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I would really like to generate a discussion in the comment section of this post. If you are an indie published author or someone who is planning on publishing a book independently, I hope you will comment after reading this post. I will also warn you that this will be a longer post than I usually write.
You see, I don’t understand today’s indie authors who write a book, then publish it and put it out for the whole world to see without having it properly edited, and yet, they get upset if someone writes a review they find negative or offensive or gives the book less than a 4-star rating. If you publish and release a book with lots of grammatical errors or a book that lacks a good plot or well developed characters, or any other writing problems, why would you expect all the ratings to be four and five stars, and why would you expect a glowing review with nothing but positive things about your book?
As a reader, I want to read honest reviews. As a matter of fact, it aggravates me when someone simply posts a star rating but says nothing about what they thought or how they felt about the book. Just like everything else in the world, books, including eBooks, are getting more expensive and I don’t want to waste my money or time reading a book that hasn’t been polished. Before indie publishing, you or I might have picked up a book we didn’t like after reading it, but not because it had a bunch of errors or lacked all the important parts of a good story. Our dislike would’ve been based on things like a favorite character dying, or an unhappy ending, or the problem not being satisfactorily resolved. However, published books did not have lots of grammatical errors or things like using one name for a character in half of the book and then another name for the same character in the second half of the book or any other major problems because books had been thoroughly and well edited.
As a writer who has been studying the writing craft in the professional writing world for over 10 years now, I have learned the things that are most important to a good story: well developed characters, a story written in the POV (point of view) of one or two characters clearly, without head hopping (jumping from one character’s thoughts and feelings to another’s), and written in a way that takes me deep within the main character’s or main two characters’ heads because that’s what draws me deep into the story. Also, a clear description/picture of the setting; conflict — some kind of problem (usually more than one) that the character needs to overcome; a plot line that keeps me wanting to turn the pages; a clear resolution of the problem or problems at the end of the story along with evidence that the character has grown and changed from the beginning to the end of the story. In addition, the best books evoke the reader’s emotions — I always say my favorite books make me laugh and cry. Some great extras in a book might be an unexpected surprise or twist.
Also, I am realistic. I know that whatever I publish, no matter how well written it may be, it is still bound to get some negative reviews because not everyone likes the same kinds of books. Therefore, I fully expect that there will be some people who will read my book and not like it and write a review stating why they disliked it. I am also fully aware that not everyone writes their criticisms in a kind, constructive way. That’s what all writers need to be aware of and ready to accept. The first thing I was taught in the professional writing world is: “You better develop a thick skin.” In other words, you’d better be able to accept or ignore negative and/or nasty critiques and/or reviews and not respond in kind.
So, if your book is lacking some important parts or has glaring grammatical errors, wouldn’t you prefer to have an honest review that points these things out in a kind way?
Example: I recently read a book that had major problems and should have been more thoroughly edited and corrected before publication. Here is the review I wrote without the title and author’s name or specifics about the story:
The story fails to really draw the reader into the story. It also lacks descriptions that paint pictures of the setting in the readers mind. There is also no real conflict, action, or danger, although there were a couple times in the story that the reader may suspect danger or a threat of danger ahead.
This is a very simple sweet story where everything goes well and leads to a happy ending. The story moves quickly and reaches its end without full development of plot or characters. Therefore, I believe this book has been written and published by a person who has had little writing instruction.
If it had illustrations, it would make a fun children’s book. As it is, I would recommend it for elementary age children. It is an easy read where there are no dangers and everything ends happily. It is a completely clean story.
So, I posed two questions earlier in this post I would like comments on. In addition, I would like comments on the following questions in regard to this review: 1) Do you consider this review harsh? 2) Do you see positives in the review in addition to the criticism? 3) Would you take offense to the review or consider taking another look at the book and trying to see the points made and make corrections?
Only respectful answers/comments will be posted and will get a response from me or other readers.
Kelly F Barr 
I read this post and would like to respond to some of the comments listed here. As a young writer, I do not, in any way, shape, or form, claim to know everything there is to know about the writing world. However, when I see something that I feel is undeserved harsh criticism of anything, I feel compelled to respond, as I have been the recipient of such in the past and do not want anyone else to be subject to such. Therefore, I will make the following statements clearly and maybe even bluntly, while still doing my utmost best to maintain a respectful and Christlike attitude.
First of all, from my perspective, this review did not appear harsh whatsoever. As I said before, I was a recipient of harsh reviews and critiques for several years. Harsh reviews or critiques, in my experience, include several things: first, the reviewer will act like the writer does not know what they are doing. Second, the reviewer will act as though they are superior to the person whose work they are reviewing. And third, the reviewer, with those thoughts in mind, will attempt to change the very fabric of the story and make it what they would prefer it to be. This review is therefore not harsh, in any way, shape, or form! It does not say that the author does not know what they are doing. It does not adopt a superior attitude. And it most certainly does not attempt to change the fabric of the story.
Secondly, if you are hurt by the tone of this review, then you may not have taken it in the way it was intended. Does a harsh review ever include the words, “This is a very simple, sweet story where everything goes well and leads to a happy ending”? Or does it ever say, “It is an easy read”? I have not seen a harsh review in my short writing career that ever said anything like that. In response to something you said, John Matthews, I think a reviewer has responsibility to the reader and the writer, as well. If no one else is telling the writer where there are certain grammatical mistakes or certain mix-ups in the timeline, then who else will but the reviewer? In this world, many people do not care about the feelings of the author and will give a review without choosing their words carefully or for the express purpose of tearing the author down, instead of trying to assist the author and help them hone their craft. I do not see that happening here. I see carefully chosen words that are yet honest about what Kelly thinks of the book. This is a rare quality in today’s world of publishing, and authors should be grateful to have kind, yet honest editors and reviewers who are willing to truly help them in their craft! It is important to remember, as authors, that not everyone will like our work. Instead, we are to take each review and critique and look at it carefully and honestly. If it is helpful to us in any way, we should use it. If it is not, then we don’t use it. Simple. But if it’s truthful and yet offends us, then something is wrong with US, not with the reviewer or critiquer! There is a verse in Proverbs that states, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” That is not to say that good reviews and critiques are not helpful and exciting, they certainly are! But if that’s all we listen to, then again, there is something wrong with US. If we are only willing to listen to the good reviews and critiques, then we hurt ourselves in the long run – and give other writers a bad name in the process! And would anyone buy our work if we are only listening to the good reviews and writing horrible stories anyway?
Would I be disappointed if someone told me my story wasn’t that well written? Yes! As artists, we tend to attach our hearts to our work. But I would hope that I would also ask the million-dollar question, “WHY is my writing so bad? What didn’t you like about the story?” Writers need to be humble enough to ask for help and listen to advice from reviewers, editors, and critiquers, as well as people who know them. And I would hope that constructive criticism, as seen in this review, would help me want to go back and make changes to improve on the piece. I have recently made a change in the writers I surround myself with and have found beauty in constructive criticism – reviews and critiques that are encouraging, but also honest and aimed at helping me hone my desired craft. Something like this is priceless, and I do not take it for granted, especially after suffering through the harshness of past reviews of my short stories.
Third, I’m not sure if anyone here has ever heard of the “story mountain”, so if you have not, I will quickly explain. If you have, bear with me as I give you a brief review! 😉 The story mountain is like a universal example of how a story must run. At the beginning, there is an introduction of the setting and characters. As the story goes on, suspense builds as the characters encounter problems preventing them from completing their “mission”, such as a knight having to follow a map to find the lost princess. At the peak of the mountain is the climax, where the knight must fight the dragon to save the princess, who is held captive in the dragon’s castle. Then as the knight defeats the dragon, we go back down the mountain as the story is resolved and the happy ending that satisfies a reader’s heart is written. If there is no climax to the story, no conflict, no problems, then there is no story. Simple. And if there is no story (including those three elements), the reader is either going to slog through the book and snap it shut proclaiming, “That was a waste of time!”, never buy a book from that author again, and maybe give it a very bad (harsh!) review, or close it within the first five chapters and say, “It’s not worth it. I’m not going to finish that!” If you can’t draw the reader in within the first chapter, then you’re fighting a losing battle. It’s just that simple.
Writing is work, and if you’re going to work, you’re going to need to do your best at it. Especially as a Christian writer. Colossians 3:23: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” We are not working for people! We are working for the Lord. That is ultimately what matters. And if we’re working for the Lord, ultimately, then no untrue reviews should bother us and we should strive to make our writing the best it can be, even if we may not like the truly helpful advice at first. (Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti, Jen Turano, R. J. Larson, etc. – these are all examples of people who write stories to the best of their abilities, with all those elements, and to the glory of God. I’m sure there are people out there who have given them harsh reviews and don’t care for their books, but I’m also sure there are people who have helped them along in their journeys with constructive criticism. They thank many of those people in their acknowledgements or even in the book dedications.)
Let me clarify once again: I am not trying to be harsh in writing all of this, I am merely trying to be clear.
Thank you for reading this and have a blessed day! I hope this helps.
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Thank you, Just Me, for reading this post and leaving your lengthy comment. Thank you also for sharing your personal experience with a harsh critique partner/reviewer and a critque partner/reviewer that offers constructive criticism. I also like how you shared some scripture and approached this from a Christian perspective.
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Thank you, Kelly! I hope this helps you and helps others see where you’re coming from. Good luck to you on your future projects!
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It is sad when people are neglectful of spelling and grammar, and are offended when they aren’t praised and lauded for doing anything at all.
“I passed by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man destitute of understanding. And lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.” Pr 24
There is another kind of mess that Solomon talks about as well:
“Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.” Pr 14
Things are more tidy when you don’t have to clean up after the ox, but it’s more important to keep the ox than to have this tidiness.
Similarly some writers may be focussed on other things, such as meeting deadlines they’ve committed to, writing for their friends, having sincere and dynamic characters, or historical research and accuracy.
However, these writers are grateful when someone else comes and helps “tidy up their manger” – of course, when it isn’t done in a condescending or reproachful manner.
I tend to go over things I write multiple times: in my head, as I write it, and afterwards – as a result, I tend to fail in other areas, like getting done on time, or having time at all, or doing study, research, practice, and other preparation.
Another thing to think about is that when it is free to publish a book, it becomes accessible not only to lazy career writers, but to construction workers and farmers who don’t have much spare time, but instead of spending it smoking and gambling they write a sweet little story to give their old Ma for Christmas. Or you can also run across a kid’s school project – such is technology that you can have not just a crayon drawing but a whole book on your fridge now, haha!
And of course it isn’t always one or the other, but sometimes mixtures or degrees.
As to the review, I would say it comes across as harsh not because of how many positives and negatives there are, but because of the way it is written, particularly the sentence: “Therefore, I believe this book has been written and published by a person who has had little writing instruction” mainly because it is entirely talking about the author. It is hard to write things like this when people can’t hear your tone.
For the sake of time, I’ll make an attempt to give the same review (knowing it won’t be the same), in words I think might be able to work around the absence of tone.
“This is a clean, family friendly story; it’s simple, sweet, and easy to read: I would recommend it for elementary age readers.
For myself, to draw me into the story, there would need to be more at stake, and have the stakes clearly expressed, so that there is a question to be found out by the end, and thus the characters would have the challenges needed to develop them and give the reader sympathy for them. I would recommend {such and such}, which helped me see the need for this in a story, and how to use it.
Another thing that can be added which would draw a reader in is descriptions that paint a picture in the mind – which is harder to put your finger on, but spending time in authors who do this well can be powerful.”
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Hello Patrick,
Thank you so much for your participation in this discussion and in your thoughtful comments. Also, thank you for your example of a different way to write to possibly write the review.
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As a published indie author, I’ve had some negative reviews. Though most of the reviews I’ve gotten are positive, those few early, negative reviews are the ones which haunt me even today. It took a while to develop that all too necessary tough skin. And it is hard for indie authors to compete against traditionally published books that have been examined by several editors before hitting the shelves. Professional editing can be a costly investment. But that does not excuse the indie author for not taking pains to put out the best work possible.
Granted, though I worked hard to put out quality books, I still shudder when I run across blunders in my writing. (And once it’s out there, it isn’t easy to correct.) Even with the help of critique partners, those pesky grammatical errors tend to be like rocks in a garden. Every time I think I’ve removed all, more tend to surface. But I expect reviewers to be honest. I know as a reader I count on the honesty of the reviews I read. If a novel is filled with enough grammatical errors for a reviewer to point them out, I will tend to think twice before taking a chance on that book.
I get the point that what you have posted, Kelly, is only part of a review. You chose what you thought was important from the whole review to make certain points. Is it harsh? Perhaps. But it is also balanced. I have thought some reviews of my books to be harsh but when I read them to others their opinion differed from mine. The bottom line is, be honest, try to balance negatives with positives, and choose words wisely.
As indie writers we must learn to develop those tough skins. I write fantasy. Believe me, everyone has an opinion about how it should or should not be written. Remember, a review is one reader’s opinion. But, if you keep hearing the same complaints, consider what you can do to improve the book … and don’t wait until you are getting negative reviews out in public. Join with critique partners. Volunteer to exchange editing duties with a writer friend if you are experienced in editing. If not, consider making the upfront sacrifice of paying a good editor.
Let’s create a new perspective within the minds of readers. One that says indie books are being produced with the same level of quality as traditionally published books.
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Thank you for participating in this discussion, C.S.
Your input is helpful.
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So for anyone who reads this post, I want you to know that the book review I use as an example in this post is not the full review, but it is the main critique part of my review. Also, I did try to contact the writer directly but couldn’t find any contact information. Finally, the complete review has not been published anywhere and I will not be publishing it anywhere. I just decided to use part of it to try to help writers and to make a point here on my blog, and that is why there are no specifics about the book and the author and title are not mentioned.
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I think the review is honest, yet constructive. The best reviews contain some helpful advice. Many self-published writers have little support and help. If it was me receiving the review, I would probably feel disappointed and a bit hurt, maybe discouraged, but hopefully the review would cause me to go back to the book in question and possibly unpublish for awhile in order to do re-writes and make corrections. Constructive reviews are actually quite rare, so hopefully, I would appreciate it.
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Thank you, Alison. That is exactly what I intended. And yes, you are correct when you say you would probably feel disappointed and a bit hurt, maybe discouraged, although I certainly hope discouraged would not be one of the reactions. Disappointed and a bit hurt is normal, especially for beginner writers because we all want to believe that what we write is fantastic and we often have friends and family telling us exactly that. But, in order to grow and really be a good writer, we have to be willing to move past the disappointment and hurt and go back to the writing to make improvements. That is also why my goal is always to offer any criticism constructively because I certainly do not want to intentionally hurt someone’s feelings or ever discourage them from writing. As a matter of fact, I have a passion for helping young writers and beginner writers to improve their writing and publish it, and I have and continue to work with young and beginning writers helping and teaching them what I have learned. I am thankful that you see that my review in this post is constructive. Thank you for your participation in this discussion.
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Thanks Kelly, it’s a pleasure. Yes, the best response would not be discouragement, but to pick up one’s pen and carry on.
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Kelly, Sorry you haven’t gotten more comments. I know you have helped a lot of people and I expected some of them to come to your defense. You are capable of defending yourself, but they owe you some support. You came to my defense a couple of times in critique group and I appreciate it.
My comments were harsh and I worded them to encourage disagreement, but I stand by them.
You see how you have responded to my harsh comments (twice!) by defending your actions and explaining your successes and qualifications. Not by saying “Hmm…lets see if he has a point.” This is exactly how the writer will respond to your review.
I defined how I see proofreading, critiques and reviews for a reason. I don’t think one product can do everything.
I saw your sample review as a review of a published book. So, if I were the writer reading it and hoping for some sales, your first three words “The story fails” would blind the writer from seeing what comes next. The writer sees no help coming and potential readers are turned off already. Then after a couple negative comments, you say “reader may suspect danger or a threat of danger.” This is such a weak compliment it sounds like “She tried but didn’t follow through.”
After complaining of a lack of conflict, action, or danger, calling it a “simple sweet story” only confirms that it is not what it should be. Conflict and danger suggest that it is a book for readers with some maturity, so saying it could be a fun children’s book is almost a comic insult. Following this by describing the book as completely clean carries the idea that clean means without conflict or danger or complications of interest to adults. I know you do not mean “clean” in this way, but that’s how it comes across.
All these observations were from a quick first read, but that is how the writer and readers of the review will form their reactions.
If your intent is to keep people from buying a bad book, your review is fine and you should not care if it is harsh. If your intent is to help the writer, I would write no review at all and I would contact the writer with an offer of help.
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Thank you for clarifying. However, not everyone reads something and interprets it the same way, so to say that the way you formed your reactions is the way the writer and other readers will form their reactions is not completely accurate. I do appreciate your explanation, and yes, this is an actual review I wrote of a book I recently read. However, it is not the complete review. As I mentioned, I didn’t include here, any of the specific things I wrote that included the main character’s name and some specifics about the story line.
The point I am trying to make with this post is that every writer has to be willing to read negative and/or critical comments about their writing and be able to take some time to really think about the comments and look at what those comments are pointing out and then look at their book and be willing to improve. Actually, my main point is that writers need to realize how important it is to have a good editor go over their work and edit it. The the writer needs to make corrections to improve the book BEFORE publishing it. Just because Amazon and some other places online make it easy to self-publish anything you want to publish is no excuse to publish badly written books. I believe writers owe it to their readers to put out the best writing they possibly can, which often requires multiple edits and rewrites. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
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John,
I’d also like you to tell me, what, specifically, you find so harsh in my sample review (the paragraphs in italics)?
As I see it, I simply stated problems I saw with the story, but also included positive comments, such as “This is a very simple sweet story where everything goes well and leads to a happy ending”; “If it had illustrations, it would make a fun children’s book”; “As it is, I would recommend it for elementary age children”; “It is an easy read where there are no dangers and everything ends happily”; and, “It is a completely clean story.”
Or do you think some of these comments are harsh?
Currently, I am working with a 20 year old young lady, helping to edit her 4 book children’s series, and she has told me multiple times that I am such a blessing to her because the previous person who offered her editorial advice was always harsh, judgmental, and seemed to want to change the message of her stories. She said she greatly appreciates that I kindly point out the problems and her weaknesses, while at the same time, pointing out her strengths and well-written sentences, paragraphs, scenes. And, I know, for a matter of fact, that there are editors who are much more harsh than I am and I know how much that can hurt. That’s why I do my best to point out the weak points and problem areas kindly and also, make it a goal to point out the well-written areas and the writer’s strong points. Many editors don’t bother pointing out the well-written areas and the writer’s strong points, just the things they say needs to be fixed.
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Kelly,
The early questions you request answers for are rhetorical. Your feelings are clear and they are more scolds than questions.
As for your questions about your sample review, (1) Boy, is it harsh, (2) Well, you said it was clean, (3) I’d be so hurt by the tone I’d never notice the helpful advice.
The ability to self-publish has lured so many hobby writers to clog the system with worthless words, maybe harshness is the kindest thing you can offer.
Your post says you want to talk about book reviews, but most of your words are about proofreading.
I think a REVIEW contains comments put out to the public to help them decide whether to buy or read a book. Your main responsibility as a reviewer is to the reader, not the writer.
A CRITIQUE consists of comments intended to help the writer make their composition better. It usually contains specific references to parts of the composition that aren’t working well.
PROOFREADING is tightening the nuts and bolts of grammar, usage, and awkward or confusing structure.
You may remember that in our critique group we tried to limit proofreading to written comments and save oral comments to tell how the writing affected us. We had a hard time giving helpful critiques.
When I turn to Amazon reviews to help decide whether to read a book, I look at four and two star reviews which are the ones most likely to have something useful to say. I have accused Amazon of not policing meaningless five star reviews which I suspect are generated artificially. The one star ones are about damaged covers or missing Kindle pages.
Everyone from your trash collector to your heart surgeon to your preacher expects a five star review. They are meaningless. But I give five stars automatically to anyone who prepares food for me or uses sharp tools around my head.
I write reviews to Amazon when I have something to say that I haven’t seen in other reviews. I like to kid myself that people actually read them. It feels good to see my words out in public. Amazon used to allow people to comment on the reviews of others, sort of an on-line book discussion. I’m sorry they no longer do this.
Hope you get some good comments.
John
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Hello John,
Thank you for offering your thoughts and opinions on this post. I suppose the first two questions could be rhetorical. I don’t see them as scoldings. My intent is to get independently published authors to think about how silly it is to expect all 4 and 5 star reviews for books that haven’t been properly edited and corrected before being published and released.
No, I’m not talking about Critiques or Proofreading. Yes, critiques do contain specific references to parts of the story that aren’t working, but they also include comments about grammatical and spelling errors the critique partner finds. Proofreading is the part of the editing process that covers the spelling, grammatical, and punctuation. Editing is the process of someone going over the entire manuscript and pointing out errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, pacing, errors in the story such as switching character names, and anything else that creates a problem for the reader. I have done editing jobs for authors who have now published multiple books, and I’ve edited multiple books for several authors. I have also been in multiple critique groups for over 10 years. I have also been teaching creative writing to children for over 20 years.
The reason for this post is because the italics writing is part of a Book Review I wrote that the author took offense to. Yes, Book Reviews are supposed to be more for readers than writers, but are you aware of how much they mean to the writers? Also, as someone who has been an avid reader ever since I learned how to read, I find it very annoying to read a book riddled with grammatical errors and bigger errors. Errors pull me out of the story and distract me from the story because they annoy me because published books shouldn’t have a bunch of errors — one or two, or maybe a small handful I can overlook, but not so many that it greatly affects the reaction of the reader to the story. People used to take pride in a job well done, now it seems they simply take pride in receiving 4 or 5 stars, whether they are earned or not.
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