Why I don't do reviews.

[Turanil]

I read that some people are sent books or PDF to review. Sometimes, these are sent without asking first, and so it happens that some of them don't review.

Well, well, well...

I have done in all 3 reviews: Grim Tales, Medieval Player's Manual, and Bulldogs! Nobody asked me anything before I made the review. I did them because I like the book. BUT NOW, if a publisher likes how I do reviews, he can propose to send me a book or PDF (especially a book hehe...), and if I accept (I must have the time for it), it means that I will review it. So, don't hesitate to contact me, if you have a nice book you would like to send me!

 

[Bagpuss]

I use Grim Tales to play Hansel and Grethel d20... you know, that setting by Grimm's Fairy Tales!

Wouldn't "Grimm" the D20 game of fairy tales from Fantasy Flight Games' Horizon line be more appropriate?

 

[Kichwas]

This complication is why you get reviewers who get sent complimentary copies - such as the staff reviewers here.

Of course the problem there is that if you get sent a number of bad products you risk getting black listed once you review them...

So some of these reviewers might 'up' their reviews just to keep the freebie chain going.

Readers can usually spot that if they pay attention, but of course most people lack the critical intelligence to be able to tell the difference between a critical analysis and a 'this is kewl,' so you can keep getting away with it for some time if it is what you do.

For the curious, I have six reviews here and 8 at rpg.net, with another 3 set to go live soon. You can use your own reading comprehension to judge whether or not I'm writing to scam you, or doing honest reviewing - but I will say that only two reviews of mine are based on 'free books,' one of which I went on the attack about...

Most of what I review is indeed based on what I chose to buy, and I then did reviews because I wanted to warn people about my mistake or encourage them to follow my path.

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/search-review.phtml?reviewerName=arcady
http://www.enworld.org/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=reviewerlist&which=arcady

 

[Turanil]

Wouldn't "Grimm" the D20 game of fairy tales from Fantasy Flight Games' Horizon line be more appropriate?

It is was intended to be a bad pun. At least, I am glad someone did read it. Anyway, I intend to modify my signature next month, when I will use it to promote my (free) homebrew setting (for Grim Tales) on the web...

I don't know about Grimm. Maybe it's good, but I can't buy everything, and even less use any of it. Already, I only use 5 to 10% of all my gaming stuff.

 

[Kichwas]

I don't have any specific problems with anyone. I've pretty much stopped sending any review copies after over 50 different PDFs sent to a few dozen reviewers -- in one month and at the request of the reviewers -- turned up less than a handful of reviews.

Just cut your next send out to only those people who did write reviews, plus another few extras who were NOT on your first months list.

After a few months you'll have a stable list of people willing to review for you - especially if you're willing to keep the ones who don't give you perfect scores, who only praise when they can explain it in detail...

(and me, as a reader, I want more explaination for a great review than a poor one - especially if I know the book was a freebie for the reviewer).

Also, don't overwelm your reviewers... check with them before you send, to find out if they have the time right now to get it done reasonably quickly. If they so no, don't red-pen them, just put them on the list to ask next time. Only red-pen them if they say they will do it and then don't.

I'd love to do all sorts of reviews, but I also know I can only do so many in so much time and still 'keep it real'. Sure, I'd love to get a free stash coming my way, but I refuse to be unethical about it - if I can't get to a book fast enough I'll say so.

 

[Psion]

So some of these reviewers might 'up' their reviews just to keep the freebie chain going.

It doesn't work that way. For me at least. If you are getting a stream of bad products, you just want it to stop. I personally find bad products harder to review. It's more painful to read and absorb them and more painful to relate them.

Other than that, you just have to trust that the publishers that are sending you stuff will take bad reviews in stride. Most of the publishers that send me stuff do, because, well, most of them that don't aren't sending me stuff anymore. (The smart ones learn what you like and send you stuff selectively.)

No one is immune. I am getting more stuff now than I can write reviews for, so it's not a great loss to me to have one publisher stop sending me stuff.

 

[dsfriii]

Of course the problem there is that if you get sent a number of bad products you risk getting black listed once you review them...

So some of these reviewers might 'up' their reviews just to keep the freebie chain going.

And this is why I do not listen to reviewers. Heck I remember hearing one reviewer brag about how much free stuff he gets and after reading his reviews 99% were positive. So I ignore on-line reviews totally.

 

[Crothian]

And this is why I do not listen to reviewers. Heck I remember hearing one reviewer brag about how much free stuff he gets and after reading his reviews 99% were positive. So I ignore on-line reviews totally.

Wow, did read that one bad message board thread and give up on message boards completely too? :\

There area lot of reviewers out there and to discount them all out of hand for the actions of one is down right silly. Now, if you just don't want to read reviews I can respect that, but hearing excuses tlike this that make no sense is almost insulting.

 

[Crothian]

This complication is why you get reviewers who get sent complimentary copies - such as the staff reviewers here.

Of course the problem there is that if you get sent a number of bad products you risk getting black listed once you review them...

So some of these reviewers might 'up' their reviews just to keep the freebie chain going.

Its rare I hear of people getting blacklisted for bad reviews. I hear of people complaining about that but not black listed. And what's wrong with "uping" the number of reviews on does to try to keep up with the number of products? Is it too ghard to believe that some peopel actually enjoy writing reviews and thus spend a bit more of their free time on them? I don't doubt that there are people who do it solely for the freebies, but I just don't like getting lumped in with them all the time.

 

[Psion]

It's a no win situation.

Give a good review, you are obviously influenced.

Give a bad review, your a big ol meanie who isn't giving the product a fair shake.

The fact I hear both kinds of complaints should demonstrate that both are wrong.