Manipulating book reviews is hurting readers and writers alike.

First, I must disclose I get paid to write book reviews.

I’m contracted by a company that gets paid $200 by the author, publicist, marketing agency, publisher, someone, anyone, to have a book reviewed. They send me a list, I choose the book I want to read and then write an honest review. They pay me 20% or $40.00_USD. I’m not told what to write only that it has to be thorough, well-written and between 400 and 450 words.

What’s a bit disconcerting is I don’t own the review, the client who paid for it does. My review goes back to the client and they decide whether or not it gets posted. Not surprising, anything less than four stars gets killed.

But as a writer for hire that’s the deal. Hey, as a journalist I’ve had news stories killed because they offended the publisher’s golfing buddy.

The difficulty I’m having is when it comes to reviews of my own fiction.

I won’t pay for reviews. I know it doesn’t make sense does. I get paid to write reviews of other people’s books, but I won’t pay to have people write reviews of mine. Anyhow, I can’t afford to pay $200 for a bad review, and, yes, at least half of the reviews I get paid to write you wouldn’t be posting on the back cover of your book or highlighting on your author’s website.

As I’m sure you have, I’ve tried many ways to attract reviews, mostly with free books. I ask the recipients to write and post an honest review though less than one percent do and some aren’t favourable.

But let’s talk about those unfavourable reviews.

I’ve learned a lot from well-considered bad reviews and unfortunately, there have been quite a few. I’ve been told my characters are stereotypes, had plot holes pointed out and been condemned for not tying up the loose ends in the denouement. What I’m saying is you can learn from bad reviews, but not if you don’t allow any to be posted.

This brings me to the point, (finally, you say),

of authors collaborating in review exchanges.

When I've entered into these collaborations, I’ve frequently been asked to agree not to post our reviews until each of us has had an opportunity to review the review. I’ve agreed on their behalf but suggest they post the review of my work regardless. However, if my review of their book is less than four stars or even has a hint of criticism it’s invariably declined.

The other disconcerting thing is getting a five-star review when it’s apparent the reviewer never read my book. The review is a couple of paragraphs scant on details and big on generalizations like “unique voice”, “great find”, “memorable characters”, “thrilling plotline”.

So, my question is, who is benefitting?

• - Certainly not the reader if he or she is buying a book on the strength of the review rating.
• - Not the author who refuses to accept legitimate criticism thus never improves as a writer.
• - Not authors who let legitimate criticism stand if they’re compared against bogus good ones.
• - Not the writing community since the pool of reviews has been poisoned by bogus ones and no longer has any credibility

I understand how important it is to have our work reviewed, but I’m urging you to not only let the opinion of the reviewer be posted regardless of the rating, insist upon it. That will motivate you to improve your craft and also begin to return credibility to the review pool. A fringe benefit may also be keeping your integrity intact, though today that’s becoming more a liability than an asset.

To paraphrase, you can fool some of the readers some of the time. In other words, it’s highly unlikely you’ll achieve a level of real success on the strength of bogus reviews. If you’re going to become truly successful you must first become a good writer. Participating in anything less than ethical reviews won’t help you succeed and you’re making it more difficult for everyone else.

BOYCOTT BOGUS REVIEWS

As a reader and as a writer, I will no longer purchase books I believe have achieved their rating through less than ethical means. If you’re serious about writing I encourage you to consider adopting this policy as I believe it will benefit us all in the long run and face it, it is a long run.

Here are some tips that may indicate

reviews have been less than ethically achieved:

- A new self-published book has a lot of 4-5 star reviews in a short period – 3 months.

- There are more ratings than reviews and all of them are 4-5 stars.

- Do a web search of the reviewer. If it’s a company like Kirkus, then their policy is likely not to publish reviews of less than 4-5 stars.

- There are no bad or even mediocre reviews or ratings.

- Reviews use generic language and don’t address the story. Examples would be “original voice”, “thrilling plotline”, “memorable characters” “great find”. 

- Read the preview. Do the reviews reflect the level the author is writing at?

Do we have the courage to do this?

30

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

I adore this short picture book! The artwork, characters, and story is charming. The relationship between the two sisters is absolutely adorable. You can tell they care for one another and want to be there for each other when life gets hard. I love how this book encouraged kids to dive into their imagination if ever they feel depressed because they may find the happiness they are seeking. As someone who constantly daydreams of one day going to a place not of this realm, I related to Virginia so much. I, too, dream of my own perfect world. And if we continue to search for it, through art or writing or any other creative outlets, we may one day find our Home.

This book is absolutely beautiful. I encourage you to pick it up! It's short but has a lovely message and beautiful artwork to go with it! Anyone can pick up this picture book and find enjoyment in it. May also encourage you look explore your imagination again in case you've been focusing too much on Reality. It's a great book!

I've been reading this series for a long time now. I began reading this series earlier this year with the intent to read each book back to back to get the full picture of what William Joyce wanted to tell the reader. I started well with my reading adventure, reading all the picture books and the first four books in the series in a timely manner. Then 2020 happened and slapped everyone in the face including myself. I'm not going to lie, guys. It's been hard. Extremely hard. With the pandemic, the civil injustices happening in my country, wildfires raging madly on the West coast, and personal issues happening throughout, I have not had the time nor the mental fortitude to dedicate to reading. My health (physical, mental, and emotional) has not been doing well either. I just feel like I've been all over the place as of late. With that being said, I am hoping things are settling enough that I can get back into reading. Still being mindful and aware we are not out of the woods yet (nor will we be any time soon), but also capable of treating myself right and enjoy a good book from time to time. I'm still mentally clogged with everything going on, but I want to try to get back into the hobbies I love and miss doing this year.

And with that, I bring to you my review of Jack Frost: The End Becomes the Beginning.

I really liked this book. It's not my favorite book in the series, but I did enjoy it for what it was. I don't intend to go into too many details with this review since it's the final book in the series but I did want to talk about a few things that won't spoil the plot.

It's a very good book. And the conclusion, though not really what I was hoping for, was not bad in any way. However, I had a few problems with it as I was reading it. The first thing that bugged me was the pacing. Joyce wrote this book after the movie came out and it shows. Which is a bit of a bummer for since his original story was magnificent. In this book he tried to tie in the movie and book universes too much and it did not blend well. It felt disjointed at times and forced. The pacing suffered because of this as well. The beginning was very slow. VERY SLOW. He kept rehashing certain scenes from the previous books and also diving deep into moments that took placed in the past and not during the actual story being told. A lot of the story was told in "flashback" moments which took the reader out of the current plot. It felt messy and rushed in some areas and it dragged in others.

The characters are still loveable and unique. But they definitely took a backseat in this book. Joyce focused more on action and "plot" but he completely forgot about what a lot of readers picked up these books for in the first place and that was to see these amazing characters interact in this whimsical world he created. When those parts appeared in this book, it was incredible just like it was in the precious books. But they were few and far between. Most of the scenes in this book was one battle after the other. That's it. I wanted to see more of the relationships between all of the characters,

I especially feel Pitch was left as an afterthought, almost. Yes, he's a lingering presence throughout the whole book, but he doesn't actually make an appearance until the end of the book, if you're not including the flashback portion. It was very underwhelming seeing what happens at the end. I was hoping for more interaction, more feeling. It was like (and I'm keeping it vague here on purpose) Jack does a thing, Emily Jane says thanks, and that's it! I wanted Jack and Pitch to have a full on conversation! To come to the realization that they are not so different after all. To say thanks or sorry or something! But we didn't get much of anything and it felt very hollow.

The ending... I'm not a huge fan of. It was an ending that would have meant something if we were introduced to certain elements beforehand. Not almost 250 pages into the book. It felt, like most of this books, rather empty and pointless.

That's not to say this book is bad. It's not. I did like it. I was just expecting to see more of the characters I fell in love with interacting with one another and understanding one another. Instead I got a bunch of action with no real substance.

If you've read the other books in this series, I do recommend you read this one. It's good to see the conclusion to this amazing series. Just don't expect too much going in and you may enjoy this a lot more.

I'm glad that despite everything that's been happening in the world, I was still able to finish this series that I have been meaning to read for quite some time now. I don't know what I'll be reading next but I hope that I will continue to read regardless.

Another beautiful addition to this sweet little story. I am a huge fan of Pitch Black and in this book we finally get his whole story told to us. It's heartbreaking, beautiful, and tragic. I love learning more about him and his daughter and I love seeing how even beings like him, deserve some love and respect.

In this book, we have a returning character from the picture books. Sandy! I love this little guy. So much strength with such little words spoken. I adore him. I also love that this is the first time we get to see Nightlight grow a little as a character. He was someone who was very immature in his way of thinking. But it's in this book that he learns that things are not just black and white, good and evil. That there are many layers to who a person can be and many reasons to explain the actions one choose to take. I think it's a brilliant lesson for anyone to learn. Especially Nightlight, a boy who never ages.

I love this series so much. I know the writing can be quite simplistic at times, but the story and the characters more than make up for it. I think with such a lovely story, you don't need flowery writing. The story speaks for itself. 

I am close to the end of this series now. I've never read the last book before. This will be my first time reading it. Makes me nervous to finally find out what's going to happen. I love Pitch and I don't want him to get a nasty end for just being different. I will hold on to hope that the ending of the series will be just as sweet as the rest of it has been.

If you haven't read this series yet, I highly encourage that you do. It's a lot of fun with endearing characters and such fantastical ideas that it will make you want to explore your own imagination as thoroughly as you did when you were younger. Or still do. Some of us never forgot our "child-like wonder." I hope you never do.

I'm finally continuing with my read of this amazing series. I had to take a bit of a break since Final Fantasy VII: Remake was released so all of my time went to that for about two months. X3 BUT! I am back and I just finished reading my favorite book in the series thus far.

In this book we meet Toothiana and I love reading about her past and how she came to me the mighty Queen that she is. Her wit, her strength, her will, her everything is so incredibly inspiring. I love learning about her powers and what makes her such an amazing Guardian.

All of the other characters make an appearance in this book as well. We see North, Ombric, Bunnymund, Nightlight, and Katherine grow and learn more about Pitch. Especially when it come to Katherine. She plays a key role in this book and it is through her that the other Guardians learn how to understand and sympathize with other beings. There's a certain scene that happens at the end of the book that introduces a new character and makes you fall in love with an old character all the more. I love this book.

Please, if you haven't read this series yet, please do. It's so much fun and helps you to understand and care for others who are different. It's such a heartwarming series that I think is worth the read.