The IndieView

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

I have been reading a lot for many years and I have always enjoyed trying out new genres and rarely read reviews. The thing that got me started was the phenomenon of self-publishing and a comment that I read from a mainstream publication that they would not review self-published work on principle because it is generally low quality. I considered that to be nonsense because there will certainly be exceptionally good works out there from folk who have not known how to break into mainstream publishing. So on the one hand I started downloading free ebooks to my Kindle which I enjoyed and on the other I started writing reviews on amazon.com for ebooks that I felt were decent or better quality. Then I realized that I could ‘formalise’ this into a blog.

My niche is self-published, self starting newbie authors who have just started publishing their own work and preferably who have not been reviewed before (but like all rules I also go where my nose takes me on occasion).

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 have no formal standard process. Usually though I read a book and develop an opinion as I am going. I think that there is a fine balance to be struck between being too detailed in review, which can lead to spoilers or nit pickiness or one can be too generic which is not helpful.

What are you looking for?

Something to grab me by the b*lls. There is no set answer, just that I tend to know very quickly if a book is what I like or not.

Actually, I am looking for the gold shining in the muck; I am looking for the top 3-5 % of self-published Ebooks that would quite possibly be best sellers if they were given the right backing.

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

If the grammar does not clunk too much then I do not ‘care’. I have often sent personal messages to the authors on this regard and generally this is well received. Frankly, I have seen the most awful copy editing in paperbacks that I have purchased to the extent that the character names are incorrect, continuity is shot and grammar is appalling. So a self-published work is given quite a lot of grace because it is very hard to pick out all of the issues on a work that you have written yourself and have been very engaged with. Your friends and family might not be critical enough etc.

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

A few hours. Usually though that type of book takes a weekend’s worth of pick up and set down.

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

I have not developed my own rating system but I use amazon to rate books. I will not give a review to a book that would get less than 3 stars (probably never) because I simply would not finish a book that does not have any interest to me.

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

Go out there and try. Send a personal message to reviewers. I am not a fan of proforma requests.

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

Once in a while and I certainly appreciate it when they do.

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?

All feedback is a gift so yes I agree. Absorb what is useful and discard what is useless (Bruce Lee?)

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?

Reading takes time and time is a luxury that is in short supply when we are so engaged in other dopamine fixing activities ie email and facebook and social networking. So perhaps yes it is dying out for now but it will come back because it is where the imagination takes control of the soul and makes us into the people we can become. Eventually we will unplug and pick up a book.

About Writing

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

I have not seen a pattern in the work that I have read. Probably the biggest issue will be not trying. I do not suffer from ‘threat lock down’ so I would always publish and be damned, but there are those who will hold back because they are not sure if it is good enough.

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 best response to this is Used Aliens a book that I read and loved and reviewed by M. Sid Kelly. I almost put it down because the first pages did not gel with the dust cover, I am happy that I did not. I will give a book the same as a film: 20 minutes. If I am totally lost after 20 minutes then it is usually over. If there is anything at all that grabs me then I will keep going. Generally I finish >70% of the books I start.

Is there anything you will not review?

Yes. I am not a fan of work with a religious bent. I am agnostic about which religion and here I would also include strong political, and racial because these are also ‘religions’ somehow and the works are proselytizing and not interesting to me.

About Publishing

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

Where there is opportunity there are people trying to exploit it. There is a lot of low hanging fruit work out there and there is no doubt an audience for it. Not a problem to me, I seem able to make choices and filter rather quickly.

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

Perhaps, time will tell. It will require a number of success stories though.

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

The market must be allowed to decide. Of course, a small band of reviewers could form a publishing collective around their favorite works and end up going mainstream. This would be similar to the music industry where Indie parallels are strong.

Authors will need to be lucky as well as talented to make it this way, but if authors are writing because they enjoy it and have skills then they will get an audience in the Indie market and they will be noticed. We do not all have to be famous, but the opportunity is there.

End of Interview:

You can read Paul’s reviews on his website, Little Ebook Reviews.