The question from Let’s Talk Bookish for January 21-27 is…
Do Bloggers Owe Their Readers and Vice Versa? (Rukky)?
Disclaimer:
These are my personal opinions. I do not expect anyone to agree with anything here, and in fact, I’m certain that many will disagree and/or even hate many of the things I’ve written below. Sorry about that, but you are always welcome to express your own opinions – be they contrary or comparable – in the comments section. So, with that out of the way… let the controversy begin!
What made me think about this topic?
This is the topic that was suggested for #LetsTalkBookish for this week, so that was my inspiration. The prompts are:
Do bloggers owe their readers anything? Do bloggers deserve anything from their readers? Do you think there’s a specific etiquette that bloggers/readers should follow when interacting? Do you as a blogger pressure yourself to provide certain things to your readers? Do you do certain things when you read a blog post?
My Thoughts…
Do bloggers owe their readers anything?
Well, I think we owe them our honesty, especially when it comes to reviews of ARCs. We have to remember that when we review one of these books, our readers want to know our honest opinions of that book. Now that doesn’t mean we have to be nasty about a book we didn’t like, but we should be truthful about our feelings towards the book. I think that this also answers the question “Do you as a blogger pressure yourself to provide certain things to your readers?” because I work hard to make sure my reviews are as honest as possible. I think we also owe it to our readers to not put spoilers into our reviews, and yes, I do my best to make sure that my reviews are spoiler free.
Do bloggers deserve anything from their readers?
No, I don’t think so. I mean, it would be nice to get a “like” from someone who reads my posts, especially if they don’t comment, but both are optional, no matter how appreciated they are.
Do you think there’s a specific etiquette that bloggers/readers should follow when interacting?
This question made me reconsider my answer to the previous one. So, on second thought… if they comment on our posts, perhaps they can make sure that they’re respectful of our opinions, even if they disagree with them. I, in turn, think we should be equally respectful.
Do you do certain things when you read a blog post?
If the option is available to me on a blog, I absolutely, ALWAYS hit the “like” button on each and every blog post I read, without fail. When there is no “like” button, I try to see if I can make a short comment. Sadly, I don’t always have something to say, and just commenting “good post” or “nice review” seems a bit… fake. So, the “like” button is the absolute minimum. Remember, I follow over 600 blogs, so that’s a good deal of clicking. That said, since I follow these blogs via email notifications (as opposed to using the WP reader), I don’t always click on all the posts (which would probably take me all day long, and I wouldn’t have time to do anything else).
In addition, I do try to read through the whole post, but admittedly (especially when I’m pressed for time), I’ve been known to jump down to the last, concluding paragraph to see the blogger’s assessment of the book. If that is particularly interesting, I then go back to the beginning and read the review more carefully. Obviously, list posts with lots of pictures of books and little text are faster to read than full reviews. On those, I often scan them first and if there’s a book that catches my eye, I read more in depth (if there is more to read).
There you have it!
So… what about you?
Do you think bloggers owe their readers and vice versa?
This post is my 2nd entry in the 2022 Discussion Challenge, hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
Such thoughtful answers! I agree that our honesty is something we should expect of ourselves when providing reviews.
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I don’t know if I would class this as something that bloggers “owe” to their readers as such – I mean we don’t have any contracts in place. But one thing that does annoy me as a reader is if I leave a comment and it doesn’t get acknowledged in any way. I understand that some bloggers get scores of comments so its a fair investment of time to respond to every comment, but to me it’s just common courtesy. If I find a blogger repeatedly ignores me, then I just stop following
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Agreed. At the very least, a simple “like” of the comment is enough!
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Absolutely, anything is better than complete radio silence
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A great discussion, Davida. I’m usually impressed with how polite everyone in the blogosphere that I interact with is. We don’t all have to disagree, but we do all have to be courteous and respectful. (And, as a blogger, I’m always thankful that, if necessary, I get the last word through use of the “spam it” button my my WordPress dashboard.)
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Hehehe… yes, there is that!
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I pretty much agree with the answers you’ve given! One of the things I like most about the book blogosphere is that it’s the one bit of social media where people seem to automatically be nice to each other. I could count on one hand the number of outright rude comments I’ve received in nearly ten years of blogging, although I’ve had plenty of good-natured and humorous disagreements over books. I too use the like button as a kind of marker that I’ve visited and read the post, even if I find I don’t have a comment to make. Like you, I find the “great review” type of comment a bit pointless, though I never mind receiving them. It’s always nice to know someone popped by…
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I think this is an excellent topic. I think bloggers and readers owe each other respect for differing opinions and I have always felt everyone honors this. As for reviews, I try to leave an honest opinion, but not trash a book.(although I really didn’t like the last book I reviewed so it was hard to hold back) I don’t read a lot of ARCs because I just don’t have the time to stick to a schedule like that, but I agree, no spoilers and a fair review. I try to visit everyone else’s blogs, but there’s also a time factor there. I think we all do our best to read, like and comment, though unless I have something relevant to say, I usually just like it because, as you say, anything else seems fake.
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Great post and interesting discussion. I agree we should all try to provide honest reviews. Otherwise, what is the use? Also, your point about being respectful is important (both for bloggers and commenters), but I rarely think that is a problem in the book blogging world. Besides from that, I don’t think we can expect anything from each other. It’s nice to get a “like” though.
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Honesty is the most important thing that bloggers owe their readers. I try, when I write reviews, to focus on the strengths of a book without failing to mention what I see as weaknesses. And I try to emphasize that these are simply my opinions.
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Honesty is the most important thing that bloggers owe their readers. I try, when I write reviews, to focus on the strengths of a book without failing to mention what I see as weaknesses. And I try to emphasize that these are simply my opinions.
Here’s my discussion post for January: https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-last-2000-books-of-my-life.html. To organize your remaining reads or not?
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I don’t think we owe anything in either direction except normal politeness. I’m not that fussed about book reviews as I generally choose books that appeal to me on a whim rather than via someone else’s opinion. I “like” most of the posts I read too, but there isn’t time to read all of my feed every day…
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I always prefer a shortish blog post otherwise I tend to skim read, so I try to make my own short too. I will hit ‘like’ most times, and I try to comment, but that’s where I am lazy. However, I do try to share what I like on Twitter.
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I’m terrible about sharing on Twitter – except if someone does my #ThrowbackThursday. Then I try to tweet their post.
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I agree with you. I’m not principally a book blogger, but I appreciate the ‘likes’ I get, and make sure I respond to all comments, because the reader has taken the trouble to engage with me. It’s hard to give proper attention to all blog posts when you follow a lot, but at the very least I skim-read with a view to being more attentive later to the ones that I really enjoy. My blog is something I started primarily for me, almost as a kind of diary, but I’ve come to appreciate the interactions I have with some regular bloggers who have become what you might call blogging ‘friends’. As my list of followers gets longer, I realise that these days I think about my audience far more than I used to. But since they’re a pretty diverse bunch, I don’t think that actually changes what I write about.
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Mmm, this is an interesting topic.
I agree with honesty, no spoilers and respectfully agreeing to disagree with an author’s views as a blogger.
I’m finding it harder to think of blog reader’s obligations other than being respectful. I usually leave a like when I read a blog too.
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Fair enough!
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Great discussion! We definitely feel the same way.
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You know, I think another interesting question is whether bloggers owe anything to the people who send them books to review. Maybe this is a touchy topic. Do some bloggers give books that they’ve received from the publisher a more positive review than it deserves? I don’t, but I wonder about that. Even more touchy is receiving books directly from authors, which has happened to me a few times. Do we tend to be easier on them? What if we know them? Just wondering what other people think about this.
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Good point, and a good question. I am usually more wary of a book that I get directly from an author than I am from a publisher via NetGalley and Edelweiss. That’s probably because, when I ask for a book from a publisher, I know the book already interests me. When an author sends me a book, I’m not always sure that it is my kind of book. Case in point: three of the last five books I DNFed, came directly from the authors!
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Ah! I don’t get that many myself.
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I deliberately refuse to take books directly from authors for that reason, especially authors I’ve come to know through the blogosphere. I buy their book and then if I hate it, I can just quietly say nothing about it! Books sent by publishers I feel completely free to be honest about and as far as I can tell publishers don’t seem to care about the odd negative review – all publicity is good publicity, perhaps?
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I hear you. But when an author sends me a book, I tell them that I can’t promise when or if I’ll get around to reading and reviewing it. That sort of gives me an out. Mind you, there were two instances of authors that offered me their books, where I was very pleasantly surprised, and their books got very good ratings and reviews from me. So… you never know!
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That might be a wise idea, although I have take a few.
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I agree that we definitely owe our followers honesty! 🙌 I think we owe authors kindness and respect. And if followers comment, I would hope they are kind and respectful as well.
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If I’ve read through something, I do usually “like” it, seeing as the person has given me something interesting to read, but I agree that there’s no obligation – the person has chosen to put their time and effort into writing it. I always try to be polite in comments. I once wrote a review in which I said that I didn’t think a particular book was very good, and someone who wasn’t even a regular commenter bit my head off and said that I’d clearly misunderstood the entire point of the book and didn’t know what I was talking about, which I was a bit upset about – it was just my personal opinion that the book wasn’t very good!
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I’ve had a few of those, too. We need to remember that no two people read the same book, so… our opinions will differ. But not everyone gets that.
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