Encouraging folks to do more reviews

[RangerWickett]

As a writer of d20 products, I'm interested in hearing what people think about the stuff I write, and more interested in having word circulate when I do good work, so more people will buy the books I've written. I'm sure other authors and publishers feel the same. From my own recent work, there aren't any official reviews on either Chainmail Biknis or Lyceian Arcana. I've gotten feedback on the boards, but if someone's interested in either book, I'd like him or her to be able to see a full review.

So I'm curious, what can publishers do to encourage to folks to write reviews? In the past I tried contests, where the first 5 people to review a book would get a free copy of another product, but a few posters suggested that was unethical, since it would encourage people to write reviews without fully considering the product, and that it seemed like bribery.

Do you have any suggestions? Does anyone feel a hankering to go out and do some reviews?

 

[diaglo]

Do you have any suggestions? Does anyone feel a hankering to go out and do some reviews?

encourage sites to maintain the reviews. i know the ones i wrote were removed.

don't give freebies to reviewers. it adds the element of bias.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I am an occasional review writer. (About 6 total, three posted here.) I do a couple a year, usually when a product excites me or I find it interesting enough to write on it.

The number one thing publishers could do to get me to write more reviews is:

Find me more time!

After that, it's anybody's guess. I have enough other things doing that to sit down and write a couple pages about a product that I am iffy about would require more energy than I'm going to muster generally speaking. I suspect many casual reviewers are in the same boat.

Another issue is that if I don't buy the product (cashflow reasons, or just lack of interest - nothing personal but Chainmail Bikinis is of no use to me based on the cover blurbs) then I have nothing to review. I think the tiny nature of the pdf market is also an obstacle to many reviews getting published. With sales figures of the average pdf below 100, it's a testament to energetic fans that reviews do get written.

Now, if there were free products one could qualify for to write a review? That would be cool. I disagree with not sending free products. In college I wrote regular reviews for the newspaper because they had gotten free copies of the book in question. I wanted the free copy. I had to write the review to qualify. This doesn't work with gaming products because there's no "gatekeeper". Once the publisher releases the product, it's gone.

 

[Henry]

*Looking at RangerWickett's Reviews total*

Well, writing some reviews of your own on others' works might start the ball rolling...

Seriously, I was thinking about that very thing last week. I have a number of EN Publishing products that I haven't yet reviewed, but just can't find the time and gumption to get off my butt, read them, and comment. I will have to start this today or tomorrow, and start posting some.

Also, check over at RPGnet and see if maybe someone has reviewed any of your products there.

 

[RangerWickett]

Yeah, there are lots of mini-reviews at RPGNow, but few are in depth to the level we like at EN World.

As for me writing reviews, I thought it was not professionally appropriate for a publisher to review a competitor's product.

 

[EricNoah]

Writing reviews is hard work, especially at a site like EN World where short reviews are not really allowed in the main database; and then on top of that if you have an unpopular view of the work you'll get slapped around by everyone who doesn't agree with you. So to me the real question is "why would anyone do it in the first place?" I'm glad someone's got more guts and gumption than me or there would be no reviews to read!

Publishers should provide free copies to reviewers, in my opinion; getting a freebie is no guarantee of a good review.

 

[EricNoah]

As for me writing reviews, I thought it was not professionally appropriate for a publisher to review a competitor's product.

I agree, and that's a good instinct on your part. It does get very weird when one publisher reviews another's work.

Maybe that's why it's tough at EN World -- we've all been published??

 

[GlassJaw]

Time is my biggest problem. I have a stack of things I would love to review but it's just not high on my priority list. Also, when I write a review, they are very in-depth, a lot more so than many of the more *ahem* prominent reviewers. Because of that, I need a substantial block of time to write said review.

Some kind of incentive would certainly bump up review writing on my priority scale but I can't say that that alone would spur me to write reviews.

If you could make the day 25 hours instead of 24, I would definitely be more likely to write reviews. Until then, well... :\

 

[MonsterMash]

Given more time my review total would increase rapidly. Personally I don't think getting free review copies will bias a good reviewer. At a site like this (or RPG.net) or any other where the gatekeepers to posting reviews are low there can always be the chance to have friends of the writers come along and post positive reviews regardless of the quality of work.

Ok, I'll set my stall out, I'm willing to review products provided free with a certain set of guarantees on both sides:

1. writer/publisher emails in advance to see if I have time to review product in near future (next 2 weeks or so)
2. If possible then review to be written and posted within 3-4 weeks of reciept of product
3. no editorial interference from publisher - I'll review as I see fit with the product, e.g. a good product gets kudos a bad product gets criticised. Most stuff will recieve a three star rating as its the average and most product is average.
4. I'll advise the writer/publisher of review content in advance so that they can post comments once its on the site, but I will not change anything that is not a material error - my opinions are not likely to change easily.

 

[philreed]

I find it's fun to review products BUT I only review those products I like.