You’re not supposed to read your reviews, so I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to write about them, either. What the heck, call me a rebel.
The truest thing about reviews that we don’t like to talk is that almost all writers read them, at least once in a while, at least for a time. It’s easy to be turned off by reviews; obviously you like the good ones, but you almost always dislike the bad ones–which is to say, you disagree with them. (The ones you don’t like and can’t disagree with, those are the hardest to take.) And bad reviews carry a lot more weight on your self-esteem. One bad review can erase a half-dozen good ones. (Remember that if you like to post bad reviews just to be snarky.)
On the other hand, in this e-book era, even bad reviews have their uses (and by “bad” I mean “low ratings”). Reviews and ratings (which I use here interchangeably) tell people (and Amazon algorithms) that someone is reading your book. There is a certain pleasure in knowing another person has read your story, even if he didn’t like it much, and I’m not even counting the fact that he probably paid for it. (Ka-ching!) Writers write to be read (and being paid is a nice bonus). But while self-published authors can track their numbers in close to real time, the rest of us make do with royalty statements and bestseller rankings which are vague and uncertain at the best of times. Reviews, however, those we can see. Reviews offer not only a sense that your book is selling, but feedback as well.
And you wonder why authors secretly read their reviews… Why writers make it a secret, though, I don’t know. Playwrights are always eager to read the opening night reviews in the papers (at least in the movies). Artists invite critics to their galleries. Why do writers pretend reviews don’t exist?
I have no idea. All I know is that it’s a badly-kept secret, both in the sense that writers do read their reviews, and in the sense that everyone knows they do. (Or at least they will now that I’ve spilled the beans.) But here’s the thing: If you want your favorite author to know what you think, if you want to influence his/her output or style, if you want your favorite author to write about the things you want to read–review what’s already been written. Because your author will read it.*
So make it count. Make it thoughtful. It doesn’t have to be an essay, but it should be honest. (We can tell.) And most of all, make the effort. A novel takes anywhere from a few weeks to ten years out of a writer’s life. We need to see that someone out there cares. If one out of ten readers bothered to take one minute to leave a review on Amazon, you can bet your next Lotto ticket that writers everywhere would gear up and work twice as hard.
You think readers go crazy waiting for the next installment from their favorite author? It works both ways, my friend.
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*Obviously, the more successful the author the less chance your particular review/rating will be seen, but the chances are probably greater than you think.
#SFWApro
Graffiti on the Walls of Time 