At the end of the day, a reviewer is just another reader and no two readers are alike.
Kim Dyer – 8 August 2014
About Reviewing
How did you get started?
I really love reading but found myself increasingly not making time to do so. As I’m trying to write a book of my own, this really was a shocking way to behave. In order to force myself to read every day, I decided to make a game of it. Every time I finished a book, I’d write a summary of what I’d just read. I thought it would be fun to share these summaries online and so I brushed up the prose a bit and turned them into short reviews. Thus, Arkham Reviews was born!
How do you review a book? Is it a read first, and then make notes, or do you make notes as you go along?
I like to read the book cover to cover first. It doesn’t seem fair to pass judgment on a novel until I know all the twists and turns of the plot.
What are you looking for?
Originality and strong female protagonists appeal to me most as a reader. I like novels that avoid typical genre clichés and girls who do not wind up stuffed in refrigerators.
If a book has a great plot, great characters, but the grammar is less than perfect, how do you deal with that?
I can overlook grammatical errors to a degree – particularly in indie releases as I appreciate that they may not have received the editorial care of a traditionally published novel. That said, I do expect a certain level of quality from any book that has been put up for sale online. If you want people to pay out money for something, you really should ensure that it is of a decent quality.
How long does it take you to get through, say, an eighty thousand-word book?
I usually try to read about a 100 pages a day and so I’d say about 3-4 days (though much less if a novel really grips me).
How did you come up with your rating system, and could you explain more about the rating system?
I don’t have a rating system on my blog because I am aware that the only opinions that are reflected on my site are my own. In each of my reviews I say what I like and dislike about each novel and I like to think that my readers use this to decide objectively if they want to read the book, rather than focusing on a star rating.
What advice could you give to authors looking to get their books reviewed?
Be polite and be sure that you know what kind of novels that a reviewer is prepared to look at before you contact them. It’s a waste of time for both of you if you don’t!
Do you get readers emailing you and thanking you for a review?
I’ve had a couple of thank-yous from authors who have requested reviews, but my readers are a little on the quiet side. If you do like my reviews, or have suggestions of things you’d like to see in the future, please let me know!
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?
I completely agree. At the end of the day, a reviewer is just another reader and no two readers are alike. If you get a lot of negative reviews that all say the same thing, it’s probably time to revisit your novel but a single bad review is nothing to worry about – just smile and move on.
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 pastime is dying – do you think that’s the case?
Reading is good for the soul. Through literature, we can expand our knowledge of the world and consider ideologies that we may never have discovered or experience places that would otherwise be inaccessible to us.
Although it is true that there seem to be fewer readers these days (recent statistics have shown that 35% of people in the UK never read for pleasure), I don’t think it will ever really die. If anything, the advent of e-readers has made it more accessible for people – making it low in cost and instantly accessible from a mobile device. I know that some people think that this signifies the end of traditional books but for me, it is merely a change. The paper may be going, but the words and their meanings live on.
About Writing
What are the most common mistakes that you see authors making?
Clinging to the same tired clichés. As a reviewer, I see a lot of novels which can be boiled down to the same plot elements – ancient prophecies, dark lords, objects of untold power. Novels that bring something new to the table are fresh and exciting. The ones that regurgitate the same tropes again and again just start to blend into one forgettable mass after a while.
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?
No. I feel that it’s disrespectful to the author (particularly if they’ve donated their book to me for review) to give up on a novel and I’ve read plenty of slow-burning stories that have utterly hooked me in the second act.
Is there anything you will not review?
I will review any genre of fiction on my blog but only if it’s aimed at a young adult audience. The only exception I make to this rule is for middle grade fiction if I feel that it will also appeal to teenage readers.
About Publishing
What do you think of the oft-quoted comment that the “slush-pile has moved online”?
Absolutely untrue. There are many reasons why a writer would chose to self-publish over a more traditional route. While it is true that there are some poor quality indie novels, there are also a lot of bad traditional novels out there. It would be wrong to tar them all with the same brush.
Do you think attitudes are changing with respect to indie or self-published titles?
Yes, I do but I still think that they’ve got a long way to go. While they still don’t receive the recognition of traditionally published titles, sites like Goodreads and LibraryThing have done a great job of making these titles more visible, making it easier to discover indie titles and weed the good from the bad.
Do you have any ideas or comments on how the industry can ‘filter’ good from bad, aside from reviews?
Good and bad are such loaded terms. As the old adage goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I don’t think that there is any real way for the industry to filter between the two, purely because there is no set guideline as to what makes a novel ‘good’. Trends come and go and at the end of the day a professional publisher will always follow this as they exist to make money. No matter how well a novel reviews, they will not take a risk on it if they do not feel that it will sell.
Check out Kim’s reviews at Arkham Reviews.
