One Perspective on Snarky Reviews

Unfortunately not everyone loves our books. It's a fact writers accept when negative opinions come from professionals, and even honest, critical amateurs. However, it appears there's a growing list of nameless customer critics out there with minds conjuring poisonous words and phrases to vent upon some hard-working author.

I'm on several lists and social media sites, and, lately, there have been several posts about bad reviews and how unfair customer opinions are. On Amazon, if you buy a trinket, you're eligible to review a book. If you're an author whose work is out there for all to read and review, you know whereof I speak.

Bad reviews are inevitable -- and for a variety of valid reasons. I review other writers' books. If I don't care for a book's plot, premise, characters, etc., I don't review it. Chances are I don't finish it. Life's too short to read something I don't enjoy. All that said, there's never a reason to give a two-star or a two-heart rating, much less a one. Others might not agree, but opinions on weightier matters differ, too.

I read a phrase from an author that stuck in my head. He called unnecessarily cruel reviews "electronic snarking." These are tirades from readers who, many times, have not even read the book. You know the type: This book was so awful I threw it against the wall. The best part about it was the cover and that wasn't good either.

If you're a small press, mid-list or indy author these rants are very damaging. The meanies may simply think they're being cute, have an ax to grind, or possess a devilish desire to bring down your star rating. Whatever the motivation,  their snarking can kill sales for a promising book. It only takes a handful of unfair opinions to dampen enthusiasm.

 

I would implore those with a bent to rant negatively to stop and think of the consequences to an author with whom you might enjoy drinking a cup of coffee or sharing jokes over a beer.

 

Also authors must constantly monitor internet customer opinion sites. It is said that we authors should not answer our critics. That's easy if you're Nora Roberts and have multi-thousand reader reviews per book, but we who toil at protecting our reputations must comment on unfair snarking, and promptly.

 

And now a little blatant self promotion on the subject of reviews. My coming release, THE DEVIL LAUGHED (Five Star/Gale) was reviewed by Kirkus, a giant in the world of professional reviews. That they chose my book to review out of the thousands they receive a month was good news. While not glowing (does Kirkus ever give a glowing review?) it was positive, fair, and I'm happy with it. That's all an author can ask for.

 

 

 

 Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE END GAME

THE LAST TEMPTATION

THE DEVIL LAUGHED

 

TOP TWENTY WELL-READ CITIES

Amazon.com Names America’s Most Well-Read Cities

Is it any wonder that Cambridge, Massachusetts, which Harvard University calls home, topped Amazon.com’s recent listing of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America?

I lived in Cambridge eons ago. Residents walked along streets reading books, book stores - be they large retail outlets or mom and pop resellits - on nearly every block, citizens in the parks reading magazines or best sellers, riders of MBTA missing their stops while engrossed in Follett or Oates. Add the Kindle and residents are now ordering more books, magazines and newspapers in print and Kindle formats. The survey began Jan. 1, 2011 and was based on cities with more than 100,000 residents. Cambridge residents also ordered the highest number of nonfiction books.

The Amazon.com top 20 list:

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts
2. Alexandria, Virginia
3. Berkeley, California
4. Ann Arbor, Michigan
5. Boulder, Colorado
6. Miami, Florida
7. Salt Lake City, Utah
8. Gainesville, Florida
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Arlington, Virginia
11. Knoxville, Tennessee
12. Orlando, Florida
13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
14. Washington, D.C.
15. Bellevue, Washington
16. Columbia, South Carolina
17. St. Louis, Missouri
18. Cincinnati, Ohio
19. Portland, Oregon
20. Atlanta, Georgia

Happy to see Atlanta, my adopted home of many decades ago, sneak onto the list. St. Louis, my birth place, came in 17.
Echoing results from Sisters in Crime’s recent Mystery Book Buyer Study, nearly half of the cities on the Amazon.com list are located below the Mason-Dixon line.

The Washington, D.C. area includes three of the top 20 cities – Alexandria, Va. (#2), Arlington, Va. (#10) and Washington itself (#14). Alexandria residents also topped the list of buyers of children’s books.

The sunshine state, Florida, has three cities in the top 20 – Miami (#6), Gainesville (#8) and Orlando (#12).

“We hope book lovers across the country enjoy this fun look at where the most voracious readers reside,” said Mari Malcolm, managing editor of Books at Amazon.com.

Submitted by
Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

SOON TO BE RELEASED: THE GHOST SHIP

WAGON DOGS

WAGON DOGS, my October release now has a face. Jenifer Ranieri of Desert Breeze Publishing designed the jacket, which expertly captures the atmosphere of the romantic suspense story. WAGON DOGS is Book 3 in the Laura Kate Plantation Series. WHEN SERPENTS DIE and HONORED DAUGHTERS are books 1 and 2.

See more about these ebooks at http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

AMAZON BACKS DOWN

As an author, and I know I speak for other authors, we live to write. Period. We create stories in our heads, and, using our fingers - first pen and ink, then typewriter, now computer - we extract scenes that won't emerge like we want them to because they have a dastardly life of their own. It ain't easy, but we are compelled. It's in our DNA.

Then we have to make agents and publishers want to represent and buy our manuscripts. That really ain't easy.

Then we have to promote our novels or non-fiction works by traveling to book stores and sitting at tables looking pleased and prosperous even if people aren't flocking to us like we're Dan Brown. We promote on social networks hoping our friends don't feel like they're being shilled.

Then along comes a disagreement between our publisher and the A Number One Bookseller in the country over the price of their Kindle books. And that bookseller gets its electronic pages in a snit and pulls the BUY button on our books, thus unfriending our publisher.

What's a writer to do?

We can do nothing but sit back and wait, and, voila, Amazon declares our publisher, Macmillan, has the right to set its own prices, and eventually the BUY buttons are returned and all is friendly again.

Or is it? For now it is, but is there a next chapter?

These are difficult times for writers, publishers and book sellers, particularly brick and motar stores. Let's hope Amazon uses its internet deep pockets wisely so it's a win-win for everyone in the book business.


That's all for now.
Gerrie