by other indie authors as well as professionally published ones.

And she hasn't even done those other indie authors the dubious "favour" of reviewing their books which she's plastered her own into the tags of.

Personally, this is such a turn-off that I'd be strongly tempted to return-tag any authors who do this as "spammer", but they're just not worth it. Thankfully, the majority are generally much better behaved.