Like last time I posted how can I improve my fiction quality and most of the pieces of advice were good enough and are really helping me rn to improve. But some of them suggested doing a review swap, a term I'm not familiar with. What is it exactly? And if it can help how can I do it?

It's what it sounds like. You post a review (an advanced most of the time) on one person's story and in return they do the same. Goes without saying you actually have to read at least parts of the other person's story before reviewing. It's an easy way to boost your story's numbers that only takes a bit of reading and some time to write the review itself.

a waste of time

Mithradates Wrote: It's what it sounds like. You post a review (an advanced most of the time) on one person's story and in return they do the same. Goes without saying you actually have to read at least parts of the other person's story before reviewing. It's an easy way to boost your story's numbers that only takes a bit of reading and some time to write the review itself.

Seems kinda unfair thing to do. Does everyone do that? If everyone's into it , I don't mind as otherwise, I may lag behind

Review swaps:

It is the act of reading each one 10K words or more and making an advance review of it.
Most authors, if they can't give a positive review, will PM you with the reason why.
The reason for the practice is to have another author's POV, and it also helps your novel to rise up in the ranking giving you more visibility.
It is especially very positive if you're starting your novel (still in the threshold of 10K) that helps you correct or rearrange your story.
I would advise choosing carefully the authors with whom you practice the review swaps for a question of ethics and know-how.
I know there are better threads explaining the rules and courtesy practice on a pinned tread.

larareispoetry Wrote: Review swaps:

It is the act of reading each one 10K words or more and making an advance review of it.
Most authors, if they can't give a positive review, will PM you with the reason why.
The reason for the practice is to have another author's POV, and it also helps your novel to rise up in the ranking giving you more visibility.
It is especially very positive if you're starting your novel (still in the threshold of 10K) that helps you correct or rearrange your story.
I would advise choosing carefully the authors with whom you practice the review swaps for a question of ethics and know-how.
I know there are better threads explaining the rules and courtesy practice on a pinned tread.

umm don't mind. How do you people choose authors? Like I am not familiar with anyone here and I have no idea how I should choose.

Rezwan Wrote:

Mithradates Wrote: It's what it sounds like. You post a review (an advanced most of the time) on one person's story and in return they do the same. Goes without saying you actually have to read at least parts of the other person's story before reviewing. It's an easy way to boost your story's numbers that only takes a bit of reading and some time to write the review itself.

Seems kinda unfair thing to do. Does everyone do that? If everyone's into it , I don't mind as otherwise, I may lag behind

I probably explained it a bit poorly, Lara above explained the courteous and practical nature of it better than I did. The boosting effect is (at least as far as I understand) is a secondary motivation.

Rezwan Wrote:

larareispoetry Wrote: Review swaps:
It is the act of reading each one 10K words or more and making an advance review of it.
Most authors, if they can't give a positive review, will PM you with the reason why.
The reason for the practice is to have another author's POV, and it also helps your novel to rise up in the ranking giving you more visibility.
It is especially very positive if you're starting your novel (still in the threshold of 10K) that helps you correct or rearrange your story.
I would advise choosing carefully the authors with whom you practice the review swaps for a question of ethics and know-how.
I know there are better threads explaining the rules and courtesy practice on a pinned tread.

umm don't mind. How do you people choose authors? Like I am not familiar with anyone here and I have no idea how I should choose.

There's an entire sub-forum called "Review Swaps" where you can say that you'd like a review swap for a story with similar themes to your own for instance, or for specific genres. If that's not your style, you could DM authors with stories that you like if they're up for one. It takes a bit of putting yourself out there, but most people here are (in my experience anyway) pretty nice and polite.

Rezwan Wrote:

larareispoetry Wrote: Review swaps:

It is the act of reading each one 10K words or more and making an advance review of it.
Most authors, if they can't give a positive review, will PM you with the reason why.
The reason for the practice is to have another author's POV, and it also helps your novel to rise up in the ranking giving you more visibility.
It is especially very positive if you're starting your novel (still in the threshold of 10K) that helps you correct or rearrange your story.
I would advise choosing carefully the authors with whom you practice the review swaps for a question of ethics and know-how.
I know there are better threads explaining the rules and courtesy practice on a pinned tread.

umm don't mind. How do you people choose authors? Like I am not familiar with anyone here and I have no idea how I should choose.

Getting around the forum helps. You see name repeating themselves, and the way they address a topic or how they answer gives you an idea. You can also consult their profile and see how they interact with doing reviews for others.

Mithradates Wrote:

Rezwan Wrote:

Mithradates Wrote: It's what it sounds like. You post a review (an advanced most of the time) on one person's story and in return they do the same. Goes without saying you actually have to read at least parts of the other person's story before reviewing. It's an easy way to boost your story's numbers that only takes a bit of reading and some time to write the review itself.

Seems kinda unfair thing to do. Does everyone do that? If everyone's into it , I don't mind as otherwise, I may lag behind

I probably explained it a bit poorly, Lara above explained the courteous and practical nature of it better than I did. The boosting effect is (at least as far as I understand) is a secondary motivation.

Rezwan Wrote:

larareispoetry Wrote: Review swaps:
It is the act of reading each one 10K words or more and making an advance review of it.
Most authors, if they can't give a positive review, will PM you with the reason why.
The reason for the practice is to have another author's POV, and it also helps your novel to rise up in the ranking giving you more visibility.
It is especially very positive if you're starting your novel (still in the threshold of 10K) that helps you correct or rearrange your story.
I would advise choosing carefully the authors with whom you practice the review swaps for a question of ethics and know-how.
I know there are better threads explaining the rules and courtesy practice on a pinned tread.

umm don't mind. How do you people choose authors? Like I am not familiar with anyone here and I have no idea how I should choose.

There's an entire sub-forum called "Review Swaps" where you can say that you'd like a review swap for a story with similar themes to your own for instance, or for specific genres. If that's not your style, you could DM authors with stories that you like if they're up for one. It takes a bit of putting yourself out there, but most people here are (in my experience anyway) pretty nice and polite.

And I second what  Mithradates Eupator said.

Mithradates Wrote:

Rezwan Wrote:

Mithradates Wrote: It's what it sounds like. You post a review (an advanced most of the time) on one person's story and in return they do the same. Goes without saying you actually have to read at least parts of the other person's story before reviewing. It's an easy way to boost your story's numbers that only takes a bit of reading and some time to write the review itself.

Seems kinda unfair thing to do. Does everyone do that? If everyone's into it , I don't mind as otherwise, I may lag behind

I probably explained it a bit poorly, Lara above explained the courteous and practical nature of it better than I did. The boosting effect is (at least as far as I understand) is a secondary motivation.

Rezwan Wrote:

larareispoetry Wrote: Review swaps:
It is the act of reading each one 10K words or more and making an advance review of it.
Most authors, if they can't give a positive review, will PM you with the reason why.
The reason for the practice is to have another author's POV, and it also helps your novel to rise up in the ranking giving you more visibility.
It is especially very positive if you're starting your novel (still in the threshold of 10K) that helps you correct or rearrange your story.
I would advise choosing carefully the authors with whom you practice the review swaps for a question of ethics and know-how.
I know there are better threads explaining the rules and courtesy practice on a pinned tread.

umm don't mind. How do you people choose authors? Like I am not familiar with anyone here and I have no idea how I should choose.

There's an entire sub-forum called "Review Swaps" where you can say that you'd like a review swap for a story with similar themes to your own for instance, or for specific genres. If that's not your style, you could DM authors with stories that you like if they're up for one. It takes a bit of putting yourself out there, but most people here are (in my experience anyway) pretty nice and polite.

Woh. No, you explained it properly. I kind of got it wrong. Thanks a lot. I kinda got it thanks to you and  larareispoetry . I hope its gonna help.

Mithradates Wrote: It's what it sounds like. You post a review (an advanced most of the time) on one person's story and in return they do the same. Goes without saying you actually have to read at least parts of the other person's story before reviewing. It's an easy way to boost your story's numbers that only takes a bit of reading and some time to write the review itself.

 Excuse my butting in on the convo, trying to figure out something. OH! So an advanced one is expected on here. On another writing site I was on people liked to start with light reviews/critiques and work up from there.  I really need to read in here more. 

How long should a review be? I do an average of a little over 200 words for a short review and more then that for an advanced one.  Generally longer if I end up loving the book. A number to aim for is nice to have or it'll go on forever. I joined this site a while back but really don't know the rules or accepted stuff for swaps and such, as I most just write and don't come into the forms much.

darkocean Wrote: How long should a review be? I do an average of a little over 200 words for a short review and more then that for an advanced one.  Generally longer if I end up loving the book. A number to aim for is nice to have or it'll go on forever. I joined this site a while back but really don't know the rules or accepted stuff for swaps and such, as I most just write and don't come into the forms much.

The minimum is 200 words. The reason for the advance option is that it is a swap. It is RR rules. (not 100% sure)

[Account Deleted]

TheCatInABubble Wrote: In my experience, unless you're doing them for better numbers, they're unworthwhile. People will more than not just make up something generically good to say and rate 5 stars so they will receive a good 5 star rating in return. No one will risk receiving a retaliatory less than 5 star rating by giving less than 5 stars themselves. And 5 star ratings is ultimately what the majority are doing review swaps for and not for the feedback. That is unless you specifically plan with another author to swap deep-dive reviews that hold more merit.

I don't agree as much with you. I think they can be very constructive criticism, even in a positive review. But yes, they are used for marketing, no doubt. Getting up on the ranking gives you more exposure.

What I like about review swapping is that you have a more knowledgeable view from peers author of what the first 10K tells about your novel.
Is the message correct?
What are people focused on when they read my story?
Is a secondary character standing more than my MC?
Is my universe translated as I want, or am I failing?

That is why I see the review swap as a useful take when you start. After you have advanced on your story, reviewing the first 10K is useless unless you need the numbers.
After that, it will be more efficient to ask for shoutouts.

TheCatInABubble Wrote: In my experience, unless you're doing them for better numbers, they're unworthwhile. People will more than not just make up something generically good to say and rate 5 stars so they will receive a good 5 star rating in return. No one will risk receiving a retaliatory less than 5 star rating by giving less than 5 stars themselves. And 5 star ratings is ultimately what the majority are doing review swaps for and not for the feedback. That is unless you specifically plan with another author to swap deep-dive reviews that hold more merit.

prolly it's how things work for good writers. My writing isn't that good and got almost no 5 star raters, they advised me in the comment or DM how to get better and it helped a lot...

The main issue with review swaps is that reviews are for readers and the readers have caught on that a large number of review swaps are a bit less than genuine. It's very difficult to be honest in a review swap due to the knowledge that a bad rating actively harms the author and the fear of a retaliatory low rating in return, whether it's justified or not. In fact it's also not uncommon to use swaps as a way to pad story ratings against poor/troll reviews and ratings, furthering their inauthentic purposes. That's why I personally chose not to do any for my work and let the stories stand on their own, because regardless of intent I don't want my story associated with that.

OP, from reading your posts grammar is the biggest thing holding you back. I recommend investing in some grammar workbooks and going through them before you do anything else. I would also recommend against doing any swaps right now. What you really want is a private critique partner or beta reader, preferably one willing to help you with your grammar. Once you've got a better handle on your mechanics you can start thinking about feedback on the story itself such as characters, pacing and the overall development of the plot.

larareispoetry Wrote:

darkocean Wrote: How long should a review be? I do an average of a little over 200 words for a short review and more then that for an advanced one.  Generally longer if I end up loving the book. A number to aim for is nice to have or it'll go on forever. I joined this site a while back but really don't know the rules or accepted stuff for swaps and such, as I most just write and don't come into the forms much.

The minimum is 200 words. The reason for the advance option is that it is a swap. It is RR rules. (not 100% sure)

Thank you for the information. <3 

darkocean Wrote:

larareispoetry Wrote:

darkocean Wrote: How long should a review be? I do an average of a little over 200 words for a short review and more then that for an advanced one.  Generally longer if I end up loving the book. A number to aim for is nice to have or it'll go on forever. I joined this site a while back but really don't know the rules or accepted stuff for swaps and such, as I most just write and don't come into the forms much.

The minimum is 200 words. The reason for the advance option is that it is a swap. It is RR rules. (not 100% sure)

Thank you for the information. <3

You are more than welcome

Following up on some of the above points- the way I have done review swaps is to ask myself "Can I five star this novel in any kind of good conscience?"  If yes, review.  If no, I send a PM asking if the author would be open to constructive feedback, then and only then, send them detailed feedback quoting examples of the issues and trying to provide as much specific advice as possible.  The reason is pretty straightforward- I would hope someone would do the same for me if they didn't like what I wrote.  

As for the value of the reviews in improving visibility, I genuinely wonder about that.  Like, how are reviews weighted against advanced reviews against simple ratings?  I have no idea.  It certainly helps, the snowball effect is quite real.  It is also critically important to remember that RR, and publishing generally, is more like a cluster of flagpoles next to a parking lot than a pyramid.  You have a very small number of novels that utterly blow away the competition in terms of readership and reviews, then you have everybody else.  This sounds bleak (because it is...) but on the plus side, it means that every positive rating and review significantly elevates you from the masses.   On the minus side, well, unless that snowball starts getting damn big, good luck getting on the front page of any lists.  

Signed- Someone who never got on the front page of any lists.