Now that’s a loaded question but it gets to the heart of the matter. Isn’t that what any reviewer is doing by reviewing a book and giving it 5 stars or a green rating or a ‘you must read this’ quote?
Personally, if it’s a book I love I’m going to sell it to you. I want to you spend your money and buy it. But I don’t want you read one of my reviews and then feel disappointed that I’ve miss-sold it and made feel like you’ve wasted your money so I’ll try and give a rounded picture as possible.
So what about books I don’t love. Do I want you to buy those? Yes. Definitely. As long as I’ve explained why it didn’t work for me. The same as the books I love. I need to explain my thoughts and feelings on what I’ve read.
Do I need to do that in great detail? It depends on the book and how much needs to be explained really. Though no matter what the outcome there is one question I rarely ask myself.
Should I be reviewing the book at all?
Why? Well I tend to read books that I know I’m going to like though I do stretch that a little I don’t tend to go totally away from own interests and comfort zones. Hopefully this means that I can put it in context of all the other books that I’ve read.
But when I do read something random in future I might now think twice about blogging about it if I don’t like it. Why? Because it raises the question of:
Where are my limits and should I abuse them in public?
And that’s going to need some time in the back of my head before I can come up with any thoughts on it.
But at the minute I know that I’m not going to be grabbed by most YA, or Urban Fantasy which is misnamed Paranormal Romance, or historical fiction but I am likely to love other Urban Fantasy, non-tradition Fantasy, softer science fiction and literary fiction with a genre tinge. That’s not definitive but gives you an idea of my limits, which I probably don’t need to explain if you’ve been hanging around here for a while 
This post was sparked by fiery, but well humoured, conversation about reviewers and reviewing and it all stems from motivation and knowledge.
My motivation, as I said, is to help people read a book they’ll like. It’s not to get free books, befriend authors, or to smooze industry people.
But that’s the danger. You can easily do all three as everyone shares your passion when you put yourself out there as a reviewer. They want you to consider their books.
And it is now easier get those connections to publishers because there are some great review blogs doing great things for reading.
But then there is also a huge danger that your reviews aren’t going to be for other readers. They are going filtered and censored to please the authors and publishers that you have became friendly with.
I can say with 100% certainty is that no-one wants a dishonest review. They might not appreciate continual bad reviews – because like a I said earlier you’re obviously not reviewing the right books for you if that happens. I’d be giving all Paranormal Romance novels 1 starred reviews and who does that help?
But saying that you need to be honest when you find a book that you have problems with. Being honest is a hard balance as in order to give a bad review you have to get to the end. And that, for me at least, it’s hard when there are so many other books to read instead.
I guess what I’m saying is that in the end that anyone who reviews should be aware of their limits, be honest, and be careful of tapering your reviews to publishers as it’s not their money you’re spending. It’s the readers that you’ve sold the book too. If the publisher has made a bad choice in a book it’s not your fault.
So where does this leave me? Still the same though if I test my own tastes and read something on the fringes of my comfort zone and don’t like I might not review it.
Apart from that if you give me £20 I’ll give you two or three books you should like or least you’ll hopefully like. Please give me your money.
Here is a question for you:
Which reviewer would you trust with your book buying money to give you a book you’d love?
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Very interesting article, Gav. I can see why you want to amend some of your earlier thoughts on the article I'm currently writing. It seems as though the nature of blogger/reviewers is high on the agenda at Cons this year which is a good thing, certainly from my point of view.
As for which reviewer would I trust with my book buying money…what a difficult question to answer! I think I would have to go with someone with similar tastes to my own. There are an awful lot of excellent reviewers out there with wildly varying tastes even within the genre community. Those I've come into contact with through Twitter would have to be my first port of call for book suggestions. Even when I read a fairly neutral or negative review, I know those reviews are well considered and are worth bearing in mind when scanning the shelves at bookstores.
Very interesting post. Hmm… *thinks*
I know you're not necessarily asking us to name reviewers For Realz, but I'm going to anyway. Without a doubt, the reviewers who can spend my money ANY time are The Book Smugglers. They have absolutely NO 'agenda' beyond giving their 100% honest opinions on the books that they read. They write indepth reviews (which I prefer), and they often do joint reviews – meaning you get 2 opinions for the price of 1.
It also helps that I have very similar reading tastes, but I also know where we diverge so I don't rush to buy certain books even if they love them (e.g. when Ana reviews historical or contemporary romance, which aren't my go-to genres).
Um… yeah. There's my vote and the reasons why!
P.S. I think someone should challenge you to read a paranormal romance book and review it with an OPEN MIND. hehe…
Oh I did, The Blood of Angels, her wet bits made me stop. I gave it to
BCC. I wonder how she's getting on??
Not all PR books are the same, you know. And I'm not even a huge fan of the sub-genre. More of an urban fantasy gal, but I'm just sayin…
But anything with heavy romance/sex is going make me weary – really
should ask Liz. She knows a lot of UF!
You have a point there. But my lunch break is definitely to short to answer in detail. Will come back in the evening.
I wouldn't trust anyone with my book buying money – for me, buying a new book is an experience that i love. I would, however trust the opinions of bloggers who enjoyed books that i have also enjoyed and read them in the same way i did. doesn't mean i would buy a book i knew nothing about because someone whose opinion i trusted has recommended it though
There have been certain books that I have read and not enjoyed but at the same time was able to recognize that others might enjoy these books more then I, and so I will say so in the review.
Though lately I seem to be reading quite a few fantasy books that were highly recommended by many other reviewers but I was unimpressed with, which is starting to bother me slightly.
To answer your question, the only reviewers who I wholeheartedly trust are Anne and Michael at Books on the Nightstand. They really only discuss books that they recommend and every book that I have read, based on their recommendations, I have highly enjoyed. And because I've come to trust them I find myself trying books that I would never have otherwise picked up, especially since I mostly read scifi and fantasy these days.
Interesting challenge. Not sure if it is meant to be controversial, but taken at face value: Rob, from Rob Will Review (http://www.robwillreview.com/). I challenged him to pick my next book once, and he hit it out of the park (Carriger's Soulless). I'd be happy to let him go wild with my money.
On the broader question, there's nothing wrong with bloggers just reviewing books they think they're going to like. All reviews should be read in the context of the reviewer – this is a subjective hobby/profession (depending where you are on the food chain). If any of us are writing like what we're distributing is the gospel truth… yikes.
If I had to name someone Adam of the Wertzone probably comes closes to my taste. That's not very close at all though. My taste in books is weird. Besides, I like book shopping way to much to let someone else do it for me.
I wouldn't trust anyone to be honest, not because I don't think there are good reviewers out there, but because I'm very idiosyncratic in my tastes and decision making. I want to read reviews that give me a fair idea of the nature of the book so I can make my own decisions. I read reviews to assist me in making a decision not to make a decision for me.
Thanks everyone
@Sharon
I’ll send that to when I can revise my thoughts – I’m still processing.
It’s not an easy question and to be honest I can’t explain how I choose a book any more – there are just so many things going on that it’s some occult mystery really that can’t be explained.
But for places that I don’t immerse myself in like poetry I’ll take a Sarah Crown review anyway and read it… it’s harder with books I see from so many angles.
@ediFanoB
I hope you get chance to come back.
@lizsara
do you buy books in a bookshop based on it’s cover and blurb alone?
@schima
What books? and what reviewers? Would have bought them without the review? Should a review just tip you over the edge of decision rather than convert you to a book?
Just wondering.
@jared
I like Rob Will Review too.
I like preaching to the converted
Not sure I want to convert though….
@ Val
Would you listen to an album because someone recommended it or watch a film for that reason? just wondering?
I wish at times that Adam would veer into other imprints – very Gollancz centred – a great imprint but other choices out there too
@Jason
Any books that you’ve recently been turned on to because of a review?
Finally I'm back.
This is the answer from the bottom of my heart: N O B O D Y
How can I hand over this more than satisfying steamy action of buying a book to someone else. Heartbeat, goose flesh…… lust.
Beside that there are reviewers whom I trust more than others. It always depends on which kind of book I want to read. I wouldn't make sense to to give money to a Terry Goodkind hater when I would be a Terry Goodkind lover
Did you ever reread reviews of book after you have read the book? A great experience!
I have to say I am one to read at my comfort level as well. I know everyone has different likes and dislikes. I try to keep that in mind when reading reviews too. This is a great post and something to think on. I do have a few fellow bloggers out there that I would whole heartedly trust to buy me a book or a few books. They share many of the same likes as I do.
[...] in the blogging hierarchy have recently posted on the nature of blogging. Nextread asks us “Should a blogger spend your money for you?” and discusses how reviewing might affect who purchases what books – there are some [...]
Which reviewer would I trust with my book buying money to give me a book I’d love?
Erm… Me!
Read reviews to find out what other people think of a book, at the end of the day though you're the only person who you can trust to spend your own money. There are some amazing reviewers out there but there's only one person who really knows the kind of books that you love.
I am sometimes swayed by reviews or recommendations yes, but not often. Reading tends to lead to an exponential growth of ones to read list. I don't actively go out looking for reviews to make up my mind or add even more books. Usually a publishing schedule is enough to figure out what I'll be reading next month.
interesting…
@edifanob I read a few reviews after I’ve read a book an that really makes me wonder if it was the same book…
@melissamy I always wonder if a blogger reviews a series if it’s going to be an interesting or boring experience. At what point does a reader get convinced? Or put off that matter….
@Graeme that’s the point I guess – bloggers are here no show you a book from every angle so you’ll be able to tell if it’s a book for you – I’m going to get you to read a 600 plus book I swear
[...] know he’s talking about individual books and I’ve already talked about ‘Should a blogger spend your money for you?’ which addresses what bloggers limits are in their reading and everyone has limits on what they are [...]
[...] blogging and you’re not a scholar does that make your opinion valid? I’ve talked about this in Should a blogger spend your money for you? And it boils down to motivation and knowledge. And what’s relevant to this post is that on mass [...]