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I spend so much time writing, and with writing related activities (like editing!) that I seldom blog. I want to. I enjoy it. But too often I just don't get the time.
Soon I'll have a brand new website - it's live at the moment, but I've not done anything to it. Will that mean I write more or less? Maybe I'll do some videos there instead!
The reason for this blog is that I wanted to talk through the whole 'review' business - and genuinely hear what your thoughts are.
The other month, I was talking through the issue of reviews with some friends, one of whom is a new author. I'd just got my first bad review for Cherry Picking, from an obvious 'troll'. By that I mean, someone going out of their way to say unkind things, just because they got to. I refer to a troll as being someone 'off genre'. They've picked up something free, and though it's not their thing, downloaded it 'just because'. And surprise surprise, they didn't like it - and they want to tell the world about it.
My friends had a different view in this conversation. One said it's good that this person said it - it will help others, who might have discovered the book 'off genre', not to make the same mistake. Granted, that is a good thing. No author really wants to sell their books to people who will hate them. My worry was that the reviews could put actual interested people off, which is a real concern. It also ruined my perfect 5 star ratings up to that moment. I'm okay with that too!
But I'm not writing to tell you this - I'm writing from a readers perspective now, because of something that just happened.
Amazon have recently launched their Kindle Spring Sale - a three week campaign offering discounts on a range of books they've deemed worthy of inclusion - Cherry Picking is in that list (Just 99p! Okay, final plug done - honest!)
On that list, among the many other great books, was a novel by John Grisham called The Litigators. Now, I am a big fan of JG - I've not read all his books, but every one that I have read I've loved! I enjoy his style, and seeing that this book was on offer for £1.99, it was of great interest to me. I was instantly ready to download it.
Then I remembered the conversation I mentioned above from the month before, so I thought I'd check out the reviews.
The book is averaging a decent 4.3 stars. As I would expect. But aside from the 297 five and four start ratings, there were three, two and even some one star ratings - seven of them! John Grisham also gets one star reviews?!
So while I looked first at the five star reviews, I did take in the one star reviews also, just as my friends had suggested. One reviewer wrote this:
Right up to the predictable, syrupy-sweet "and they all lived happily ever after" ending, this book is not worth the paper it's printed on. Save yourself the time and the money.
A little ironic as I'm looking at the Kindle version - so no paper involved! But a scathing attack! Another said:
Grishams newest book is so light it could have floated from my desk to the nearest rubbish bin.
Wow! Could it be? One even said this:
After hearing so much about grishman as a thriller writer, I decided to take a break from my Nesbo books to have a dip. I thought the first eight chapters were fantastic and really got me giggling which is rare for a book. But then the plot was incredibly predictable, slow, boring and unkind to people without law knowledge as there was a lot of jargon.
Others professed to be great fans of his other books, but this one should be avoided.
Now, as a reader, what do I do? My instant transaction that I mentioned above has now paused. I've gone from buyer to - not. With Kindle you can even download a preview - the first few chapters or so. But if the above reviewer is to be believed - that doesn't help. They loved the first 8 chapters, but still rated it 1 star!
And I'm left with the question - are these rare one star reviews just trolls (as mentioned above!) - people who just love to be bad, to say bad, and to slag off for the sake of it, knowing they remain in the shadows? No one can hold them to account. It's a clean getaway. Maybe its a personal thing - some bitter rival author (though I doubt this - among authors we have this professional pride and honour with others in our same field - at least its how I operate). So maybe they were just trolls, and I could/should ignore them.
But maybe they were readers just like me who loved all his books and this book genuinely was a stinker and needed to be dropped like the plague?
So how do I decide?
Before we get to that, let me add this - I saw that some of these reviews were bashing Grisham because of the cost of his eBook. Now, while it wasn't an issue for this transaction (I was looking at a discounted £1.99 deal and have no idea what the other cost was that they were referring to being 'to high'), the issue of price is something.
As of today, a generic bag of coffee from Starbucks (UK version) costs £10.95!! For coffee? I've no way of knowing what it costs to buy a coffee in the cafe to drink, but in London I'm guessing some of them are pushing £5 already (for the full works). A days train ticket in and out of London set me back about £16 the last time I had to do it. And yet, an eBook, that will take you some time to read, the story coming alive in your head so that you dream about it, having been produced after months of effort by a whole team of people (it's never just an author!), to pay £4 or £5 for this is too much?! £5 for a book that has been through the testing process, and had months of work poured into it - or for a coffee made in five minutes by some under trained student just looking to earn some income? Grumble over.
Back to my question - how do I decide? Well, I took it to the next step (and you can do the same too!) I picked a book I had read, one I really loved, and looked at the reviews on that one. I chose The Runaway Jury because I remember being so gripped by the story and really enjoying it. One of Grisham's best! And yet this too had a one star review! It says:
Boring, tedious, drawn out rubbish! I kept reading this book, even though i was bored to tears, thinking it would surely get better, at least have an exciting ending - HOW WRONG I WAS! It is one of those books you force yourself to keep reading in the hope of it becoming at least half decent, only to be left wishing you hadn't bothered when you finish it! RUBBISH RUBBISH, UNBELIVEABLE DULL AND DISAPPOINTING
What? Are they talking about the same book as me? Is this person serious?
And there it is - as far as my experience was, this person couldn't be more wrong! Are they a troll? I don't know. Maybe it's just not their thing.
So where do we go from here? For me, the reviews of The Litigators became a confusing thing - I've read the first three chapters (the free download bit), and aside from feeling a little familiar (so it's possible I've read it before anyway!) I did enjoy it the same way I've enjoyed all his books. But I'm yet to buy it. I guess the jury's out on that one (excuse the pun!)
Reviews have lost their value though - but its the reviewers you need to follow. Listen to the brand advocates that have liked the books you enjoyed, and see what they say about a new book by the same author, or a similar book in the same genre by a new author. Their views become valid - because you know they enjoy the same books as you, and therefore what they say about something new to you is advice you can probably trust.
The other thing is to go with your gut. There will not be a book around that everyone loves - do the test yourself - search out your very best reads and see what the negative reviewers had to say about that same book!
And review more! I loved The Runaway Jury, so maybe I should say that! If people just base their decision on 'boring tedious rubbish' they will truly miss out on a great novel, assuming they are fans of Grisham or the legal thriller genre. My positive reviews really can help the balance of things. Maybe people will start listening to your reviews as they make their own choices.
- Focus on key reviewers
- Go with your gut
- Review more
So what do you think? How do reviews help you make your decision? Which ones do you read? Have you had a similar situation that I had - what did you do?
And, most importantly of all - should I buy The Litigators?
