How do you deal with reviewing books you disliked? I don’t give stars anymore to books when I write a review, purely because I don’t want to upset the author! Ok, some of the time I do find it hard to give a book a rating..actually a lot of the time I find it hard but I will do it for Goodreads and Amazon.
I know that authors do appreciate the feedback and as long as it is constructive criticism as opposed to negative feedback I have no problem saying how I feel about a book but what I want us to discuss today is your take on posting these reviews.
Do you tag the author when you post your review to Twitter?
I ask because I struggle over this. Like I said I don’t want to upset the author.
Do you only review books that you like?
I mostly lift books that I know I will like and this is why my reviews are mostly positive.
Do you think it is constructive, for your readers, to post your DNF list?
This is one I struggle with, I am on the Magnus Magnuson path with this one
however, there have been books that I have realised will be time I can’t get back then ditch them. I find it harder to write posts of any type for a DNF or a book I detest if an author has approached me to review it.
The list of questions could go on but I think it would be great for us to discuss this one in the comments and get tips from each other. I know that there are some of you struggle to find my comments area, go to where the info for the post is and you will see a speech bubble shape with a + in it on the right side. There is a circle bubble further down in the middle and if you open that you will just see my widgets and so on.
Have a great day folks and I hope you have some knowledge to share with others in the comments.
Rambling Lisa's Book Reviews 
This is the kind of discussion I like to hear other people’s views on. Like you, I tend to choose books I’m pretty sure I will like / love, but there are occasions when I judge wrong. If I write a not so great review, I won’t tag the Author on twitter, but if they requested the review, I will email them. I hate this though.
I have written one DNF review, and I found a way to write it not offensively, it just wasn’t for me.
I just hope that the majority of books I read will be enjoyable, or at least have lots of enjoyable points within them. Great discussion point Lisa.
Amanda.
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I used to fret over this too but now I review a book I didn’t enjoy with the same gusto of one I did enjoy. I never tag authors/publishers on twitter unless they’ve specifically asked me too so I don’t have to worry on that front. However, I have had to email a few a link to my review, in the email I usually explain why I didn’t like the book and most have replied thanking me for my honesty. At the end of the day, you can’t like every book and authors know that.
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What made me think about it was one author I tagged I refered to her book as ‘girly’ but it was so blimming flouncy it was girly. I gave it 3* and explained in the review it just wasn’t for me. Truth be told Janel it wasn’t character driven it felt forced. Anyways, she took to twitter to snort about me. I didn’t retaliate just liked the comment so she knew I had read it. From then on I notice I stopped giving star ratings but have been conflicted about posting anything I dislike as I don’t want to offend the author, I would rather write it on Amazon or Goodreads. The thing is I don’t want to be known as the person who only says all books are great esp if they are ARCs or the likes. The one I called girly I owned it for a while so there was no need for me to contact the author/publisher. I have been reading a book and had to contact authors eg I couldn’t grasp it or belittled my religious beliefs amongst other things. We can’t please everyone but I do feel concerned about upsetting authors by tagging them even though I don’t write nasty reviews it is more constructive and where I struggled. It is a hard one when you own the book rather than were asked to review.
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Don’t let it bother you, I know it’s easy to say, but as an author you’ve got to know, not everyone can like your book, and I think it’s very unbecoming and unprofessional for an author to be snarky about your review (unless you just slate the book without explaining why). I wrote a review for a book I didn’t like and the author shared it on all his social media thanking me for my honesty with the caption “I read all reviews, good and bad”. Which I really appreciated because it’s not nice when you have to write a review for a book you didn’t enjoy. Also unless you specifically state on your blog that you only review books you enjoy, I think it’s good to review those you didn’t because you can’t like every book so it makes you appear a more trustworthy reviewer (that’s my opinion anyway).
1000s of people read the same book, the author can seriously expect every single person to like it – go forth and rate and review books you don’t enjoy, it’s your blog, if they don’t like it, no ones forcing them to read it 😂
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That’s just it, we are all different! This was last year or the start of this year that it happened but just recently saw the post and remembered so wondered others views on tagging. I can’t be bothered letting any of it bother me now but when you are a newbie it is rough when slated lol
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I review all the books I read and the vast majority I love – I actually have made my star system tougher to really differentiate between the best of the bunch. I don’t tag author’s in my title so choose which ones to share on Twitter individually.
I think author’s are far more likely to read your review on Amazon anyway because that’s where sales are driven from, but I clothe wrong.
I don’t review DNF unless it’s unreadable but I occasionally mention them in other posts because I set up my blog for readers I want to point them in the direction of books they’ll enjoy.
Any author that slates a review is a fool, not everyone will enjoy their books after all
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Really like this comment, Cleo. It makes a lot of sense. It is great to see what others think about this topic.
I find star rating very hard as I am quite critical and then there are books that I feel I should rate higher if I have a relationship with the author but that isn’t right. I think, for me, I would prefer someone to make their own decision based on my review rather than star rating as your 3 for eg could be my 5.
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And that’s the beauty of blogging because you can do what you feel is right for you and in the end it is all subjective anyway 🙂
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I used to read and review every single book I read when I first started blogging – like it or not! I’m much stricter now and if I’m just not gelling I give up fairly quickly. So I only really post positive reviews now. I don’t review DNF as it could just have been down to my mood.
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I post them as normal to keep it fair. I don’t really struggle with ratings but I have my own personal rating system to help with that. I think you should do whatever you are comfortable with. Personally I don’t mind having a conversation with the author about why I DNFd or didn’t like their book, I know I’m always constructive in the reviews so there isn’t anything for them to be insulted about so we can just have a friendly conversation. I have had this with one not long ago, I ended up getting on with the author so well and hating that I didn’t like the book! 😂
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That’s what I worry about lol I usually have built up a bit of a rapport with the author then I read the book and I am nearly afraid to tell them if I disliked it. I do though, I am never rude but then again I am not generally rude I don’t like upsetting folk so try to be nice about things. When I broke up with my ex he was evil but I was so nice to him 😂😂 I don’t like animosity!
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hmm well I think everyone has their own way of doing things and I’d hate to step on any toes. I’ll just say what I do and I hope that helps. I generally don’t tag authors on twitter, because it’s rare that a book has absolutely zero criticism on it. I don’t just review books I like- I guess cos I like to be honest with readers and talking truthfully was really important to me when I started my blog. Unfortunately disliking books is as much part of the reading experience as liking them (to be honest, if I only reviewed/rated books between 3-5 stars I’d feel like 3 would be books I didn’t like and 4 would would be meh books and 5 would be ones I liked…. which would mean that 3 would become a bad rating- basically that was my long winded way of saying I think there has to be a range) I have gotten better at choosing good books though, so I hope those are fewer (cos I actually don’t want to read things I don’t like!) As for DNFing books, I rarely do it, but if I do, I don’t talk about it cos I don’t feel like I have a full picture. But on the other hand, I do appreciate reading reviews/lists on DNF books because it gives me an idea as a reader what to expect (or if there’s something in there that might make me want to rage quit). Anyway, I hope that helps! Great topic!
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Thanks for the feedback, great input! I am thinking this would be great for new bloggers to look at if they are struggling.
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Yes for sure!!
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