[Starchaser3000]

Are members allowed to post them on this forum for discussion on a thread?

[Loerwyn]

Yes, as long as they're your own.

If not, only post a small section of it (generally the most relevant bit to what you wish to discuss) and post a link to the rest of it.

[Starchaser3000]

OK. I have got two of them. One really positive, the other is more like a pro & con one. Can I post them in this thread, or should I just start a new one?

[Loerwyn]

Um... *scratches head* Perhaps I should have asked why you wanted to quote certain reviews...

If you're starting discussions on other books, sure, just do a quick search (use the site's search facility) to see if there's any existing topics. If not, or if you feel your topic deserves its own thread, then post it in the appropriate section.

[Randy M.]

Hi, Starchaser3000.

I've been adding short reviews of my own to the "Reading in [Month/Year]" threads for years and no one's scolded me yet. (A few have agreed, a few have disagreed, and I suspect a few see them, think, "Oh, the wordy bugger again" and skip the post.)

I think the question is -- and you haven't answered it directly -- are these reviews of your very own writing? Or are you talking about quoting someone else's reviews?

If the former, posters here often add their comments to the "Reading ..." threads. Sometimes, if they want to initiate a discussion about a given work, they start a thread and post the review/comments that way.

If you mean the latter, you might be breaking copyright to post someone else's work in its entirety. Quoting a passage and making your own points off of that, well, that's usually considered fair use.

Just some thoughts.


Randy M.

[Starchaser3000]

Yes. These are reviews of my own writing. Sorry that I did not clarify that.:o So can I post the reviews in this section of the forum? Or can I be directed to the right one?

[Loerwyn]

It depends what genre the books are.

Fantasy and Horror go in Fantasy/Horror
Science Fiction goes in Sci-Fi.
Non-genre works (crime, literature, historical, etc.) go in this section, which is the General Fiction one.

Things like Steampunk, etc. go where you feel is best for them - Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate is Steampunk, but has a focus on fantasy elements so would go in the Fantasy section, whereas Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series is Dieselpunk with no fantastical elements, so would go in Sci-Fi.

As I said earlier, you should use the forum's search facility to find out if topics exist for the book(s) you've reviewed.

[Randy M.]

Yes. These are reviews of my own writing. [...]

That can be interpreted in two ways:

1) "I wrote the reviews"
2) "These are the reviews of the books I wrote."

If the former, cool. I look forward to reading them.

If number 2, the moderators might look at that as advertising and that is generally frowned upon in this establishment. (An exception to that comes when a subject is raised and the work a poster wrote is a good example in discussing that subject.)

I apologize if I'm being pedantic or obtuse, also if my awkward sentence structure in my previous message led to your phrasing.


Randy M.

[Starchaser3000]

That can be interpreted in two ways:

"These are the reviews of the books I wrote."

If the former, cool. I look forward to reading them.

If number 2, the moderators might look at that as advertising and that is generally frowned upon in this establishment. (An exception to that comes when a subject is raised and the work a poster wrote is a good example in discussing that subject.)

Yeah, basically I want people to help me compare and contrast both reviews. One is moderately positive, the other glowingly positive. I paid more for one than the other. But with the one that I paid more for I had a chance to interact with the reviewer via e-mail before my book was reviewed. In the cheaper review, the manuscript was given to some random person in no particular timetable that I never had a chance to interact with before it was actually reviewed.

Would it be OK to post the reviews based on this discussion premise?

[tmso]

Yeah, basically I want people to help me compare and contrast both reviews. One is moderately positive, the other glowingly positive. I paid more for one than the other. But with the one that I paid more for I had a chance to interact with the reviewer via e-mail before my book was reviewed. In the cheaper review, the manuscript was given to some random person in no particular timetable that I never had a chance to interact with before it was actually reviewed.

Would it be OK to post the reviews based on this discussion premise?

Hi Starchaser3000,

I understand what you want to do. If you still want to post it after reading what I say below, go head and start a thread in the Writing forum and ask folks (other writers) what their take is on both. Make it clear that these are reviews that you paid for for a work of fiction that you wrote.

But, the sad fact is, whether you paid for them or not, reviews are reviews: high subjective and prone to errors.

I write reviews. And when I post them to Amazon or GoodReads, I am always amazed by what I see others say about their experience with the same book. Sometimes I think, are they talking about the book I just read? They can't be. But, usually they are. And the things they may have found utterly boring, are the things that I found thrilling. Or vice versa.

You just never know. Readers are individuals and their reviews will be biased. It's the nature of the game.