"Reviews are for readers, not for writers" is a phrase you will hear and see a fair bit.
Its origins are rooted in the way some authors have reacted to—and interacted with—reviewers and content creators who posted a negative or meh review of their published work. A review's purpose is not to give the author feedback on their writing—as that should come from critique partners, beta readers, and editors long before a book is published. Rather, book reviews are intended to help readers decide if a book will be a good fit for them.
That, however, does not mean that book reviewers cannot be helpful for newer writers learning to hone their skills!
Several of my favorite creators are book reviewers and since I began exploring that side of YouTube and social media in recent years, subtle improvements have taken place within my writing both in my fiction as well as here on the blog. For one thing, my narrative style has become more personable (and at times more sarcastic), and I'm more able to catch and avoid recurring issues that reviewers have pointed out in published works—though I do stand in favor of a character letting out a breath they didn't even know they were holding.
So, without further ado, here are a few ways that book reviews can be helpful for writers working on their own books.
Understanding The Reader Mindset
In crafting your WIP, you may be keeping your future readers in mind, even if you don't always realize it. When you're laying the groundwork for a plot twist or writing quippy banter between characters, you aren't only considering how it moves the story forward but attempting to gauge future readers' responses to those moments.
While you cannot predict your readers' reactions or guarantee they will feel exactly as you want them to, you can do your research.
Some book reviewers film reading vlogs, providing real-time impressions and theories. For me, these are particularly informative as a writer because they offer an in-the-moment glimpse into the mind of a reader and how they are engaging with the story. If there is a specific emotional response I'm aiming to get, I have these examples of what other authors did in order to achieve it and can take note for my own writing.
Others post after they have finished a book, offering a retrospective analysis of the entire work. These reviews are great for understanding the bigger picture, how all of those little components come together (or don't) and what kind of lasting impression a book leaves on its readers.
In either scenario, this commentary can help you identify what works for readers and what might fall flat.
Additionally, it can be interesting to find multiple reviews for the same book to hear different perspectives, seeing the consensus about things and where opinions differ. This is, of course, not to say that you should tailor your WIP to please every reviewer who may encounter it. But you can get a sense of what generally appeals to or is expected by readers and use that knowledge to improve your own writing.
Learning From Your Peers
Plenty of book reviewers are also writers themselves.
I've found that writer-reviewers like Julian Greystoke, SBU English Club, and Krimson Rouge offer a unique insight from the perspective of a storyteller. It's worth mentioning that Julian Greystoke is not only an indie fantasy author but a freelance developmental editor, so she's able to speak to those aspects of the craft, too.
They might talk about why the pacing in a scene works really well, or might take a passage they don't love the prose of and offer sensible critiques with a detailed explanation of how they would rework it. The format of the SBU English Club podcast in particular reminds me of workshopping days in a college-level writing course or being part of a writing group where you get to hear peer feedback on a piece of writing.
Having this deeper understanding of writing can allow writer-reviewers to pick up on things that an average reader might miss, and their reviews often break down the ins and outs of writing techniques in a way that helps me effectively assess my own writing.
Sensitivity Reader Previews
Among your critique partners and beta readers, it's a good idea to have sensitivity readers.
Sensitivity readers are readers enlisted to look specifically for issues that might come across as inaccurate or insensitive that you may not know since they're outside of your identity. This can include cultural context or a character's ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, or medical conditions like a chronic illness or neurodivergence. Your sensitivity readers should be part of the communities so they can offer firsthand accounts.
Let's say I'm writing about a character who is Mexican and bisexual. I am neither, so even with the best research in the world, there's a chance that I'll make mistakes. In this instance, I would turn to sensitivity readers who are bisexual and/or Mexican to help correct these issues and make sure I'm not portraying any harmful stereotypes or generalizations.
In writing this story, I could also seek out reviews of similar books from readers belonging to those communities because they have more knowledge and can speak to how they feel about certain aspects of the work as someone who is part of those communities. They might highlight what was handled respectfully and realistically, and they can explain why something was harmful from a historical, cultural, or personal standpoint more aptly than someone without those lived experiences could.
Reads With Rachel is one of my favorite reviewers, and she'll speak openly about her fundamentalist religious upbringing, and often brings a well-informed discussion around bookbanning, women's rights, and women's health in fiction. She'll also speak to autism rep in fiction as she is the parent of a child who is autistic.
Book reviewers are not replacements for sensitivity readers, but their content can help you identify any possible issues in your own writing as you're working on early drafts and help you develop a list of questions to bring to your future sensitivity readers.
Finding Comp Titles
If you plan on going the traditional publishing route, comp titles are a query letter must, but they're also good to have as an indie author.
Comp titles in a query letter are used to give a prospective literary agent or editor a sense of what books yours might be comparable to in terms of marketability. For example, you might pitch your manuscript as Things We Never Got Over meets The Fine Print. Readers might also use comps to find books similar to what they've enjoyed in the past, so they're a great tool to have for marketing no matter how you choose to publish your work.
Book reviewers' content can help you discover comp titles for your WIP. If they mention that a particular element appears in a book they are reviewing, and it's also present in your story, it might be worth looking into.
Additionally, it's often recommended that the comp titles listed in a query letter be published within the last 2-5 years (save for a few exceptions), so following book reviewers can help you stay aware of trending reads and new releases that could make good comp titles for you. Keeping a finger on the literary pulse, as it were.
For additional information on comp titles, check out this post.
Getting Comfortable With Criticism
This may sound contradictory given the top of this post but hear me out.
A popular writing class activity is spending some time looking at one-star reviews for your favorite books. This is intended to show that A) no book ever written can or will please every reader out there and B) bad reviews are bound to be written about your books one day. It's just part of publishing.
Listening to or reading book reviews of any star rating may be able to help you acclimate to your work being critiqued, even if you're nowhere near ready to publish it yet.
For one thing, it can help normalize the potential of your book receiving a bad review, but it can also familiarize you with things that commonly come up in them like critiques of style.
Granted, some things can come out of left field and seem almost irrelevant, like a reviewer leaving a low rating because the main character says "goddamned" once or just because they don't enjoy reading books with a first-person narrative when yours is written in first-person POV but, for the most part, there will likely be consistencies among reviews.
This practice also reiterates that book reviews are subjective. One reader might find the love interest's go-to term of endearment for the protagonist sexy while it gives another reader the ick.
Checking out book reviews, even if only occasionally, can give you a sense of what might be said about your own book when it is released into the world.
While there is a boundary that ought to be upheld between authors and reviewers, writers can learn quite a bit about storytelling from book reviews.
However, I must reiterate that if a reviewer posts about your book, that review is NOT meant for you.
Please respect book reviewers.
And if you are a book reviewer and you're reading this post—thank you for all that you do for the writing and reader community! ♡
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