Week Five Prompt Response

As eBooks continue to gain popularity, libraries are faced with new challenges.  Some popular authors are creating .5 short stories that fall in between titles in well known series, but these stories are only available for the Kindle and other eReaders.  In other instances, popular authors are creating whole new series only available via eBook.  Others, authors who have previously gone through big publishers or new struggling authors, have opted to go independent in the hopes of getting more royalties.

For The Billionaire’s First Christmas by Holly Rayner reviews are limited.  This particular title is only available as an eBook.  Reviews were found on Amazon and a blog.    The Amazon review was horrible; the review is plagued by grammar errors and lack of proper punctuation.  It also provides more of a synopsis than an actual review.  The blog is better, but it still is very juvenile with grammar issues and acronyms (lol?).  I appreciated the blog because it did give a personal review and indicated that the characters were cookie-cutter and their love/hate of Christmas was over-exaggerated.

I would not buy this book for my library.  I get the feeling it is similar to Harlequin paperbacks which my library does not buy.  The collection of paperback romances that we do have are all donations.  I also was surprised to hear that this particular title was romantic suspense.  I can believe that it is a romance book, but the reviews that we were given didn’t hint at any suspenseful elements.  The words “warm” and “cozy” make me think of a lazy read whereas romantic suspense stories should be fast-paced page turners.

In contrast, the reviews of Angela’s Ashes make me want to purchase the book for my library collection.  Phrases such as “exquisitely written,”  “extraordinary work,” “impossible to put down,” and “wonderfully readable” are all phrases that tell me that this book is well-written and will potentially have high demand.  The number of reviews for a book can also indicate high demand.  The more publicity a book gets, the more likely people will read or hear about it and then come to the library to request it.

I struggle with the idea of fairness in the book industry. I do believe that it is a dog-eat-dog world. I do feel like there are some fantastic books that are completely ignored because they don’t have a large publisher and advertising power behind them.  Self-published books are usually not reviewed in the major review publications that librarians use.  I find that more and more patron requests and rushes are self-published books or books that have a small print run.  Patrons have access to other outlets (Goodreads, Amazon, etc.) and often run across these books from those types of networks.

I believe that review sources should print negative reviews.  It’s like the theme song from “Facts of Life” – you take the good, you take the bad…  I always appreciate reading why a reviewer does not like a book.  Sometimes I will still order a book even if it had a less than perfect review.  Just like movies, one reviewers opinion can be vastly different than the vast majority of the public.  I use reviews to make at least 80% of my selection decisions.  The other twenty percent of my decisions is fueled by other sources such as Goodreads and especially patrons.  As a teen librarian, I rely on my teens to make suggestions for me to build my manga and gaming collections.  I typically used SLJ (School Library Journal), Kirkus, and VOYA reviews for my teen materials -- all of these reviews are included with our subscription with Baker and Taylor.  I also rely on ALA (American Library Association) lists as well as the annual award picks (Alex, Morris, Printz, etc.), and state picks (Hoosier Nominees).

For personal reading, I do enjoy reading reviews on Amazon.com and Goodreads.  Mostly, I read the reviews to get a better idea of the book.  Other times I read the reviews just because they are extremely funny.  For example, I highly dislike the 50 Shades of Grey series and some of the reviews on Amazon are priceless.