Advice to readers searching for something to read

I’d like to copy here a thoughtful post by Melissa Conway, from her blog Whimsilly. There has been a lot in the news lately about fake reviews, people buying reviews, people creating false accounts in order to praise their own work or denigrate the work of other authors. Well, here’s Melissa’s take, and her astute, simple,  solution!
I turn the floor over to Melissa;

READ THE SAMPLE

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It gets busy at Costco during the lunch hour on any given day because they give out samples of various food products. Samples help me decide whether to purchase a product. Oftentimes, if I like the sample, I’ll try the product.

 

But what if I got the opportunity to sample something and chose not to because it came highly recommended?

 

Or I didn’t want to take the time to sample it, and only purchased it because it was on sale?

 

Would I be justified in feeling duped if this product I didn’t bother to sample fell short of my expectations?

 

Books and ebooks are one of the few products a consumer can sample beforehand. In a bookstore, you can stand there and read as much as you’d like. Online, you can generally read a percentage of an ebook, up to as much as the first 20%, to help you make your decision.

 

There’s been a lot of media coverage recently about book reviews. Any given review on any given book, whether the book was written by a traditionally published author or an indie, can be faked. A fake review will generally either sing the book’s praises or trash it. That’s not to say all five-star and one-star ratings are not to be trusted, but who has the time to investigate their veracity?

 

Further, even if you know a recommendation or condemnation is honest, you still have to take into consideration that it is one person’s opinion. Opinions are subjective. Even an honest appraisal of a product can be biased – or I should say will be biased based on that person’s likes and dislikes, which may be the polar opposite of yours whether you admire that person, hate them with a passion, or don’t know them at all. And sometimes an honest appraisal comes from someone who had the opportunity to sample, but didn’t, often because they got the ebook for free. The opinion is perfectly valid, but would that person have even chosen the book if it weren’t free?

 

My time is precious. I’d rather use it reading the sample, and let the product convince me whether or not to buy. Then if it doesn’t live up to my expectations, I’ll feel perfectly justified in giving my opinion.

Read the sample.

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You can read this blog post at its original website at Whimsilly and many more posts of a helpful and intriguing nature. Melissa Conway is the author of the excellent novels:

Xenofreak Nation (Book One, XBestia)

Selfsame

The Gossamer Sphere (Book One: The Gossamer Crown)

Anyone (A Gossamer Sphere Novel)