In an excellent blog post, bestselling author and writing teacher David Farland takes on purveyors of plagiarism, fake reviews, purchased reviews, review-swapping schemes, attack reviews, etc.
Reader reviews are enormously helpful to authors. Honest reviews often encourage browsing buyers to take a chance on a book they may have otherwise overlooked. Large numbers of positive reviews also open the doors to important marketing opportunities.
Farland’s comments have prompted me to declare my own policies about writing book reviews or “blurbs” for other authors, and seeking them for my own books:
1. I am proud that my books have received a large number of glowing reviews from readers. But I do not seek or want “puff” reviews that inflate the merits of my works, just because you may be my friend or a fellow author. If your positive review isn’t honest, then it’s worthless to me and deceptive to book buyers. Like Dylan Hunter, the hero of my thrillers, I champion justice. So, please give my books the reviews and ratings that you think they deserve — nothing more, nothing less.
2. Likewise, I won’t hype a book that I didn’t like, just to do a fellow author a favor. My credibility means a lot to me. If I explicitly, specifically praise a book, it means I honestly think it has a lot of merit. If I merely mention a book’s availability and say it looks interesting, it’s because I think it does, in fact, appear to be promising, even if I haven’t yet read it.
3. If you are a fellow author and want me to review or “blurb” your book, please understand that I have limited time to do so. Hounding me is pointless and counter-productive. And I won’t blurb a book that I haven’t read.
4. Writing a good book is exceedingly hard work, and I hate to discourage authors with criticism. For that reason, if I have read your book, but can’t give it a ringing endorsement, you may never even know that I’ve read it. 
My general policy is: If I can’t give a book (especially one by an author-friend) a glowing review and rating, I prefer to leave no review at all, rather than pan it publicly. So, if you want me to review your book or give you an endorsement blurb, but I haven’t, it may be that I did read it, but can’t in good conscience offer a 4- or 5-star review — in which case, you should be relieved that I haven’t reviewed it publicly.
5. While I may privately share with friends my opinions of the works of various authors (including prominent ones), I generally don’t believe in publicly criticizing their books.* It lacks class and dignity; and targeting books by prominent, successful authors also gives the appearance of envious motives. Again, writing good books and becoming a successful author are extraordinarily difficult achievements; they require talent, drive, and an enormous amount of hard work. Those who “make it” deserve respect, even if some of their work may be sub-par.
6. For all the preceding reasons, I won’t engage in any “review-swapping” schemes with fellow writers. If you’re an author, don’t even bother to ask. Nor will I ever ask anyone to give one of my books a “blurb” or a positive review before they’ve even read the book. Nor will I ever buy reviews — whether from Kirkus and other supposedly “reputable” review sources, or from any for-hire scam shops that create fake, “sock puppet” reviews to hype books. All of that is dishonest, unjust, and ultimately counter-productive, too. I’ll never be that desperate or lacking in self-respect.
7. Here is what I will do: If someone tells me that he or she has already read and enjoyed one of my books, I will thank the person, then ask him or her to consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. I’m comfortable doing this, because it involves no deception: no inducements, machinations, or pressure (such as trading on friendship) in order to generate a phony-but-positive review.
Again, I am proud of the hundreds of reviews garnered for HUNTER and BAD DEEDS. To the best of my knowledge, all of them — positive or negative — represent the honest opinions of the readers. I always learn a great deal from their comments, including areas where I can improve as a writer. The fact that the overwhelming majority of their reviews have praised my books also delights and encourages me.
That’s why I’m grateful to all the many readers who have taken the time not only to buy and read my books, but also to leave their candid opinions about them on Amazon and Goodreads. To all of you, my sincere thanks.
* NOTE: I once wrote a scathing review of a novel by the late William F. Buckley, Jr., and published it while he was still alive. The reason is that it purported to deal with real people and events, but presented them in a demonstrably dishonest and slanderous way. In addition, the individuals were dead and couldn’t defend themselves. Finally, the writing itself was simply execrable: Whatever his talents with language, Buckley couldn’t plot, characterize, or write decent dialogue to save his soul. However, had he written the book as complete fiction, with imaginary characters, I would have ignored it rather than pan it for his appallingly poor writing.
Photo (c) by Debbie Scott
