A week or two ago, I mentioned how It’s Not All About Reviews and why reviews aren’t exactly the most important thing ever. I may or may not have also mentioned the fact that I may be slightly bias on that opinion. Why? Well, mainly because writing reviews isn’t the most easiest thing for me to do.
The Process
In order to write a review, you have to read a book. And in order to write a good review, it has to be one you feel really passionate about (at least for me). You can love it or hate it, as long as you’re passionate about it, you are good to go. Now finding a book I’m a passionate about is a bit difficult. I’ve been going through a bit of a rough reading slump lately and have been DNF’ing books like crazy… It’s bad I know. And that’s just the first part.
Then you have to sit down and actually write the thing. Now discussion posts come easy to me – the only thing I have to really worry about is offending someone. Otherwise it’s just stating my opinion. You would think reviews would be similar. But NOOOO, reviews take at least 30 minutes and up to two hours (after that, I quit) compared to the 10-15 minutes it takes me to type up a regular discussion post like this one. I just feel uneasy about critiquing someone else’s hard work without really putting thought and effort (and TIME) into the critique.
The Problem
There is one big problem when it comes to blog posts. The problem of the possibility of offending someone you would get in loads of trouble for. Or harassed for. There are a lot of stories about authors bashing bloggers who don’t give them very positive reviews. Now, this has never actually happened to me, but the thought of it is definitely scary. It makes you put more thought into what you say. Book reviews should be about critiquing the book itself (like plot, characters, etc…), not exactly the author who wrote it…
Decisions, Decisions
And then there are the many decisions that come along with writing reviews. How long should it be? Should it be a mini review or a super long one? Spoilers or no spoilers? (NO SPOILERS, DUH!) Detailed or vague? The rating… this one is a super hard one for me. Sometimes I give really calculated ratings, other times I go with my gut. I have even given 4.5 snowflakes before even though I’m technically not supposed to because I was being super indecisive (like usual). What date to post it. When to write it. Yeah, I’m getting a headache thinking of all these questions that need answers.
What do you think about writing reviews?
Easy or hard?
I couldn’t agree more with the rating system – I really don’t like it, how can I put my ‘feelings’ about a book in a few stars. Reminds me of something i read online where this person (?sorry can’t remember) saw that his/her grandma was writing a review on Amazon and she gave that book 1 star and she thought she was doing something really good (oh, it was a great book, so I give a star to the author). yeah I know we reviewers know it means I hated it, but you know, it was funny to read this, granny and her one diamond star which she thought indicated that the book was great. I also find myself browsing other reviews on Amazon and than think ‘Yes, that’s how I feel, that’s what I want to say’ but of course that would almost be like plagiarising I guess 🙁