Last week’s post on book reviewing postulated a few reasons authors seek reviews: audience exposure, influence readers to purchase, useful feedback, reader connections, data collection, endorsement by someone of note.
But what about readers? Beyond book recommendations, are readers looking for information, for perspective, for themes to consider, for insights on a topic, a location, or a time in history? A reviewer I know does one hour presentations on each book she reviews, lengthy discussions of the author’s background and writing history, the reason that author chose to write such a book, other works by the same author, a critique of structure, language, character development and so on.
And what about venue? Last week I mentioned a few sites with different attributes. What attributes matter to authors and readers? Based on the reading I’ve done, Let’s postulate a few:
- thoughtful reviews
- expertise
- trustworthy information and perspectives
- opportunities for dialogue
- a sense of community
- breadth of reach or ability to aggregate a wide range of viewers
- clear delineation between content and advertising
- paid reviews versus unpaid
- lack of bias
- evaluation versus engagement
- range of books reviewed
- accessibility for readers
- open to authors not represented by the big publishers
- open to readers who wish to post reviews
- clarity of recommendation
Where is the sweet spot for authors and readers?
In a world of ‘free’ where expertise has less value, where every reader is a potential book reviewer, where there is little/no compensation for the well-written review, and where sites like Amazon use algorithms to make book recommendations, what are authors and readers supposed to do? Some say book reviews have become little more than publicity. Others suggest when critiquing media such as the New York Times Book Review, that “assigning well-known novelists to review the work of other well-known novelists—with obvious connections to each other, in the small, incestuous world of literary publishing—is problematic enough, but assigning writers within particular niches to those within the same niches is even worse.”
Well, friends, I don’t have the answer and furthermore, I suggest that there is no single answer. But my gut tells me that book bloggers both large and small, self-managed or posted on an aggregation site, will play an increasingly important role.
4 Responses
As a reader, I always seek out reviews on a book I’m considering, even when the author is one I’ve read before. Reading time is too precious to waste it on a clunker. Generally, I start with Amazon, since the book pages include reviews from major media reviewers, Amazon “Vine” and Top 500 reviewers, and average readers. I’m as (more?) interested in 2 & 3-star reviews than 5-star reviews, unless the 5-star review comes from a reputable source. The reviews of most value to me are the ones that not only tell me what the author did well, but also where the author/story fell short.
Thanks for this perspective, Carol. I agree that the negatives are very informative. Sometimes I do that before going to book club – gives me a sense of the concerns others have about a book which often makes for interesting dialogue.
Seeing the relationships I have been developing with various authors other 6 years of book blogging, I do believe the serious book blogging community (sorry, not the bloggers who don’t survive a year) will be increasingly important for the writers