Wednesday Is National Write A Book Review Day

I hereby declare December 18 to be National Write A Book Review Day. If you have read a book in the last month or so that has really connected with you, I encourage you to write a review of it. There are ample places to post it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, etc. I don’t think there’s an author alive that wouldn’t be flattered with a reader thoughtfully sharing opinions of his or her book. Not only that, the vast majority of authors really depend on positive reviews to spur sales.

I’m not asking that you write a glowing review when you really don’t mean it, but a thoughtful one would be nice. Perhaps upon writing a thoughtful review of a book, you may come to realize the care and craft that went into the story someone has worked hard to create, perhaps you might come to appreciate aspects of the story you did not before notice.
 

Again, it is not my place to tell you to refrain from writing a negative review, but at least keep it objective and fair. I recently read a review of a book called The Three Kitties That Saved My Life that said: “I am not a cat lover and so as far as I was concerned the author could have left that part out and that was over half the book.” I really don’t think an author deserves a bad review because the reader doesn’t like cats. And if you don’t like cats, maybe you shouldn’t be reading a book with the word “kitties” in the title. Similarly, I recently got a bad review (the reviewer gave me 1 star but said he would give me minus zero if he could) because he was disappointed that what I had clearly labeled as a “very short story” was not a full length novel. This on a free download.

 

But I digress. Reviews are the bread and butter for a writer. True, writers would like to make some money as well, but if that was their primary concern, they wouldn’t be writers in the first place. Writers write to make an honest connection with others, to let others and themselves know they are not alone in their thoughts and observations. So let your voice be heard this Wednesday and make an author happy in the process.