Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Forbidden & Reviews

Hoping to hit 40k on Book 2 by the end of the week, which always feels like a great milestone. I also had to revisit Book 1 to check up some facts for Book 2 - and ended up reading the last 100 pages. What a relief to realise I still love the ending as much as I ever did! I've also been doing some research on what my druid princess heroine might wear on the cover of FORBIDDEN - So Exciting!

Anyway to change the subject slightly (!)I should think most, if not all, writers have faced at least one not-so-great review of their book. They might sting but really the best way to cope is to just move on. The other day I came across this blog post over at Katiebabs where she discusses the phenomenon of authors asking particular review sites not to review their books. Personally I'd want my books talked about rather than completely ignored. How else is anyone going to even know it exists? What do you think?

(Haven't forgotten about the contest - results coming up soon!! Watch this space...)

5 comments:

Cari Quinn said...

Yay on 40K and I'm so excited to read Forbidden! (Yeah, I know I keep saying it, LOL)

I think you're right about reviews...the old adage bad publicity is better than none applies in some cases, I think. Not everyone's going to love your book. That's just the way it goes. But by limiting who gets your book to review, you're also limiting your potential audience.

Kaye Manro said...

Glad you've reached that big 40k.

And I have to agree with you and Cari. Reviews are reviews, some are going to be good, some bad. And limiting your audience is so true if you try to restrict who reviews your book.

April Vine said...

Hey Christina
I’m dying to see your Roman clothed…well at least only as far as a cover goes!
And I’m sure you’ll sail to your
40k mark.
Bad reviews? There’s no such thing as bad publicity. I’m hopelessly curious so I would definitely pick up a book that’s gotten bad reviews just to see how bad it really is - that of course won’t apply to my own : )

Angie said...

Whether or not one believes the adage about bad publicity being better than no publicity, the fact is that writers who pitch fits about reviews are definitely generating bad publicity for themselves. No matter how negative or even snarky a review was, having the news go around the internet that you've tried to take your books and flounce away is definitely going to be worse.

Aside from the fact that you really can't prevent a review site from reviewing your books. You can stop sending them freebies, and ask your publisher to stop sending them freebies, but if someone goes out and buys the book they can still read and review it, with or without your permission. You can ask that a reviewer not write about your book, and if they're a particularly nice and agreeable person then they might go along. But they don't owe you anything, and behaving as though they do -- as though you actually think you have control over who reviews your books -- just makes you look like an idiot, and through your own actions. That'll last a lot longer in the readers' minds than just another disappointing review. [wry smile]

Angie

Christina Phillips said...

Cari, thank you so much! It means a lot to know that!!

And I agree Kaye, by restricting reviewers you're limiting your potential audience. I definitely want as many people as possible to know I have a book out there!

Hey April! LOL - I have a feeling Maximus may not be *fully* clothed on the cover *wink*!!

Angie - absolutely. I can't believe how some authors behave after discovering a less than stellar review of their book. Whereas the original review would probably quietly fade into the distance, creating a huge fuss leads to nothing but spreading the entire mess across the blogosphere *shivers*