Reviews: worth it or not?
Now, there’s a topical and controversial subject
Reviews have always existed in some form, and have mostly been useful indicators of worth. In the Arts, a scathing review can make or break a creator or performer. It’s always been that way.
Traditionally, critics have been knowledgeable, wise and learned; respected in their field and (hopefully) impartial and with no axe to grind or backhander to winkle out. I think we would all agree that’s not necessarily the way it works today. The review system, whether it be for hotels, eating out, or that much-copied crappy widget from China, seems to have gone the way of all things when infected by the clawing grasp of social media and the gig economy.
Many would say the whole concept is now discredited, and that’s a shame.
My own feeling is that reviews still have an important role to play and remain useful, informative and advisory. BUT, I believe all such reviews now need to be treated with some caution, just like junk news or dodgy trolling. To be of value, you really need to know a little background to be able to form a judgement. What was the reviewer’s motivation? Did money change hands? All sorts. Basically, you need to be able to read between the lines.
Let’s talk about literary reviews
Let’s be more specific and talk about literary reviews. Book reviews to you and me. The traditional big publishers benefit from a well-established system the generally works well and honourably. Book bloggers, authors’ clubs and readers’ groups like Goodreads also have excellent, well-informed and enthusiastic reviewers, so let’s narrow it down to self-published books and particularly books listed on Amazon, which is where most readers look for them.
This is how it usually goes with self-published books, especially debut novels. The virgin author distributes some pre-publication copies to his friends and family and asks them to read it, with a hope that they may write a favourable review. What’s likely to happen? If the novel is rubbish, it will truly be a problem for the reader. For a start, does she really want to waste ten or more hours of her life on this? How good a friend do you have to be? Could you just dip in and out and hope you don’t have to answer questions? Most of these Beta readers have never written a review and don’t know what to do, or what to say, or how to say it. It is a burden. A rather embarrassing imposition.
great novels have to start somewhere
If the novel is readable, it’s less of a problem. If it’s a great novel, even better. But great self-published novels still have to start somewhere, and discredited or dodgy or not, good reviews are important and a significant indicator of quality for many potential buyers.
I’ve just been looking back at the reviews for Coat with Long Sleeves on the Troubador, Waterstones, Goodreads and Amazon websites. There are about … of them. The most valuable ones are those from contributors that I’ve never met, particularly if they’re avid and knowledgeable readers, and from these, I would say it was a mixed bag with very valid observations from some sources. I welcome candid, uninhibited views. What’s the point, otherwise? There are a couple of ‘one-star’s, and that’s fine, too. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I think I have to conclude that I would be delighted for potential buyers to read all of them before committing.