Arc Etiquette?
Discover more from Breanna Leslie
I reached a pivotal point in my career as an author last night. Stix received its first one-star rating. No review explaining why or hate spewed on socials. I have no idea what the reader hated.
But I am perplexed because it was an arc I sent out for free. So, that makes me question what other arc readers do when they hate the book? Several of my followers mentioned that they'd decline the review and contact the author directly.
Is that the consensus? It seems less painful and damaging if that's the case. I wish that had been the course of action. But it wasn't.
My Goodreads rating has been dinged severely for a book that's not even released yet. Will that hurt sales on its release date? Probably. Is there anything I can do? Probably not.
So what is the etiquette here? Should I screen better for my next arc release?
Arc Etiquette?
I'm on the ARC and BETA teams of a handful of authors for several years now and I've never given one of them a one star rating. I also try, as a rule, to review every book that I read. The simple truth is that I try to not publish a rating and/or review for any book that I can't honestly give three star or higher rating to. There have been a few times that I did give a book a one star rating, but I can count those times on one hand. In every one of those times, the book was a nonfiction book, a how-to book on a subject which the author wasn't qualified to write about.. I reviewed those books and gave them one star ratings because if the reader followed the writers instructions they could be injured or even killed. Other than those reasons, I don't write one or two star reviews. What I do instead is email the author, explaining to him or her what I felt was wrong with the book and why I didn't review it.
When it comes to authors whose ARC and BETA teams that I'm on, I feel that my loyalty is to that author, and my responsibility is to help them become better writers through positive feedback, not to tear them and their work apart.
I would ask those that enjoyed the book and didn’t leave a review to help out. A few other authors have done this