Trouble writing reviews for indie authors

[Vila]

I know a lot of indie authors don't feel comfortable with giving bad reviews to other indie authors. I'm definitely one of them. So I use this other account I have in Goodreads with the name of Chima (which I initially opened for promotional purposes) to write honest reviews.
About two weeks ago, I wrote a short two-star review about an indie book I didn't like, and it was the book of an author I knew (I know I should've sent her a message to tell her why I didn't like it, but I couldn't bring myself to do that). Now, a friend of the author wrote to tell me that she knows it was me and that she couldn't believe I was giving a bad review for my own gain, that I should feel ashamed. What?!! I understand that if you see it from the other side of the spectrum, things would look like that, but it really wasn't like that all!!

I just needed to get out this and tell it to someone. My head is spinning with this and don't know how this will end.
I just know that I'll never ever write a bad review to an indie author...Jesus

[Vila]

I already took out the review and wrote to the author and her friend.
What else can I do?

[Rex Jameson]

If the review was honest, then there is nothing for you to be ashamed of.

You just need to figure out how to hide your next alter-ego better .

[StaceyHH]

The way I see it, you have four main choices:

1/ Honest reviews for anything or everything you read
2/ Review only the books for which you can honestly write a positive review
3/ Write puffery
4/ Don't write reviews

BTW, if you intend to use that account to post reviews anonymously, I think you just blew your cover.

Why do you need to do anything else regarding the review you wrote (and now removed)?

[Bakari]

I understand your plight as I have seen many books, period, that should be rated poorly. However, I refrain from giving poor reviews because I am on the creative side of the fence.

I do rate books, however, if I feel they deserve a five. If I don't feel that way then I don't rate them at all. I know how it feels to receive a one-star rating and it feels terrible, especially if it is maliciously placed. Also, I have a sinking feeling that some authors and their fans or friends would go 'tit fot tat' for bad reviews.

If a book is bad enough I'm sure other people will let people know. As a writer it is not in my best interest to get involved.

By the way, since you removed your review I think all will be forgotten. I think most people would be satisfied with that.

[Dara England]

If the review was honest, then there is nothing for you to be ashamed of.

You just need to figure out how to hide your next alter-ego better .

What Rex said. You didn't do anything wrong and that other person had no business contacting you to complain. The rule against responding to bad reviews is pretty fundamental, just about everyone here knows it and that the author's friend chose to ignore it was just bad form. If the author knew her friend was going around defending her against bad reviews she'd probably be embarrassed about it.

[Rex Jameson]

And let me be even clearer. If anyone here on the boards reads my book and feels it deserves a 1 star, then you should feel free to do so under your real or assumed names, whichever makes you feel comfortable. I'm not the retaliating type.

You are leaving honest reviews for readers--not writers. And if a writer decides to put up a book that deserves a 2 star rating because the quality of plot, characters, editing, cover, formatting, etc. wasn't where you as a reader was hoping it would be, then you should feel free to say so. Other readers would and probably do need the guidance you might have provided.

Writers and their friends should develop thicker skins to deal with the inevitable criticism that comes. A two star review might have even done the author some good. Otherwise, how will they know that they have specific problems that they need to deal with before releasing the next works? You have no obligation to inform an author that has already published of major problems before writing a review. It can be a courtesy to inform of small typos or something, but bad storytelling doesn't have to be rewarded with a non-review or an inflated one.

[Vila]

If the review was honest, then there is nothing for you to be ashamed of.

You just need to figure out how to hide your next alter-ego better .

I don't feel ashamed at all, but I took out the review just to avoid future problems...

[Vila]

BTW, if you intend to use that account to post reviews anonymously, I think you just blew your cover.

Yep, my cover has been blown. I wonder how she found out, though.
Anyway, as I said before, I was also using it for promotional purposes (to recommend my book to other readers, since Goodreads doesn't let you do that as an author, and for voting). I'll see what I do with Chima later on

[Rex Jameson]

Yep, my cover has been blown. I wonder how she found out, though.
Anyway, as I said before, I was also using it for promotional purposes (to recommend my book to other readers, since Goodreads doesn't let you do that as an author, and for voting). I'll see what I do with Chima later on

Now, this I would not advise. It is very transparent, and if you were expecting readers to not figure that out, you would be mistaken. If you are going to have an alt that only honestly rates indies to avoid fallout, then do that. I wouldn't advise making a promotional alt. It's disingenuous and misleading, unless you tell people who your alt is... and then you've sort of defeated its legitimate purpose, imo.

[Vila]

Writers and their friends should develop thicker skins to deal with the inevitable criticism that comes. A two star review might have even done the author some good. Otherwise, how will they know that they have specific problems that they need to deal with before releasing the next works? You have no obligation to inform an author that has already published of major problems before writing a review. It can be a courtesy to inform of small typos or something, but bad storytelling doesn't have to be rewarded with a non-review or an inflated one.

God, I feel like I'm in elementary school  
It truly was a short review where I said I didn't like one of the main characters (the love interest), that I found him boring and predictable, and that I even couldn't remember the other main character's name (that might've sounded harsh but it was the truth).
The worst thing of all this is that I truly like the author as a person, which is why I decided to use my cover account to do the review--something I won't do ever again for sure.
My lesson: never write reviews that are under 4 stars to indie authors.

[Rex Jameson]

God, I feel like I'm in elementary school  
It truly was a short review where I said I didn't like one of the main characters (the love interest), that I found him boring and predictable, and that I even couldn't remember the other main character's name (that might've sounded harsh but it was the truth).
The worst thing of all this is that I truly like the author as a person, which is why I decided to use my cover account to do the review--something I won't do ever again for sure.
My lesson: never write reviews that are under 4 stars to indie authors.

That only contributes to the perception of cronyism in self-publishers. The real lesson should be that if you want to have an anonymous, honest review account, then you shouldn't link it to your author account by promoting your author account with the pseudonym.

Be honest. You usually do people more good than harm.

Though in this case, it sounds like you might have simply not liked the characters. Maybe this just wasn't your genre? No idea. Can't see the original review.

[Vila]

Now, this I would not advise. It is very transparent, and if you were expecting readers to not figure that out, you would be mistaken. If you are going to have an alt that only honestly rates indies to avoid fallout, then do that. I wouldn't advise making a promotional alt. It's disingenuous and misleading, unless you tell people who your alt is... and then you've sort of defeated its legitimate purpose, imo.

I actually created that account with promotional purposes and then decided to use it for reviews (I wanted to avoid the pain of using yet another account).
But yes, it is misleading and unfair to readers if I do that, just like some people pay to get good reviews (I've never done that, by the way). I'm on a really tight budget, so I thought that was a cheap way of promoting my book.  

[Vila]

That only contributes to the perception of cronyism in self-publishers. The real lesson should be that if you want to have an anonymous, honest review account, then you shouldn't link it to your author account by promoting your author account with the pseudonym.

Be honest. You usually do people more good than harm.

Thank you, Rex. You're totally right.
I've always been an open person (as you see, I don't have trouble telling all of you this) and this is a first for me. Honesty is the lesson here 

[Jaime]

Don't let one bad experience put you off. Authors - professional and indie alike - can be a bit sensitive. But others will find your feedback valuable.

The first review I received for 'So You Want' was two stars - and one star was simply for being succinct, according to the reviewer. However, I took the commentary and ended up releasing a better, revised version with more content and links. Without that reviewer, I may have never thought to put out a revised version.

[bektamun]

Jumping on the bandwagon and going slightly off track...today I received two separate pieces of feedback and both contained criticism of my work.

The first was from a reader, who obviously has some knowledge of the writing craft, and said "you’ve got a far better grasp of grammar than most self-published authors, but you still need some work." They went on to point out some errors they had found in the sample version.

Second I received an email from a fellow author who is giving my new book a mention on his site, he informed me he had found a couple of errors in the first chapter.

To both of these people I said a very sincere thank you. Nothing is beyond improvement and even after going through editing my MS had a few errors.

Without honest feedback, how as writers do we ever expect to improve?  Having said that there is a difference between honest and malicious.

I will never hesitate to offer honest feedback, any writer who can't take it should quit the game.

[daveconifer]

I don't write any reviews anymore.  For one thing, reviews by writers usually suck.  Instead of "Why I did/didn't enjoy this" they often come off as "here's what I would have done."  There's also the slippery slope mentioned in the OP in which there are suspicions of ulterior motives.  And then, of course, if two writers happened to review each other's book it will appear as though there is some kind of backroom agreement, especially when both reviews are favorable.    

[kcmay]

I understand how you feel. Indie authors have been known to have sock puppets (or sock puppet-wielding friends/fans) attack the books of other indies they *believe* have left negative reviews. Those are not always easy to prove or get removed.

[Selina Fenech]

Ouch, that is a tough situation. I'm not sure about reviewing either. I've mostly stuck to only giving a good review when I like a book, and skipping reviews for anything I wasn't really keen on. I even feel bad giving 3 or 4 star ratings, as though "I liked it" isn't good enough, and if I rate at all I should rate 5 star... but I wouldn't feel honest if I did. I like that you were giving honest reviews, but maybe doing it through a pseudonym account gives the wrong impression?
The only book I've given a bad review to (and still tried to be diplomatic with) was an ebook selling on Amazon that didn't state it was a short story. It had one other review that was 5 star and made it sound like the best book ever, and no mention of it being a short story in the review or book description. I gave a review pointing out what I felt was misleading marketing, and tried not to write too much about how I also thought it was a *bad* short story, because even then I was worried about giving a bad review to another indie author.  

I think there are also lots of good excuses for authors not to review other books. It's a shame though, because sometimes it's hard to keep those opinions in! As Davconifer said, even giving positive reviews can be seen badly.

[swolf]

I know a lot of indie authors don't feel comfortable with giving bad reviews to other indie authors. I'm definitely one of them. So I use this other account I have in Goodreads with the name of Chima (which I initially opened for promotional purposes) to write honest reviews.

Anyway, as I said before, I was also using it for promotional purposes (to recommend my book to other readers, since Goodreads doesn't let you do that as an author, and for voting). I'll see what I do with Chima later on

So, you're using this supposedly impartial Chima persona to recommend your books and criticize other books, and you don't see anything wrong with that?

[rsullivan9597]

If the review was honest, then there is nothing for you to be ashamed of.

You just need to figure out how to hide your next alter-ego better .

I agree with this.

[genevieveaclark]

So, you're using this supposedly impartial Chima persona to recommend your books and criticize other books, and you don't see anything wrong with that?

Right. How is this not a sock puppet? Vila, you may feel you haven't done anything wrong, but, um, you created an alternate identity specifically to deceive people about your connection with the books you were promoting or reviewing. You may think you had no ill intent, but that's kind of the equivalent of saying, "no, guys, I'm different from all those other people who use sock puppets for evil, just trust me."

It doesn't work like that.

If you don't think you can review books honestly under your real or professional name, don't review books.

And sock puppeting for promotional purposes is...pretty much never good. It's deceptive. It just is. How do you go somewhere good with that?

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

About two weeks ago, I wrote a short two-star review about an indie book I didn't like, and it was the book of an author I knew (I know I should've sent her a message to tell her why I didn't like it, but I couldn't bring myself to do that). Now, a friend of the author wrote to tell me that she knows it was me and that she couldn't believe I was giving a bad review for my own gain, that I should feel ashamed. What?!! I understand that if you see it from the other side of the spectrum, things would look like that, but it really wasn't like that all!!

Well, I can see where that person would get the impression it was malicious.  You have a sock puppet account that you use to promote your own books and also write reviews under.  You then use the sock puppet account to blast a competitor's book.  Yes, I can 100% see how this would look malicious even if it was not your intent.

Reviews are only as credible as the person offering the review.  Anonymous reviews, IMHO, have zero credibility precisely because I don't know the person's relationship to the book.  I would much rather see an author's name attached to the review because then I can make a judgement as to whether or not the review feels valid. 

[Italiahaircolor]

You should feel no guilt whatsoever about being honest.  Seriously.  Bad reviews make for better writers.  If this author was doing something "wrong", something that would turn readers off, then you've given her/him the chance to correct it next time. I consider that a kindness.  The world is full of too many people expecting gold stars for everything they do, which, isn't real life. If people aren't willing to be honest how is anyone supposed to grow?

Her friend was totally out of line contacting you.  I'm sure she felt like she doing right by her author-friend, who I'm sure was plenty hurt, but still...scolding you?  Not cool. 

I do know what you're saying about "bad reviews"...I've given some, and no, it doesn't "feel good".  It's never a comfortable place, to sit in judgement of another person.  Recently I reviewed a book written by a woman who originally started writing a blog...and turned that blog into a book.  It was awful.  Okay, maybe that's harsh...but considering it was written as a memoir, I felt that it smacked of embellishment.  I said as much.  I didn't enjoy pointing it out, but then again, I wasn't the only one.  The truth is, that's life.  That's what opening yourself up as a writer welcomes...it's the other side of the coin.

My advice is keep being honest.  It's the right thing to do.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

My advice is keep being honest.  It's the right thing to do.

Indeed, so long as there are no sock puppets involved...