Why Wattpad Reviews Fail

On Second Opinions

For all Wattpaders like to promote community among readers and writers, many review shops look unfavorably upon authors who "review-hop" between multiple shops. They see this as disrespectful, a callous disregard for the reviewers' time and efforts in the interest of generating exposure by submitting their work to as many people as possible. Although this is understandable given the culture of engagement on Wattpad, consider the review process from the writer's perspective: a reviewer has only one perspective to offer on a given work. While that perspective may include objective judgments about writing mechanics such as grammar and syntax, it is also largely informed by the reviewer's personal preferences and experiences. It is common practice in formal writing settings, namely writer's workshops, to receive critiques from multiple people (classmates, fellow writers, instructors) on your work. If Wattpad review shops function similarly to workshop critiques (and the conflation of review and critique on Wattpad is its own issue altogether), does it not make sense for the writer to seek out multiple opinions, in the interest of improving? Conversely, if Wattpad reviews are meant to be taken as formal reviews of published work (a questionable endeavor given most Wattpad books are either works-in-progress or at various draft stages), are most published books not reviewed by multiple sources and publications? Those quotes and blurbs on the jacket of your favorite Donna Tartt novel don't appear out of thin air—publishers actively solicit reviews from mainstream publications and book bloggers alike. This is not an affront to the skills or work of the reviewer—it's just good business practice.