Book Talk: A behind-the-scenes look at a book reviewer's life (Part I) - The bad but sometimes comedic stories

I'm going to attempt to write these posts in a semi-short (HAH! Yeah right) series that allows me to express some of the ups and downs of being a book reviewer. I don't want this to come off as a bitchy rant about my trials and tribulations. Because it's not. Nor do I wish this post to come off as me being an All Mighty of the review community. 

This is a post that has been in the works for a little while simply because I wasn't sure how I wanted to go about it. I'm sure by the end, it will sound like I'm shaming some part(s) of whatever subset of the book/reader community while raising others parts up on a pedestal. But really, when you're in this "business", you tend to not be as sensitive about offending people or inflating egos ;-)

This post is more meant as a behind-the-scenes peek as to what some reviewers' lives are like. It's a collection of stories that have happened to me and others. Hopefully this brings some better understanding about why we do what we do, how we go about everything, and how sometimes it can turn into a crazy side-show of a gig.

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In true "give the bad points and end with the happy points" spirit, I'll start with the downs:

- Reviewing is not our full time job - this is both a good and bad point, depending on perspective

While some reviewers are in fact reviewing as their job and making money, I (as well as many others) do this for free. So we hold down part/full time jobs and then review on the side for fun. That means our schedules are fairly limited and we can only do so much in a week. Sometimes, the demands of authors/publishers/marketers really try to push the timeline of turning reviews out, and it's just not possible for us to do quality work that fast.

I've had marketers hound me daily about reviewing work and putting up promotional material ASAP. Wanting everything done now with out giving any prior notification. (Because they're obviously the only ones that want me to promote work)

I've had authors request a book to be read, reviewed, posted, and promoted in a THREE day period. And they were serious! That was a "very reasonable" time-frame for them because they had to make sure they had reviews for its release in three days. Hah! And I'm serious about taking you off the list all together.

I've had people literally beg with daily emails to have their book reviewed. To just "quickly give it a read through" or "Please! I just need one review!" even after I told them
multiple times that 1.) I don't have the time 2.) I don't review that genre and most importantly 3.) I don't want to.

I do have guest reviewers that help me out in these types of situations, and I do send an email out asking if they're available to review. If there's no one available to review, and my email is continuously loaded with an individual's pestering, I start marking them as spam. Now, they just lost out on any potential review. Moral of the story - be reasonable and don't pester after you've already received a "no" response.

When it comes down to it, it's the reviewer's choice on what get's done and what does not. We will not be bullied, guilted, or tore down for not meeting unreasonable demands. Since I'm working for free to help someone else's career, the least I ask for is a little respect and understanding. So please, if you're someone searching for a review anywhere, keep this in mind. Please, don't make us hate our hobby.

- Sometimes we reviewers forget that it isn't our full time job

We really don't need any help being pressured by those wanting their work reviewed simply because we put way too much pressure on ourselves, sometimes! We do this because we love what we do. And every now and then that love takes over so much that we find ourselves putting in 40+ hours reading/writing/posting/promoting/site upgrading/etc. on top of a 40 hour work week! This amounts in way more stress than one ever anticipates when starting this whole side-gig.

What starts out as a naive I'll just write a couple of thoughts about this book and post it on a site, turns into I'll just write this manuscript length review of a book and post it on my 50 favorite sites and then chat with everyone about it.

There are times when we need to remind ourselves to take a step back and remember what exactly it is that we're doing. Reviewing. We're not marketing agents - and that can slip our mind.

- Sometimes we have to pull out our detective hat and do some undercover work

As much as we'd like to wish that everyone in the world is an honest person, that is obviously not the case. There have been many cases of plagiarism, and it has become even easier to plagiarize with the many open writing networks like Smashwords and public writing blogs.

An internet famous case from this past summer was the plagarism of Easy by Tammara Webber. (because that's not obvious plagiarism at all!) The whole deal started with some readers/reviewers realizing that a book claimed to have been written by another author was in fact a blatant plagiarism of Tammara's work. Once the ball started rolling, Amazon and other stores had to go through their whole book removal/legal process.

Us reviewers obviously have not read every book out there. So it's hard to read a book and say whether or not it's legitimate. However, there is that rare time when something just doesn't add up and it becomes our unofficial job to do what we can about it by reporting it. This has never happened to me, and I hope I never have to make a decision to report something. But I will if I think I need to and that becomes an unfortunate event for all parties involved.

- Sometimes our work goes unappreciated

My disclaimer - as well as most other reviewers - is that we provide free and honest reviews in exchange for a copy of the book. Unfortunately, some think that the review policy includes writing only "good" reviews.

I've had authors tell me not to write bad reviews because it ruins their sales and makes them look bad. A bad review is not a reflection of the author. It's simply one person's opinion. If a lot of poor reviews about a book are popping up then perhaps the author should take life's lemons and make a Gin and Tonic. While they're mixing that drink, I'd suggest really thinking over the book and making some adjustments. Perhaps take these tips into account to brighten their day.

A poor review is not a bad review. It's simply an opportunity to make things better. If you can't handle criticism, any type of work in the public eye is not for you.


- Sometimes...well sometimes people's medications screw with them and you end up with this scenario:

I provide a lot of opportunities for promotional material. From social media, to newsletters, to the blog - Posts will reach thousands of people in a short period of time. So, I mean this is a given, but if you don't want your work shared with people then don't tell me to share it!

One time I had an author send me all of their book promotion material for a spotlight. We agreed on the date and I got it all set to go. On the morning that it went into cyber-circulation I got a very angry email from the author.

Apparently the book cover they sent me and told me to promote was top secret. It wasn't supposed to be released because the book wasn't out for another week. It was "very unprofessional" of me to release such coveted information. Matter of fact, by doing so, I absolutely wrecked their potential sales! I'm talking taking a possible NY best seller and sending it to the 7th circle of Hell, wrecked. (I really hope you can sense the sarcasm all around that)

Shit! I didn't know I had that kind of sales power by showing a cover... that they asked to be promoted...just a week before the book was out! (I guess that person didn't believe in cover reveals. Hah!) Had I known about this secret sales power of mine I would have long utilized it during my Girl Scout cookie days!


After sending an informative email back about our date agreement, they later replied with an apology saying that sometimes their medication makes them unaware of their surroundings...that their memory was spotty.... that they were confused about what month it was... that they don't remember sending the previous email, but they were sure there was good reason behind it at the time. It ended with them saying that I shouldn't post information without permission. Because I'm psychic.

*sigh* at least I find humor in these things.

- Sometimes people take their disagreement/anger/frustration/denial out on us

I understand that an author's work is their precious child and dedicated fan bases will always stand by their authors. But I'll motion back up to my last point - a bad review isn't personal. I have only had one time where someone really wanted to try to skewer me and my "bad" review of a book.

Granted, I really tore that book apart. By tore I mean ripped to tiny shreds and then burned the pieces. Not that this entirely matters, but this was a book that I paid hard earned money for only to discover numerous spelling errors on each page and missing punctuation. Everywhere. And that was only the start of its major flaws.

After posting my informative review to Amazon, I had either a fan or the author (I'm assuming it was the author posing as a fan based on some odd comments) try to publicly take me down on writing a bad review. Basically saying that my opinion wasn't the right opinion. Apparently they had the definition of opinion confused.

There are a couple of humerus circumstances that I've come across. One is on author Laura Pippa's mental breakdown on GoodReads. Yes, I'm now publicly shaming by name. But it's already out there and it's just too good to pass up. Especially the PMS explanation.

Another is about a reviewer that posted a bad review of a book. The author claimed that based on her Goodreads timeline (you can mark when you start and end books) the reviewer couldn't have possibly read the entire book.

Newsflash - few people actually update their Goodreads with exact dates that they've started/finished books. I update mine maybe once a month and the actual read dates are approximated. That's if I remember. I've gone a couple of months without marking reads. It's by no means a review timeline. 

It gets pretty good when the author not-so-slyly pretends to be 5 different people on a group message board. It ended with the author turning into the laughing stock of the community. An author's reputation compromised simply because they not only engaged, but continued to add fuel to the fire instead of walking away.

I should add that there is a difference between defending an opinion and discussing an opinion. One is an attack, the other is not. I am always open to discussing why I felt the way that I did about a book. At no point will I ever change my opinion simply because someone tries to bully me.


Moral of the story - an opinion is an opinion. Don't make a fool of yourself. Reviewers aren't about being butterflies and kisses all of the time. Some might argue that a reviewer's "reputation" could be compromised with a bad review as well. What reputation, I ask? We're critics. Good or bad, we tell our opinions. We don't engage in fan warfare (or at least, the non drama seekers do not). We rarely waste our time defending our reviews (unless a smug moment hits us), and when we do we wield our words wisely.

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And those are what can be the bad parts of being a reviewer.  I say "can be" because I honestly find humor in some of it. As much as some of it frustrates me, at the end of the day when you realize what lengths some people will go through because they're upset over an opinion or the fact that you have a life - it really becomes comedic. 

I'll end by saying that I have a huge respect for everyone in the writing community. If you notice, my bullets start with words like "sometimes". There has only been a handful of bad situations, in my personal experience. Most of the time everything goes off without a hitch and I receive grateful responses from those that I work with.  And that's the reason why I keep doing what I do.

And a word to the other reviewers/bloggers out there in these situations - don't let yourself be bullied and try not to engage with irrational people. It can be hard. Really hard. There's nothing like being tore down in public, or feeling like your hard work is being diminished. It's okay to say no. It's okay to let irrational people dig their own graves. And it's okay to have your own opinion. Keep on keepin' on.

Part II with my list of pros and why I think all readers should try to review will be up later!

UPDATE: Check out what it's like to get reviews from an author's POV!