So I've noticed a little trend popping up on a few blogs lately. Some people are including links to other blogger's reviews along with their own. The idea behind it being that you have the opportunity to see other opinions of the book at the same time, kind of like you can on sites like Amazon or B&N with their product reviews.
So here's my question for you: what do you think of that idea? I'm trying to catch up on reviews myself and I've gone back and forth with this idea. So I put it to you, the readers, to share with me your thoughts on the subject.
So comment away! I'd really love to know what you think.
17 comments:
I'm one of the bloggers who includes the links to other reviews. It was suggested a few years ago by Dewey when she ran the Weekly Geeks meme. I write my posts ahead of time which gives me time to track down reviews to link to.
I love the idea. I just need to implement it myself lol
I've started doing this a little while ago on my blog... I hadn't really seen it done before but I know I wasn't the first to do it, but my reasoning behind it is especially for books that I didn't like, I hated reading comments saying oh I won't get this now, just because I didn't like it. I know that's why people read reviews but it irks me for it to be based on one, so I try to give links to other reviews to give a more rounded idea of it. I think it's a great thing, but that's just me =P
While it's a good idea, I don't do it. Reviews take me long enough as it is, tracking down other reviews doesn't seem like fun. However, if I write a negative review (it must happen someday), then I will go through the work to find positive reviews.
I feel like I read the same reviews over and over, which initially made me think that I probably wouldn't ever check out the links. But it might be interesting if you had links to reviews opposite of your own in order to see both sides of the story.
It totally depends on the review. Tomorrow I have a review of a book I really hated and gave it a 1.5 star review, so I also included a link to a 3 star review, just because I really didn't like it doesn't mean someone else won't.
But if its the same gist, all good, no I won't link to another review. There has to be a difference between my views and the other reviewers.
I like pixies point, for a bad review. But like Julie said, reviews take a lot of time to begin with, sound like more work. Maybe you could invite people to link up their reviews.
I try to do it for all of the reviews I write. I know that I like to easily find what other people had to say, especially if I am unsure about a book, so I try to do it for people who read my blog.
To make it easier for me, I just search my Google Reader subscribed blogs. I have over 150 (and always add more), so I think it is a fair amount.
While I don't recall ever doing this before, I do think that it's a good idea to link a positive review if you're giving a negative review. It's good to show the other side of the spectrum.
I did it in 06 and 07. But it got to be too much work finding and sorting through the reviews, so I haven't done it in a while.
I like the option of clicking thru; but I don't usually. Which is another reason I stopped, not sure if people reallly took advantage of it.
I'm one of those bloggers who has linked to others for a while. I really like doing it because I always feel like I may not be doing the book justice (even when it's a good review). So I like giving readers the option to read other opinions.
One thing I'm having a hard time deciding on: Should I let each blogger know that I've linked to them?
I think it is hard enough promoting your own words as well as worrying about posting friends links too. A little too much if you ask me.
I try to include links to other reviews myself, unless it is a book that has so over-saturated the blogging world that there is no point, or if it is a book where I can't find any reviews that are in depth enough to link to.
I think it's a nice thing to do not only to provide different opinions, but as a way to tie one's own blog into the larger discussion...and I myself like finding other blogs when I'm seaching for these other reviews.
It doesn't actually take very long, to find three or four reviews (if they exist) if you just plug the book title into "blog search." Maybe five minutes.
I do this as well, and as a nice side effect, I find new book blogs with similar reading tastes. I usually try to include a negative and a positive review on the book, if I can find it.
I like the idea of linking to other reviews. This way if you are trying to decide should you buy a certain book you can get the reviews and make your decision from more than one.
I include links to other reviews in my review. Honestly, if you use blogger as your blogging platform, and do a quick googlereader search for the title, it takes about 5 minutes to add in links to other reviews. I like linking to other people because it creates good karma, and plus it's fun to see reviews I may have missed before I began subscribing to a blog.
I think it's a great idea, but as a blogger, I just don't have time to find links. Also, I subscribe so many blogs that I almost always read multiple reviews of the same book anyway, so when I see links to other reviews, I don't click them.
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