Why don't you post reviews?

[Crothian]

I've just started writing up reviews. I find that if it's a newer publisher they would give you a free copy of the work (especially if it's PDF), but I would like to do it more and more but I don't know how to contact publishers to get review material or whom to goto.

It boils down to 'lack of product' and not lack of time. I can hammer out a review in 3 days of reading your typical 96page product and posting it online.

RPGNow has a e-mail list for publishers and reviewers. Publishers occasionally ask people to contact them about reviewing their items. You can e-mail me at cgath@insight.rr.com and I can probaby help you at least with the pdfs.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Other: Usually I read through a book with a cursory glance to see if anything is immediately useful. If the book doesn't look interesting, I may shelve it and never read it entirely. Can't write a review for something like that.
If the book IS directly useful, I still might not read it all the way through immediately, but digest portions of it over time.

In addition, I very rarely remember the review section is here.
I link directly to the forums, don't read the news anymore either. The title "news and reviews site" may as well just be ENWorld Forums for me.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I have tried but they are too hard.

The words escape me and I end up with writers block, I know what I want to say but it does not come out sounding the same way.

 

[GreyShadow]

I have tried but they are too hard.

The words escape me and I end up with writers block, I know what I want to say but it does not come out sounding the same way.

This is pretty much me. I'm doing a course with work, and my instructor keeps having to push to get more than one or two line answers out of me.

"It's good, buy it." isn't much of a review.

 

[Maggan]

EN World has a high standard

Over the past half year or so the amount of fan reviews has really decreased. Reviews are a great way to get your opinion heard and to tell people what your thoughts on a book are. So, I'm just wondering why people don't write reviews.

This is only speaking for me.

If I want to write a review I want it to be at least half as good as the best reviews EN World has. And I don't feel that I can reach that goal.

Basically, my knowledge of the rules is not at the level that some of the stellar reviewers have reached, and therefore I might miss important stuff. And since I would be putting my name on the line, that's a big hurdle. Especially considering the... let's say... enthusiastic attention some companies heap on reviewers they feel have the wrong opinion about their products.

Also, the good reviews here are really long, and I'm not sure how people like s shorter format. Maybe if there were a mini-review format then I would contribute. After all, I've written about 20 reviews of d20 stuff for swedish print and online publications, and they could be translated. But they are really short, and all short reviews I have read here are either really bad or often has a comment that the review should be longer.

So I just sit back and read the reviews that other people write.

Cheers!

Maggan

 

[shilsen]

I buy very few RPG products and always ones I'm absolutely sure will be useful for me. A big part of that decision involves checking reviews and comments on ENWorld about it, so by the time I get something, it has already been discussed, reviewed and re-reviewed ad nauseam.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

If I thought that people would view a rating of 3/5 to mean "average" then I would. As it is most people seem to equate "average" with "below average". There are very few 5/5 products out there, but I see a ton of 5/5 listed.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Other - too much time and effort to do it right.

I know not all reviewers hold to this standard, but I don't feel that it would be fair to write a review simply on a read-through of a product. But using it in play, giving it a fair test, can be disruptive to my game and takes a lot of time and effort. Since I don't have enough time for gaming as is, and doing a proper reveiw of a product is time I can't spend working on my game, the review becomes a low priority.

 

[tauton_ikhnos]

I have been considering it. I've been working on my typing finger muscles

 

[Izerath]

RPGNow has a e-mail list for publishers and reviewers. Publishers occasionally ask people to contact them about reviewing their items. You can e-mail me at cgath@insight.rr.com and I can probaby help you at least with the pdfs.

I would be interested in knowing more about this process and reviewing products....is there any information you can share on that?