'Riting & Receiving Reviews = R: Blogging from A to Z

Reviews are important to authors and readers alike. Readers can find reviewers they trust and base their to-be-read pile on their recommendations. Authors can get valuable feedback and word-of-mouth advertising, hands down the best way to get other people to read your book is to have unbiased readers touting it.

There are some wonderful review bloggers out there, in addition to the reviewers in magazines in newspapers. Although I must admit, I see very few of those nowadays. If you have any interest in book reviews on lesser-known novels or independently-published ones, you need to find book bloggers.

I have a review blog, Mom in Love with Fiction, that is primarily dedicated to lesser-known and independently-published books. Since I read anything and everything, I also write reviews of popular titles. I started it simply because I love reading and wanted to share.

As an author, I have great respect for writers who put their books out there for public consumption and review. Before I published, I was a harsher critic. Now, I try to find the good in any given piece while also being honest about my opinions.

What I find the hardest, summarizing why I think someone should read a book. One thing I know for sure from being a longtime book club member, a roomful of people RARELY agree on a book.

Should I summarize the highlights of the book as I see it and give a quick commentary, or mainly write commentary and let them read the back cover for a summary?

As far as receiving reviews, I understand and respect that people have different opinions. But, there are some reviews on Amazon that seem mean-spirited and hateful. You can politely say a book is not for you without calling it awful, stupid, worthless, etc. Just as bad, a one-star review on GoodReads without one word as to why.

I read an article recently that there are "spammers" that go around putting one-star reviews on tons of books to bring the averages down. That's a shame.

What do you look for in a book review to make you want to read a book? Do you ever leave reviews on Amazon or GoodReads?

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Thanks for visiting during R of my A to Z Blogging journey. Please visit other participants here.

Also, a fun giveaway on my review blog. Click HERE for details on how to win a Kindle copy of ReVamped by Ada Adams (4.5 stars). The contest deadline is TODAY, 4/20/12, at 1:00pm EST.