Is it ethical to review your own book?

[JVa1encia]

I think an author should review his or her own work for themselves. Now a statement about what he or she wanted to achieve, the undercurrents he or she included, etc, is ok--great even for class and group discussion or just further enlightenment for the reader.

[moderntimes]

I imagine it's a sigh of relief and a feeling of accomplishment when you see it in the stores

It's the greatest feeling ever! You want to grab people and point to the book and say "I wrote that!"

And hosting a book signing? What a thrill!

My sales were very modest, as I had a very small publisher who didn't have any advertising backing for the book and so it sort of had to grow of its own accord, which wasn't a lot. But it's a delight to get a small check each 90 days for the sales.

[OneFourthCheesecake]

If you wrote the book then you already know how the characters act, how they live, how they breath. It can only be reviewed correctly if the book brings those things to light for another person.

[moderntimes]

Problem is, 1/4, a real book review just doesn't tell the plot of the book -- that's "high school" style. It discusses the themes and how they relate to the real world, and proffers a judgment on the book's quality. The author cannot be expected to be unbiased in those things.

[bluemel4]

The way I see the situation is one cannot possibly be able to give a star rating or any kind of commentary unless it is in the form of interview or thanking the people who made the book possible. Anything else will taint the readers experience. No longer will the reader be able to formulate and interprate what the novel means to them, but will instead be forced to use the authors view point in finding the meaning within the prose. Thus cutting off the reader from a very personal journey with the book.

I also believe that when an author is releasing a novel into the world there is an unwritten contract that the writter consents to by putting their content out to the masses. That contract is allowing others to have an opinion about their book seperate from the authors wishes and desires. It is a work of art and is therefore going to be received as such.

[THunter08]

I don't see how it is possible to review one's own book. (Reviewing is not proofreading!)

If I wrote it, of course I am going to think it is amazing and a must-have that everyone should read immediately!

[khudecek]

I can't imagine a review by an author of their own book could possibly be objective. I see this as highly unethical behavior and makes me wonder why they did not seek out a friend to review it instead. I cannot understand why a person would even want to review their own work if/when they have access to an entire online reviewing community. I get that an author may want some positive buzz for their book but this is not the way to achieve it.

This reminds me of the whole catfish story from an author who claimed she was "bullied" by an online person who that was not who they claimed to be in real life. (article found here http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/o ... ine-critic) As the author continues her side of the story she seems to have gone down the rabbit hole from being annoyed at a negative review to actually driving to this persons real life address and even calling the reviewer on the phone to confront her. This behavior to me reeks of the same desperation of a self reviewed book. Both are unethical and show the authors personal character to be found wanting. The question is do we judge the authors on their actions or on the content of their novels?

But would a friend or a relative give you an honest and objective review? This isn't a hypothetical situation. This really did happen and when I told the "author" what was wrong with his book, he became defensive and angry. But as the ghostwriter, I was too close to the story and have not and will not leave a review. For that, the "author" should be glad. It wasn't a great story to begin with but now it's a certifiable disaster.

I remember the incident you're talking about. I have to agree with you. And to answer your question, which is probably rhetorical. I think we judge them by both. If I knew an author was reviewing his own books and giving himself five stars, I'd never read another thing by him/her. How desperate and disingenuous can you be? Get a marketing agent or put up a website or something, give it away here on this site...there are so many avenues you can take so why resort to that?

[zeldas_lullaby]

But would a friend or a relative give you an honest and objective review? This isn't a hypothetical situation.

May I chime in? I fully respect what you're saying. But, just to share my story, I'm an author whose first book on amazon has 12 reviews. One is from a family member: my mother. (I don't know the other 11 reviewers.) Now, here's the thing: Mother believes in complete honesty. Thus, she gave my book four stars out of five. ("Gee, thanks, Mom.") I know what you're saying, though, because most people probably instruct their kith and kin to go give them five stars and "talk them up" with good reviews. Not in my family!

(Despite my sarcasm here, I appreciated her sharing her honest thoughts, which is what I want people to do. I just wish she'd take the time to review my other books!)

-- 10 Mar 2015, 13:55 --

Also, I engaged in email correspondence with a published author once who whined (in a funny way--he was really nice) that some of his friends read his books and gave him 3 or 4 stars on amazon. So I'd just like to challenge the assumption that people you know are just going to give 5-stars automatically. I mean, I can see that happening, but I don't think it has to happen, or that it happens all the time.

[khudecek]

But would a friend or a relative give you an honest and objective review? This isn't a hypothetical situation.

May I chime in? I fully respect what you're saying. But, just to share my story, I'm an author whose first book on amazon has 12 reviews. One is from a family member: my mother. (I don't know the other 11 reviewers.) Now, here's the thing: Mother believes in complete honesty. Thus, she gave my book four stars out of five. ("Gee, thanks, Mom.") I know what you're saying, though, because most people probably instruct their kith and kin to go give them five stars and "talk them up" with good reviews. Not in my family!

(Despite my sarcasm here, I appreciated her sharing her honest thoughts, which is what I want people to do. I just wish she'd take the time to review my other books!)

-- 10 Mar 2015, 13:55 --

Also, I engaged in email correspondence with a published author once who whined (in a funny way--he was really nice) that some of his friends read his books and gave him 3 or 4 stars on amazon. So I'd just like to challenge the assumption that people you know are just going to give 5-stars automatically. I mean, I can see that happening, but I don't think it has to happen, or that it happens all the time.

I get what you're saying and it's good that you have a family like that. My sister would be pumping me up like a balloon and bragging it up when I'm not nearly as good as good as some others. I love her to death but I'm not that gullible. I know I'm not the hot shot she says I am and I know she means well. I do ask her to read my stuff on occasion but I think she does try to save my feelings.

Anyway, it's not the same as you leaving a review for yourself. I strongly suspect I caught another one the other day. I downloaded another free book from another site and the first review had a five star rating and said it was well-written and like Law & Order. Well, it was one of the more poorly written books I'd ever read with forgotten words, wrong word usage, overuse of italics, bad punctuation, just to name a few of the many things that were wrong with it. This book probably hadn't crossed an editor's desk. I think the author watches a lot of police dramas on TV and thought she could pull it off. She didn't.

I did give it two stars because there was a snitch in the police department and she had me guessing with that. That was the only reason I gave it two stars and in my review, I said what was wrong with the story and that before her sequel comes out, she needs to find a good editor.

I wasn't being mean. I was being honest.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Sigh. Yeah, it's almost becoming cliche: the self-published author who "forgot" to edit.

I encountered a published book recently and bought it because I liked its premise. It was AWFUL. And by awful, I mean that it was almost completely comprised of sentence fragments. Like this. When you don't make it a full sentence. Bad writing.

I went to Amazon and it only had, maybe, three reviews. They were glowing: 4- and 5-stars.

Your post made me remember that, and here's why: I read the author bio, and he works as a writer for television. Hence the sentence fragments!! He was trying to convert from screenwriting, but he couldn't pull it off!

As a writer, I appreciate your honesty in giving that book 2-stars. I myself want people to rate my book--no better or worse than they experienced it, just with honesty.

-- 16 Mar 2015, 17:25 --

OH. Also, my sister is the same way. She hasn't left any amazon reviews, because she hasn't read my books! But she's always giving them press on her FB acct.

[khudecek]

I'm not against self-publishing but there are some authors out there that just throw their crap out onto the market that have no handle on even the basics of sentence structure and grammar. I'm not the brightest and the best but I can tell when a sentence is messed up and not punctuated correctly. It doesn't flow right and it doesn't make sense. There are editors out there who will do a good job for a fee. I would think that they would have enough pride in their work to hire an unbiased person (editor) to take a look at it. But they rush it onto the market just to get their name out there and hope they strike it rich or get famous or something.

In all fairness, I've read some really good self-published books, too but the majority that I've read are a mess.

My sister pushes my work there, too and all she read was a first draft. It's okay, though. I need all the publicity I can get but you will never see me writing a review for my own work

[zeldas_lullaby]

I agree, and I have to be honest: my first book, way back when, was poorly edited. (It's not poorly edited now, but you know what I mean.) I regret that now, obviously. There are several things that go on that I can attest to.

1) I wrote a book! I'm thrilled! Look everyone, I wrote a book! (There would be nothing wrong with this attitude if it weren't for #2 below.)
2) Typos? What typos?

Regarding writing that it just downright poor (not typos and mistakes so much, but the inability to grasp the written word), I don't think that such people should be writing. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want that to sound judgmental. But I think everyone should play to their strengths, and if sentence structure isn't your thing, then maybe something else is. It would be like me trying to become an artist--not happening. I can barely draw a blockhead. Likewise, I studied Spanish for nine years, but I can barely speak it.

I think that's an inherent issue with the availability of self-publishing. I would strongly urge, as someone who's been there, that writers realize... THERE WILL BE TYPOS!! If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. I thought I was such a great first-, second-, third-draft writer. Not so! Keep looking and keep ferretting them out before you publish! Get it right the first time.

[SparklingOne]

I don't think it's ethical, but I don't believe he is the only one who does that, or even get their family and friends to do that. So when picking a book if I am still on the fence whether I will like it, I'll put it on my wishlist and grab a sample to look at while I wait for at least 10 reviews to come up for it on Amazon.

[Rachaelamb1]

It sounds silly to me that an author would review their own book in order to get people to try it. If someone is fooled and buys the book based on the reviews then they are going to be upset and leave negative reviews. Aside from being unethical, it isn't very smart. If you can't find anyone to review or buy your book, chances are it's not any good. I don't think there is anything wrong with an author having their friends review their book because where else are they supposed to start? But it is up to the friends to decide whether to be honest or not which can put them in a tough situation as well.

[khudecek]

Everybody is right.