This discussion post grew out of a response to Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction’s post about her rating system (above).
Negative Reviews
Nicole’s post addressed how, as an aspiring author, she has a different perspective on writing negative reviews than other book bloggers might. She has made the decision not to post such reviews on her blog. I don’t mind if a blogger doesn’t want to share negative reviews. What bugs me is when I perceive someone to be sugarcoating their reviews. I know it’s cynical for me to think “You can’t possibly love all the books you read that much!”, but…that’s what I think when I see a blogger writing extremely positive reviews all of the time. They could be one of those bloggers that has chosen not to post negative reviews. However, these reviews, which seem to lack nuance, don’t help me much in deciding whether I want to read a book.
(I should also clarify I have no problem with posting or reading negative reviews – if you read a book and didn’t enjoy it, I’m happy to learn why.)
This brings me to the question of who reviews of are for. I think there are two main answers to this questions: 1) Reviews are for the blogger who wrote them, to organize and share their thoughts on a book or 2) Reviews are for potential readers, to aid them in their search for the next read. I use or in that sentence, but nowadays I try to make my reviews serve both purposes. In no case do I believe reviews, in a book blogging context, are for authors. And yet I find myself sometimes rewriting parts of a review, on the off chance that an author might read it. I don’t actually like when I do that. I want to record my thoughts on a book as I truthfully experienced it. When I first started writing book reviews, I didn’t hold back at all. I hope going forward that I can keep a critical voice without being nasty.
Personal vs. Professional
As an aspiring children’s librarian, I have shifted the tone of some of my reviews away from personal opinion towards more of a ‘professional’ opinion (i.e. I consider how a child, the intended reader, would enjoy a book rather than just how I enjoyed a book). In particular, I’ve been sharing reviews I wrote for two of my courses on children’s literature, in which I review solely from a professional perspective (though that often overlaps with my personal perspective). For me, however, blogging has always been a fun personal hobby and I don’t want to spend too much time blogging as ‘librarian’ rather than as ‘myself’. Once I graduate, I might add a small section to my reviews for my professional opinion. The bulk of my review would be my personal opinion, followed by a brief section on appeal factors for young readers.
Star Ratings
Star ratings are another feature of my blog that I’ve considered changing after thinking about who I’m blogging for. Honestly, I don’t think my ratings are helpful for people who read my reviews. I think they might confuse more than guide. I also don’t think many people pay attention to them. BUT star ratings are helpful for me. They give me a quick reference point to look at when I need to jog my memory about how much I liked a book, or when I want to compare how I felt about different books. Maybe instead of including ratings with my reviews, I could keep a private log for my own reference…though since that’s not more convenient than just including the rating in the post, I can’t imagine I’ll be changing my rating system in the near future.
What audience are you thinking of when you write reviews? How do you feel about sharing negative reviews? Do you use a rating system on your blog? Do you think it helps your readers?
If you’ve written a post on any of these subjects, leave a link in the comments so I can check it out!
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