Bark At The Ghouls

Let's talk about the coveted stars for the briefest of moments, shall we?  Why are they given so much importance in this world? Why do people freak out when one doesn't give ALL of them away and why do they take it SO personally when they haven't even written the book? Why can't people see past them and read the words in a review? Why don't we all slap a star on a book and call it a day instead of agonizing over words? WHY ISN'T IT OK TO HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION? What is wrong with us? Don't answer that. I write reviews. As silly as they may be, I put time into them and I try to share my likes and my dislikes so other readers can make up their own minds about whether or not a book will appeal to them. We're all different. My five star might be your one star and vice-versa, rinse and repeat, blabbedy blah who even cares anymore?! I've said this until my head is ready to explode, even devoted an entire  ranty post about it, and I can't believe I am...

I'm back with another unasked for PSA! This time I tackle how to approach a reviewer. Or, more accurately, how not to approach a reviewer. I've been doing this for a good 85 years or so it seems like, and though people come and go, there are some mistakes things that never seem to change in bloglandia. Mistake #1: Addressing me by "Reviewer", "Mr. Bark" or "Dearest Bark" (though I admit that one warms my heart a little). This tells me that you have not taken 5 minutes to read my review policy of which I agonized over. How do I know? Because I tell you my real name in the first few lines. It's the simplest test ever and you just failed.  I know we are all busy little bees but my policy is pretty brief and to the point and it's there to help you avoid wasting your time with me. Mistake #2: Attempting to personalize an email with the wrong information: I'll never be the kind of person to tell others how to condu...

I am interrupting my usual deluge of questionable reviews with a new investigative post. Note to all who may be wondering, my research took about ten minutes 😈 It was exhausting. While I was purchasing a book on Amazon I decided to pay attention to some things to see if I could disprove a myth that I hear perpetrated time and time again. With a few minutes of screen clicks I was actually able to disprove two myths in the #WritingCommunity. I bet you'll have similar results if you want to give it a go. 1st Myth: A book needs at least 25, 50, 100 reviews or it will never be seen on discovery pages by readers. This myth is a major source of much angst and review hi-jinks around the internets because there are many in the Twitter #WritingCommunity who believe that they must have at least 25, 50 or some other magical number of reviews in order to be seen by Amazon shoppers. And some  will lie, cheat, pay $$ to fiverr and other disreputable review sites and just might sacrifice the...

I'm making this post a sticky post because it keeps having to be said! Sorry for yelling but seriously, it is okay if I do not like your book. I am but one person in a sea of readers. Most of who probably have better taste than I! There is no need to come on over to my review (or anyone's) at Goodreads and tell me how much of an idiot you think I am. It will not change my opinion about the book but it may change someone's opinion about you. A bad review is also never a reason To Start A Petition to force Goodreads to change their TOS to suit you. I love books, I love authors, I love to read, to review and I love nothing more than to spread the word about books. But I'm not always going to like your book. In fact, I will probably dislike at least one thing about it because I'm a bit of a jerk like that and that's okay too. There are very few books that I think are perfect. The first one that comes to mind is Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It is my comfort ...

Guaranteed to Make You Miserable I wrote many of these rules several years ago for my Booklikes blog after a series of annoying and disturbing events happened in Booklandia. A blogger was hit over the head with a wine bottle , another reader was stalked and myriads of people came out of the woodwork to write posts about writing reviews the correct way. Well, that annoyed me a little because I do not like being told what to do. Things have quieted down in recent times, thank Heavens or Cthulu or whatevermakesyouhappy, but there are still folks out there telling others how to live their best bookish life and that is not cool. About once a month I receive a comment or DM over at GR or one in my personal email usually addressed to Dear Mr. Bark telling me that I’m a meanie and/or a dummy (hey, I never claimed otherwise!) or that I'm ignoring the little guy and it reminds me that there is still a certain sector out there who feel that readers exist to give writers free, glowing pr...