7 The Reviews Are In… Or Are They?

You’ve had one of those days when you were actually surprised they didn’t fit you for a straitjacket and show you politely into a nice, padded room. Your stress levels have been through the roof, and no amount of alcohol or chocolate could have eased your mind, even though you bravely gave them both a try.

At last, you ease yourself into bed. The lights are perfect, the cat’s snuggled next to you, having already attacked the other side of the bed and kneaded the blanket, causing little pulls of thread in your $400 bedspread. But you do your best to ignore it, because he’s purring happily beside you. Now’s the time you need your newest book to help relax you and take you away.

It’s from your favorite new author, so it has to be great because the other three in the series were fantastic. The hype was massive, and you pre-ordered it to make sure you would have it for times like this.

Time to binge read.

As you =inally delve into the pages, you get rapidly drawn into the imaginary world created by the writer. Sometimes it can be genuinely addictive, and you binge read a book in a day or less. Other times it takes you longer, savoring each page, but either way, you end up =inishing it.

And once you’ve reached “The End”, you start asking yourself “How was it?”, “Did I enjoy myself?”, “Will I reread this book and buy another from this author?”

All the same sort of questions you’d ask yourself after seeing a movie, or going on a hot date. Unlike that hot date, however, you don’t have to wait for a call. A book isn’t something you have to wait for, unless it’s the next in a series.

You’ll know after you’re done reading it whether you liked it or not, and a book doesn’t make you wait for your phone to ring or chime on a text, worry if your breath was bad, if you wore the right clothes, and whether you laughed at all the moronic jokes that

By: S.L. Carpenter

were thrown at you over pizza. (I didn’t need to put that in there, but there are more than a few similarities. They don’t call characters “book boyfriends” for nothing).

Anyway, what I was getting to was how you think about the book once you’ve =inished it. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in the story we never want it to end. Every single feature was amazing, and we can see and hear their voices speaking as we read the words. A grand Oscar-worthy movie played out in the mind. Books like this make us hunger for more.

This is how people can easily end up getting hooked on a writer and setting their accounts to auto-buy. Especially when it comes to series, because those damn clif=hangers always leave you dying to know if she will marry the man she loves, or whether that idiot who paid her father was going to force her to marry him – the one with the nasty, beady eyes, =latulence issues, and an annoying snort laugh. You are convinced she belongs with the hero, a man who is blessed with rippling muscles and the cutest dimples on either side of his… well, I’ll leave that to your imagination.

The bottom line? You loved it.

Sadly, there is always another side to this story: the books we start to read and sort of enjoy, but don’t really grab us. It doesn’t take too long to sense that something is missing – a mood or vibe which doesn’t really do it for you. If you see a spelling or obvious grammer issue, the hole book is urined. (Did you catch that? I made those mistakes on purpose. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.)

Readers have a unique perspective on a book that its author will never have. Writers are so close to the story, have read and re-read, tweaked, deleted, added, and changed parts of it over it a million times, and simply cannot see it from a distance. That’s why readers are so important – and why sharing your thoughts means so much to an author.

There are more than a few ways you can let a writer know your thoughts on their book. Reviews are one thing writers value and appreciate more than readers might think. Whether good or bad, there’s something to be learned from every single comment, and many of them help make the next book a little better.

Both positive and negative comments about plots and characters can be of great use. The little nuances of how a character acts, or how they don’t react, can point out strengths or weakness the author will remember and either use or avoid in their next book.

Writers, in general, love knowing readers enjoyed their world and the heroes and heroines they’ve created. They’re thrilled when you liked how they made a brand-new alien planet, or magical forest, or small town in the mountains that transported you into the adventure. They need to hear how you felt about the villain, who was a complete idiot. And they’ll love to know you hated his snarling and cackling laugh. What a turd.

The reason I started thinking about readers and reviews is because I recently released a new book and have been very curious about what everyone thought about it. I don’t know a single writer who isn’t interested in what their audience thinks of their work. For my part, I’ve had both ends of the spectrum when it comes to reviews. Sometimes I hear they love the tales I spin. Then there are other times they made it quite clear they didn’t understand my twisted sense of humor, and told me the book was now hanging in their outhouse, since they felt it was the only place it would be of any use.

In a weird way, I took each opinion as a compliment. Someone purchased something I wrote and took the time to read it and share their thoughts in a review. It was a win-win situation for me. Some folks felt good after reading it, and got a laugh or a hot =lash from it. Others felt different urges (see the outhouse comment above). Either way, they reacted to it, and let me know.

So, the point of my ramblings is directed at all you wonderful readers. Don’t ever hesitate to make your thoughts known about the book you just read. Whether it’s leaving a review on the site where you purchased it, commenting on your favorite social media site, or sending an email to the author, just do it!

Good or bad, every point of view is important to a writer, and will be welcomed. Mostly. (I’m still not sure about that reader and the outhouse...)