Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts. It’s supposed to be posted on Friday, but being on time is hard and it’s better late than never.
This week’s topic is: our responsibilities as bloggers and readers.
You know, there’s obviously the basic things like don’t kidnap authors, tie them to the bed, break their legs, and demand they write another book, no matter how long you’ve been waiting for the next one, okay? Not cool. The rest of us are using voodoo and black magic, man. Keep up with the times.
While most of us do this blogger thing for completely free (most losing money in the process), the truth is there are certain things we just should do as readers and bloggers.
These are just my personal thoughts. Whether or not every blogger or reader should do these things is questionable. We’re all individuals, so all of these may not fit for everyone. You’re not naughty if you don’t do these things. Unless you want to be, I guess? And then look at you, getting down with your bad self. Go you!
Things to do
Review books you read on Amazon and Goodreads.
Even if you choose not to support Amazon with your patronage, the reality is that a lot of authors still require Amazon for their sales. And Amazon acts like the Guardians in Rise of the Guardians: it needs a certain amount of magic in order to exist and function. Except in this context, magic is reviews, and if books don’t get them, they don’t get the amount of exposure they’re hoping for, a lot of times.
Even if it’s not five stars, even if it’s just a few sentences of what you did or didn’t like about the book, every review helps an author get their unicorn … or dragon … or wings … I don’t know, but good things happen and that’s the important thing.
If you like books, it makes sense to help support the authors that write them. Because without authors, books don’t exist, and what sort of hellscape world is that?! For a change, that’s not a dark fantasy I’d want to live in, thanks.
Be honest and transparent.
You aren’t going to like all the books. That’s a fact. A sad fact, but a fact, nonetheless. Reviewing books doesn’t mean you have to like all the bookst, because … well, you won’t. Sorry to burst your bubble. I’m all full of disappointing news this week, but hey, someone had to tell you.
If you don’t like a book, don’t pretend you do, since you’re not doing anyone any favors that way. On the flip side, if you love a book everyone else seems to hate? Don’t jump on that bandwagon, either. It’s perfectly fine to just like what you like.
The thing about reviewing is that people can usually tell if you’re not being honest in your reviews. There’s just something about someone’s voice that feels off when they’re trying to say they love something they don’t or vice versa. People follow your reviews to find out what you actually think, and you do a disservice to both yourself and your readers if you’re not authentic.
Be yourself.
This one is for the bloggers particularly. I see you. Yes, you. I know you’re not wearing pants, but I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that, and I’m going to give you a pass because COVID.
Finding your voice and what you want to do with a blog can be hard. It took me over a year of blogging on and off to actually start to write in my authentic voice, and you know what? Blogging became so much freaking easier when I stopped trying to be someone I wasn’t. Surprise! Who would’ve thought?
The most unique thing that your blog can offer is you. Your voice is unique, just by virtue of who you are and all the things you bring to it.
Even if you can’t imagine why someone would want to follow you or listen to what you have to say, trust me, people do, and they keep showing up because they enjoy who you are. I mean, look around you. Hypothetically, there are several of you reading this blog post right now! Why? I don’t know, because I’m an awkward book goblin who runs around flailing and panicking and attempting to act humanish. Yet, you still show up to my blog, and I love you, but I think we need to examine your life choices.
HAVE FUN.
Like, aaaaall the fun. Burnout is a real thing that happens, and at a certain point, blogging may lose all its excitement and shininess, and it’s perfectly okay to step away if you need to. This is a hobby, not a business, for most people.
Life is short. Choose your battles appropriately. Blogging may not always be on top of the list, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Remember why you started blogging in the first place. I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t so you can stress and fret and spend weeks without getting enough sleep. Unless you’re like me and that’s totally just your brand. In that case, way to go! You’re totally killing it. But at any point it becomes too much? It’s okay to step back. Blogging can be totally fun, and it can be a drag, so just remember to take care of yourself.
Things not to do
Drag an author.
It’s cool to not like a book, but don’t personally attack an author. It’s just not a good look. Authors put their hearts and souls into a book. Even the worst book dominated an author’s life for a good chunk of time, and they’re likely proud of it. I mean, obviously, or they wouldn’t have published it. This is really just a courtesy thing. Not to mention that an author is not the sum of their work.
The caveat with this is obviously when it’s necessary to call out harassment, abuse, or other unacceptable behavior, because that is, in fact, 100% about the author and not the book.
In essence, what I’m advocating here is separating the author from the book. You can hate a book without hating on the author. Likewise, an author can make wrong decisions that have nothing to do with their work.
Attack other bloggers/reviewers.
This is another courtesy thing. You don’t have to love all other book bloggers. You don’t even have to like them. That’s a thing in the world. You won’t be friends with every person you meet, and it’d be unrealistic to expect such. Just treat them with common courtesy.
This doesn’t mean you can’t call out problematic behavior, but do so mindfully.
There’s a difference from approaching someone like, “Hey, what you did wasn’t cool, and here’s why,” to shouting behind their back about how horrible they are and calling them all sorts of rude names. This is a professionalism thing. As bloggers, we are held to a somewhat higher standard, whether correctly or incorrectly, so it’s just a matter of decorum. Treat a problem with a fellow blogger like you would a problem with a colleague at work.
Leave a one-star/negative review for a book you haven’t read.
Not everyone will agree with me on this, but this is something I strongly believe, and it goes back to the honesty and transparency thing. How can you rate something you haven’t read? There’s really two answers: either based on something the author did or based on what other readers have told you. Neither one is really a reliable source to judge a book.
I’m separating this one from the idea of DNF’s, since I know some people will rate DNF reviews, and that’s cool. I don’t, personally, but you gave the book a good go, you had an experience, and you’re speaking from your experience.
That’s really the common denominator here. Reviews are subjective, and they’re reflective of a reader’s experience. So if you’ve never experienced a book, how are you going to review it? Just give it a fair shake before leaving that one-star review, is all I’m saying.
I rate dnf’s, but I’ve never quite understood rating a book you’ve never picked up or read at all. Same with going after other bloggers or authors.
Great post today, Sammie!
I don’t understand it, either, but it’s something I’ve seen happen more and more with social media placing authors under more scrutiny. They do something readers don’t like, and then I look at their book and the newest comments are like, “The author did this and I didn’t like it, so one star.”
That’s definitely not something I thought I’d have to say people shouldn’t do, yet here we are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I’ve been interested to see some answers to this prompt because your ideas here were basically my first thoughts when I saw the prompt! Like…read books and review them honestly? Be a decent human being and don’t insult people? I was honestly kind of confused by the idea bloggers have “responsibilities” beyond that because this is just a hobby. I saw some people say “support authors” and things like that, but as I’m mentioning in an upcoming post, that honestly isn’t why I blog. That makes me feel like I’m supposed to be marketing their stuff to help their sales and while that might be a nice consequence of a positive review I write, I mostly started blogging to talk to other readers about books. (And “supporting authors” makes me feel like I can’t write a negative review and suggest people should NOT buy the book!)
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I mean, when I saw the prompt was I like, “Isn’t that kind of a given?” But that was weeks ago and my interaction with some parts of the bookish community in the past few weeks have convinced me that, yes, some people need to be reminded of these things. xD Probably not the people who read my blog, unfortunately, but still.
I’ll be looking forward to that post! It’s an interesting thought. I do enjoy supporting authors, but at the same time, I separate authors from their books. But I also come from a librarian angle, where I recommend books, not authors, and books I think *others* would like, not what I liked or didn’t like. It’s such a weird cross-section that I inhabit at this point. xD I’ve left two-star reviews on books for authors that I love following, and I still retweet their stuff and recommend their work to an audience I think would like it, but that’s sort of my job. That’s not why I started blogging, either, and if I didn’t work in a library, I’m not sure I’d do as much of it, either.
Enjoyed reading the post. I feel like a lot of these are things that should be intuitive (e.g. be honest, write how you want to write, not reviewing something you have never read, remember authors are people too, etc.) but we may need reminders…this was a good reminder.
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I would think they would be intuitive, but lately, some people I’ve seen around in the bookish community have made me question whether people need a reminder, like you said. xD
I’m glad to see this post, especially from you. This is all sound advice, especially in terms of what one should NOT be doing. Unfortunately I have been seeing these things happen a lot lately. One of my biggest concerns when I started my blog was my opinion. I’ve always had very unpopular opinions, and because of it, I would get a lot of hate/criticism in other places for it. Fortunately, I haven’t had many problems with that here, but it’s still a lot of pressure knowing that I have such different opinions on so many beloved books…I always make it a goal to be honest and give specifics reasons a book does or doesn’t work for me though. And I’d never imagine rating a book I haven’t read. I’m also glad to see you mention about separating a book and an author. I’ve never had a problem with separating them, but in light of recent events, I feel like I’m in the vast minority there.
I’m curious though, do you actually review books on Amazon? I don’t make purchases on Amazon enough to be able to leave reviews, and it’s a little disappointing knowing that I can’t rate books or show support to authors on there. Of course, I always try to leave a review on Goodreads, but I do wish there was a work-around for Amazon, specifically when it comes to Kindle only books.
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I’ve been seeing it a lot lately, too, and it’s unfortunate. I love the book blogger community for the fact that it’s easier, it seems, to find people to support your unpopular opinions. I was nervous to post my first unpopular opinions post and then so many people had the same opinion that I was like … I don’t know whether this was unpopular at all or if I just need to follow different people. xD
Ugh, I really hate that Amazon policy, and it makes it hard. I wouldn’t recommend anyone spend money *just* to be able to rate on Amazon. It feels like them trying to back people in a corner to get them to spend money with them, and I hate it. I live in a very rural place with shopping centers like Walmart an hour away. So we tend to use Amazon a lot for things we can’t get locally, which means I’m able to post reviews on Amazon.
I’m honestly loving all of this. I need to be better about reviewing on Amazon if just for the authors. Thanks for reminding me of the importance of this!
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Ah, well, this is the pot calling the kettle black a little bit, because I just found several books that I had reviewed and didn’t cross-post to Amazon, so … oops. xD At least I try?
Great discussion!
Most important I think is to just be nice in general! And I think being transparant is important as well, there is no point in saying you liked a book that you didn’t..
(www.evelynreads.com)
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So very true! I think the Golden Rule definitely applies in blogging, like it does in so many things in life. Treat others how you want to be treated!
Awesome post!!
Totally agree with what you are saying, especially in the respect of 1 star reviewing books you haven’t even read just because 🙄
Thanks! Yeah, I just don’t understand why that became a thing.
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I am so with you on the DNF thing. If you do not complete it, you should not rate it and screw the author out of a fair rating.
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Another great post, Sammie. Although all your points feel like common sense to me, obviously there are some out there who need a gentle reminder.
x
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Thanks! They do to me, too, but I agree about people needing a little reminder now and then. Sometimes common sense isn’t as common as we’ve been led to believe.
Your posts are always my favourite! I agree with everything you’ve said here, especially about being honest with reviews. Pretending to like a book you didn’t like just to be kind doesn’t help anyone. The “Don’t” section is so good. I don’t understand why people feel like it’s okay to rate a book they haven’t read EVER. You shouldn’t even be giving books you haven’t read 5 star reviews because you haven’t read them. It bothers me so much to see people rating books 5 stars “so excited to read”. It’s true it’s not as bad as ranking them 1 star just to hurt the author and damage a book’s reputation but it’s inflating the rating meaninglessly.
Thank you so much for your post. I had a really fun time reading it and I can’t wait to see more of your opinions!
Dani @Literary Lion recently posted…The Guinevere Deception | Book Review
Thank you so much! I know sometimes bloggers feel a pressure to positively rate a book they didn’t like, but I agree. It doesn’t really help anyone.
Ugh, yes, I hate seeing that! Especially when I’m on Goodreads trying to decide if I want to pick up a book or not. If you didn’t read it, you’re not helping me make a decision with your rating, regardless of whether it’s a 5 or a 1.
So many great points here! I do agree with the not rating a book if you haven’t read it yet. That goes for any stars for me. It baffles me completely how people will do that. And being authentic is so important, I think. ❤️
I sure don’t understand it, either. All I know is that it’s a thing. xD
These are all fantastic points and a lot of great sense as well. I mean, some of this seems like common sense and yet some people don’t get the message haha. I think it’s important that we talk about these things as a community though, seriously, because the rules (if you can call them that) aren’t really written anywhere so it can be hard for new bloggers starting out to figure these things out. Great post!
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That’s so true. You expect people would understand the basic things, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Some of it is that people just don’t know, for sure! When I started blogging, I had NO IDEA what I was doing, and I didn’t even realize for several months that there were “rules” I should be following.