Bill Conrad's Blog - Posts Tagged "reviews"
Bad Book Reviews
As part of my marketing efforts, I write many book reviews. However, I do not write uncomplimentary book reviews. Why? The main reason is that I believe in karma. Bad things happen when I send out negative waves. Another reason is that it is not in my nature to publicly criticize somebody. The world is negative enough without my help. And finally, I have certainly felt the sting of a bad review and they are especially painful when the criticism is valid.
If everybody followed my chaotic moral code, would we only have good reviews? There will always be negative people and a bad item can upset a person so much that they need to vent.
There are hundreds of books and movies out there. When I find one that I do not like, I stop reading/watching. Life is too short to slog through boring media. What about a movie theater? I am thinking about the movies Stealth and Thin Red Line. Two hours of my life that I will not get back.
Let’s take a recent example of a book I put down. The Mammoth Book of True War Stories by Jon Lewis. I made it to 20 pages. It had a bland writing style, boring stories, many errors, and I found the format unappealing.
What did I expect? I expected that a book titled “war stories” to have war stories. This particular book contained battle stories. One is a personal account of a specific incident and the other a historical description from a soldier’s perspective.
I expected real war stories like the ones my Uncle Al told me from this time in Vietnam. Here is one that I remember. He had been driving along a dirt road, came across kids making faces, hit a land mine and went flying. Afterward, the kids laughed, which confirmed they knew about the mine. My angry uncle swung his rifle around and pointed it at them. The kids looked scared to death and at the very last moment, he decided not to shoot.
Is this an earth-shattering story? No. Does this story contain a plot? Not really. However, it is a perfect war story. Why? It is personal, interesting and reveals what happened in that conflict. The best part of this story is that Al shared it with me and I now have a connection to that event. That is the kind of personal connection I expected out of the Mammoth Book and it failed at every level.
Should I have blasted the Mammoth Book with a scorching bad review? At least give it one star. If we took young Bill forward in time, he would have written an angry misspelled mess and sent it to every corner of the internet. I feel that life is too short to dwell on the negative. On a side note, for this blog, I looked at a few reviews on this particular book and they confirmed my negative opinion. Perhaps I should have been more careful with my reading choice.
What about giving a bad review to something that upset me? I recall two products on Amazon and two movies on Netflix that I wrote bad reviews for. To date, I have posted over 200 good book reviews. Will I write bad book reviews in the future? If authors keep coming out with Mammoth Books of Worthless Junk, there is hope.
If everybody followed my chaotic moral code, would we only have good reviews? There will always be negative people and a bad item can upset a person so much that they need to vent.
There are hundreds of books and movies out there. When I find one that I do not like, I stop reading/watching. Life is too short to slog through boring media. What about a movie theater? I am thinking about the movies Stealth and Thin Red Line. Two hours of my life that I will not get back.
Let’s take a recent example of a book I put down. The Mammoth Book of True War Stories by Jon Lewis. I made it to 20 pages. It had a bland writing style, boring stories, many errors, and I found the format unappealing.
What did I expect? I expected that a book titled “war stories” to have war stories. This particular book contained battle stories. One is a personal account of a specific incident and the other a historical description from a soldier’s perspective.
I expected real war stories like the ones my Uncle Al told me from this time in Vietnam. Here is one that I remember. He had been driving along a dirt road, came across kids making faces, hit a land mine and went flying. Afterward, the kids laughed, which confirmed they knew about the mine. My angry uncle swung his rifle around and pointed it at them. The kids looked scared to death and at the very last moment, he decided not to shoot.
Is this an earth-shattering story? No. Does this story contain a plot? Not really. However, it is a perfect war story. Why? It is personal, interesting and reveals what happened in that conflict. The best part of this story is that Al shared it with me and I now have a connection to that event. That is the kind of personal connection I expected out of the Mammoth Book and it failed at every level.
Should I have blasted the Mammoth Book with a scorching bad review? At least give it one star. If we took young Bill forward in time, he would have written an angry misspelled mess and sent it to every corner of the internet. I feel that life is too short to dwell on the negative. On a side note, for this blog, I looked at a few reviews on this particular book and they confirmed my negative opinion. Perhaps I should have been more careful with my reading choice.
What about giving a bad review to something that upset me? I recall two products on Amazon and two movies on Netflix that I wrote bad reviews for. To date, I have posted over 200 good book reviews. Will I write bad book reviews in the future? If authors keep coming out with Mammoth Books of Worthless Junk, there is hope.
Self-Plugging
My parents are getting older, so I downloaded a self-help book so I can help them and know what to expect. Unfortunately, the book was a dud. Instead of focusing on practical advice like low-impact exercise, a good diet, and working with doctors, the author presented a holistic approach. Before you get upset, this would have been fine if the book description or title had prepared the reader. “A holistic approach to old age.” However, neither was present, and the light content provided little helpful information.
Forgiving an author for lackluster content is possible, but there was a more significant problem. The author spent two (out of eight) entire chapters on a book that was far too short, instructing (not asking) the reader to write a positive review. The first chapter described how vital reviews were to the author, gave tips on the review content, and discussed how to post the review. The second chapter repeated how critical reviews were to the authors’ success. I have never encountered such an arrogant request and found it to be outrageous and unprofessional. I hope this new form of promotion is not a new trend.
I am a humble author who appreciates when a reader views my words; this is my positive review. You read my work? Thank you! The icing on the cake occurs when somebody takes the time to thank me. Wow, it feels great to be appreciated.
Now, hold on. I self-plug my published books in my articles and use my plots as examples. Why? I want to be successful, and advertising is a significant part of sales. Yet, I would never demand something from my readers and do not have gushing self-plugs. I would rather be a failure than stoop to that level.
Yet, my self-plugging seems hypocritical. I can complain about an author who went too far, but not myself. I suppose I must fall back on the title of a Cranberries song, “Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?” The difference is that I go far to ensure my humble plugs are tasteful and not in your face.
There was something else amusing about this book. None of the reviews mentioned the review demand. I would have expected at least some anger; after all, it upset me. This lack of reaction made me wonder why I get so upset.
Every day, commercials bombard us. Billboards, magazines, bumper stickers, radio commercials, banners, pop-ups, subliminal messages, and hidden text. Nearly every online video ends with “If you liked this content, please like and subscribe.” Likes have become the content currency.
Readers and viewers have become accustomed to in-your-face advertisements and demands for many things. It is so much noise and wasted effort. We live in a modern world, and advertising will only get worse. I predict that artificial intelligence will soon bombard us with hyper-specific advertisements.
Yet, a book is a flat, dull thing. They do not have exciting YouTube personalities with excellent graphics or pop-up windows with a great deal on socks. And that is the big reason we read them. “Today, I got under a warm blanket and read a lovely book.” What did it do? The book entertained and informed me. Great job, you wonderful author. But two self-plugging chapters? They crossed a thick line.
You’re the best -Bill
January 10, 2024
Forgiving an author for lackluster content is possible, but there was a more significant problem. The author spent two (out of eight) entire chapters on a book that was far too short, instructing (not asking) the reader to write a positive review. The first chapter described how vital reviews were to the author, gave tips on the review content, and discussed how to post the review. The second chapter repeated how critical reviews were to the authors’ success. I have never encountered such an arrogant request and found it to be outrageous and unprofessional. I hope this new form of promotion is not a new trend.
I am a humble author who appreciates when a reader views my words; this is my positive review. You read my work? Thank you! The icing on the cake occurs when somebody takes the time to thank me. Wow, it feels great to be appreciated.
Now, hold on. I self-plug my published books in my articles and use my plots as examples. Why? I want to be successful, and advertising is a significant part of sales. Yet, I would never demand something from my readers and do not have gushing self-plugs. I would rather be a failure than stoop to that level.
Yet, my self-plugging seems hypocritical. I can complain about an author who went too far, but not myself. I suppose I must fall back on the title of a Cranberries song, “Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?” The difference is that I go far to ensure my humble plugs are tasteful and not in your face.
There was something else amusing about this book. None of the reviews mentioned the review demand. I would have expected at least some anger; after all, it upset me. This lack of reaction made me wonder why I get so upset.
Every day, commercials bombard us. Billboards, magazines, bumper stickers, radio commercials, banners, pop-ups, subliminal messages, and hidden text. Nearly every online video ends with “If you liked this content, please like and subscribe.” Likes have become the content currency.
Readers and viewers have become accustomed to in-your-face advertisements and demands for many things. It is so much noise and wasted effort. We live in a modern world, and advertising will only get worse. I predict that artificial intelligence will soon bombard us with hyper-specific advertisements.
Yet, a book is a flat, dull thing. They do not have exciting YouTube personalities with excellent graphics or pop-up windows with a great deal on socks. And that is the big reason we read them. “Today, I got under a warm blanket and read a lovely book.” What did it do? The book entertained and informed me. Great job, you wonderful author. But two self-plugging chapters? They crossed a thick line.
You’re the best -Bill
January 10, 2024
