Welcome back to another Bookish Discussion Sunday! Last week’s topic inspired some good discussion, and I promised that I was going to bring up the topic of writing negative reviews. Among the people that I’ve spoken to in the past, this is a very polarized topic—people are either adamantly willing or unwilling to write negative reviews. Before we start the discussion, I want to give a little info about each side, and make it clear that I firmly believe that this is a very individualized decision—what is right for one person isn’t necessarily right for the next person. Hmm, I probably would have been a shoo-in for debate team if we had one when I was in school.
Writing negative reviews is something that I personally choose to do. I commit to review a book, whether I wind up liking it or not. I feel like my readers come to me to see my unfiltered thoughts, and I think it’s important to share both the positives and negatives that I see to a book. When I write a negative review, there are certain things that I try my best to do. First of all, I always aim to include any positives that I encountered in a negative review. It’s rare that I’ve been unable to find a single positive thing to mention in a low-starred review, even my one star reviews. I also make sure that I’m reviewing the book and not the author. If I discover that the author has some distasteful or hateful viewpoints (and don’t DNF immediately), I try not to allow those to influence my review, and work to avoid discussing anything about the author at all unless it bleeds into the actual story itself. It isn’t my job to review the author or their personality or beliefs, I’m just here to review the book. I never ever tag an author in a negative review, and lately I’ve started including who might be more likely to enjoy this book, even if I didn’t.
On the other hand, there are valid reasons not to write negative reviews. All one has to do is scroll back a few months in social media to discover a major reason why: authors personally attacking reviewers for negative reviews. I’ve seen this quite a few times, and it’s so awful every time, which is why we say reviews are for readers. In every single case, the low-starred review was written fairly and honestly wouldn’t have stopped me from reading the book. What did stop me was the author’s response. Other reasons are that people might not want to write a review because they don’t have anything positive to say, because they prefer to focus on positive reviews only, or because they don’t want to discourage people from reading that book. But I might be way off base, so feel free to add your own reasons if I skipped any.
Do you write negative reviews? Why or why not?
Categories: Sunday Bookish Discussion
Leah's Books 
I do write negative reviews, but usually I reserve the harsher ones for insanely popular books – knowing that in that case the author (who is busy making $$$) won’t ever see it, or care. For smaller publishers or self-published books, if I HAVE to leave a negative review for honesty, I will make it as positive as I can and make it clear that my opinions are subjective/it came down to personal taste.
As for authors going after low reviews to harass readers – that’s cringe behaviour 😆 I’ve received reviews for my books where I wonder if they actually even read the book, but I hold a no-response policy. Once my book is out there, it’s not for me to argue with someone who didn’t like it! (I will thank most people for taking time to read the book though, regardless of rating.)
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I think both are great policies. It’s a very different thing to write a negative review for someone like John Grisham than for the indie author trying to sell 100 copies of their book to break even. I also try to go a little more gentle on indie authors unless the book was absolutely egregious and hugely offensive, but that’s generally a rare case. I think it’s only happened once that I can remember because it was really bad. But other than that, I do mention that it’s my own experience, and that it may be a better fit if readers like x, y, and z.
It’s exceptionally cringy when authors go after readers, which is why it stops me from reading their work. Especially since I’m known to write negative reviews, and don’t want to set myself up for a personal attack. And the new thing is that I’ve seen authors go after readers for anything less than 5 stars! Seriously? How entitled can people be?! I love how you look at it, and thanking people for reading. It’s the kind of thing that will win you readers, at least from people like me. While you’re here, drop a link to your books! I’d love to check one out.
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Authors going after readers for anything less than 5 stars is INSANE behaviour. I’m chuffed if I receive a thoughtful 3-star review 😂
And absolutely!! Thank you for being interested. All relevant links are here:
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Awesome! I’m obviously going to check out your books and write a nice, thoughtful review! Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.
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I hope you enjoy them! I will note that they’re better read together, as I incorporated most of the feedback I received for the first book into the way I wrote the second book.
I’m currently battling my way through the draft of Book 3… send me good vibes 😭🫣
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Turns out that I had actually purchased both books in the Death’s Embrace series! I do tend to binge read series when I can, so I’ll keep that in mind.
Sending you all the good vibes for book 3! You’ve got this though, I believe in you.
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Hello! I don’t know if you’ve started reading the books yet but if you haven’t, would you like for me to send you complimentary epubs of the revised editions I am planning to re-release ahead of the 3rd book?
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That would be wonderful! I haven’t gotten a chance to start them yet, I’ve been waiting until my ARCs are a bit more manageable. Thank you so much!
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That’s actually perfect as it’ll still be a while before Book 3 is due for release, and the books are all definitely better read together. What’s the best email to send it to?
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leahsbooksandcooks@gmail.com
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Great post! I also try to be as positive as I can, but as a reviewer, if I’m not honest, I feel like the review is not doing its job. Totally agree with you about reviewing the book and not the author. I am careful to say the book didn’t work for me or isn’t a good fit but other readers might like it (with a few exceptions). That’s what works for me. 🙂
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This! I think it’s important for me to be honest all around – the good and the bad, you know? It sounds like we’re on the same page as for what works.
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