When I ran into a big HUFF! over Selection last week, I thought "hmm" and moved on. I did not hurry to Goodreads to blackball or add my opinion to a dreary snowball that was just gettin' warmed up.
Nope.
I read and reviewed and met some new bloggers and joined Linked In (I'm up to 3 Connections. My email is burgandyice@live.com if you want to be #4!!)
Parajunkie's Book Blogging 101 is one of my favorite weekly posts, so naturally I hopped over to see what she had to teach us this week... and lo and behold (drum roll, please!)
YA Book Reviewing is a hot topic!!
To irreverently summarize, there were some negative reviews on front-runnin' YA books that really ticked off some friends of authors... which resulted in embarrassing author behavior. Then some Book-Reviewer bashing got going (via Twitter) that threw questions at the validity of Goodreads and Amazon reviews and Book Reviewers and the authenticity of the Star System which led to the question... and who is really a Reviewer?
Probably the fallout isn't finished, yet. But the question was raised regarding Book Tours and whether Tours are just to get free books and promote books and are more promotional than Book Reviewing in it's purest form and....
Really?!
Uh... I'm hosting my first Book Tour tomorrow.
I thought I would just clarify MY opinion to MY blog followers.
A Review is an opinion - a detailed, educated, written opinion, (right?) as well as basic info on what's between the covers that might interest other readers. And everyone has different opinions and people rarely agree completely.
Better yet, let me quote Parajunkie, who quoted the dictionary:
Dictionary.com states a review:1. a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.Maybe I'm stretching things, but wouldn't people who like to read books be the best authority on what they like? Just saying.
So... I just want to announce, as officially as whatever... that I am a Book Reviewer.
Heck, I am a Book Writer, a Book Reader, a Book Blogger AND a Book Reviewer. I'm a Mom and a Wife and a Small Business Owner. I'm a Personal Chef for six and some people think I'm a Maid. I'm a 24 hour on-call Nurse, too, who specialized in Croup.
I have happily agreed to a few Author Tours. I researched the book before agreeing to highlight it (and turned a few down.) I requested the book to review on my Tour stop...
...and as always, my Reviews express my own opinion without any consultation with the publisher or author.
I write my reviews immediately after reading in a saved document on my computer (where emotional rantings remain my own). I let the review rest a day or two or five before adding it to my posts. When I publish my post, I copy and paste the exact same review to Goodreads and Amazon (and Barnes & Noble and LibraryThing and maybe NetGalley) and move on to the next.
What about you? Are you a Book Reviewer? Did you know about all the Hullaballoo?! Are you ignoring the clamor and getting on with the great, fun business of Book-Lovin'? Or are you ranting about the mess? (Leave me a link!)
To get the full scoop, hop over to Parajunkie's post and follow all the links. It's educational.
