Changeing the Subject if anyone is interested. Has anyone read Blade Dancer by viehl? I'm trying to decide if this is a good book/ average or worse than average book by this author. I'm trying to decide if I want to start searching for the stardoc series.

here is most of my amazon review -- it isn't up yet 'cause I just did it.

I stayed up way too late last night reading it. Very exciting -- and the fight scenes were really well done. I have no experience with fighting, but I could see the scenes. I really liked the character of Jory. However, I didn’t like some things. My feelings for Kol - her partner...well I didn't have any. Parts of the book felt like a text adventure game. Also, I had to fight the urge to say "Luke, I am your father". It was a fun romp. I hadn't read anything by Viehl before.

you want Ms Bestseller and Ms Wellknown to pay attention to your reviews,

No, actually. I don't care WHAT Ms B and Ms W think. I'm not writing for them. I don't give writers critiques unless they've invited me to.

When I post a book review, I'm writing it for fellow readers. I'm saying, Yo, I spent $19.95 on this book, and this is why you should do the same. If Ms. B reads it and is happy, that's a side effect; I'm not doing it for her benefit. Likewise, if I say "I spent $19.95, RUN AWAY!" I don't expect Ms. B to go off and change her writing style; I expect other buyers to say "Hmm, do I care about the things she's criticizing?"

Amazon book reviews are meant to be peer-to-peer, not authority-to-audience like book reviews in magazines and newspapers.

Amazon book reviews are meant to be peer-to-peer, not authority-to-audience like book reviews in magazines and newspapers.

certinly that was how they were meant to be used. I will say that I have used reader reviews from amazon as a reason for getting a book in the library. Because something like PW misses.

When I post a book review, I'm writing it for fellow readers.

Cool. Would you mind very much letting the editors with the chequebooks know that?

Because they seem to think that the writers - and the editors - are right there in your target audience.

Beth, I haven't read Blade Dancer yet (and that reminds me that my sister has it) but I've read the Stardoc books, and I enjoy them. I'd say yes.

My dad has read BD, and he says he likes the Sradoc books better, so if you liked it, it's a pretty good bet you'll like the Stardoc books just as much.

So, I'm assuming you want Ms Bestseller and Ms Wellknown to pay attention to your reviews, even though you don't want them identifying you as (insert real name here).

Well, like I said before, I've never reviewed on Amazon, for various reasons, foremost of which is that I'd rather talk books in a community. All my comments on books have been in places like here or All About Romance, where I've used a consistent pseud. But, like Betsy says, I'm not commenting for the author--except in rare occasions like knowing you're here, or knowing Jo Beverley, Carla Kelly, and a few others are on AAR, it never even occurs to me that the author might see what I say. I'm writing for other readers, either to say, "You really should read X, and here's why," or, "I found Y poorly written and/or downright offensive, and here's why, so you'll know not to waste your money." It's just like when I comment on the shows here--I'm writing for Buffistas, not for Joss or Fury or whoever.

It's just that now I'm in a weird place where I'm trying to decide what I want my public persona to be, now that I've got a business website with my full name prominently displayed, and am trying to sell a novel under that same name. I would NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, go around anonymously slamming another author's work, especially not with intention of raising myself at her expense, because that's just too unethical. I do, however, wish I'd been either a little more circumspect about a variety of things, most of them not even related to the specific topic at hand, or made a greater effort to keep my online and RL identities separate, back before it occurred to me that I'd ever have a public persona.

It's just that now I'm in a weird place where I'm trying to decide what I want my public persona to be, now that I've got a business website with my full name prominently displayed, and am trying to sell a novel under that same name.

Me, too, Susan, and it's not to do with writing, really; if I should ever write anything and get published, I don't give a flaming damn. BUT as a soon to be teacher...well, I still don't give a flaming damn, but it's also something that I would rather not have to defend, you know? So where I used to not qualm about giving my whole name, I don't anymore.

Which has nothing to do with reviews, but still.

it never even occurs to me that the author might see what I say

Well - now you know. Our dirty little secret, she is officially out: we have to read Amazon reviews, because our editors and agents read Amazon reviews. Some of us read them because we're interested in what the people who are shelling out for our books, or taking them out of the library, have to say; some of us read compulsively; some of us read because, when crap like Lauren's editor's reaction goes down, we realise just how freaking naive it would be to pretend that Amazon exists in some sort of reader-only vaccuum.

So, thinking about it? I think maybe I am coming around to understanding why writers get so fired up about it, even if I think they're probably overreacting.

I get that. I just don't think that makes it inappropriate to write a review as a reader, for readers, without feeling obligated to worry about who else might happen to see it. I'm more careful about what I say now only because I have a foot in both camps. Like I said, I've never reviewed on Amazon and don't especially plan to, but I don't think it was wrong of me to criticize books on various fora as a reader writing for readers, and I don't see how it matters whether I did so as Susan W. whose identity is easy to find, as Ms. Fluffybunny with an anonymous yahoo account, or as Anonymous. (For the record, I'm pretty sure I've never been purely anonymous online.)

(And just to be really clear, I'm still sitting cheerfully on the fence. I can see both sides. If nothing else, maybe this amazon.ca fiasco will make editors realize that Amazon reviews are too easy to rig to be relevant feedback. But I still think it's valid for readers to be able to post comments intended for the consumption of other readers, and to be as identifiable or anonymous as their own comfort zone for online privacy allows them.)