It’s a tale as old as time. Well, it’s as old as the first book review site on the internet, anyway. Since the first social media site to review books opened up, a line was drawn in the sand. This Is A Reader Space. It was where readers could come together, talk about what they were reading, what they liked, what they didn’t like, what they loved, what they hated, and recommend books and other written media to each other. It was a safe space to share the experience of reading from one reader to the next.
Those spaces are sacred and important. If there’s a joy greater than reading, it’s loving something you read and getting to tell everyone about it. Insist that they read it as well.
Of course, the coin always has two sides. As much as people love to love books, they also love to hate them. When a book is hated by a certain type of reader, sometimes it seems it is that reader’s mission to make sure everyone hates it as equally. Good or bad, it is what it is, and reader spaces should continue to be a safe space for all opinions about the work to be expressed.
I won’t get into readers who use reviews as an opportunity to personally attack or cast aspersions on authors. That’s an entirely different blog post.
I’m the type of author who does not read his reviews. I don’t invade reader spaces. Meaning, I don’t visit the spaces on book review sites where my books might be discussed. If I happen to slip across one of those paths, I see myself out quickly. I don’t argue with reviewers, I don’t comment on reviews, and I respect reviewers’ opinions–even if I disagree with the content or delivery. Even though I’ve seen outright lies about the content of my books, I don’t comment on or argue about reviews.
I will fight you if you attack my character or lie about me in a space where I can see it, but that’s an entirely different blog post, too.
Of course, I have a Goodreads account for Chase Connor and I star-review the things that I’m currently reading. I also have a private, personal account, but that’s none of your business. I only use it to keep track of what I’ve read and don’t review books on it, anyway. I use Goodreads for things I read, not things I wrote.
The reason I don’t invade readers’ spaces when it comes to my books is that I want them to feel safe to feel…however…they feel about my books. While I don’t take even harsh critique about the work personally, some people are reticent to share honest opinions if the person who wrote the work is present to see it. So, my presence is a distraction and unwelcome. Also, nothing good can come of my being present.
Reviews are for readers. Period. Reviews rarely help authors. You will get a variety of opinions–some incredibly loud and aggressive ones–but the truth is, the book is published. It’s done. We’re not all George Lucas. A reader hating a book doesn’t meant an author is going to go back and change what a reader hated and republish. Besides, so many readers have critiques, it’s impossible to change what every negative review mentioned. Does the phrase “author chases his own tail” mean anything to you?
Authors pay editors to give them feedback. Developmental editors, copy editors, line editors, on and on…then there are alpha readers and beta readers and street teams…by the time the general reading public gets the book, there’s no unique feedback left that an author probably hasn’t heard anyway. Reviews rarely do anything besides inflate an author’s ego or keep them up at night wondering why the world hates them. User6543 hated your book–so obviously they hate you as a person, right?
Nobody needs cyclic thoughts at 2:30am when they’d rather be sleeping.
Now, here’s the flip side to readers having their spaces. Authors also have their safe spaces. Their DMs, email inboxes, and social media threads are not a place for readers to pop in and start reading them and their work to filth. That’s for review sites, blogs, and readers’ own social media threads. A lot of people talk about authors behaving badly, but for every author acting a damn fool, there are ten readers DMing authors death threats, personal attacks, or simply rude comments about their work. We’re outnumbered and outgunned, and our safe spaces to simply create are shrinking.
People often love to comment, “Well, if you can’t take a simple critique…“
We’ve covered this Helen. The vast majority of us are critique-taking experts. Authors have taken critique. They just don’t ned yours. Your critique is not helpful to authors. Save it for recommending or not recommending to other readers.
Tagging an author in a bad review or invading their safe spaces to criticize them is like having someone take the last performance review you got at your job and posting it online and tagging you and all of your friends. Except it’s not one review written by your direct manager, it’s what they thought, plus 3,000 of their friends. Would you enjoy having a work performance review from thousands of people–day after day, month after month, year after year? Tagging an author in a bad review makes no sense, is not helpful, and is not kind.
Furthermore, something that many don’t consider is that not wanting critiques from readers isn’t simply about ego or protecting safe creative spaces. An author puts their heart and soul into a piece of work. They give up time for hobbies, they skip sleep, eat meals at their desk, miss family time, reschedule meet-ups with friends, and sacrifice so much for something that often gives very little back. And they’ve done this for how long it takes to write a book–from months to years. The last thing they want is Helen from Piedmont, North Dakota telling them the villain simply didn’t “pop” for her.
We’re tired, Helen. We’ve done all we can do. Put your review up on the review site, talk about it on your own socials–and I’ll leave you alone to do so. At least give me the same courtesy.
You hated my book. Great. That’s not my business, though.
Chase Connor Books 