Our goal is to help you grow as authors and creative thinkers. Your book isn’t going to read the same way to everyone who reviews it; I know I’ve run into that with my own books.
Matthew Elliott – 14 September 2026
About Reviewing
How did you get started?
As an author myself, I’ve struggled to find people to review my books who weren’t asking for something in return. Because my primary writing genre is Biblical Historical Fiction, there just aren’t many reviewers interested in that type of book.
The historical and research demands of this genre give me a useful set of skills that guide my review process from the ground up. Those skills give me a detailed outlook on anything I review.
I started reviewing books in the genre because I wanted to help offer that to my fellow authors. Turns out these authors felt like I did a great job with their reviews, and now I’ve expanded into other genres as well.
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 am a proud ADHDer who has dyslexia; yeah, it is an odd combination. With that in mind, I started realizing that I could not just read a book once and review it. I had to sit with it, read it a few times, sit with it again, and then ask myself questions like, “What is the heart of the story I’m reading?” and “Did the author convey that heart throughout the story as they wrote it?” Once I could ask myself that, I wanted to dig deeper into the stories I read.
To dive deeper into the stories I read, I use the Assistive Reader on my Kindle app to read the story aloud while I read it myself. This lets me focus on the story’s details while noting my first impressions. As I write those down, I’m asking myself questions about character arcs, plot holes, and the overall condition of the story. Having this dual-sensory approach to reading also makes me more attentive as a reviewer and forces me to process things both audibly and visually at the same time.
Doing this cuts down my reading time, and when I review those impressions later, they trigger deeper thoughts about what I’ve just read. Once I have those first impressions nailed down, I draft my review of the book I’ve read and let it sit. After it sits, I come back and polish it up before publishing it.
What are you looking for?
As a reviewer, I’m looking for the heart of the story, for one, but also the overall condition of the story I’ve read. I am also looking for grammatical issues, general story flow, and really paying attention to how the story unfolds. If a story resonates with me enough to keep me thinking about it after the first page and generally does a good job with everything else, it will get that coveted 4 or 5-star review.
If a book has a great plot, great characters, but the grammar is less than perfect, how do you deal with that?
That is a very good question. I have actually run into this exact issue before. I read a story a while back that I really thought had a fantastic premise, but the flow of the story was just off. It took me twice as long to read it because of this. If I can’t honestly give a book 3.5 stars or more, it won’t be published on my website. Instead, I will reach out directly to the author and offer some weighted suggestions for improving their next book.
My feedback is always constructive and encouraging so that it reassures indie authors that I’m on their side. I’m not doing this to break authors down but to build them up along the way. I will write a clean review and send it to them, but if they would prefer it to stay out of the public eye, I respect that.
How long does it take you to get through, say, an eighty thousand-word book?
Using the process I laid out in one of the previous questions, I can generally read a book over the course of a few weeks. Most of the books I have reviewed range anywhere from 50,000 to 80,000 words, and the longest it’s taken me to get through a book that kept my interest is 3 weeks.
In the review guidelines posted on my website, I state that it can take anywhere from 2-4 months for a review to be published after receiving the book because my attention span as an ADHDer doesn’t always agree with me. I also have three children who have ADHD and demand a lot of time from me outside of my day job.
How did you come up with your rating system, and could you explain more about the rating system?
As mentioned before, if I cannot give a book a 3.5 rating or more, I will not post the review publicly without sending the author my thoughts via email or something like that. When I first began reviewing books, my goal was to give everyone the highest rating I could. I have since learned that this isn’t fair to readers or authors.
With that in mind, I updated my review guidelines to what they are now. If a book is well written, has a great storyline, is clean and polished, and I would read it again, I will give it 5 stars. These stories are the ones that stay with me after the final page and make me think.
If it has all those things but does not keep me interested after the final page, but I still think it was fantastic, I will rate it with 4 stars. This doesn’t mean it was a bad book by any means; it just means I wanted more from the story itself.
If I give a book a 3.5-star rating, I will round it up to 4 if I post the review publicly, but note that rating in the review itself. Books that earn this rating have a good premise but struggle to keep me interested as I read them due to grammar issues or plot discrepancies. I will still offer my feedback to these authors privately, but keep the reviews as clean as possible while noting the things I felt could be improved.
What advice could you give to authors looking to get their books reviewed?
Don’t give up on finding those first reviewers. You aren’t always going to read a review and like it. Those of us who review books really are rooting for you, and if you see something that doesn’t sit right with you, don’t let it discourage you from moving forward. Our goal is to help you grow as authors and creative thinkers. Your book isn’t going to read the same way to everyone who reviews it; I know I’ve run into that with my own books. When I see that, I read the review and focus on the little things that can help me improve my skills along the way. So take what reviewers say to heart, but don’t let it keep you from pursuing your dreams or give you too big of a head.
Do you get readers emailing you and thanking you for a review?
Yes, they do. Not because I give them everything they want, but because I am thorough. I dive deep into the heart of their story to find the little things that matter. I offer honesty without judgement, and a guiding hand when they have questions about what I’ve written in my reviews.
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?
Yes, I would. I will also add that if an author has genuine questions about why someone reviews their book a certain way and they don’t understand what was written, it is okay to reach out and ask for clarification. At least, that’s how I see it with any review that I write. I am not a writing coach, but I do honestly want other authors to grow in their craft.
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?
I used to struggle a great deal with reading because of Dyslexia, but I’ve always enjoyed being able to read. Many times in my life growing up, reading became an escape from the world around me. I believe that most people long for that same desire. We live in a world that is driven by social media and an online presence. It seems to me that most people often forget that the books we read can still provide that escape and entertain us. We read all the time, but that time isn’t always in books. So maybe it’s more that reading books as a pastime should become more of our focus again.
About Writing
What are the most common mistakes that you see authors making?
One of the things that I have seen when reading a book I plan to review has been the transitions from one scene to the next. Often, the transition happens, but it feels abrupt and doesn’t flow cleanly into the next location or topic.
Another mistake I have run into is language or dialogue not matching the time period. If one writes a story where the narrator is from ancient Egypt, they aren’t going to say certain phrases that are used in modern communication styles.
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?
I will typically ask for the first 10-15 pages or the first chapter of a book so I can discern whether or not the writing matches something I would be interested in. If something shows promise and matches my interests, I will give it a chance.
What I’m looking for is something that captures my imagination while telling a story that is clean and believable. If there are grammatical errors or plot holes, it will show up on my radar as a cautionary flag, but I will keep reading. I want to be drawn into the story’s idea and purpose from the beginning, but there are some stories that take their time with that, and that is okay.
Give me something with an immediate narrative voice, strong historical grounding, or a clear hook, and you will keep my attention longer than those first pages.
Is there anything you will not review?
I really do not have any issues with romance in a story, but as a male reviewer, I tend to shy away from romance novels. If it’s a clean romance that does not take away from the message behind the book I’m reading, I will read it. However, I will not read any erotica.
I also do not like a lot of cursing in the stories I read. I have middle-aged children who also love reading. There are times when they want to read a book I’m reading. If I can avoid reading a cuss word every few pages, then I’m content.
About Publishing
What do you think of the oft-quoted comment that the “slush-pile has moved online”?
Honestly, I had to look this term up initially, but the concept hits home. In the traditional world, the slush pile was hidden away in a publisher’s office; today, it’s out in the open on digital storefronts. With self-publishing so accessible, and now with the influx of AI-generated content, the market is more saturated than ever, making it easy for great indie books to get buried.
That’s why platforms like IndieView and independent reviewers are so essential. We act as the new curators. Digital books are obviously the future, but readers need help sifting through the noise. By offering honest, thorough reviews, we help bridge the gap between dedicated indie authors and the readers looking for their exact type of story.
Do you think attitudes are changing with respect to indie or self-published titles?
I do see a change. 90% of the books I have reviewed are published by indie authors, but that is also by design. I am not against reviewing traditionally published works and will always have one or two of them in my to be read pile. My desire as a reviewer is to help build a bridge for indie authors, like myself, to find a path forward in the chaotic minefield that is becoming a well established and networked author in the digital world around us.
Do you have any ideas or comments on how the industry can ‘filter’ good from bad, aside from reviews?
That’s a tough question because quality in storytelling is inherently subjective, but I think the industry needs to focus more on community-driven gatekeeping and developmental mentorship.
Beyond traditional reviews, two main avenues could help filter quality:
Beta Reader & Critique Networks: Establishing vetted networks where early drafts are evaluated for structural integrity, narrative flow, and historical accuracy before reaching the general public.
Sample-Driven Curation: Encouraging readers and platforms to evaluate the opening chapters and core premise—much like sample downloads on e-readers—rather than relying solely on surface-level marketing or cover design.
Ultimately, “filtering” shouldn’t mean shutting doors; it should mean helping indie authors polish their work until it shines. If the industry invested more in accessible, constructive feedback loops early in the process, the overall baseline quality of self-published titles would rise naturally, allowing the best stories to stand out.
End of Interview:
Go check out Matthew Elliott’s reviews at The Gathering Room.
