Happy Wednesday! The Insecure Writers’ Group is a group of writers offering motivation and encouragement to all those taking on the challenges of writing. Every month the ISWG sponsors a blog hop where writers can blog about a topic related to overcoming obstacles and exploring various aspects of the writing journey. If you’d like to participate in a future hop you can join here. It’s always a great experience, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in writing and sharing with other writers.
The co-hosts for this December 6 edition of the IWSG blog hop are C. Lee McKenzie, JQ Rose, Jennifer Lane, and Jacqui Murray!
Every month there is an optional discussion question to ponder, and this month it’s the following:
December 6 question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author?
Leaving a book review can be hard.
Leaving a good book review is easy. If you really loved the book, then great, you can honestly share your opinion with other readers, and also help the author. If you didn’t…
Then what?
I am not someone who likes to review a book if I didn’t like it. Mainly that is because I know quite well how much effort, dedication, time, and honestly, how much of an author’s very soul go into their books and writing. It feels like criticizing someone’s child. It makes me feel BAD!
That’s not to say I won’t offer some constructive feedback if someone asks. It’s just saying that I have a very hard time publicly giving a number of stars and writing that I didn’t enjoy what an author wrote. I know it stings. And so I try to avoid it. If I do leave a review that isn’t favorable, it’s usually for a book that was written a long time ago and has no living author feeling bad about the review. Then it’s really just for my fellow readers and we can discuss openly. Sometimes, if an author’s book has let’s say, millions of reviews, I will feel ok then adding a review that might not be so favorable. I just can’t see myself leaving a less well-known or less reviewed book a “bad” review. It feels wrong.
Am I too much of a softie on this? Probably. I know feedback is great for authors, and most authors I know seek it out and want the reviews to learn more about what their readers want. It’s just hard to know what to say if you didn’t like what you read. It feels a little like stepping on someone’s soul. The small piece they left in each page, interwoven through the text. Between the dedication and the carefully crafted conclusion.
What do you think? How do you like to review books, and do you write a review thinking more about the reader, or the author? Let me know in the comments!
Winter Betancourt 
I understood what you meant in your answer to this month’s question. I hope with all my heart that when I read someone’s book it’s one I like and that is well written. I love to give good reviews. As you said, those are easy.
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Thank you! Me too, I always want to like and enjoy the book, it makes it so much easier to give feedback!
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I think, as a writer, I would appreciate negative criticism because it helps me understand where I need to improve. I love positive feedback, it’s encouraging and motivates me to keep going. But I appreciate if someone points out weaknesses in my writing. When I write a review, I try to keep positive and negative balanced, letting the author know what worked, and trying to suggest improvements for next time. As you said, it’s not the most pleasant thing in the world, but sometimes we all need to hear the hard truth to grow as writers.
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Thanks Jake! You are right, a balanced approach of constructive feedback and pointing out what was positive is really helpful. It’s great to take those points and use them to improve. The worst is when someone writes a review and puts nothing at all positive. It makes you think, surely there was something you liked!
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I resonate with your approach to reviews. I felt crushed when I received my first negative reviews, and I don’t want other authors to feel similarly. My skin has thickened somewhat over the years, but a negative review can still sting. Very true about pouring our soul into our writing!
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Thank you Jen! Absolutely, it takes so much courage to put yourself out there in such a personal way as writing, so it can feel so crushing when someone responds negatively. It’s great that you’re developed more of a thick skin over the years, I’m still working on it I feel so vulnerable some times.
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This is a great group to be a part of. I appreciate supporting other authors!
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Thanks JR! I agree, it’s great to have a community of supportive authors. It helps a lot, especially in those tough moments.
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