Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I have been feeling like my reviews aren't very helpful to the author (and I feel like they should be, because a lot of the books I read are by new authors), so I am really curious as to what you guys consider a good review whether its negative or positive regarding your book.

As long as you can give some kind of indication as to why you liked, or didn't like, the book, then that's fine.

Some people can do in-depth reviews, whilst others can't. I'm one of those who can't.

Every reader experiences books differently. If you are reviewing a book, then one may surmise that you feel strongly about the work in question to comment publicly about it, whether it be in a negative or positive context. The next step is "what do I write?"

The question on your original post was "What kind of information do you look for in reviews?"

Honestly, as an author...well, let me just say as a Writer...writers simply want to be praised and told they are great. I know I do. And I don't know a single writer who doesn't truly care about what others think about their work. They may deny it, or say that they wrote it "for themselves and don't care what others may think"...but deep down...we all care. We obviously put a lot of work into our writing and we secretly want everybody else to love it, too. Even though we know that's really not possible.

But I digress.

The point is...in reviewing, a reader/reviewer shouldn't need to consider what a writer wants or needs. You are writing a review because (as I indicated before) you feel strong enough about the book to say something publicly about it.

So instead of asking what a writer would want to see in a review...just focus on what your experience was like reading the book. Try to articulate what made the book a good or bad experience for you. Also, try to indicate what you like or don't like right off the bat, so that when someone reads the review, they will immediately get a sense of what your perspective is, and match it up with the experience you are describing.

Reviews that say "You're gonna love this book!" or "This is by far the greatest book ever written" or "This is the worst book ever, I couldn't even finish it"...don't by themselves really communicate your reading experience and how you came to that conclusion. Summary judgments rarely do.

Try to give the readers some sense of your experience so that they can make an informed decision whether or not they want to buy the book for themselves. Or, if someone else who also read the book reads your review and sees that you really did capture the experience of reading the book, they may back your comment with a "Like" or a "Great review, couldn't have said it better myself" type of thing. This promotes a kind of "shared experience"; something that I think is unique to the Internet Age and very powerful.

Anyway, hope this helps.

That was actually extremely helpful and just the kind of information I was looking for! Thank you both for replying!

The most important thing for me as a writer of fiction is to know if the book carried you away. Was it absorbing, interesting, believable, did it make you forget yourself? Secondly, an analysis of what worked and what didn't. A review that covers these angles will certainly help the author with future books. I think it would also make for interesting discussions with other readers, and help prospective readers decide if it's their kind of book.

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I think reviews are for readers, not for authors. (That's why they tell us not to read our reviews!). So don't worry too much about helping the author, concentrate on telling other readers what it was about the book that you liked or didn't like (don't just say you hated it, say *why* you hated it, because your hot buttons might just be something that others don't have a problem with). Don't just say about the main character "ooh, he was so hot!!!!OMG" (sorry, I write romance, you don't have to say that at all), but say what you liked about the characters.
Don't think too much about the author being upset, or reading your review at all, write the truth as you see it, not one line that says "I liked/hated this book."

I agree with Jane - while I'm always happy to see a new review, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't read them - reviews are for readers.

In the sense that I'd like my reviews to be as helpful as possible to potential readers, I guess length and detail is key - 100+ words, some mention of specific strengths and/or weaknesses of the book, and some kind of yardstick: "Not bad if you like Terry Pratchett style humour" perhaps, or "a bit like a Mexican James Joyce".

I probably don't do half of those things in my own reviews, but never mind.

I think that reviews are primarily for readers; nonetheless, authors can gain insight into what works and conversely in their books, if the reviewer gives specific examples.
Good reviews have sufficient depth to enable one to figure out whether or not they are on the same wave-length as the person making the comments. Their validity as a help for individual judgements can be assessed, at least to some degree.

Kim wrote: "I have been feeling like my reviews aren't very helpful to the author (and I feel like they should be, because a lot of the books I read are by new authors), so I am really curious as to what you g..."

There's a difference between a review (which is for the reader) and a critique (which is for the author). I wrote a blog post about this last September.

My reviews tend to contain elements of both, though. I am looking to be engaged by characters and situations (in both fiction and non-fiction) and not distracted by mangled grammar or unbelievable actions.

This is a fascinating thread.
As a writer currently in the early stages of promoting a body of work, I find the concept of receiving reviews or comments incredibly exciting if a little freaky. I have to say, I am really looking forward to the first few reviews but, I just hope I receive fair comments, whether or not an individual likes my stories. If they're fair and reasonable, I'm happy.
It would be great not to look at all, but is it possible as a GR freshman not to want to know what readers think?
Thanks for raising this question, Kim
Amaya

Amaya - congratulations on having stuff out there! The secret is not to take reviews personally, particularly bad ones. Just remember 'never apologise, never explain, and never respond to bad reviews'. Good luck.

Good succinct points made by Janelovering. I'd also like to add one more to that: never tip either. Like ever. In fact, if it's a bad review, you're allowed to demand some form of payment for having to tolerate such criticism. The rest of life should be like that as well... with complimentary snacks provided.

Martin Reed

Most importantly, reviewers have to be careful not to write any spoilers. Beyond that, I really hope for some comments that I can copy and share with others -- Tweetable stuff.

I think Jane summed it up perfectly. I'm a writer and of course I want positive reviews. When I review a book, I think not so much of the author, but of what would help a potential reader. I always find something positive to say, but I will include negatives. I always try to clarify that's it's my opinion or my preferences in reading that shape my review.

I want to know what you liked, what you didn't like, and why. I want to know you understand the genre and have rated it on an appropriate rubric. Don't just leave a star rating--that tells me you're either a sock puppet or you're an unintelligent reader who rates arbitrarily (or didn't understand the material). An intelligent, thoughtfully written review--good or bad--goes a long way.

Editing to add the disclaimer: The above is not directed to you personally, but rather all Goodreads readers who feel it appropriate to leave reviews.

Anthony had mentioned in his response about the readers who merely say, "This is the worst book ever written. I couldn't even finish it." That drives me insane as an author AND a reader. I have gotten two reviews similar to that amidst other reviews that were better both in rating and detail. What I want to know is WHY. What was is about the book that turned you off? Was it just something that you didn't like personally? Or was it the structure of the story itself? When I see reviews like this for books that aren't my own, it still drives me up the wall. What can I possibly glean from that review that would make me not want to read it?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also don't like the five star reviews that merely state that, "This was the best book EVER." Why was it so spectacularly good? Give me a reason to read it other than the fact that you thought it was Pulitzer Prize winning material.

While reviews are for readers, authors also read them. Any author who says they don't is either lying, or just doesn't care. A good review not only tells a potential reader what to expect, it also tells the author that there may be room for improvement in their writing. Especially if they are just starting out.

I received a blunt review that told me nothing other than something about the person who 'reviewed' my book. He or she said: 'Another Nazi conspiracy. Nothing more to be said.', and awarded me two stars.

Michael wrote: "I received a blunt review that told me nothing other than something about the person who 'reviewed' my book. He or she said: 'Another Nazi conspiracy. Nothing more to be said.', and awarded me two ..."
I just looked at that review. That is a prime example of a review that I completely ignore when looking for something to read. It says absolutely nothing. Are there Nazi conspiracies in it? Just curious.

Michael wrote: "I received a blunt review that told me nothing other than something about the person who 'reviewed' my book. He or she said: 'Another Nazi conspiracy. Nothing more to be said.', and awarded me two ..."

I would take that as a compliment Michael. It means the reader counted your book as 'proper' book and simply discarded it because it wasn't (for him) different enough. Which means anyone who loves that genre will probably love your book.

Nothing more to be said - logically means the writing and all the other aspects of the book were fine.

I know it isn't a massively complimentary review - but that sort of review on a book I was considering reading would be more likely to make me read it than a 5-star glowing one from (possibly) pals.

It marks the book out as a quality read. So I wouldn't worry about that review Michael - I'd be quietly smug :)

Michele wrote: "It means the reader counted your book as 'proper' book and simply discarded it because it wasn't (for him) different enough."
Now I am smug. Because having been to your profile it is obvious that you are indeed an author with a solid base of traditionally published works and a large readership. So my deductions from that review were quite correct.

I think it is usually well-established authors who get that sort of review. People are less likely to mention the writing because they take it as a default you already know what you are doing and so they start nit-picking to a higher degree on other issues such as whether it has pushed the envelope enough. Which means we get into entirely subjective territory rather than the bare bones typos & grammatical errors and plot hole discussions - because you are well past that stage.

Michele, you've given me a lift because of your comments. Thanks!

So I'm looking for the same thing as other author--did the book take you away from yourself? Did you walk in the shoes of the other? Did you laugh or cry? Underline something? Dog ear a page? Say to yourself "I wish *I'd* written that"?

Those are all the high goals I have for anything I write--I don't want it to just help you pass the time. I want you to be engrossed in the story and characters, to be racing for the story to end and yet wishing it would never end.

I had a blow-me-away-good review on Amazon, far beyond what I would expect, and I've had some good responses. I don't look for an analysis, but as an author, I'm interested to see if I connected to you.

As a reader of books, I look for those reviews, the ones that tell me what the book meant to the reviewer/reader.

And like other authors have said, of course I _want_ the unstinted praise, but I'd rather have the feeling that I met a friend through a book I wrote, and the only thing separating me in my storytelling from you is merely time and distance.

Yeah, I feel that if the reader is going to leave a star rating, they should at least explain why they chose the number of stars they did. If one star, fine, just tell me why. Everyone has their own preference/idea of what and how a story should be told. Just because the reader disagrees with the author, it shouldn't automatically mean a low rating. If the reader leaves 5 stars, let others know how you enjoyed the book. After all, that is the purpose of the rating system.

I agree with what a lot of the folks have said already, but I would add that I'm a bit disappointed when readers provide a synopsis. I like to see the things that stood out to the reader - like pace, character development, thrill factor, believability, etc. I think that's important for both the author and the reader. That's what I look for when I'm trying to find a book, anyway.

If there have to be negative reviews, I always prefer that readers comment, "It's not my cup of tea" (or something similarly polite) rather than a harsh comment when what they read was different than they were expecting. Harsh, angrily worded reviews aren't helpful to prospective readers.

Complimentary reviews of any kind, however are always welcomed greedily. :)

Interesting thread, and it's been fascinating reading everyone's replies. I agree with a lot of what has been said already.
I think it's important to know the 'why' behind whatever feelings you had about a book, as in some cases, hearing the reason behind a negative impression has actually made a positive impression on me as a reader, as my tastes may differ to the reviewers.
I also like to understand where you are coming from as a reader - is this your first time dipping into this genre, or are you a die-hard fan? It all helps to give perspective.