Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni, and today I'll be doing a discussion post about guilt over writing negative reviews. If you are unaware, I'm participating in a discussion challenge this year, hosted by Feed Your Fiction and It Starts at Midnight.
When I write reviews, I try to be as honest as possible and write about the good and the bad. But when a book is mostly bad for me, I always feel a little hesitant about posting the review. Today, I'm going through the reasons I am hesitant, and why I shouldn't be.
So why do I feel a little bit guilty writing negative reviews? Well, there are a couple reasons.
- I feel doubly disappointed when I don't like an ARC. Knowing that the publisher gave me a copy of a book after I requested it makes the not-liking it just a little bit worse.
- I've had authors comment on my negative reviews of their book. This not only makes me feel very uncomfortable, but also reminds me that authors can read and might read these posts. I try to remind myself that authors are people separate from their work, and when I critique a book, it isn't critiquing the person.
- Coming off too harsh. I don't know if my humor actually comes across when I'm slinging gifs left and right trying to explain my exasperation. But also, why am I so worried about coming across like a bitch when I'm just trying to express my opinion?
While I am hesitant to post negative reviews, there are plenty of reasons to write them as well. Here's the couple that I came up with:
- Books are subjective! What one person loves, another person could hate. I think it's important that readers get every opinion, that way they can make an accurate decision on whether they think they'll enjoy the book or not.
- Every opinion should be respected! If I write a negative review on a popular book, I shouldn't be worried that people will be hurt or rude because our opinions don't match. This goes the same for publishers. If I'm writing a negative review on an ARC I received, I shouldn't be worried that the publisher won't approve me of other books. In fact, negative reviews of arcs show that I'm an accurate book reviewer and I don't let the way I received a book impact my thoughts.
- They're humorous! I actually like reading negative reviews more than positive reviews. Negative reviews have such intelligent quips and sass, and I'm here for them.
- We don't owe publishers or authors anything more than an honest review. Authors and publishers are looking for honest, in-depth reviews. My reviews, the negative and positive, are just that.
So for this year, I'm making a goal. If I don't like a book, I want to be as unflinchingly honest as I can. I don't want to beat the bush or minimize my faults; I want to give my negative opinions just as much merit as my positives. Let the negative reviews commence!
Have you had any hesitancy about posting negative reviews? What do you like the most about negative reviews?
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!
Happy Reading!
Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!