How many books do I read from an author before deciding not to read any more?
Like most readers, I have likes and dislikes.
My perfect novel is romance (except Amish), especially romantic suspense. I enjoy a fast-paced thriller (as long as I’m not led to believe it’s actually romantic suspense, in which case I’m likely to feel short-changed in the romance department). I enjoy space opera and dystopian fiction, but I rarely read pure sci-fi or fantasy. Fiction tends to dominate my reading: non-fiction tends to be writing-related.
I also have preferences around writing styles. I like first person point of view, and while I enjoy both plot-based and character-based novels (depending on my mood), I don’t like it when the interior monologue starts interfering with the pace. Like bringing it to a complete halt.
I sometimes read a novel by a new-to-me author, and don’t enjoy it. I’m then left wondering if I should read another book from that author. Is that one book is representative of all their writing? Or might I enjoy other titles? Do I give them another chance?
How many chances?
How many books do I read from an author before deciding not to read any more?
How many do you read?
I’ve been in online conversations where people have posted that it’s unfair to an author to refuse to buy, read or review their books based on one bad experience. I can see the value in that argument, and I can think of authors where I’ve loved some of their books, and loathed others. And I often read the books I didn’t enjoy first. I would have missed out if I’d chosen not to read any more books by that author.
(As an aside, I often find if an author writes in more than one genre, I’ll love one but not the other. For example, I like Carla Laureano’s contemporary romance novels, but haven’t read her fantasy novels because I don’t enjoy fantasy. I like Lori Wick’s historical fiction much more than her contemporaries.)
But there is another side to the argument.
I can think of another author who I like and respect as a person (well, I’ve never met her so perhaps I merely like and respect her internet persona), but I don’t read or review her books. I used to: I like her characters and I like her plots but I don’t like her style of writing. It simply grates with me, which means my reviews were solid three stars.
Anyway, this author received a review on Amazon where the reviewer commented that while she’d read several books by this author, she didn’t like the author’s writing, so could only give the book three stars.
The author asked why the reviewer was reading the book—and reviewing it—if she didn’t like the author’s writing.
Good question.
And it persuaded me that it’s okay to choose not to review books by some authors. This particular review wasn’t mine … but it could have been.
I don’t like authors venting on social media about less-than-glowing reviews. Such comments often patronise or insult the reviewer, and/or make the author look insecure and a little mean.
Anyway, I was impressed beyond words when I checked the author’s Facebook page a couple of hours after her initial comment and found she’d removed the comment and posted an apology, saying God had impressed on her that her original response was inappropriate.
Good question, Iola. For me, it depends on why I didn’t like it. If it turns out to be not my cup of tea (e.g. too much sex, gory violence, creepy paranormal or extreme language), I might decide not to read from that author again. If the writing is really bad, I’m also less tolerant. But if I liked their writing, but just didn’t think the plot or characterisation was quite there, I’d give them another go. I might also try them again if I knew people who’d loved one of their other books. Thanks for provoking some thought 🙂