Do You Read Reviews?
Last week, I had a conversation with a soon-to-be family member on Facebook. This discussion soon led to the few book review requests I’ve received this year. I found it interesting when she asked what a book review is. This person is as much of an avid reader as I am and yet unfamiliar of reviews. My initial thought was ” what avid reader hasn’t read at least one review prior to buying a book”.
I’ve always viewed book reviews as a key marketing tool in order to generate good buzz about the latest releases. I’ll admit I don’t read reviews as much as some do. I usually rely on opinions from those I trust. However, since being acquired to write some, I’ve come to rely on them more and more for an inform decision.
I allowed one conversation to illicit doubt in their power. Books written by well know authors and published by major publishing companies may never have this problem. But what about those produced by lesser known publishers? Marketing becomes even more essential. How often do you buy a book written by a less established author and published on a smaller scale? Do you rely on book reviews even more in such cases? Approximately how many times in a month do you refer to a review site or newspaper? What do you look for in a quality review?
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I’m really bad, I rarely read reviews for fiction. I tend to pick up books in cheap secondhand stores. If something catches my eyes, I’ll read the first couple of pages, and if they grab me, then I’ll buy it. I suppose I so rarely agree with reviews, that I try and avoid them where I can. The only reviews I might read are customer reviews on Amazon if I’m buying non-fiction.
I’m with you Icy.. I very very rarely read reviews. I tend to follow an authors entire range of books and then moan that they were rude enough to die or not quick enough to keep up with my need to read their work.
To source new authors works, I have been attending workshops/ festivals – I listen to them chat about their work, research etc and then go and start reading their books if I’ve been enchanted enough by them.
I am a voracious reader of reviews. I read several newspaper, publisher’s journals, literary journals, and numerous blogs every day to pick up the latest scoop on new releases both independent and mainstream. If I am interested in a book that I may have heard about in passing, I almost always check out a review or two – even if that means only looking at the reader reviews on Amazon. In my opinion, there is a whole lot of junk out there which makes it harder for the gems to shine through and get noticed. In this publishing climate, picking books at random is a risky and potentially expensive.
To be honest I suppose I don’t have an established method of choosing books. It all depends on the moment. If I’m at home and I feel like I need to buy a new book I’ll just browse through reviews in the Internet and get an idea of what I want to read. If I’m at a store I might just buy what someone recommended me or simply something that called my attention because of its title or the first few paragraphs.
I use book reviews as much as I use other methods for choosing books.
Still, I’ll admit, I tend to rely on reviews more often when I haven’t heard of the writer. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m more reluctant to buy books from less known writers, because if I know the writer from some smaller previous work but he/she isn’t famous, I’ll probably buy the book without reading the review.
I generally avoid reviews until after I’ve read a particular novel. I know, it seems backwards, but I avoid spoilers at all costs. Even stranger yet, most times I don’t even read the back cover of a book because I’m afraid it will take something away from the story.
It is strange but I like to get completely immersed in what I am reading and don’t like hints as to where the story is going.
I never read reviews. They seem to spoil the story for me.
I see reading reviews as more useful after reading a book. I like to form my own opinion, review it myself and then go in search of what other people think and sometimes strike up discussion or debate around the points of difference.
That said, if it’s a review of a book by someone I’m interested in, I might read that but rarely read reviews of unknown books.
It really depends on the book and what I’m wanting.
If I know I want a book, say, on writing suspense, I’ll go through a bunch of books on Amazon and will always check the reviews to see what people put was their favorite part or the part they hated about the book.
I find I pay a LOT more attention to one star reviews than five or four star reviews. If someone hated the book and gave it one star because the author was patronizing towards their reader or that all the information in it was bunk, now THAT’s something I want to know rather than whether someone really liked the book or not.
Fiction, I’m the same way, unless I don’t have the reviews in front of me, say, at a Barnes & Noble or any other brick-and-mortar store. But then I have the book itself to look at.
Also, Amazon (and Barnes & Noble, I think) allows you to “sample” the book before you buy it for the Kindle–and they have a Kindle for PC application (and iPhone and iPad and Macintosh and…). So, if I find the review interesting–even the one-star reviews–I’ll download the sample and look at it myself.
I might get interested in a book if someone whose taste in fiction I have at least some idea about writes a positive review of it. If I have heard in passing about a book, I might read customer reviews on amazon.
I don’t go seeking out specialised review blogs or something of that kind.
I’ve got a gut feeling that reviews from people who get books ahead of publishing so that they can write reviews are likely to be too positive. If someone wrote critical reviews, why would a publisher give them access to not-yet-published work? Reviews by a publisher are as reliable as any other advertising, that is, hardly.
What I look for in a review is a balanced opinion, mentioning both strengths and weaknesses of a work, and a better idea of the story than the backcover blurb can provide.
I love reading reviews, both on the blogs and also Publishers Weekly. Not only does it give me ideas for my reading wish-list, I get a lot of secondary writing inspiration by going through so many plots and titles, so fast. It also gives you an idea of what has been bought recently and what’s selling.
If I read a positive review of a book, it’s not a surefire thing that I’ll buy it, but at least it’s on my “compulsive online purchase” radar, which – as a minimalist without cable who infrequently shops – is more than I can say for most new books.
That being said, I dislike it when reviews give away pertinent information on new book plots. It’s okay if it’s analysis of an older piece, but if people haven’t had a chance to read the book yet, please don’t go talking about So-and-So’s death or say something obnoxious like “it ends on a low note” which colors my entire perception of the book before I even have a chance to read it.