Everyone will have a different opinion on your work. And frankly, if you got all five-stars, people will start to question whether they’re legitimate or not. I’d much rather get a mixture of stars on my book than all five-star reviews. 

Nikki Bennett – 26 March 2013

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

I traded books with authors on Goodreads when I started. My book, Four Fiends, a middle grade adventure, was just self-published and I wanted other authors to review it. After a few reviews of my own, I discovered I liked reviewing. Plus, I’m a big believer in what Steven King said once (and I’m paraphrasing here): You can’t be a good writer unless you read a lot. So, I joined up with The Indie View. Reviewing not only helps other authors, it gives me greater insight into different writing styles. I’ve learned a lot about my own writing just by reading others’ works.

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 make notes on my kindle as I read. I love the kindle–I can highlight passages and make notes for myself. In the evening, when I get on the computer, I transfer the major notes to a word document.

What are you looking for?

I review mostly middle grade and young adult. The most critical thing for me is a good story kids will get into. I like a story succinctly told with the least amount of words used to get the story across. Long diatribes and tangents kill the story for me. Clear, concise writing is what I want to see. I enjoy humor, even if the story is serious, and I want the story to have a solid beginning and end. Even if the end is a prelude of things to come in a sequel, it should give the book some closure and make me feel like my reading time was justified. For book beginnings, I’d rather get right into the story than have a long, drawn-out set up of things to come.

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

I rate books using percentages. Grammar counts for a portion of this, it has to. If the book is published, it should contain as few errors as possible. But it won’t necessary kill a book for me. I read a very poorly edited book recently, but the story was so good and the writing style so appealing, I didn’t count the writer down very much for her mistakes. I did send her examples of her misspellings and misuse of words, so she could try to fix them.

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

So far, I haven’t been asked to review one yet (whew!) MG and YA, books are thankfully more on the shorter side. The longest story I’ve read so far was about 62,000 words and I got through it in a week. I’m averaging one to two reviews a week, and I think it’s because the books have ranged anywhere from picture books less than 20 pages to the 62,000 word one.

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

I’m sure at some point I’ll tweak it, but right now I rate books this way:

50% on the story. Character development, good beginning, middle and end, a plot I can get into.

40% on the writing. Both writing style and editing come into play here.

10% on presentation. How it’s laid out, the cover art, even the pitch. The whole overall package.

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

Make sure the book has been edited. I know this is hard for some–editing can get expensive–but a published book, even a self-published one, should look as professional as possible. Also, have a place on either your website or Amazon where I can read the first few pages to see if I think the story is something I’m interested in.

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

Readers–so far no. Writers–yes!

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. Everyone will have a different opinion on your work. And frankly, if you got all five-stars, people will start to question whether they’re legitimate or not. I’d much rather get a mixture of stars on my book than all five-star reviews. If the reviewer offers advice, take it with your thanks. You don’t have to follow the advice if you don’t want to. But sometimes a reviewer will point out something you hadn’t thought of before.

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?

I hope not. But it’s probably true. People watch TV more than they read. I’ve found (contrary to many book die-hards) that I’ve begun to read much more thanks to my kindle. Some folks will disagree with that. But I think the kindles, nooks, and whatever other e-readers are out there, are getting more kids and adults into reading.

About Writing

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

Using passive sentences. We all do it, but authors should really go back, scrutinize each sentence and turn as many passive sentences into active as they can. The second mistake is using way too many adverbs. We all do it (I’m sure I’ve done it a bunch in this interview) but most adverbs aren’t needed and detract from the sentence.

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 try to read all of the requested books. But otherwise yes, I agree. The first few pages should be some of the most gripping in the book. Otherwise I do lose interest and it’s hard to get that interest back.

Is there anything you will not review?

I prefer kid’s books mainly because they aren’t too vulgar. I don’t think, on my site, I would want to review anything too graphic or explicit, either violently or sexually (hey–two adverbs right there!)

About Publishing

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

Yup, I believe it. I’ve just self-published my first book and boy is it hard to get good sales. Everyone is self-publishing and there’s a glut of material out there.

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

I’m enjoying reading ’em now! I never read indie or self published books until I started reviewing, now I’m really getting into them. I think a lot of people are discovering indie and self-published titles, and that’s a good thing.

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

If the book is self-published, no. The glorious thing about self-publishing is anyone can do it. Even if they don’t have the greatest book–maybe it’s the best they can do, and they want to get it out there. Good, honest reviews will separate the wheat from the chaff, as the saying goes (I think.) Maybe there’s another mechanism out there for this, but I haven’t run across it yet.

End of Interview:

To read Nikki’s reviews, visit Nik’s Picks.