After this, this, and this, John Scalzi comes up with the best answer ever to the bad Amazon (or other internet) Review:
Post your one-star (or otherwise negative) Amazon reviews, if you have them, and you probably do. Oh, go on. Own your one-star reviews, man. And then, you know. Get past them. If you’re lucky, some of them might actually be fun to read.
Now why the hell didn't I think of that?
I bow down.
I don't read Amazon reviews because I usually judge for myself. That said, I do occasionally review a book. But I only do so just to give potential readers an idea why they may enjoy the novel. Why don't I review something I didn't enjoy? Because my first thought is that it probably wasn't the book's fault. More than likely it was me. No one will like everything they read. That doesn't make it a bad read. Just not for me. I've never understood why people don't realize that.
ReplyDeleteI don't tend to read Amazon's reviews eithe (I usually know whether I want a book before going to the store).
ReplyDeleteHere's what Charlie Stross had to say on the subject ..
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2008/04/we_get_reviews.html