Earlier in the week, I saw a post in an FB group where one of the members hadn’t enjoyed the previous three books that they had read. All three had been highly praised by bloggers and that was one of the reasons why the member had read them. Due to this and the fact that the member didn’t like the books they questioned whether bloggers actually give ‘honest‘ reviews or whether because we get ‘free‘ copies of books we just give praise and glowing reviews!
So, yet again it was another example of our integrity as book bloggers being called into question.
It was also a veiled dig at bloggers getting ‘free‘ books too and I’m getting really fucking tired of that shit. Yes, a lot of us get free books but we review them honestly, it’s downright unfair to question that honesty simply because we received a copy to review.
It also makes you ask, if the person had read some ‘professional‘ reviews instead of ‘blogger‘ reviews would they then have questioned the professional reviewer’s review or not?
I personally didn’t take offence to the post I’ve mentioned above, in my opinion, the person could have worded it better, but let’s be fair, we could all word things better at times and I’m merely using the post as a catalyst to knock one out – this post people, please keep your mind out of the gutter. 😉 As sadly, this is something that seems to happen quite a lot of book bloggers and it feels that there is a sense of blogger = scum bandied around by certain people negative connotations with regards to the name ‘blogger‘ and ill repute which are all wrong.
C’mon let’s show book bloggers some love!
We don’t merely write and leave a one sentence review on Amazon stating ‘the book was good’ in exchange for our ‘free‘ copy, no! We write thorough reviews (that take time) and then format and put them on our blog, we post to Goodreads and Amazon, we share the review on various social media platforms and often our fellow bloggers also share the review for us. It’s a lot of hard work at times just for a free copy of a book, especially if you factor in the amount of time it also takes to read the book.
So, to all those out there, please realise that the ‘free‘ book we get and you bitch about takes up a lot of our ‘free‘ time, likewise having and maintaining our own blog also takes up a lot of our free time!
Also…….whispers quietly, the professionals who get paid to review don’t actually pay for the book either! The revelations today are groundbreaking next someone will tell you that the earth is round and that rain is wet! 🙂
Is it simply because I am a book ‘blogger‘ and not a ‘professional‘ that my opinion is called into question? It sure seems like it at times! How many professional reviews do you see that have their validity questioned? Hardly any! How are the thoughts of professional reviewers any more valid than mine? If I worked for a tabloid, website or zine would you feel safe with my opinion and it’s only because I run a small blog of sordid debauchery that you question me? Is it really just that name of ‘blogger‘ that makes you think that you can impugn on both the credibility and honesty of my review, yay! I can use poncy words like ‘impugn‘ just like these so-called eloquent and loquacious professionals!
Cough! Splutter! Choke! Sorry, I swallowed a dictionary there with my use of the word ‘impugn’ and needed to retch it back up, see people, swallowing is bad! 😉
Normal service is resumed, back to degenerate mode. My opinion on a book is my own, same as a professional reviewer, just because they are paid and deemed to be ‘professional‘ in syndicated publications it doesn’t make their view any more valid than mine, their opinion isn’t gospel!
Sure, the professionals have the qualifications, experience and review thousands of books but that’s what we do too, we read and then review. The differences are that they get paid, we don’t, they are professional, we just do it as a hobby and none of us claims to be professional anyway, hell, lots of us don’t even call ourselves ‘reviewers‘ and just use the term blogger as it’s what we are. Do you know what else we are? We are book lovers and sure, while we don’t have a degree, PhD or doctorate in being a pretentious reviewer, sorry, my mistake, I used the wrong word, I meant professional reviewer. The only real qualification that we need to review books is to be a bona fide and genuine book lover!
Though I’m pretty sure John Cena never had any real qualifications and yet he still used to refer to himself as the Doctor of Thuganomics……maybe I could do that and proclaim myself the Doctor of Sarcasm?!
How many professional reviews do you see that slander, bad mouth and are negative compared to all the ones offering glowing praise? Not many and does anyone question why? Do they not consider that the ‘professional’ reviewer gets paid as it’s their job and it would look bad if they were constantly negative with their reviews. So, why question the person who does it for free and because they love books, but not the person who is paid to churn out any review regardless of what they write. – I’m fully aware that professional reviewers, for the most part, are genuine book lovers too. My point is simply that if you are going to question the validity of a blogger review then you should also question the validity of a professional review too.
I’m Drew, book ‘blogger‘ – there’s that dirty and tainted word again! at The Tattooed Book Geek does that mean my thoughts on a book are irrelevant as I’m just a blogger? Really? Really? Really?
So, if I became a ‘professional‘ reviewer in a syndicated publication, let’s say I had a feature in Playboy where I reviewed books and I called it ‘Bosoms and Books‘ would that then make my opinion valid and genuine? Because newsflash Sherlock it would be the same damn opinion as I’m the exact same person!
Side note – before anyone gets their PC brigade standard issue drab grey granny bloomers in a twist over my use of Playboy and the name ‘Bosoms and Books’ it is meant as fun! OK, F – U – N! No offence is intended so please don’t take any, or pull the sexist card on me about the objectification of women. Otherwise, we will have to debate how none of you has an issue with all these smut books that use the glistening torso of rock hard oiled granite male abs to sell them and the obvious blatant objectification of men on those covers, as that my dear followers is the epitome of sex sells!
Any complaints to Bosoms and Books?! Nope, good! After I’ve finished writing this I’m off to go and email Hugh Hefner about my feature idea!
Right, I’m back on track after that little tangent. Not everyone likes the same thing and what one person might have loved about a book, another will hate, the opposite is also true and what one person hated another might like. We are all different, we can’t like all the same books or even the same things in life. There is no guarantee that you will like a book as much as us, hell, it works both ways you know and you might love a book that we hated.
If you don’t like a book that we liked, it’s not because we gave it a decent review, praising it merely to make us look good in the eyes of the author and publisher. Or, as it’s implied, lied about our thoughts! No, it’s simply because we all have varying tastes and anyway, I’d ask how is your opinion that the book wasn’t ‘good‘ any more valid and substantiated than mine which thought it was? It isn’t and do you know why? Well, let me tell you why with this little pearl of worldly wisdom, we are all allowed our own opinion.
At the end of the day, whether we are professionals or bloggers what we offer you in a review is our own personal thoughts and view on a book, that is all. After you’ve read the book you might agree with us and what we wrote in our review wholeheartedly or you might disagree. But it’s irrelevant if we are a blogger, if it was a free copy, a book we bought or even if it’s a professional review as it is our honest, sincere and truthful opinion on the book.
I’ve read enough fantasy books to know both what I like and don’t like in a book from that genre, for other fantasy fans the criteria might well be different (we all like different things) but we all know what we want and don’t want to see in books and what for us personally makes a great book, this applies to every genre out there and the readers of it too, remember bloggers are also readers which I think some people seem to forget!
When we review it is an informed decision from reading hundreds of books that help us decide if we liked or disliked the book. If I like a book then I will praise it, if I don’t then I will offer my reasons why I didn’t enjoy it, there is no devious ploy or nefarious plot at hand with our reviews so please stop looking for something that isn’t there!
If you don’t believe that bloggers review honestly and you put that much stock, faith and truth in the words and opinions of professional reviewers, then perhaps you shouldn’t be reading reviews written by bloggers.
This post isn’t just about the integrity of blogger reviews but also that it seems to be the cool thing to do to bad mouth bloggers, are we really that bad? It’s bully the little person all the time, it was ‘real‘ readers and it also ties into author harassment too, only a very small number but they tarnish the good name of authors by showing their disdain for and how they have used and treated bloggers as a free service and not as real people.
People think it’s OK to insinuate about our reviews and pick on bloggers as we are just the little people, easy targets and prey and nothing will happen, there are no consequences to be faced. It’s sad that this happens and unfortunately, it’s no surprise that some bloggers stop for a while or even quit blogging altogether due to the bad experiences and negativity that often surrounds being a blogger.
Please stop disrespecting us and questioning our morality on reviews just for being ‘bloggers‘ and let me tell you something. Regardless of the genres that we read – fantasy bay bay! You would be missing out on some of the best, unique, thoughtful, fun and individual book reviews out there by forsaking bloggers. Not to mention that we are all a bunch of damn fine decent people too!
To conclude:
I’ll shout it loud, I’m ‘just’ a book blogger and proud!
Follow me on:
Hear, hear I’m a book blogger and proud! 😀
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Damn right! 🙂
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Another fantastic post, Drew! You make a really great point in that for us bloggers, reviewing takes time and energy – both physically and emotionally. It’s easy enough to discredit that because you might not agree with a review, but that’s what makes being a human so great: we’re all diverse and have different interests. Perhaps it’s not a question of bloggers faking reviews for free swag, but rather a question of that person following the wrong bloggers whose interests don’t fully align with their own.
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Thank you, yes, it definitely does take time and energy, running a blog is hard work at times , especially if you’re not ‘feeling’ it but it all adds up, formatting posts, getting links, reading other blogs, commenting – which I suck at! 🙂
True, we are all diverse and all like different things, what one person loves another might hate, it just seems that if the person reading finishes the book and disagrees with a blogger then they seem to think something underhand is going on, when it’s not and is simply a case of everyone is different and likes different things. 🙂
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Doctor of sarcasm suits you! And definitely get a bosoms & books feature in playboy if you can, that would be awesome!
Stay away from the dictionary though chum, dangerous books 😂
Bloggers are the best!!!
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Bloggers rule and that feature would be epic!!!!!
Yeah, horrid things dictionaries, can’t stand them and prefer to come up with my own words! 🙂
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Sadly, these people don’t understand that a hundred people could give a book ten marks out of ten, but their own personal preference might mean they rate it poorly.
A good example is you and I. We like the same stuff. But, on Goodreads, I noticed you rated Black Guard as a fairly average scoring book. Yet I can already tell I will rate it higher than you did. Doesn’t mean everyone that rated it lower is wrong. Just means my enjoyment of a certain thing was more than somebody else’s.
People are stupid.
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That’s very true but sadly people seem to think that if they enjoyed a book less than a blogger then the blogger must have some nefarious and dastardly plot at hand to rate books higher, it’s just annoying.
That’s very true about us, I loved that series and I’m not sure why I rated the book that low looking back, I remember struggling to get into it but I had to go and check and didn’t realise I only gave it 3 stars!!!!
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I can see why you might have. I am half way through and not a lot has happened. You have heard about a lot happening but been present for very little. If it had ravens carrying dark words it would be Martin-esque. Just finished the audio book for Kings of the Wyld. Hoping he writes more! Bloody good listen.
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Kings of the Wyld is amazing, absolutely loved it, such good fun. Yes, we definitely want more and in a timely fashion to not like Martin and Rothfuss!
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Or a side novella about a character that wasn’t particularly interesting in the main story … Slow Regard of Silent Things comes to mind.
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This blog post made my day!
Its brilliantly on point and I love the humour. But don’t believe me, I am just a blogger 😉
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Blogger = scum!!! Ha, I do try with the humour it makes the blog more personal and fun! 🙂
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Excellent points… and so very true. I rarely think about the whole “professional” versus those who just read to enjoy… whether it’s free or cost something. None of that matters to me. I read a book because I like the author, genre, topic or description. And I choose the free books I want to read, so it’s not like I am being forced to write up a review on something. It’s all pleasure.
Totally concur with your thoughts. Nothing offended me (tho I don’t offend easily). Your honest, funny and sarcastic tone is exactly on point. And I believe everyone reading it will agree. Nice one.
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Thank you, whether or not anyone takes offence will be seen when the post has been live for longer but it is what it is and I am what I am, honest (blunt) funny (try to be) and sarcastic, it’s how I am and writing that way suits me and feels natural.
It just seems at times that when readers disagree with what a blogger thinks then there is some ploy by the blogger to look good and get free stuff, which isn’t the case, we just review honestly but it’s called into question yet these same people who question bloggers wouldn’t take issue if the review was in a newspaper and after reading they disagreed with it, it would just be life but if it’s a blogger then we are like Satan to them! 🙂
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Great points. Human nature… to take down something rather than explore the full picture. Total agreement with you!
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Man, I really fucking hate Facebook, it’s like hater central! Whatever you want to hate on head to Facebook and you’ll find your people!
Couldn’t agree with every word you’ve written here and I can think of one book recently that you gave a glowing review to because you loved and I gave a DNF review to because I just hated it. We both had a ‘free’ copy to review and normally the same books (fantasy themed 😉) but it just shows we can’t always like all books!
P.S. I’m kinda rooting for that Playboy feature! 👍
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Yeah, FB is hater central!
Ah yes, The Dragon’s Legacy, that’s a valid point though, we both got ‘free’ copies and while I loved it, you didn’t, didn’t affect either of our views though and I’ve seen other reviews that loved the book to and then others that also disliked it, all review copies so that just shows we review honestly and that everyone is different. 🙂
The feature would be awesome!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
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I also forgot to say I’ve worked as a professional reviewer not for books in music but I got shitloads of stick about being paid to write positive reviews. Then if you write a negative review you get shit for being biased against the person your reviewing. There’s no winning! 🤐
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Oh, I didn’t mean the post to sound that I was having a go at ‘professional’ reviewers, more that if a reader disagrees with a bloggers opinion on a book then they seem to rag on it and find ulterior motives wit the review but they don’t question reviews that are in newspapers, etc. It was written from what I read on the FB thread, so I didn’t mean any offence and only had that to go on.
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No I didn’t think you thought that, just kind of backing up your thoughts with actual experience.
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And that is exactly why I refuse to go on Facebook!! Too many idiots and way too much drama!
I love your post and agree with you 100%…..not everyone is going to have the same opinion on a book!!
Awesome post and I love your sarcasm……it’s perfect!!
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Yeah, far to many idiots on FB, seems to be where they all go to hate on people!
Thank you, glad my sarcasm comes across well, I know it doesn’t at times and yeah, not everyone has the exact same opinion, it’s called life and everyone being different. 🙂
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Reblogged this on BCSBook Reviews and News and commented:
This is what publishers pay for……..”I’ve read enough fantasy books to know both what I like and don’t like in a book from that genre, for other fantasy fans the criteria might well be different (we all like different things) but we all know what we want and don’t want to see in books and what for us personally makes a great book, this applies to every genre out there and the readers of it too, remember bloggers are also readers which I think some people seem to forget!”
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I think this is actually one part of a larger issue that I’ve noticed more and more lately. It is is becoming increasingly obvious that the problem is that people cannot accept others opinions as exactly that, THEIR OPINION. The book community has become full of outrage at others for having differing opinions than their own.
I hate that booktubers/bloggers have to put disclaimers in their reviews to let their followers know that this is just their opinion and that it’s alright for someone else to enjoy something. Ummmm, that should be obvious!! Reading is extremely subjective and how anyone can’t understand that is beyond me. And I love that someone uses this problem as a way to bitch about people receiving free books. I’m way too old to have to deal with nonsense lol.
Great post, Drew. I completely agree with you!
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Thank you but erm…….I’m way too old to have to deal with nonsense?! Sigh, you are still young, that means plenty more years of nonsense left ahead of you yet!😂
I agree with you, disclaimers about a review being our own opinion sucks as we write it, it’s obviously our opinion. But, yeah, we shouldn’t have to write that just because we liked/disliked it that others might not feel the same, we all like different things and even if we liked/hated the same book it could well be for different reasons, as you say reading is subjective.
It’s sad really as there really seems to be a lot of shit in the book blogging community at the moment and anyone seems to take the chance to have a go at book bloggers.
Ha, one thing I’ve learned is that anything can be turned into a way of getting ‘free’ books into a way of bad mouthing bloggers, it’s a cardinal sin for us to get ‘free’ books!
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Hey now, 26 is on the older side of the book blogging community!! I’m sorry you’re considered ancient now! 😂😂
Yeah, it just seems redundant to me to write a disclaimer so I don’t bother. If someone wants to come on my blog to bash my opinion on something, then they’re welcome to make a fool out of themselves lol.
But it’s true, bloggers have been getting a lot of hate lately and I’m not sure why. In this person’s case, it almost sounds like they’ve been buying books based on a bloggers review and when they didn’t like it, they were just upset that someone convinced them to spend their money on it while the reviewer got it for free. I just find that hysterical! 😂
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Yeah, that’s the exact jist of it, the person bought 3 books based on blogger reviews, then didn’t enjoy them as much as the bloggers had and complained about it asking if bloggers give glowing reviews too easily, etc. Sour grapes over spending money, widdums!😂
Yeah, I don’t know why bloggers get hate either, it just seems pointless and sad to be honest.
Ha, with great age comes great wisdom!😂
Sniggers, 26, downward slope to 30 for you then!😂
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Hahaha exactly!.. Ugh, don’t remind me that I’m steadily approaching 30. 😩
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Steadily……27……28……29……30!!!😂
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I hate you right now. 😂
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I’m used to that feeling on my blog!😂
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Hahahahaha!!!
Oh, and P.S: Netflix just bought the options for The Witcher series and the author has stated that the script is very much true to the books!
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Awesome, though I prefer the games to the books!😂 It should be a great series if done right and hopefully it will be as there isn’t many fantasy TV shows and the ones there are, are rather lacking in quality (Shanara).
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I haven’t read the books but I’ve heard great things about them. I definitely agree we need more fantasy shows. I think Netflix will do a good job with this one!
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Love this passionate post. I get offended by it because I don’t have a computer, or laptop, the majority of the time I am working from a tablet, and downloading pictures, finding author social media links, and websites, building the post, and then sharing it through several social media sites can take up the majority of my monthly Internet data! I do it because I love sharing my views, and helping indie authors get the credit they deserve. The professional vs us reviewers is bollocks as well because I feel the professionals do get paid to write a positive review, whereas I’ll be honest whether you pay me in cash, or cookies! Bosoms & books sounds like a great idea for a column. I’ll buy it!
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I always have a good laugh when reading your posts!
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Thank you.😀
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I love how many emotions I felt reading this post. Sadness that this is still happening, frustrated an alignment with your opinions– this what we do for fun but it means so much to us!, humor in all the right places (I laughed aloud quite a bit), and pride over how well written this is.
Thanks you for taking a stand on what you believe in Drew. All us book bloggers appreciate it!
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Damn it, I thought this was a comment on my depression post when I saw ’emotions’ in the comment, didn’t realise this post would evoke emotion!
Sadly it’s still happening, seems to be quite a few issues with book blogging at the moment and having a go at book bloggers, easy targets we seem to be.
Very true, we do it for fun and you’re right, it does mean a lot as we put ourselves and effort into our own blog.
Glad you laughed, so far no-one has kicked off about what I wrote but there’s always a chance someone will take offence, it happens on occasion on my blog!😂
Thank you, I appreciate ‘pride over how well written this is’ I struggle with thinking what I write is any good so comments like that mean a lot, thank you.😀
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Great post Drew. I get brassed off with people who think we constantly get free books and just spout a few complimentary phrases about them. I don’t get many physical books, most of mine are ebooks and while they me be free they do have a cost attached. A minimum of normally around 4-5 hours reading, then writing the review, then posting across social media and Amazon, equates to a lot of my personal time. I don’t consider it free, I see it as a fair exchange. It’s also not an exchange that should come with the assumption that the review will be favourable. Admittedly mine normally are, but that’s because I’m very picky about what I read, my time is valuable to me, so I want to read something I think I’ll enjoy. My review is my personal opinion about what I’ve read, and I write my review for readers. I’ve read books I’ve loved and others have been indifferent to it. By the same token I may be the only person on the planet who disliked Gone Girl. We are all different, that doesn’t make my view right or wrong, it just reflects what I feel.
Good luck with Hugh!
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Thank you and yes, I exactly, I made that exact point in my rant about ‘real’ readers as even though we get free copies of books you then have the time spent reading, writing and formatting the review, sharing, etc, it’s all time.
That’s very valid why most of your reviews are favourable, reading what you want is the best way. I’ve only read 3 books that I really disliked in my time blogging, I’m a firm believer in reading what I want so like you, I don’t have many negative reviews, doesn’t mean that I don’t write them though when a book doesn’t work for me.
Very true for us all, reviews are our own opinion, that doesn’t mean that everyone else will agree with them and that’s fine, we all have different tastes but our review shouldn’t be called into question when someone disagrees with it, it’s just life that not everyone likes the same.
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Oh God is this still going on? What happened to people having different tastes? I may not like a book that you love and vice versa and that is fine! All of this brou-haha is why I don’t really like social media and am quite shy in FB groups!
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Yeah, it went on the other day, the person had bought 3 books based on blogger recommendations and then didn’t like them, then implying that bloggers give glowing reviews when they shouldn’t. The person didn’t mean any offence, they posted an apology and deleted the original post, it was more a case of they just worded their question wrong but it gave me the idea for this post, especially as I’d seen something similar in a fantasy group on FB where someone actually said they prefer smaller blogger reviews than the huge sites/professionals as the smaller blogs have a more real opinion on the books and come across as genuine book lovers.
Always brou-haha (nice word BTW) on FB, it seems to be the place for Haters to gather and blogger bash.🙁
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You write discussions way better than I can. And in some ways, I trust the book bloggers more than the professionals (same with movie reviews or TV reviews) because we choose what we want to read/watch. A lot of professionals are “assigned” to review something and therefore sometimes get saddled with reviewing a genre or style they don’t like. Bloggers don’t seem to have that problem.
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Thank you, I just try and write how I write, sarcasm, jokes, swearing and the occasional valid point but seem to be well received.
Yeah, very true, we read what we want/like and professionals a lot of the time don’t, I just find blogger reviews to be better than professional, they have more personality and just seem more trustworthy when you know the blogger likes similar books. Obviously, we can’t all like the same and at times what one person loves another will hate, but that’s just our differences and we can’t all like the same books all the time.
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Yeah, your writing style is good and matches you!
My whole family has noticed (especially in our newspaper) that a lot of movies we like are given a low rating…like, this one guy always reviews the superhero movies despite the fact that he clearly doesn’t like them. It makes the reviews rather untrustworthy. And the writing in the reviews are typically better when someone wanted to read/watch what they are reviewing. And likes will always vary.
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Thank you, it does, or at least it should as that’s what I go for, me in writing form.
Very true that likes always vary and yeah, if the person doesn’t like something then they aren’t going to write a great review and will half ass it.
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Yeah…that’s why my whole family has basically given up on reviews in the papers. If you’re not interested in what you’re reviewing (even if you ended up not liking it) you won’t write well, which makes the review very unreliable.
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👏👏👏
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Reblogged this on Reads & Reels and commented:
Boo ya!
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Boo ya?!?!😂
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Yes though maybe I didn’t spell it right lmao 😂
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Reviewing ain’t easy. Writing thought provoking reports on books is an art unto itself. A little appreciation for the folks that go to the trouble does not need to be repaid in ugliness. Everybody appreciates kindness and courtesy.
Happy blogging everybody!
~Icky. 🙂
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Sadly kindness to bloggers appears to be lacking at times.
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this was amazing! Thank you for making my morning!
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Thank you.
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YES! Fantastic post! I’m much more likely to trust the reviews of bloggers than ‘professional’ reviewers because I KNOW how much bloggers actually love books and how much dedication it takes to keep a blog running.
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Thank you and yeah, very true it takes a lot of dedication and as bloggers we love the books we read, we’re both fantasy fans and we read fantasy books, we’re not just a person reading a fantasy book to review, it’s the genre we like, just like crime, thriller readers, etc.
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This is an amazing post! It just goes to show how some people think. They see one blog that gives every book amazing reviews and assumes that all blogs are like that. Well, I can say for certain that they are not! I’ve read a few different book review blogs and seen a wide variety of reviews. Everyone has their own unique look on what they read. And while two bloggers may think that a particular book was amazing, another blogger may not agree. This person you’re talking about is just stereotyping bloggers. Or maybe they’re jealous cuz we get free books? Who knows! Anyway, awesome post! I agree with you 100%!
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Thank you.😀
Yeah, that’s definitely true, not all of us think the same, I recently read and loved a fantasy book, another blogger hated it, we both got review copies and, it’s our opinion, neither is right or wrong.
Like wise, I’ve got a book I’m reading, not enjoying it due to something that happened at the beginning, I got a copy to review, it’s not going to be a glowing review as I’m still not sure I’ll finish it, yet the book has 12 5* reviews on Amazon, people just need to look more and realise that bloggers are genuine.
And, yeah, jealousy over free books is a given and obvious as it’s just how some people are.
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I love this rant! I agree 100%!!
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Well then Stephy, you have exceptional taste.😀
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I tend to, lol. 😂😜
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Can’t argue with that.😀
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There is something else to be taken into consideration about those “free” books we so undeservedly 😛 get: since we tend to *choose* the books we request based on personal preferences, it’s more than possible that we would end up liking any given book we request, so there is no surprise in the fact that we turn out a positive review.
Book blogger and proud, indeed! 🙂
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That is very true, obviously we pick books that we think we’ll like, silly people who think otherwise!😂 What gets me though is that if they disagree with the review after they’ve read the book then our review was wrong and we only praised the book as we have a blog, not the fact that everyone has different opinions, they just have to look for something that isn’t their as we have a blog.
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I’ve lost count of the times I’ve hated (or more simply not-liked) a book that others were praising wildly, and I never thought that they were paying lip service to the author or publisher! Breaking news: we’re all different people with different tastes! (((evil grin)))
And that’s exactly what makes book blogging so fun, the possibility of sharing our *diverse* thoughts with like-minded people, book loving people. That’s all that truly matters to me 🙂
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Digs at book bloggers always annoy me, but I think “How dare someone say they like a book I didn’t like; they must be a liar!” is a new low. There are just…people in the world who like books you don’t and hate books you like. This should not be news to anyone.
I’ve also written a discussion post about the weird assumption that professional reviewers are “more qualified” to have opinions on books. First, many of these people have minimal qualifications. I met someone once who get a job reviewing for Publishers’ Weekly right out of college. Her only “qualifications” were an English degree and like one internship in the publishing industry. If that makes her an “expert,” than I’m an expert too–even more of one because I have MULTIPLE publishing internships under my belt and an MA in English. You can’t judge people on the Internet if you don’t know their backgrounds.
Beyond that, though, books are generally not written for critics and “experts.” If we’re talking about the latest fiction craze, those books are written for a general audience. ANYONE is supposed to be able to read, understand them, and have an opinion on them. This is even more true for YA, which is geared towards readers who have yet earned a high school diploma. You shouldn’t need “credentials” to be expected to “really” understand the book.
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It’s definitely a low point, that’s the issue, books are subjective, as are games, films, TV shows, etc. Just because someone likes something it doesn’t mean that the other person will, even if they have very similar tastes, not everyone can like everything and that’s fine as it’s our own opinion but to get that questioned just because someone didn’t like the book, no, it’s just wrong to think that way, it’s merely different reading tastes and what you enjoy but they had to look at the ‘blogger’ aspect and state they obviously reviewed it favourably because it was a free copy, which is just annoying.
Always seems to be some sort of blogger bashing going on recently and it’s sad.
I don’t think professional reviewers are necessarily more qualified to have opinions (I might have implied that in the post but then I do have my own unique way of wording things) it’s more from what I gathered in post comments on the thread and even talking to someone at work. People have the opinion that if the professional liked/disliked the book/etc then they trust that and know that when they read it, they, ere’ll enjoy it or will stay away from it as though the professional opinion is the truth, yes, they might well have a better insight but at the end of the day it’s still only their opinion.
I think that’s part of it, as you put you shouldn’t need credentials to understand a book, even if the professional has those credentials a lot of the people reading the review and then reading the book won’t, they just want something to read and hopefully enjoy as they are just simply readers, they aren’t looking to dissect the book and understand all the subtle little nuances and events.
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Oh, I didn’t think you were implying professionals’ opinions were more valid. I was just going off the thread that, yeah, some people think book bloggers “don’t count” because they’re not “real reviewers.” I mean, publications like Kirkus and Publishers Weekly have anonymous reviews; you don’t even KNOW who’s doing the reviewing, so that’s some real blind trust to just assume they’ve hired people who know anything and that bloggers don’t know as much or even more than some of these reviewers. And some bloggers, I believe, HAVE worked as professional reviewers.
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Honestly Drew some of these people you interact and dedicate these posts to make me wanna punch em . I mean how hard is it to realize that not every one is going to like a book or dislike a book no matter how popular/unpopular they are amongst others.
I have actually ranted about my dislike for Dark Tower and Stephen King , Dark Tower ofcourse Is one of the most popular book series and I believe King doesn’t need any introduction . It doesn’t mean I have vendetta against King or a propaganda against Dark Tower (maybe the studios are paying me so I bad mouth the book and their opposing studio making the movie fail to cash in on the awesomeness of Idris Alba) .
Not to mention , as far as I can remember of all the ARCs I have read and reviewed only 3 have recieved more than 7 rating , again not due to my propaganda but because It’s what my views are about that book and ofcourse other people who may have liked it are human and have their own taste .
Bottom line , as your post states so well with a Image , I’m a book Blogger and I’m Proud of it
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Thank you and it’s very true, not everyone does like the same and what one person likes another might dislike. If I give a book 5* and then someone buys it on that review and only enjoys it giving it 3.5* as opposed to how I loved it, it’s not my fault they didn’t like it quite so much as we are all different with varying tastes, such is life, if we all liked only the exact same book then reading would be very boring indeed!
Damn right, I’m a book blogger and proud!😀
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Bravo Drew! Speaking for myself, I take my reviews very seriously and do my utmost to be fair and honest. While I’d say about 3/4 of them land between 3 and 5 stars, I’ve written plenty of 1 -2 star reviews, which gives me no pleasure. It’s important to me though that my followers trust me.
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Most bloggers take their reviews seriously and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so annoying when the integrity of them is questioned.
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Needed a dictionary today, Drew.
You make us book bloggers (old and new) proud. Such things bubble in our mind, but we fear too much to let it out.
Thanks for writing about things what we must have had thought at least once in our little book blogging life but lacked courage or conviction to let it go public.
‘Lack of expertise’ (when your review has a negative comment), ‘mommy-blogger’ (that’s not a nice thing to say, really. Mommies aren’t couched potatoes. They have a lot of work, and there are reasons why they are not career-moms), ‘free books and free reviews’ such things are words from those who can’t take honest criticism.
Sorry for the rant. Had a bad day.
By the way, did Hugh Hefner get back to you on your proposal?
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Thank you, I guess I do just voice my opinion on certain subjects that others wouldn’t, just being honest in the post though, not attempting to antagonise anyone with it, they can disagree with what I wrote it’s fine –
unless they moan about bosoms and books and then there’ll be trouble with their sickening covers with abs on, barf!🤢😂
Rant away, it’s all good, anything goes on my blog!😂
Nope, no response from Hugh, sigh, maybe I need to create a logo for the feature to entice him to OK it!😂
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You can collaborate with Trevor the Hob goblin to create some Goblin B&B logos for dear old Hugh. Lol.
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Alas, I think if the feature did ever see the light of day on my blog the PC brigade will come out in full force!😂🙁
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I believe that a lot of bloggers often put more effort and time into their reviews than some professional reviewers who have to say 12 lines in a magazine to judge their view. Not taking anything away from the professionals, they are at that level for a reason but; I do think there is a lot of negativity against us bloggers. Where do I sit though… I am a blogger who writes on a main site and yes, a lot of my reviews are positive, but I have a lot of friends on the blogger scene and I always do my research to analyse if a book sounds like my cup of tea. If I don’t like a book, I won’t rip it to shreds, I will be honest, I will explain why I don’t like it and maybe why I think other people may. No one wins if a reviewer rips apart an author, and no one wins if an author attacks a reviewer. Great article once again, Drew. You are our blogging Knight in shining armour! 🙂 x
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Yeah, sadly there is a lot of negativity towards bloggers and I’m really not sure why to be honest as it just comes across as sad.
Most of my reviews are positive too, it’s down to reading what I think I’ll enjoy, occasionally I don’t as we all make mistakes or the book just isn’t for us, but I’ve got 3 ‘bad’ reviews and in them I tried to be positive, I’m not sure I’ll finish a book I’m reading at the moment, took a break from it and it’s likely to be a ‘bad’ review but I’ll do my best to find some positives in it as I’m fully aware that just because I don’t like something it doesn’t mean others won’t find some enjoyment in it.
As you say, no one wins if a reviewer rips apart an author, it’s not something I understand doing I have to admit, just seems cruel to completely rip something. And yeah, authors should know better, it’s not many but it only takes one bad experience and that’ll stop a blogger working with indie authors due to the bad experience as it’s undue stress and hassle over something that should be fun as it’s a hobby.
Lmao, blogging knight in shining armour, knight’s are decent, gentlemanly and chivalrous, have you seen what I write!😂
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I do interviews, press releases and all sorts. I don’t get anything for that! Also, I still buy heaps of books as well as getting review copies. Peace, Drew. Keep blogging 😃
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I haven’t noticed much negativity towards bloggers lately, but maybe I can just count myself thankful I have been too down and out to pay much mind haha. So good job and calling it when you see it.
Stuff like that really peeves me. But I find myself sort of entering this mentality where I will do my part to support the community and those in it, but care less and less about the other stuff. I think my own issues have finally forced me into a relaxed “don’t give a shite because I have too many others things to worry about” attitude 😉 I am doing this for me.
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Oh and FB is just becoming a royal pain anymore 😛
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FB seems to be the place where Haters converge!😂
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En masse 😉
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It’s only May and since the start of the year we’ve had the real reader blogger bashing, the author stuff with a few bloggers and now this, that’s quite a lot of crap to put up with, or it is IMO.
I think it was just how the person worded the post, they apologised and deleted it, as I said, I didn’t see any wrong in it as we all word stuff wrong at times and people take offence.
I just used it for the base of this post, it just seemed ideal to write it as I’d thought about it, in a fantasy group someone said they prefer the small blog reviews as it’s more like a person offering their thoughts than the large sites that just rehash the blurb and offer a couple of lines.
Just seemed an idea for a post, I do have these weird ones at times.😂
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I didn’t find it weird at all. Makes sense. I tire of the drama and am familiar with the negativity. You know how personal I am about everything. It can all hurt and be so discouraging. I am just thankful to have missed any recent drama or “hate” because I have some much on my plate at the moment that I would probably break. I hope you have had a good day Drew 🙂
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I so agree! If I wanted a free book, I’d go to the library, lol. Book reviewing is hard (as I’m starting to understand), and it takes a lot of devotion. Great post.
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Thank you and yes, blogging/reviewing while fun can also be hard and time consuming.
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I remember that post! I even commented and said that I leave poor reviews aside from good ones.
I agree, depending on how you read it, it could have been worded better. 😊 Other bloggers could have taken offence to her question.
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Other bloggers did take offence to her question, can’t fault them for it as she didn’t word it very well! 😂
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And yes..reviewing books IS time consuming. We all work hard at what we do. Our time is priceless.
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Very true, blogging takes a lot of time which is something people who don’t blog don’t realise.
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Blogger and proud. And I agree with a lot of what has already been said in the comments. I work hard at being a fair and honest reviewer. If I didn’t like it, I will say why, and if I did, I will say why. I also try to find merit in the books I do not enjoy.
A few authors have thanked me for the honesty in my reviews and for that I am grateful. It’s a privilege to both read and offer an opinion on someone else’s piece of work. We often forget that books (or movies or music or games etc) are subjective. We can only offer our experience and that means we can’t please every one.
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That’s very true, people forget about it being subjective and when they end up disagreeing see things that aren’t there, eg the blogger got a free copy, they just praised the book due to that, nope, just means they had different tastes.
That’s the best way trying to find merit and good points even in books you don’t enjoy.
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Well said! Our opinions are just as valid as any ‘professional’ book reviewer’s. Truth be told, I don’t actually read any of the book reviews found in magazines and newspapers because I find they lack the humour and creativity found in the reviews of book bloggers. When the review is on your own blog, you’re completely free in not only what you say, but how you say it and I think the latter is very important because that’s what makes book blogger’s reviews unique and fun to read 🙂
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Thank you, I do try and make the occasional valid point in with all the sarcasm and foul-mouthed language.😂
That’s very true, on your own blog you get to show your own personality and write whatever…WHATEVER you want!😂 whereas in a ‘professional’ review for a newspaper, etc you have to be professional and bland and let’s face it, some of us wouldn’t be able to post our blog posts in a professional way anyway, pretty sure they would frown on certain language and phrases that some bloggers use!😂 but yeah, the personality of the blogger definitely makes each review unique.
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Great post!! I would say a lot of book bloggers also use the library and buy a lot of books too. I am a small blogger so I don’t get free books nor have I even looked into trying haha. I think if people don’t agree with your reviews then apparently you have different tastes and maybe shouldn’t follow them anymore.
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Great post drew! You get it totally and utterly bang on! In fairness, I prefer a blogger review over a professional review. Bloggers have unlimited word count to express their thoughts and make the review personal whereas professional reviews… I’m not saying they’re useless, but I simply don’t enjoy them. Besides they have too many of those overused ‘slogans’ like ‘unputdownable’… I hate that word even though sometimes the books I read truly are that but just.. no…
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Thank you. 🙂
Yeah, I’m not really a fan of professional reviews either, I like a bit of colour and personality in the things I read, I don’t just want some boring and bland generic vanilla ‘it is enjoyable’ review and as you say, too many overused slogans.
At least overused slogans aren’t as bad as some words to hate, moist springs to mind as a vile word, must get it in a review one of these days! 😉
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hahahahaha, moist.. I don’t hate the word as much… moist makes me think of a good chocolate cake, actually 😀
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Ha, people were talking about it and using it a work today and they didn’t mean a cake was mloist, barf! And yet they moan when I use the ‘c’ word, sigh!
Ha, I shall endevour to use unputdownable in a review just for you then Lizzy as you hate it so much! 😉
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bwahahahaha ! 😀 double standards, it’s called, I think Drew! feck it.. call a spade a spade and be done with it.. those closet perverts! XD
Thank you Drew… I look forward to reading the review where you can combine both moist and unputdownable 😀
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Oh yes, I’m under no allusions that it is double standards, all good fun though!😂
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Jeez! It’s become a thing to attack book bloggers for their free arcs & reviews smh and it’s still very senseless in my opinion. It certainly did not come easy to get to the point where arcs are approved or sent in the mail. like you said, a lot of time…free time…is put into our blogs. I know I for one try to keep it as honest as possible even though I have an unspoken rule on my blog to not bash any author no matter how much I hated a book….there’s always a civil way to go about expressing your opinion. Most importantly, as a reader, blogger, and arc receiver…I think I can say I KNOW WHAT I LIKE. Therefore, blaming someone else for my 3 book dud streak, again makes no sense to me. I’m coming up on 1 year soon & honestly have gotten really selective on what I will & will not review. If you know your taste in books & research reviews across platforms, maybe that will help you in steering clear of a book that may not be your cup of tea. I’ve submitted to Netgalley 2 & 3 star reviews & never got banned from their books. It is possible to submit a bad review w/out ruining your relationship with a publisher. I’ve also DNF’d on Netgalley (2 books) & explained my reasons & again that never affected my odds of getting books from them (tested & verified). This is one topic that truly irks me but I guess that’s because I take issue with dishonesty & or being called that. Great post Drew! I’m a book Blogger & I’m sayin’ it PROUD! *beats chest* lol
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Yeah, very true, disagree with a blogger review then obviously it was a free book and they just reviewed it favourably, not the fact that people have different tastes, where bloggers are concerned it’s always something underhand, which annoys the hell out of me, I’d like to think that I explain what I like or even don’t like about a book during the review, if someone decides to read the book based on my review and don’t like it, fine, we all like different things and I can accept that their opinion is different but not that they rag on mine and decide I must have lied about the book, what makes their view on the book right mine wrong? Nothing, just put it down to reading taste differences but, sigh, as it’s a review from a blogger, sigh.
Annoys me as bloggers always seem to be getting picked on.
Yeah, lots of us are selective on what we read, we are predominantly going to read what we want and like anyway it’s just natural, obviously with ARC’s/review copies we might get one and end not liking it but we try to read stuff we enjoy or where would be the fun in blogging and reading?
Very valid about being civil, I’ve only had 3 bad reviews, soon to be 4 and while I might be blunt at times, I’ve always tried to look for the good in the books to, it’s only fair as completely cropping (for lack of a better word) doesn’t help anyone. I did with one book I have to admit but sadly I couldn’t find anything redeeming in it no matter how hard I tried.
I’m not surprised that low/negative reviews don’t affect Netgalley, publishers want honest feedback after all, as honest feedback is honest, if you’ve explained why you had issues with the book no-one can fault the review being negative.
Ha, true, we are all book bloggers and proud.😀
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This argument against us unpaid bloggers/reviewers is getting really annoying. I believe it’s probably jealousy rather than anger against us. Jealous they can’t get free books or jealous they don’t have the ability to write long reviews like us :D. They still don’t get that we do this in our spare time, not paid and yet paid to do it is better !? Great post Bosoms and Books, you might be onto something there 😉
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Thank you and yeah, very true, I really think that the person just wrote the question wrong as it implied that bloggers praised books to make their blog look good and they apologised when they knew they’d offended. It wasn’t an attack unlike some, just wrongly worded.
It is annoying though, always seems to be blogger bashing over something, at times you would think we were worse than Hitler and Trump combined according to some people!
Ha, thanks, it’d be an awesome feature but would probably result in me losing all my followers and the PC brigade waging war on the blog!
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Damn it takes forever to scroll through all those comments…Another awesome post Drew! I feel like you are becoming the unofficial spokes person for us book bloggers.
“It was also a veiled dig at bloggers getting ‘free‘ books too and I’m getting really fucking tired of that shit.”
Right?! Let it go people!
“How many professional reviews do you see that slander, bad mouth and are negative compared to all the ones offering glowing praise? Not many and does anyone question why? Do they not consider that the ‘professional’ reviewer gets paid as it’s their job and it would look bad if they were constantly negative with their reviews.”
Excellent point! You would think that people would question “professional reviewers” because they are actually getting paid for a review… you would think it would be a conflict of interests, but like you said, they never get any hate!
“Otherwise, we will have to debate how none of you has an issue with all these smut books that use the glistening torso of rock hard oiled granite male abs to sell them and the obvious blatant objectification of men on those covers, as that my dear followers is the epitome of sex sells!”
No backlash from me. While I don’t read smut, I do enjoy the covers. I’m all about those male chiseled abs lol
Another great post with excellent points.
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Thank you and the fact that it takes ages to scroll through the comments is a wonderful thing, or it is for my blog and the post anyway as it means people commented!😀
Very true, slander the people who don’t get paid and do it for free but make out that the world is ending when they get a free book. But, when you’re actually paid to do it, nah, we don’t question that. Also, which I forgot to add in the post, we write reviews and outline what we liked, what we like is personal choice but read my reviews and you’ll see what I did and didn’t like, you might read the book and then dislike what I liked, fair enough, as I said it’s personal choice but they don’t see that, they just see ‘blogger’ sigh, a dirty word it seems.
Anyway, back on track, we outline what we liked/disliked and its obvious that we read the book. No one seems to bother and ask when they see professional reviews that just rewrite the blurb near enough word for word and end with ‘it’s enjoyable’ etc, did they even read the book? They aren’t saying what they liked or disliked just it was enjoyable but that makes it gospel, hell no!
Ha, I’ll play nicely and let you have the abs bit with no sarcastic retort!😀
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I like the word ‘impugn’. Good and thoughtful blog. You’re quite right, one person – blogger or otherwise – liking a book does not mean everyone will. Each to their own tastes, I say.
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Yes Drew! Well bloody said that man! When I tell new people what I do for a hobby/second (unpaid) job most people have been great and so supportive and interested. Then you get the few that say: “Hang on…you get loads of free books for NOTHING?!” Er…. no! 🙄
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Thank you.😀 Ha, free books for nothing, hell no, free yes, but when you factor in the time spent reviewing and drafting posts, nope, not really free at all.
Ah, that’s cool though that most new people are supportive about your blog, most people I know thrown on reading as ‘boring’ and according to them blogging falls into that category to.😠🙁
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Ah they suck then Drew and don’t deserve to know ya 😒
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LOL! Love the sarcasm. Do what ya love…that’s all that matters. 🙂
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Thank you, I do have a way with sarcasm!😂
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It truly is an art form. 😉
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Most of the books now I get are from Overdrive which is through my local library. Even though I’m not a true book blogger, I do give my honest reviews too. And yes, I’m guilty of doing one-liners on Goodreads.
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