If the Shoe fits…
As a new author, I’ve been trying to obtain reviews for The Gender Divide. It’s difficult to find reviewers who will review an unknown novel from an equally unknown author. The imprint of the publisher is also relatively new and hence, unknown. It can be a frustrating process and when I find a reviewer willing to take a chance, it’s a great feeling.
In a sense trying to obtain reviews is almost like submitting your work to a publisher. You don’t know if they will accept your novel for review, you often don’t know when it will be reviewed, and obviously and most importantly you don’t know how good the review will be. Rejections from publishers are limited to terse replies like ‘it does not seem right for us’, an actual rejection I received. On the other hand, if a reviewer doesn’t like what they read they won’t hesitate to say so, and often in excruciating detail.
I’ve been lucky in my reviews so far but a friend of mine recently received a poor review, their first after a long string of positive reviews, and it made me think. As a consumer I’ve always taken reviews with a grain of salt, especially movie reviews. I allow reviews to inform me but they don’t guide or influence my decision to any large degree. For many people however, reviews are their guidepost, a tool that they use to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Since becoming an author, I’ve obviously begun to pay more attention to book reviews. The more I read, the more I began to contemplate becoming a part time reviewer. It would allow me to give something back to the writing community plus it would force me to read with a more critical eye, a process that I hope will help me grow and develop as a writer.
So I have taken my first step on the path to becoming a reviewer. I’ve contacted one of the forums I’m a member of, stating my request to become a reviewer. After a submitting a sample review, I’ve been accepted. Now to see if the shoe fits…
I think it’s an awfully arrogant author who’d think everybody loves whatever they write. And I look at reviews in two ways:
1) On balance. If the number of positive outweigh the negative, then I’ll give it a shot.
2) By reviewer. If I know that a particular reviewer’s tastes and mine coincide, then I’ll take a chance on it.
However, up till now, 80% of my choices have been for books that I haven’t read a review for, so maybe I’m the wrong person to be commenting on this. LOL
Good luck with the reviewing position and let us know where you’ll be reviewing, won’t you?
Comment by Kaz Augustin — Wednesday October 3, 2007 @ 10:42 pm
Kaz
What’s that saying? You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
I think that holds true for reviewers but even more so.
Personally I welcome any and all reviews. I might not want them made public
but I think any feedback is a good thing. It means that someone read my novel and cared enough, one way or another, to comment on it.
As for the reviewing position, I don’t kiss and tell.
Comment by David — Wednesday October 3, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
I also never gave a lot of thought to reviews. I actually have never bothered with reviews. Mostly, I would go in the bookstore and browse around. If a book caught my eye and I liked the blurb I’d try it. Occasionally, I’d hear something word of mouth.
I do check out the reviews on Amazon if there is no book blurb to read. It’s a way for me to get a feel for the book, especially when it’s an author I’ve never read before.
Now that I’m an author, I also am suddenly faced with getting people to review and wondering do other people actually make buying decisions based on reviews? Guess we’ll find out. Good luck with the new job.;-) Keep us posted.
Comment by Patrizia — Thursday October 4, 2007 @ 1:10 am