Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Yes, spoilers in book reviews can be a bummer for authors sometimes. But because spoilers are a significant part of arts and entertainment, and they can help keep the buzz going about authors' books, it's probably best to help remind or educate readers/reviewers about good spoiler etiquette. 🙂

Blog post: Why Spoilers in Book Reviews Are Often a Good Thing

https://wp.me/pwlMY-b8n

Great post/article... and thank you for sharing!

I enjoyed your take on spoilers - I've left a comment on your site, hope that's OK. <3

Spoilers are okay, but ONLY if the review starts out with a ‘spoilers ahead’ warning.

As a reader, I hate getting a good plot twist ruined.

I would go as far as to stay that it might prevent me from wanting to read the book.

If you mean by spoiler that the end of the book is revealed, I do not want to know that If you mean by language some of us do not like (the "f"word) , I am for it.
I have read the end of a book at times to see if I want to finish for example if children are in harm and I want to know if they survive.

C. wrote: "Great post/article... and thank you for sharing!"

Thank you and you're welcome!

Helen wrote: "I enjoyed your take on spoilers - I've left a comment on your site, hope that's OK. <3"

Of course that's okay, Helen! 🙂

Jesper wrote: "Spoilers are okay, but ONLY if the review starts out with a ‘spoilers ahead’ warning."

That's basically what I say in the blog post. 😄 I wrote it because it's seemed to me that not everyone knows the legitimate roles that spoilers play in the readers' domain of book reviews. And when I hear authors tell readers to never include spoilers in reviews, the authors may not realize they could be lessening the exposure and suppressing the buzz about their own books. Yikes!

Leona wrote: "If you mean by spoiler that the end of the book is revealed, I do not want to know that If you mean by language some of us do not like (the "f"word) , I am for it."

I didn't try to define spoiler in the blog post, since different things spoil a story for different readers. 😄 But I wrote the blog post with the hope of making more people aware of what spoilers are for and how they may best be handled—especially for authors who take a "zero tolerance" stance on spoilers but may want to rethink it.

A spoiler is the revelation of plot elements that are intended to be delivered in a certain way so that they may shift perspective and/or surprise the reader. Many book and film review sites that allow spoilers require the reviewer to alert the reader to the fact that there will be spoilers so that the reader may decide whether or not to read a review.
There is a separate informative category - content advisories - that allows readers to know whether the material contains content that many readers may find offensive - extreme violence, torture, violence against animals, offensive language, and so on. An example of this would be the "Parental guides" on a film's page on IMDB.
I would not read a review that spoiled the plot. On the other hand, I do appreciate a content advisory because there is some material I prefer to avoid.