3/31/24
I Read the Review
This is number fifty-six in the blog series, “My Life in Erotica.” I encourage you to join my Patreon community to support my writing.
“I HATED THAT MOVIE so much I didn’t bother to see it,” said Grandma Sarah, to the consternation of the industry crowd around her.
Grandma Sarah worked as support staff in the industry in Hollywood for years. She typed scripts, wrote contracts, and generally ran errands for all the “important people.” Her sister, also in the industry, was the personal assistant to one of the top studio executives. Between the two of them, they saw a lot of movies.
It was the most quotable review of the year and drove many people to go see the movie in question to see if they agreed with her. And that shows the importance of reviews. It also shows that absolutely anyone can be a valid reviewer. It was not lost on any of her listeners that, even though she had not seen the movie, she had typed three drafts of the script. She knew what she was talking about.
Many people don’t review books or movies or TV shows or restaurants because they don’t believe anyone would be interested in what they have to say. That’s just not true. If a person has a reasonably intelligent means of expressing herself, people will read her review. They might not make a decision based on that one review, but it will go into the hopper as they determine whether or not to buy that product.
When I released my second long story on SOL, Mural, book one of the Model Student series, I was more than fortunate to have attracted some great reviewers who helped get me started on SOL. These people were known authors on SOL to start with, so just having their names associated with the story helped, but it doesn’t require a known personality to write a good review.
plus plus
A three-part longer story, the characters feel like real people even though they are in a pretty rare type of arrangement. They each struggle and fail and try again. Great long read with fantastic sex scenes throughout.
Let’s look at the elements of the review because it’s a good example of a short review that really means something. What is the story? A three-part longer story. What sets it apart? The characters feel like real people. What stands out? They each struggle and fail and try again. What’s my assessment? Great long read with fantastic sex scenes throughout.
If you followed that general outline when you reviewed a story, you could become a great reviewer.
awnlee jawking
An engaging and well-written story. But some of the writing, when describing Tony producing his masterpieces, is absolutely sublime.
This is a superb review that is even shorter, showing that you don’t need to write a whole novel in your review. This is the type of “blurb” I’d like to put on the back cover of the paperback—a well-known author giving his endorsement.
Of course, it’s great when a review goes a little more in depth and the reader gets the feeling the reviewer actually spent some time with this book.
Aaron Stone
Aroslav’s “Model Student” series is simply amazing. I selected “Mural” because it is the first story, but once you have read this amazing story, you should read the other five novels and novellas… Regardless, the adventures of Tony, Lissa, Melody, Kate, et al, are a wonderful marriage of art and racquetball and the story is a wonderful coming of age tale. There are good times and bad, but Aroslav has crafted a wonderful tale populated by compelling characters that are fun to root for and enjoyable relationships between these characters. High recommended.
Aaron digs a little deeper into the story by citing the entire six book series. He names characters who were important to him, the main features of art and racquetball, and the genre of a coming of age story. Any author would love to have a review like this.
Mural and the entire Model Student series is available on Bookapy and as a paperback elsewhere.
Reviews have a direct impact on readership, sales, and reception. There is no question that one review affects another. Sometimes people want to jump on the wagon, and sometimes they want to show how different they are from others. Either way, the review is important.
An author can easily succumb to the feeling that he is just shouting into a void. There isn’t even an echo that returns to him. This is especially true on story sites like SOL where the author is not being paid. But even if the author is getting a royalty check every month, it’s difficult to know what people think of the book.
That’s not to say an author should obsess over reviews. Finding out what people think is one thing, but feeling defensive or as if he needs to change everything is not healthy. The opinion is that reviewer’s opinion, not universal, and not a judgment of the character of the author.
Which brings me to the next point about reviewing. In general, I think reviews should be positive, or at least positively phrased. And try not to be passive aggressive about it. I had a contest reviewer comment on The Art and Science of Love: “I suppose SOME people might like this kind of vulgarity.” That sounded like a comment from my ex-wife!
Having a review that is generally positive or positively phrased is not the same as lying about what you like and don’t like. You have to be honest in your review, but a short review along the lines of “This work did not fall within the range of topics I prefer to read. I’m simply not into bestiality and prefer a straightforward storyline,” is all that is needed. The reviewer doesn’t need to attack the character of the author, his parentage, his ignorance of fundamental biology, or his inability to spell. It makes it clear that this review is based on the reviewer’s preferences, not on some imagined objective standard.
By the same token, writing a review that just says, “This was great,” is uninformative, but still counts toward the author’s unicorn.
In your review, say what you are reviewing, whether you liked it or didn’t, what the outstanding items were that brought you to this decision, and whether you recommend the book to others or not. Keep politics, the ancestry of the author, race, religion, and random pet peeves out of it.
Write a review. You may become a reviewer on SOL by contacting the webmaster. You can review on Bookapy, Amazon, Goodreads, B&N, and other bookstores by simply writing your review and posting it. You can review on your social media outlets. You can even review in the comments section of a story, but those seldom get beyond the next person who is already reading the story. If you’ve got a review, consider putting it where people who aren’t already reading the story can see it.
Telling an author you like his work makes the author feel good. Telling the world you like his work will make a difference. Authors will silently or publicly thank you for taking the time and thought necessary to tell others about their work.
I mentioned briefly that authors shouldn’t obsess over reviews and feel that they should change something or that their work is of no value. I want to look at that aspect further next week: “Learning to Listen—and to Ignore.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
