Hello and happy Friday! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly discussion post created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Rukky and Dani @ A Literary Lion! This week’s topic is: Should Reviewers Go “Easier” on Self-Published Authors? suggested by Dani!
Today’s post is going to be relatively short since I don’t have a huge amount to say, but here we go!
My thoughts:
I see why some people would, but to be honest, I really don’t think that we should. When we’re reviewing a book, it’s up to the reviewer to write their honest opinions of the book. Not all reviewers are going to rate books exactly the same way, but it’s good to be consistent with your own reviews.
If someone reads your review and sees that you rated it four stars, then they’re probably more likely to read the book because you gave it a higher rating and enjoyed it more. If you only gave it four stars because it was self published, and if it hadn’t been you would only have given it three, then you’re giving people the wrong impression on what you thought of the book.
I never used to pay attention to whether or not a book was self published, and although now that is something that I am more aware of, it still doesn’t influence whether or not I’m going to read a book.
If I’m looking for a book to read, I’m going to be looking more at the synopsis and the author. What the book itself is about is more important to me than how it was published, in terms of whether or not I want to read it.
So overall, I don’t think that reviewers should go “easier” on self-published authors, and that we should write about our honest opinions. Our reviews shouldn’t be influenced by how a book was published.
What do you think? Should Reviewers Go “Easier” on Self-Published Authors? Chat with me in the comments below!
Book Nook Bits 
I 100% agree with your opinion. We all read books on the synopsis. Sometimes I don’t even know if the author is self-published or not. My main aim is that I should like the book. I get to know about the author when I search for the book during my reviewing process. So I don’t think we should go easy on any author because a book is a book Whether it be written by a self-published author or anybody. I think I will write about this too if you don’t mind. I will tag you to give you the deserved credit, is that fine???
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly!!! Everything that you said here is so true! Of course, I would love to hear your opinion!! I actually did this discussion as part of Let’s Talk Bookish, so you might be interested in that as well! It’s linked at the beginning of the post. Happy reading 🙂
LikeLike
I agree entirely and I’m so happy to see so many people sharing the same views as me. Self-published books can be just as amazing as traditionally published books so we should give them the same courtesy of an honest review.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s unfair to everyone if we don’t honestly review the book!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s so easy for me to say every author should be treated the same, but in the same breath I KNOW in certain instances I have tried to not sound as harsh when it comes to lesser known authors, debuts or self-published authors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, even if I try my best to be unbiased in my reviews, I’ll probably end up being less harsh, even if I don’t try to be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree 100%! I tend to go with the idea that if I’m going to be biased somehow, I shouldn’t review the book at all. And besides, if someone worked that hard to publish their own book, they deserve honest opinions!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly! If we’re not honest, that’s not only unfair to the readers, it’s also unfair to the authors.
LikeLiked by 1 person