Reviews on the backs of books

[ceptimus]

These are a complete swindle.

When did you last see a review on a book that said something like, "This is not one of the author's better efforts, but fans of this author will probably find it OK"?

No - you'll never find one like that. They always say stuff like, "This book is both hilarious and thought provoking. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry. It's changed my life. A work of genius!"

I think there ought to be a law preventing these misleading reviews. The space on the book jacket could be used for something more useful - like a list of the main characters in the book, or the chapter headings, or even a recipe. Anything would be better than these damn reviews.

[livius drusus]

I wholeheartedly second that emotion, particularly the recipe bit. They're such patent PR falsehoods. I wonder if there's market research out there which claims people make the decision to buy a book based on those blurbs?

[lisarea]

Well, of course, they're only going to put the good reviews on the book jacket. The trick is to see where the good reviews come from. Just like with movies.

The difference isn't so much what the reviews say (although sometimes they are fairly substantive), but in where they're coming from. If it seems as though your favorite authors and reputable reviewers are all lining up to praise a book by a new author or something, it's a good indication that it might be worth reading. On the other hand, if the reviews are all coming from publications that seem to exist solely to provide good reviews for books (like the ones that do the good reviews for bad movies), and from people and organizations that seem to have something to gain, you can pretty safely assume that the reviews aren't of much value to you.

[Dingfod]

Movies do this. They pay for reviews like: "Laughed myself silly."--Nick Todd, Bozeman Journal-Beacon, "Even funnier the second time."--Ray Slaughter, LA Adventure Magazine, "Nearly peed my pants."--Hugh Jackson, Peoria Post. When I see a list of reviews like that, whether on a book jacket or a movie ad, I run like hell the other way.

[Crumb]

I usually only pay attention to these blurbs if they are written by other authors that I respect, and even then I don't pay that much attention.

Here are some funny ones I have seen though (on one particular book :wink:):

"Thank you for your manuscript. We regret it does not suit our needs at the current time." -Jason Hay, editor, Little, Brown and Company

"This is similar to my works in that anyone who reads it is sure to be an asshole for at least a month afterward." -Ayn Rand

[Dingfod]

:1thumbup:

[lisarea]

Actually, I changed my mind a little already.

Even the cheapassed reviews do tell you something. They tell you that the publisher sent out review copies of the book, and the only people they could get to bite were those with another agenda, be it selling books (like a bookseller of any type), or something else. If you see a book that has to resort to reviews that are by detault good, you can be pretty sure the book sucks.

So even those reviews tell you something.

(I used to do book reviews for a seller, and I was pretty much Not Allowed to pan a book. If something was really that bad, my only recourse was to refuse to review it. Once, I did kind of sneak a bad review in, but I did it covertly.)

[Dingfod]

(I used to do book reviews for a seller, and I was pretty much Not Allowed to pan a book. If something was really that bad, my only recourse was to refuse to review it. Once, I did kind of sneak a bad review in, but I did it covertly.)On the bad review, did you use words like "An unbelieveable experience [unbelieveable how bad this is]!", "Insanely good [you'd have to be insane to think this is good]!", or "On the edge [of the trashcan]!"?

[lisarea]

On the bad review, did you use words like "An unbelieveable experience [unbelieveable how bad this is]!", "Insanely good [you'd have to be insane to think this is good]!", or "On the edge [of the trashcan]!"?

Nah, I wouldn't have gotten away with that. I just gave glowing reviews to irrelevant aspects and unintentional humor, pretending I thought the author did it on purpose.

It was a true crime book, supposed to be all journalistic and chilling and things like that, but it was silly and histrionic and a lot of the author's sources were losers on the intarweb and just random goths. PLUS, it wasn't even about what it claimed to be about. Like, it got lost in a tangent after the first fifty pages or so. Seriously. I called the book "a rollicking romp through AOL chatrooms" or something.

They published the review, though. The check even cleared, IIRC.

[Shake]

I look at the inside book cover flap (obviously on hardcovers) sometimes to find out what the book is about -- if it isn't obvious. I suppose if someone you admire has put a plug in for a certain book that you weren't sure if you'd like, then perhaps you might be swayed. I'd rather get recommendations from people I actually know!