I’ve had a multi-faceted  association with book reviews over the years.  First, as a reader with a limited book budget, I would seek out reviews on new authors or genres I’d not read before. True, everyone is different and not every story will resonate with every reader, but it helped me feel a bit better about spending my few little bucks on a new title.  Did it always work? No.  But I’m an analytical person, so I always feel better about a decision when I can do a little research and gather a few data points. 🙂

Out of my love for reading, I became a professional reviewer for  Romance In Color  in 2005, and moved up to the Senior Review Editor shortly after that. I did this for roughly 6 or 7 years. It was through this experience I got to see another side of the review process.  I worked closely with publishers, and authors in some cases, to get professional, objective, and unbiased reviews done  in a timely fashion on the newest releases. From this experience, I learned the importance from a marketing and PR standpoint reviews held for the authors and publishers. Not only did I, as reader, look to reviews to help decide which new titles to try, but authors and publishers look to them as a sort of “word of mouth” advertising and exposure option.  Favorable reviews could be used to encourage additional readers, as positive soundbites on marketing materials, or mentioned during author events to make a point (either about theme, story, character, or a wealth of other things).

And now, as a published author, I look at reviews in yet another new way. My first release, a short story in the Seven Dress Sizes collection, is out and I’ve received mostly good feedback on it, both in person and in the form of published reviews. As an author, I am always interested (good or bad) in what someone thinks about my writing, how it’s received, and whether or not they picked up on themes, motifs, or point I was trying to get across. But me personally, I like to look at them from  that standpoint.

I’ve presented 3 different angles from which I view reviews. Today’s “What do you say?” topic is: What are your thoughts on leaving book reviews?

If you do reviews, do you tend to leave a review on an official review site (such as GoodReads or Amazon)?  Do you prefer to use your personal website or Facebook page? Or do steer clear of written reviews, prefering to actually speak to others about your opinions on books? (such as through a book club, when asked, or when speaking to others about books)