Confessions of a Book Reviewer . . . Revisited on the Other Side of Publication

Gina Holmes is the President and founder of Inspire a Fire and Novel Rocket and award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain. In 1998, Gina began her career penning articles and short stories. Ten years, and a stack of rejection letters later, she held her first published novel. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.





A few years ago, (8/25/09), before I was published, I wrote this controversial piece from the perspective of a book reviewer. Here's the piece again, with my take on it today, as an author being reviewed. Am I eating crow? Maybe a little.

I have a confession--sometimes I agree to review books and never do. Sometimes I agree to review books and leave out two dozen things I didn't like, to focus on the half dozen things I did. Sometimes I'll choose one flaw out of ten to include in my review out of fear that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth will hurt an author's sales, shatter their ego, and leave them with a terminal case of writer's block.

In the past, I've read books that I thought were good, but had a few flaws, and I, trying to be fair and honest, said so. What did this earn me? Heckling from the author. Persistent whining until I finally took the review down and ultimately gave up reviewing all together.

I could write a hundred positive things in a review, but then mentioned it could have used a little more breathing room between action scenes, or the characters seemed to lack emotion in some places, or whatever, and guess what the author would cling to? Being an author myself, I understand that. I do.

What I don't understand is the inability to take any sort of criticism and learn from it.

Now that I'm going to be on the other side of the reviewing fence with my upcoming release with Tyndale, Crossing Oceans, I'm sure that I too will be feeling the sting of criticism. I hope that I will be able to see the truth in another's critique of my work. I hope that I will read reviews, even ones that tear me apart and cling to any truth, no matter how painful, and be a better writer for it. Becoming a truly great writer is so much more important that seeming to be.

To those authors who share the: "Any bad review is a result of sour grapes" philosophy, here are a few thoughts to consider:

Then:

1. Reviewers do not pick out flaws in a book for spite. We are not jealous of you. If you got a bad review, it is not because of sour grapes. It is because we didn't like your book. Sorry, but it happens.

Now: There are far more spiteful reviewers out there than I have ever dreamed. Of course not all writers of negative reviews are spiteful, but I have come in contact with bad reviewers who actually admitted to jealousy when explaining why their book should have had the success my books (particularly my debut, Crossing Oceans), has. Some reviewers do seem to be mean spirited. I've read reviews of my work that weren't anything but objective and balanced. I took for granted in this piece that reviewers were professional and unbiased. This is no longer true if it ever was. 

2. If we said one or two negative things about your novel, understand that there were probably at least a dozen more that we mercifully left out.

Now: I still agree with this for most reviewers. Most reviewers are kind, some too kind maybe, and will point out negative along with positive. There are many so-called reviewers who will post one line reviews saying something like, "This was the worst piece of vomit in the history of the world. There is no redeeming value in this work." I had no idea this type of "reviewer" existed. As a reviewer myself, if I absolutely hated a book, I passed on reviewing. I understood the subjectiveness of taste and believe nearly all works have some redeeming quality. But then that's how I am as a person. 

3. The kind things were likely overstated, the unpleasant, under.

This is true of most reviewers, particularly the professionals and readers of CBA fiction. It is not true of all reviewers. Many take exactly the opposite approach. 

4. We do not HAVE to find a flaw. There is no book reviewer rule that says we have to. So, if we've found one, it's really there. Really. I know this has been a misconception many authors have.


Again, true of most reviewers but certainly not all. Often a flaw is a subjective dislike of a style or where the story went that the reader didn't like. 

5. We want to see you succeed, write well, hit the NYT best-sellers list. If you actually consider there may be some truth in our reviews and improve, you might just get there.


True of professional reviewers, particularly in the CBA. Not necessarily true of all reviewers. Some, particularly nasty ones seem to hate all things that mention God. This type of "reviewer" often would like very much to see most Christian novels fail for reasons that aren't at all literary. 

6. We're not right all of the time, but we are right most of the time.

This is often true of good reviewers, professional reviewers, unbiased reviewers, of which there are fewer and fewer. Most so-called reviewers now are simply readers who now, with Amazon and other online book stores can write anything they want without thought. I've read many reviews that the writer admits to never having read the book. I have yet to read a professional review, even unflattering ones, that didn't have some truth to them. The trouble is now everyone is a reviewer. Kind of like anyone can put out a sign and call themselves an agent. Doesn't mean they're good. Doesn't mean they know the first thing about books. 

7. We would be harsher (aka more honest) with our reviews thus making you a better writer if we weren't worried you'd attack us.

Ouch. I had a fellow novelist write the harshest review out of all I've received. Calling my book basically poorly written slop with no redeeming merit at all. I was so fascinated by another CBA author tearing up my work so publicly that I wrote her. (Bad idea)  A literary friend went on the defensive for me and well, I'm sure that reviewer considered herself attacked. 

8. Most of us do not get paid to review books. You are not doing us a favor by giving us your free book in exchange for a review. We'd rather throw out fifteen dollars and get a book we know is good than get a free book that probably won't do much for us. We are doing reviews out of the kindness of our heart. Plus, we really are hoping to find a masterpiece and help promote it.


I still agree with the above. Reviewing is very time consuming!

9. We DO realize how subjective reading taste is, therefore quite often we choose to not review a book we've been sent than to write something scathing.

This is true. Often we won't get an endorsement or review not because the reader didn't have time or forgot but because they read it and didn't like it. Many lay reviewers (anyone with a computer) will throw out their opinions without thinking them through or realizing that their is a real live author on the other end of the computer screen. 


However, most unprofessional reviewers do not understand subjectivity at all. 

10. We secretly hope each time we review a book where we point out a flaw that the author will pay attention and never do it again so that next time we can gush and call it brilliant, perfect and amazing. We really, really, really want to read amazing books.

I think most reviewers really do want to read amazing books. I no longer think this is universal. I think some people, and this often goes back to religion attackers, don't want Christian novels to succeed and will find flaws with them no matter what. It used to be that most reviewers were truly book lovers. Now everyone is a potential reviewer. Even those who can't string a sentence together themselves or have no idea what foreshadowing or symbolism is, let alone know how to recognize them. 

So, next time you get a review that gets under your skin, try not to assume the reviewer is jealous of your genius or a frustrated wannabe, or that they HAD to make up some flaw just to keep the respect of the other reviewers. Assume that maybe, just maybe, they made a point that you can learn from and by all means say thank you--even if, especially if, the review isn't one hundred percent positive. Because if it was, they probably didn't read the book you wrote, or they're not being completely honest, or they're you're mother/sister/bff.


What I have learned having hundreds of reviews myself now is that:
A. I cannot both be a literary genius AND a hack. My book is drivel to some, life-changing to others. 


B. The more successful a book, the more apt it is to draw criticism. Most of that isn't sour grapes, but there is a lot more of that than I ever dreamed. 


C. There are people who will give you negative reviews not because of literary merit but because they disagree with your faith, or the choices your character made, which would be different than theirs, or simply because they're having a bad day or hate the genre. 


From professional reviewers, I have picked up a few things to consider  when I'm writing that might make the next book a little better, but that's rare and usually I have to really read between the lines. Mostly I'm reading one subjective opinion after another. 


I've also learned that reviews do seem to directly affect sales. When I find myself getting a string of tough reviews, my sales online do seem to take a dive.