November 11th, 2005
Today I received two reviews for two different stories and both contained spoilers that gave away nearly everything about the plots. I sat here stunned, wondering WHY the reviewer felt the need to tell the entire story in their review. :scratch:
Both reviews were excellent, both reviewers loved the stories, but in the end I wrote to one of the review coordinators with highlights showing the spoilers and asked to have them removed. I’m still debating on the other one… :think:
If it didn’t happen within the first three chapters, I usually tried to avoid talking about it. I hate the idea of spoilers in reviews.
on November 13th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
I personally hate to have someone tell me all the plot points and spoil the book for me. I like to learn what’s going on as I read. And if I know what’s coming I lose interest. I think you did the right thing by emailing the review site.
on November 12th, 2005 at 5:51 am
Most review sites are happy to change a review with excessive spoilers. The problem occurs when the review has already been read by a large number of readers. I had an RT review that gave away major, huge, mongo spoilers on one of my novels, but once I saw the review, it was too late to change it. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do… you just have to cross your fingers and hope people will read and love the book anyway.
on November 12th, 2005 at 5:29 am
This definately is on my mind when I write a review. How much does the author want out there for the reader? Sometimes it’s easy - if the story came with a blurb, you know what the author wanted to tell and what is a big “ah-HA” a few chapters in.
I have to agree though, if the author intended a scene or plot change to come as a suprise - as a reader, I don’t want anyone spoiling it for me!
I’d think review sites would be happy to work with you on this. Badly written reviews don’t encourage people to visit their sites (or read their magazines).
on November 11th, 2005 at 6:58 pm
I don’t read the reviews—-different readers like different books– so as far as I’m concerned they didn’t give anything away. I pick books by the author, not the reviews or the blurbs on the back cover.
on November 11th, 2005 at 2:21 pm