Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger (7) Professional Reviews

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about Professional reviews and why I don't pay attention to them!

Here is my Confession: Even before I started blogging, I relied on reviews from sites like Borders, Barnes&Noble and of course Amazon. Sure I read reviews in the newspaper or magazine if I happened to stumble across them but I rarely took them into consideration as I always assumed they were being paid to either praise or trash the book. When I did start blogging I noticed a pattern of certain professional reviewers being quoted over others. One such that always popped up is really well known. Surely, they must be amazing to be quoted so much, I thought. So one day, I typed them into my browser and prepared to read some reviews for books I was really looking forward to. To my surprise, I found 90% of the reviews were just a recap of the plot with a couple sentences thrown in with their opinion. Needless to say, I was not impressed. In fact since that day, I can honestly say I have only been to that site once or twice and that's when another blogger mentions it. What does this have to do with reviews? Well everything. Recently, a certain famous Author was quoted as saying blogger reviews didn't count because they weren't "professional". Well sure, If you want light and fluffy clearly biased to make the Author look good reviews then by all means choose those professionals to showcase. However, I believe bloggers are what the average person looks to when considering a book. I'll even go so far as saying bloggers are what drives book sales. Why? Because we actually share our opinion about a book. We put our thoughts whether positive or negative out in the world for all to see. We'll call out plot discrepancies, poor written narratives and grammatical errors. On the opposite end when we love a book, we will praise it to the moon. I don't know about you but I take how a person reacts to a book into consideration way more then just a review filled with technical book jargon the average person gives less than a rats ass about. Apparently though, that isn't good enough for that particular Author and I'm sure many others like her. Needless to say, even if I'm never quoted or praised nationwide for my reviewing awesomeness,I still know my worth as a reviewer professional credentials be damned. I don't review for the professional praise or *cough* money. No, I review to help spread my love of books and reading to as many people as possible. Therein boys and girls lies the difference, least in this bloggers opinion.

Now that you've read my confession, Tell me some of yours:
Do you read professional reviews?
Do you take them into consideration over bloggers?
Has a professional review ever stopped you from buying a book or continuing a series?
If no, Has a blogger review ever stopped you from buying a book or continuing a series?

Leave your responses in the comments below, I love reading them. Have a question? Leave that as well and I'll try and answer it.


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That about wraps up this weeks confessions from a blogger. Thanks for stopping by and reading,sharing, or commenting on this post. As always, it is appreciated.