A Cooperative Press for Indie Authors discussion

I had wanted to read and review some of my fellow IACP members' books here.

The one I've read so far, however, I didn't enjoy much. This isn't actually a criticism - look at my review history and see how many all-time classics I gave three stars to - but simply a reflection of my enjoyment.

As this writer mostly had four-and-five-star reviews I declined to review at all, rather than hurt the member's average. I would have given two stars to it (maybe three if I was feeling generous - I am very stingy with my star ratings) because I would not lie on a review.

So, while I like the idea of reading and reviewing each other's books (just one small way we could support one another) what is the etiquette for this? I assume we would not want to falsely give five-star ratings. If we're not enamored of someone's writing, is it definitely better (for our fellow Co-oPress members) that we simply refrain from rating and reviewing in such a case?

Is anyone else going to try reading the others' books? (I don't want to read everyone's books, but there are several here that I intend to look at.)

I read some, though my Kindle is full of free indie books I have downloaded and am amazingly slow at reading them. This is partly because my main avenue of reading is audiobooks in my car on my long commute to work. I have read and reviewed two indie books so far this year, and am reading my third. The first one deserved a five-star review, and I gave it. The second may have deserved a five-star review, but the ending was poorly done, so I contacted the author first, advised that would hold off until it was fixed. Author was not receptive at all, I posted the three-star review. It was a shame, though, rewriting about five pages would have been all it took. The ending did not wrap things up properly, nor did it tell you that there would be an ongoing story, a sequel. It felt like an amazing ride followed by a slap in the face at the end.

Notice I am not mentioning the book or the author here. I still hope that author fixes that stuff. The 95% of the book that I really loved had me wanting to give it a five-star rating. I still want to. If the author fixes it, I am more than glad to up the rating.

J. wrote: "I had wanted to read and review some of my fellow IACP members' books here.

The one I've read so far, however, I didn't enjoy much. This isn't actually a criticism - look at my review history and ..."

I think the best "etiquette" is to avoid reviewing each other's work, but instead encourage our third party acquaintances to read and review our works. I have purchased a few member's books and given them to third parties encouraging them to read and review them. Not much luck so far, but tenacity is not something I'm short on.