The Author CEO: Critique Corner

Review advice at your fingertips!

Naomi Blackburn, the Author CEO, is here to offer advice on seeking, writing, and promoting your reviews, as well as answering your questions. Naomi’s advice column will be posting every four weeks, while her regular column – The Author CEO – continues every other week on Wednesdays. Naomi now has her own blog – The Author CEO – so be sure to stop by there for the full pieces and extra advice!

Naomi is founder of the Goodreads group Sisterhood of the Traveling Books, as well as the Nordic Noir group, dedicated to discussing Scandinavian mysteries. Last year, Goodreads ranked her at #11 on their top reviewer list, in both the U.S. and in the world (based on 2011 rankings).

Critique Clinic: DNF – To Review or Not to Review?

I read 50% of a book and hate it so much I can’t bear to finish. Is it unreasonable to review it?

Naomi says:

In a word…YES! If one doesn’t complete a book, a credible review of the entire work can’t be given. A review, which includes a rating, is an assessment of a completed work, which would be inappropriate. Now, that doesn’t mean that one can’t identify reasons for not finishing it and/or reasons why it was disliked up to the point where reading stopped. Furthermore, be very clear in the post where reading stopped. Also, don’t rate the book. I have seen situations where a person has read 20 pages of a 300 page book and given it one star. Not only is this unfair to the author, it is unfair to the reader. I have had many a book that it took me a bit to get into it; however, the book took off after a certain amount of time. Had I given it a one star review; I would have been incorrect in my review and therefore failed the author who had written the book and the audience reading it.

[Find out more! Read the full post on Naomi’s blog]

Have a comment for Naomi? Stop by the full post on Naomi’s main blog, The Author CEO, for comments.

Go to top

Related posts