Why We NEED to Give Books NEGATIVE Reviews Again (2024)

[@literatimedium]

What's your take on this? Let me know!

[@itisnatal]

I think that well rounded review that critiques constructively actually signals to author that their work is taken seriously and is deemed worthy of discussion. It also helps other readers make informed decisions and thus kind of counterintuitively helps avoid more scathing reviews by readers with wrong expectations.

[@literatimedium]

I could not agree more!

[@MsA277]

I like to read negative reviews of books I love because it helps me learn more about what works for me as a reader, and what might not work well for others. Helps me think more deeply about the book too and get better at recommending books to others who might have different tastes

[@literatimedium]

That's such a great idea! I love those videos you see sometimes of how the 1 star reviews of a book convinced someone else to read it. LOL

[@Kristy.Reads.2024]

I am sooooo in agreement with you. I saw a person on another social media site this week that was worried she did something wrong when she gave a book 4 stars but had one small critique but then the author blocked her. So many people were defending the author & while I believe we should all be nice, there should be room to be honest and not fear hurting an author's feelings when a reader doesn't think everything is stellar.

[@literatimedium]

I'm so sorry she had that experience! I support the author limiting contact with reviews (by blocking, if necessary) but a 4 star review is a great rating!

[@Kristy.Reads.2024]

@@literatimedium Same...protect your sanity however it did seem a bit petty. :)

[@ellenmadebookclub]

Completely agree! What is even the point of reviewing if it’s not your honest opinions? Then we can just replace everyone by star robots 😅 I’m not reviewing to market books, I’m discussing my experience, and that’s allowed. As respectfully as possible of course, we’re all still human and I’m not out to hurt anyone. Also, I see books as part of the conversation itself, it’s not a final product, the readers’ experiences of it is part of literature. And I would assume that authors want the conversations to happen. Oh and about publishing, if we can’t have opinions then what is even the point of it? We love and protect publishing because it’s necessary for democracy and free speech, and so then we have to include ourselves in that too. Great discussion! Subscribed just for that! 😊

[@literatimedium]

Great points and I agree! Thanks for subscribing. Looking forward to having more conversations with you.

[@Rinniantoinette]

I agree, this is why I don’t really trust any book reviews accounts who give 5 stars just because they received the book for free, are fans or are part of the arc team. In the writing world, critique (good and bad) is the tool to become a better writer. That’s how your craft improves.

[@literatimedium]

@@Rinniantoinette Yes, exactly!

[@KatallinaVT]

Negative reviews authenticate positive reviews. If a book only has negative or positive reviews, it makes the ratings more suspicious. When a book has a more varied set of reviews, people are more likely to think the ratings are, at least, real. Further, if someone is so thin-skinned that they cannot withstand criticism of their art, then they are likely not well suited to be sharing art with the public to begin with.

[@literatimedium]

Yes, exactly!

[@nipiti]

I've never not given a negative opinion "to be nice", but I'm also quick to dnf and I tend to not rate those unless I read half or more of it, so my rating avg is high.

[@literatimedium]

@@nipiti That’s completely fair! The only reason I rate DNFs is for tracking since goodreads didn't allow for DNF as a rating like the Story Graph does (one reason why I switched).

[@dashelyc]

We need more negative reviews, I have stopped reading books with 4.74 and above ratings as I feel works should have boths style of reviews or it is flat. I feel that finding books we love is better for the publishing industry. We all can read free books at the library, so falling in love and buying books is what the industry needs.

[@literatimedium]

I think that's why I appreciate that Story Graph doesn't let you sort your TBR by rating and it's quite difficult to find the overall rating. It keeps my TBR purely on what I actually want to read regardless of what others have rated it.

[@WildMoonLacquer]

I've been dolling out a ton of less-than-favorable reviews lately LOL 🤣 (Goodreads account Wild Moon Reads) I've also DNFed roughly half of my attempted reads for quite a lot of reasons. In my reviews, I try to dive into the specific reasons I didn't like or even finish a book so that my experience can help future readers. ~Caroline

[@literatimedium]

Thank you for the work you're doing!

[@GabriellaFrances]

I give a lot of critical or negative reviews to books I read 🤣 I rarely find some gems sadly!

[@literatimedium]

I'll admit, I'm a pretty lenient reader. It's rare that I give a book 1 - 2 stars and my average rating according to Storygraph for this year is 3.96 stars, which is slightly above average for me.

[@intersexcryptid]

YES! It's so weird everybody's gotta always be so vitriolic or so overwhelmingly positive. I hate it. Like... tell me you didn't like it and tell me why. Tell me you liked it and tell me why. Just tell me why.

[@literatimedium]

As someone who is always looking for the WHY, I totally agree!

[@thebearslibrary]

I only ever seen one or five stars. not all books are the greatest things ever. not all books are the worst. gah!!!

[@literatimedium]

Yes, I agree completely!

[@cuppajoewithjoe2148]

While I think we are too... Forgiving of books these days, I think it's equally easy to fall into mindless criticism just for review farming. But you are right. I think we do go way too easy on books we should be tearing apart.

[@literatimedium]

@@cuppajoewithjoe2148 Yes, criticism for review farming isn't great, for sure.