Should Authors Respond to Reviews?

There seem to be two schools of thought out there in the world about authors responding to their reviews.

One school of thought goes something like this: You’re the author, you’re never going to be unbiased. If you respond to positive reviews, you look like you’re kissing up. If you respond to negative reviews, well, that’s just never a good idea – even if you do it with huge helpings of grace and appreciation for the time the person took to write the review. And if you don’t respond to every review, it looks like you’re immature and playing favorites. Generally, if you respond to reviews, it’s unprofessional.

The other school of thought goes along these lines: They took the time to write something about your book, it’s polite to say thank you.

I have to admit, I’m on the fence with what I think. At this point, I haven’t responded to reviews unless the author of the review has sent me a private communication with a link – then I’ve corresponded with them privately to say thank you. I love it when people leave reviews – because it means they felt enough about my book (one way or the other) to take time out of their day to write a few words and post them. That’s huge! And I’m grateful to anyone who does it. And if you let me know about your review, I’m going to respond. I love interacting with my readers in that one-on-one forum. But I haven’t gone on Goodreads or Amazon and left long (or short) comments on people’s reviews.

Why not? Well…when I stop to think from a reader’s perspective, I think I’d be a little put off to see the author chiming in on reviews of their book. Maybe not necessarily from either of the two schools of thought outlined above, but from the standpoint of finding eavesdropping a bit odd. Reviews are written from one reader to other readers. They’re really not written to me or about me or for me. They’re one person’s thoughts on something I wrote, yes, but for good or ill, it’s their opinion that they’re sharing with other readers to help inform them. I don’t really have any business in that conversation.

But I’d love to know what you – as a reader – think. Do you like it when authors comment on their reviews? Hate it? Are you ambivalent? Let’s discuss!