Q&A with Anne-Rae Vasquez discussion

Do you as a reader really pay attention to book reviews?
Does it affect your decision to read a book?
Do you write reviews?

I have noticed that people either love my books or hate it. There really is no middle ground and I expect that. I don't like everything I read and it doesn't mean that the book is not good. We all have different tastes.

My choice of music may be very different than yours. The point is... who cares? Is there really any weight on reviews that people write and should we as artists constantly beg people to post reviews for us?

Just my thoughts... wondering what you think....

Anne-Rae

I read the 3 and 4 star reviews of books to get an idea of the books "faults" but that rarely changed my mind as to whether or not I'm going to buy a book--I just like to know what to expect.

I write reviews for every book I read (though there is a good number on my goodreads account that I didn't get around to reviewing yet :/)

As an author... I find that reviews are a visual thing. Even if they don't read the reviews they see 80 people gave this book a 4-5 star review.

Do reviews translate to sales? Not directly. I find word of mouth much more effective. Unfortunately that's a lot harder to get.

With 10 trillion books being sold there is little to distinguish one book from another. Perhaps a great cover. Perhaps a truly great blurb. Perhaps 50 positive reviews. I think it all just gets thrown into the soup.

This Changes EverythingI have gotten some great, specific and general feedback (suggestions, compliments, recognition of weaknesses, etc.) from excellent reviewers. I have been puzzled by reviewers whose textual comments do not jibe with their ranking of the book, or reviewers who do not give reasons for their rankings. Those reviews mean less to me; I hope they mean less to a potential reader of my books.

True, Sally. I do scratch my head when I see a 4 star review and then the first sentence starts off as "I was disappointed..." or a 2 star review but the review is very positive.

Reviews are tricky. I have to admit that when buying I usually just look at the "Star Ranking" and how many people have taken the trouble to log-on to a site and rate the book. I may read the top feedback if I'm very curious.

From an author perspective, I've had amazing, strange and incomprehensible feedback that makes me wonder if they actually read the same book that I wrote, (Ha, ha, ha!)
I read them all and if I agree with comments I incorporate changes, and if I disagree I ignore them. Either way, I try not to believe my own press.

I agree with your analysis. I believe we are artists and people are going to love it, hate it or be indifferent.

Either way, we're going to keep creating because it is in our blood. :)

WORD!!!

I like reading book reviews from ordinary fans eg on Amazon. If I find a new author, I like knowing which book of hers/his to read first, the fan favorites. I don't like people just describing the plot though! No spoilers!

Agreed... got this long 1 star review the other day and the reviewer basically told the whole story with multiple spoilers... and then commented about how he/she couldn't believe why the other reviewers would give it more than 1 star. Ouch.

No skin off my nose... not everyone is going to like the same books.

Bad reviews are always a tough read, but if there is anything constructive in the criticism then at a least you can use it to build and improve - because let's face it - creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum. But if they are just being mean and spiteful and not constructive in any way, then those are the type of miserable people that you need not pay attention to.

And like you said, personal preferences have a lot to do with what is said in a review.