Review....do you?

I saw a post on Facebook a few days ago about book reviews and I've been thinking about this topic off and on since then.
I follow a lot of the authors whose books I enjoy reading on Facebook. By seeing their status posts, I realized how important reviews are to the success of their books. So I started posting reviews of books I've read.

Do you post reviews? If so, do you post reviews of books you didn't like?

I don't but I'm not sure my way is the right way. I have a personal policy to only post reviews that are 3 stars or better. Does that mean that I'm skewing the overview of the book?
I think it's partly because I know how important these reviews are and also because I'm not sure my opinion is the end-all of everything. I wonder sometimes when I read a book that I didn't like, did I just pick up the wrong book? Maybe I should have read a sample before committing to read the entire book. In that case, a negative review is really unfair to the author. It doesn't mean that I won't discuss it with my sisters or friends but I'm not willing to write a review that would be seen globally and influence people who don't know me.

I'm sure negative reviews can be considered constructive criticism but I never really feel like I'm the person to tell an author how to write the book better. So I'll stick with my personal policy of 3 stars or better. H'mm, I guess if you're an author and I've read your work and haven't posted a review, you should read between the lines here!!  LOL

Now let me talk about posting those reviews. Where do you post them? I get a little obsessive, figuring a good or a great review deserves a lot of exposure. I post my book reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Goodreads. Sometimes you'll even find them in a blog, right here on Books and More.
Here are my reviews from the various sites.
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Goodreads

You'll see that I have many more books listed on Goodreads and many don't have reviews listed. That's because they were imported from another site and the import did not include the reviews, just the list. BUT the benefit of Goodreads is that when you post books, it also gives you recommendations of other books you might enjoy. This site is like an electronic or virtual bookshelf. Your friends can stop by and see what books you've read and what you thought of them. AND you can see their books also. Unlike Amazon and Barnes and Noble, this site doesn't sell books.

I love Goodreads....maybe a little more than Smashwords! I didn't mention Smashwords for reviews because you can only enter reviews for books you've purchased through their site. Fair but limiting.

Think about this the next time you finish a book that was good, great or awesome. The book you couldn't wait to tell your friends about. The reviews are especially important if it's a lesser known author. Share a link on your FB page! Let's help these authors succeed....my ulterior motive is that success will ensure they write MORE books!! And you may be surprised to find out that the authors sometimes stop by to read the reviews you write!

Happy reading,
Pauline