Putting the Ew in Book Reviewing

This Monday morning, my mind is on some iffy behaviour from book reviewers in the indie writing space. If you’re looking for something light and uplifting, I suggest you read no further, but if you also have some gripes with reviewers, please be my guest.

(Let it be known, by the way, that most reviewers seem to be doing great things. Pretty sure I speak for other indies when I say we appreciate you and are thankful for the love and attention you bring to our work.)

Okay, so with that said…

Gripe one, why announce you’re reading a book (or planning to) if you’re going to go quiet about it afterwards? It only makes writers wonder what the hell is wrong with their work, and they’ll probably end up thinking a whole lot less of you. And yes, we’ve all made the mistake of speaking too soon then finding the story or prose or whatever isn’t to our liking. But doing this on the regular? Come on.

Gripe two, why seek favours, or even some form of compliance, from writers by dangling an upcoming review in front of them? Thankfully this is rare, but it does happen, most recently with someone who links up with lesser known indie writers then eviscerates their work on Goodreads in the name of helping them improve. Yikes. Of course writers are liable to fawn a little if they know their baby is in your hands, but this isn’t an invitation to start pushing them around.

Gripe three, like it or not, writers aren’t really there to big up reviewers. That’s too much like the tail wagging the dog. I say this because someone started gatecrashing my book promo posts the other day to guide potential readers to their reviews (doubly egregious, being that these reviews weren’t exactly top drawer). I know, weird, right?

So them’s the gripes, and they lead me to wonder what motivates certain people to be book reviewers. If not the love of good writing, or of compelling stories, or maybe the desire to uplift others, or some combination thereof, then what?

I have my own theories, but I feel like I’ve probably said more than enough. So until next week, happy writing to you all.