http://www.therenegadewriter.com/2008/04/16/rotten-reviewers-and-the-rotten-authors-who-review-them/ Living and loving the freelance life—on your own terms. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:46:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.therenegadewriter.com/2008/04/16/rotten-reviewers-and-the-rotten-authors-who-review-them/comment-page-1/#comment-96413 cal Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:23:00 +0000 http://therenegadewriter.com/?p=493#comment-96413 The amazon comments have been so padded for such a long time that now hardly anything surfaces that isn't nice -- or if it does have some criticism, it is much further down&a lot harder to find. It's a shame because, as you say, a negative review is par for the course. One of the services provided online that's impossible to get in person are the quantity of different sorts of reviews. I've sometimes bought things *because* of the negative review -- if someone says something like: couldn't follow it, far to academic, I know I'll probably like it. And where "perky" could be a negative, because I know a little about freelancing, I might pick up your book just for a much-needed dose of optimism. Likewise, when I read glowing but nearly illiterate reviews, I back off. Most of the up-front ones for Eat Pray Love made me cringe and when a friend loaned me the book, I was glad I hadn't bought it. The amazon comments have been so padded for such a long time that now hardly anything surfaces that isn’t nice — or if it does have some criticism, it is much further down&a lot harder to find. It’s a shame because, as you say, a negative review is par for the course. One of the services provided online that’s impossible to get in person are the quantity of different sorts of reviews. I’ve sometimes bought things *because* of the negative review — if someone says something like: couldn’t follow it, far to academic, I know I’ll probably like it. And where “perky” could be a negative, because I know a little about freelancing, I might pick up your book just for a much-needed dose of optimism. Likewise, when I read glowing but nearly illiterate reviews, I back off. Most of the up-front ones for Eat Pray Love made me cringe and when a friend loaned me the book, I was glad I hadn’t bought it.

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