I have been approached a few times to do a blog tour. What makes me excited about this is the ARCs I get. What makes me nervous about this is, what if I don't like the book? I am not great at writing reviews anyway, but I worry that I won't like the book?
Has this happened to any of you? What did you do?
I don't feel comfortable reviewing books, so I don't really do it on my blog. So, when someone offers me an ARC I tell them upfront that the most they can hope for is that I'll plug the book if I love it. I can be a book recommender, but receiving an ARC doesn't obligate me to promote the book. I won't slam it either, so I guess it's a pretty safe gamble.
ReplyDeleteCould you have your focus be on the author, and not just the book?
I do ARC tours and I was worried about that too. I talked to the organizer of the tour and explained to them that I will give an honest review regardless of what I think. They were very ok with that and didn't expect anything less. The way I write my reviews tho (since I keep my students in mind when reviewing) is, if I don't like it I focus on who might, so that I'm clear that it just wasn't for me but others might enjoy it. I do that with book talks in my classroom, so it comes easy enough for me.
ReplyDeleteI did have one ARC I didn't love. I expressed my concerns in the review and the author told me they understood my concerns.
Good luck!