While I was out of the country, I received a nice message at over at Goodreads from a writer who'd seen one of my reviews, thought I might enjoy his work, and asked if I'd like a free copy of his work in exchange for an "honest review."
And it's taken me a full week to figure out how to answer.
I don't write many reviews at Goodreads and I'm certainly not a professional reviewer. I'm just a regular fan who likes to riff on stuff I dig. Generally what makes me review something at Goodreads is if it is something I'm passionate about that comes out on a small press and can benefit from a signal boost. You'll never find me writing reviews of Stephen King books, because let's face it, there's more than enough of those in the world and I think he's doing all right. I'm well aware there has been/is plenty of controversy about Goodreads reviewing and I've no interest in wading into those waters. Life is too short. I view Goodreads more as a tool to track my own reading interests than as a community; I have very few "friends" there and I'm pretty much invisible. I always accept friend requests but don't search them out. I read reviews that other friends have written, or friends of friends who are connected within the horror/speculative fiction world (of whom I'm often too shy to reach out and friend myself.)
Anyway, I knew right away that I didn't want to accept anything free, because honestly, I'd feel obligated to a)give it a review whether it inspired me to do so or not, and b)give it a good review even if I didn't think it was good. Now, I'm not interested in writing negative reviews--if I don't have anything good to say I just won't say anything. But I also felt this author was most likely just trying to get his work out there, and I admire him for even being this far in his writing career--it's certainly more than I can say for mine. At least he's getting his work out there and trying to raise awareness, you know?
So I wrote him back and politely declined his offer, but I did purchase his book and told him so. I didn't promise a review but I'm happy to have spent a little money in support of his creative endeavors because regardless of whether I like the book or not, I respect his effort in reaching out. Obviously if I got dozens of these offers a day this wouldn't be a sustainable way of handling the situation, but I'm not fearful that will happen and I feel good knowing I've supported an artist without compromising my own ethics and providing a review that would be dishonest. Between you and me, I'm hoping that I dig the book and feel inspired to write a review--that is what makes me happy as a reader.
I'll probably never have a book out there myself, but if I did, I'd never want someone to lie about whether it was good or not. (Unless you are a friend talking directly to my face. Then you should lie a whole lot.) I hate agendas in reviewing. Signal boost the work you love and don't worry so much about the work you don't. One person's trash is another person's treasure, right?
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