Re: Discouraged by new book

**t*@earthlink.net**

I don't think those of us who write books have much say at all in who
reviews our books,  certainly we can solicit reviews, but anyone can at
anytime review a book. And sure, we can tell our publicists that :"Please >
don't give Dan Clost a copy because I don't like what he says."? But, he can
still get his own copy (although perhaps not for free) and review it. Or, he
can go online, never actually read it all, and still review it.
    Some of the most widely read book reviews are those on Amazon.com and
Barnes & Noble.com and anyone who even claims to have read the book can
review it. In my experience, if people read negative or luke warm book
reviews they do NOT buy the book. Also, as Betty Mackey was pointing out, so
correctly, a huge number of newspaper and magazine writers feel that they
must always present "both sides of the story," and in doing so, they will
search high and low for someone to quote who will say something negative
about whatever it is they're covering, be it a book or whatever. The end
result of this practice is to water-down whatever is covered, and with
books, it kills sales. An author often goes to a ton of time and trouble to
get reviews, spends hours on the phone and with email with these reviewers,
only to read the review, all glowing until the end, where some local
"expert," who frequently knows next to nothing about it, and has never read
the book in question...until this expert dumps on the book and the idea.
  There are several results of this: 1. the reviewer now feels that he/she
has been "objective" and covered both sides of the story. 2. the author
feels shafted after wasting his/her time with the reviewer. and 3. the
reader of the article reads it and at about the point they might consider
actually buying the book, it is slighted, and the reader does NOT buy the
book.
  As to: there is a distinction to be made here between a "text" book and an
> "interest" book..
I'd agree with that...most text books are sold to students who HAVE to buy
them. Most of them are written in such a boring manner that if buying them
were not mandatory, no one would ever buy them. With these (text) books
reviews matter little if at all, per actual book sales.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Clost" <dan.clost@sympatico.ca>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum"
<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2005 10:26 AM
Subject: Re: [GWL] Discouraged by new book


> Good afternoon everyone,
> I've just re-read Jeff's post that got us all going. ...appropriately very
> basic, almost text book style and form...
>
> I think there is a distinction to be made here between a "text" book and
an
> "interest" book- if we can have those very general divisions. Let's go
away
> from our collective areas of expertise. Suppose you read both the daVinci
> Code and  The Dead Sea Scrolls, An English Translation in which there was
> commentary by a very well respected theologian. Would you review them from
> the same perspective?  Would you review the first with the idea that it is
a
> theological treatise put forward to the masses in the guise of a mystery
> thriller or would you review it as a piece of entertaining fiction with
some
> interesting questions?  How would you approach the second? What if you
don't
> agree with the conclusions of this eminent academician? Does content
become
> more important than style and form?
>
>
> Also, I confess I'm an inexperienced reviewer which automatically means
I've
> a lot to learn. What is the purpose of a review? To boldly give your
opinion
> of the book? (and yes, you grammarians, Star Trek's intro has corrupted
me.)
> To give my opinion of its benefits to readers which might be different
from
> the first? To discuss whether or not the purpose of the book has been
> satisfied?
>
> Suppose I read a book and like 95% but there is one aspect about it that I
> don't like, and I don't mean a spelling error or a typo, something
> significant. Do I let it go by?  The posts, with one exception that I've
> found, seem to split this group into two very distinct groups: tell only
the
> good stuff and let the bad stuff wither away from lack of publicity (which
> BTW, means you'll find it at boxstore book outlet in the bargain bin) or
> tell it like it is and incur the wrath of editors and fellow writers until
> eternity. For a new guy, it's tough to choose what we as a profession
think
> is the best way.
>
> I suppose this leads to another question- who should be reviewing any
> particular book? A professional reviewer who may or may not know much
about
> gardening? A green trade professional with expertise in the same area as
the
> book's topic but doesn't know much about writing? Anybody who writes the
> author for a book to review?
> Does the author have a say in who does the reviews? Could they say,
"Please
> don't give Dan Clost a copy because I don't like what he says."?
>
> jes muddlin thru this one
> Dan
>
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