While I was trying to figure out what I was going to write this post about, I asked a friend of mine for some ideas. He’s a writer who reviews occasionally and he thought I could talk about how reviewing as a writer might be different from reviewing just as a reader.

I know how much reviews can mean to a writer. Every good review leaves me sitting on top of the world and every bad one makes me want to give up writing all together because I must be horrible at it. When I sit down to write a review, I try to keep both those feelings inside me as a reminder that the review I write should be as honest as possible.

Some people say that reviews are for potential readers, not authors but I don’t quite agree with that. I think a review done properly can help a writer see what needs work in their writing. Writing is always a learning process. Authors never stop refining their craft and that means getting feedback from the people who are buying and reading our books. Writing really is a medium where you need to take the good and the bad. I mean, if people only ever told you how wonderful you are, at some point, the compliments would stop meaning as much because there’s nothing to compare it to.

Now I’m not saying that writers should give reviews a lot of weight, because it really and truly is just one person’s personal opinion. But, if the author clearly states the issues they had with someone’s work then maybe the author can look at it and say “yeah, maybe that’s something I need to work on” when they are working on their next big release.

Of course, you’re going to get those people who don’t realize that their own personal opinion is the be all and end all of everything. Some people also don’t seem to understand that just because you can say whatever you want doesn’t mean that you should.

When I’m finished a book, I like to put it aside and think about it for a couple of days before writing the review. That way, I have a chance to come down from the book high (or depression) and think about what I want others to know about what I just read. Even the author.

Of course, as a writer I tend to avoid the bad reviews. However, if I do read one, I try to look at things from the reviewers point of view. Sometimes I can see where they are coming from…and sometimes I can’t.

With every review I write, I try to find something good about the story, even if I hated it. I aware that the writer might read it and I want them to know that I was truly paying attention. I know from personal experience how much it can hurt when someone tears apart your “baby”. A lot of my heart and soul goes into everything I write and hearing someone putting it down tends to bring out the mama bear in me.

I tend to be a “helpful not hurtful” kind of person in most things I do, and I think in this case, being a writer helps me be a better reviewer. It makes me stop and think and helps keep me honest. It is hard sometimes though. My mother raised me to believe that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, so being critical of something I know someone worked hard on kills me.

But it’s all about balance, the good and the bad. I am not given books for a good review…just an honest one. If I can’t tell the truth, whether I like it or not, I would have no business being a reviewer in the first place.

Anyway, I am very lucky to be working for Dani and Love Bytes. Really, I love the fact that I get to read all these wonderful books AND I get to give my opinion on them. Reading and being opinionated, two of my very favorite things.

Thanks for reading my reviews folks and I hope you find them helpful.

And because I’m also a writer, I’m giving you all a chance to win an Audiocode for my book Wrapped Up in Chains. It’s about one man who needs saving and another who didn’t know he could be someone’s savior!

Have a chance to win a $5 JMS store credit and as Cindy mentioned an Audiocode for Wrapped Up in Chains

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