IndieView with Sarah of Sift Book Reviews

“… the philosophy of Sift: we started to help readers, not writers. Which means we’re not going to pull punches if we don’t like a book. But it also means that the readers can really take our reviews at face value when we say we love a book.”

Sarah ~ Sift Reviews 25 June 2011

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

As with most stories, it started with a “what if?” I became intrigued by all the sci-fi and fantasy that was getting self-published, but I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to tell the crap from the gold. I found some indie reviewers, but not many that focused on SFF – and SFF being reviewed by someone who doesn’t love the genre isn’t always pretty. I thought “What if there was an organization that reviewed ONLY SFF self-published books?” After a few tweets and emails, Sift was born.

This supports the philosophy of Sift: we started to help readers, not writers. Which means we’re not going to pull punches if we don’t like a book. But it also means that the readers can really take our reviews at face value when we say we love a book.

How do you review a book? Is it a read first, and then make notes, or do you make notes as you go along?

For a book, I will take notes as I read. I keep a notes widget on the home of my Android phone so it’s easy to access quickly – and the speech-to-text function is essential! For short stories, I read them twice, taking notes on both passes. E-books are great for reviewing because you can easily search for a word or phrase if you need to find something.

What are you looking for?

At Sift, we only review science-fiction and fantasy. Personally, I lean towards stories with compelling characters and lots of action. My absolute favorite genre is YA urban fantasy/paranormal.

If a book has a great plot, great characters, but the grammar is less than perfect, how do you deal with that?

I’m a copy editor and grammar nerd so it bothers me more than most. I can forgive a few mistakes, but if it gets to the point where it’s on every page? Well, it makes me grind my teeth – it makes me feel like I’m working.

How long does it take you to get through, say, an eighty thousand-word book?

I review two to three books a month (and read about two more per month for pleasure), but the time it takes me to get through it varies. If I’m really enjoying it, reading time can be as little as a day. If the opposite is true, I’ll put it off until the last minute.

How did you come up with your rating system, and could you explain more about the rating system?

When we started Sift, I did a whole post on my rating system. I don’t know how I came up with it; it just came naturally to me.

What advice could you give to authors looking to get their books reviewed?

The same advice editors and agents give to authors looking to get their books published: FOLLOW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. Ours are pretty easy and we’re very lenient, but unsolicited attachments get a “please see our guidelines and resubmit” email from me without being read. Authors need to realize: Sift has eight reviewers who review a minimum two books a month and we still receive more submissions than we’ll ever be able to read. Most of us are also writers and we all work full time in addition to our “lives” so it’s a miracle we have the time to review; we definitely don’t have time to search through a ten-page email with all kinds of editorial statements, philosophical discussions, quotes from people who we don’t know, links to “more information,” etc to find the half-page worth of information we actually want.

Do you get readers emailing you and thanking you for a review?

Some. More often, we receive tweets 🙂

My advice to authors on getting a “bad” review (hasten to add that might mean a perfectly honest, well written, fair review – just bad from the author’s point of view) is to take what you can from it and move on. Under no circumstances to “argue” with the reviewer – would you agree with that?

Heck yes. Responding to a negative review NEVER ends well for the author. A book review is an opinion. If you were the inventor of the caramel macchiato and someone said that they don’t like caramel macchiatos, how much do you think arguing would change their opinion?

About Reading

We talk a lot about writing here on the blog, and possibly not enough about reading, which is after all why we’re all here. Why do you think people love reading. We’re seeing lots of statistics that say reading as a past-time is dying – do you think that’s the case?

People like reading because it is awesome: it’s entertaining, provocative, fills many kinds of emotional needs and lets the reader see things in a brand new way. I think TV, internet, video games and movies steal a lot of possible reading time, but that doesn’t mean it’s dying. I end up talking about books at every social gathering I go to – I recently found myself discussing the Sherlock Holmes books with a Blackberry-toting nine-year-old at Disney while waiting for my friends. A woman was reading during the 10 minutes we were standing in line at the Post Office last week. When I go to the pool, half of the people sunning have a book in their hands. People are still reading.

About Writing

What are the most common mistakes that you see authors making?

No conflict driving the story, passive main characters, writing that lacks impact, one dimensional male love interests, boring info dumps. In summary: many writers either don’t have an editor look over their story or don’t listen to their editors. My sister (Kayelee, also a reviewer at Sift) reads more high fantasy than I do and she says she sees too many authors naming their characters with unpronounceable names; it may seem cool to you, but it causes the reader to stumble mentally every time they see it – which distracts attention from your book.

We’re told that the first page, paragraph, chapter, is absolutely key in making or breaking a book. Agents typically request only the first five pages of a novel, what do you think about that; if a book hasn’t grabbed you by the first five pages, do you put it down?

The beginning of a book is a promise you make to your readers. It demonstrates the quality of your writing ability, sets up conflict. When I’ve agreed to review a book, I promise to read at least 50 pages so the point is moot there. However, when I’m buying books, I read the first few pages before I buy it. There are SO many books competing for my attention that it’s not worth it if it seems an author can’t deliver a well-written, compelling story.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the Page 99 concept, what are your thoughts on that idea?

I don’t generally put much stock in it. I often (when reviewing books that aren’t edited well) find a story really begins about 50 pages in and I feel like the Page 99 thing can make writers lazy when it comes to tightening up those first few chapters.

Is there anything you will not review?

Since I write Young Adult, I will not publicly review Erotica. Also, I’m a HUGE scaredy cat and can’t read (or watch) zombie stories or most hard-core horror. Those are my only limitations (within the SFF genres – you don’t want me reviewing chick-lit, it could get ugly).

About Publishing

What do you think of the oft quoted comment that the “slush-pile has moved online”?

Hmm. Yes and no. When it’s referring to self-published authors vying for public attention, I don’t think this has happened yet. Most of the casual readers I know who aren’t writers don’t read self-published books at all. They’re still counting on editors to thin the herd for them.

If we’re talking about publishers looking for writers online? That’s starting to take shape. Social-media savvy writers with fantastic blogs are getting book deals left and right. Also, with my YAtopia (http://yatopia.blogspot.com) blog-mate Leigh Fallon’s success on Inkpop, similar communities are getting looked at more seriously.

Do you think attitudes are changing with respect to Indie or self-published titles?

I would say they are changing, but they haven’t fully changed. People are more willing to accept that a book doesn’t necessarily suck just because it’s self-pubbed, but they’re also still wary – and with good reason; there is a lot of crap out there.

Do you have any ideas or comments on how the industry can “filter” good from bad, asides from reviews?

Funny question for me, since I write for a review site called Sift! I think reviews (both professional and from the general public on sites like Goodreads) truly are the best way. Word of mouth has always been successful in promoting books and will continue to be, with Social Media as the driving force.

End of Interview

If you’re a reader or a writer of Science Fiction or Fantasy, head over and sift through the books they’ve reviewed or follow Sift on twitter: @SiftBookReviews