Review Complaint

Ha! Bet you thought I was going to bitch about bad reviews, didn’t you?

Well, I’m not. Bad reviews on my books don’t really bother me. They’re part of the job, and at least it means someone took the time to read my book and offer an opinion, and for that I’m always grateful. I never mind hearing what didn’t work for a reviewer in one of my books. I may not always agree with what a reviewer says, but I always respect their opinion.

What I’m complaining about is those who phone in a review. The kind of review where the reviewer will post a summary that clearly came nearly verbatim from the back cover blurb….and so did the review itself. The kind of review that doesn’t say anything other than….here’s Jaci Burton’s book, here’s what it’s about, and oh, it’s good.

Uh, yeah. And that helps prospective buyers how?

Frankly, those reviews irritate the hell out of me. They’re bland and boring and lead me to believe the reviewer didn’t even take the time to actually read my book. And if someone has a job as a reviewer, I would think they would actually read the book and offer up an opinion, a balanced narrative of what they liked and didn’t like about the book. And if they did really like the book….why?

Now those are reviews I like to read. What parts of the story grabbed you, what didn’t? What did I do right, what could I have done better? Did the story resonate with the reviewer, did she fall asleep in the middle of the book? I know everyone brings their personal biases into reading and opinions vary, but still, I read a lot of reviews and I can tell when someone has done their job. (Check out Dear Author for a steallar example of this. They write detailed, awesome, balanced, fair reviews. Love them!)

And I can really tell when someone hasn’t bothered to even read the entire book. Can’t you?

Am I asking for too much?

(And no, I’m not talking about any of the bloggers I’ve sent my recent ARC of Wild, Wicked & Wanton to. Y’all rock! :heart:)