People seem to put a lot of stock in reviews. Book reviews, film reviews, restaurant reviews … everybody has an opinion about something.
Me, I don’t put any stock in what others have to say about a book, a movie, product or service. What’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
My confidence in reviewers vanished after a few unpleasant experiences.
I believed people’s review of the movie Casablanca. If they were to be believed it was the best movie ever. I hated it.
I believed the critic’s review of Avatar. If they were to be believed, the movie was nothing short of a miracle. It wasn’t bad, but certainly not worthy or the praise bestowed on it.
I believed the critics' review of Rent and OMG I hated that with a passion. To the best of my recollection, it was the first and only movie I walked out of. Three quarters into the story, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
So, after three inaccurate reviews it’s safe to say that I no longer care about others’ opinion about movies. And now books have joined the ranks.
I recently read a few book reviews that made me shake my head and wonder … what were these people thinking?
One author, let’s call him John Doe, introduced his self-published novel as ‘The critically acclaimed novel of the year’. Critically acclaimed by who?
Another self-published author stated ‘Finalist of the award winning collection of XXX poetry’. I looked up this competition and noticed that out of 12 entries, his poetry book came 10th. Since 10 books made the finals, this was not much of an accomplishment.
Another author took the cake though. He stated ‘THIS is why I created people in the first place’ … God.
God had reviewed his book and though it that good that this was why he created people. Talk about having a high opinion of oneself.
Does writing a review really help sell books? If the reviewer is a professional he could have been paid to give the book a good review. If the reviewer is a family member or friend, it doesn’t carry much weight. If the reviewer is a total stranger, a good review is a feather in the cap for the author, but readers have different tastes. What the one loves, the other hates.
So what’s the point of a review?
Me, I don’t put any stock in what others have to say about a book, a movie, product or service. What’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
My confidence in reviewers vanished after a few unpleasant experiences.
I believed people’s review of the movie Casablanca. If they were to be believed it was the best movie ever. I hated it.
I believed the critic’s review of Avatar. If they were to be believed, the movie was nothing short of a miracle. It wasn’t bad, but certainly not worthy or the praise bestowed on it.
I believed the critics' review of Rent and OMG I hated that with a passion. To the best of my recollection, it was the first and only movie I walked out of. Three quarters into the story, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
So, after three inaccurate reviews it’s safe to say that I no longer care about others’ opinion about movies. And now books have joined the ranks.
I recently read a few book reviews that made me shake my head and wonder … what were these people thinking?
One author, let’s call him John Doe, introduced his self-published novel as ‘The critically acclaimed novel of the year’. Critically acclaimed by who?
Another self-published author stated ‘Finalist of the award winning collection of XXX poetry’. I looked up this competition and noticed that out of 12 entries, his poetry book came 10th. Since 10 books made the finals, this was not much of an accomplishment.
Another author took the cake though. He stated ‘THIS is why I created people in the first place’ … God.
God had reviewed his book and though it that good that this was why he created people. Talk about having a high opinion of oneself.
Does writing a review really help sell books? If the reviewer is a professional he could have been paid to give the book a good review. If the reviewer is a family member or friend, it doesn’t carry much weight. If the reviewer is a total stranger, a good review is a feather in the cap for the author, but readers have different tastes. What the one loves, the other hates.
So what’s the point of a review?
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