Now that anyone can publish anything there are far too many bad books out there. That has put prospective readers off. Readers invest their time and money carefully. If they are disappointed too often they won’t come back.

Steve Liddick – 22 July 2014

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

I was asked to participate in several critique groups, which I enjoyed from the viewpoint of both the critiquer and the critiqued.

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 read several chapters to see where the book is going and get an idea of the quality of the writing. If I feel the book has some merit I make notes on what I have read so far and then continue reading, making more notes as I go.

What are you looking for?

I look for solid, uncluttered writing that compliments the work rather than simply calls attention to the author. I can’t abide a show-off who interrupts the flow of the book with his/her distracting prose. I will quit a book quickly if it bogs down in unnecessary language gymnastics.

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

I would point out that it has a great plot and characters but the grammar is less than perfect. Frankly, I don’t see how someone who could create the former could be so completely lacking in the latter. I might suggest that the author get some professional help with the grammar and re-issue before I would turn in a review that would otherwise be positive.

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

Not sure of the number of hours, but it would take several days of dedicated reading.

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

A completely arbitrary five star rating—five being the best. A five would be rare. I would not offer a review of a truly bad book at all and would probably not review a book I considered deserving of no more than a one star rating.

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

Don’t bore me with trite plots, lengthy character and place descriptions and shopworn phrases (such as “shopworn phrases”).

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 find that most people resist criticism, refuse to accept it and try to justify what they have written. They need to keep in mind that the review is one person’s opinion. It should at least be carefully considered and they should not become so discouraged that they give up. Authors should not believe what their mothers say about their writing. Most mothers are proud that their children can tie their own shoes.

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?

Readers read for many reasons: to be entertained, enlightened, emotionally tweaked. There are as many reasons for reading as there are readers. The (non-reviewer) reader will actually help the author to achieve their reading goal. Sadly, Internet gaming, surfing and superficial chat room time-wasters that pass for communication are replacing reading. I had hopes Harry Potter would turn many young people into readers and the tradition might survive. But nothing has come along to replace Harry to continue their interest. Good new books are the only thing that will save reading as a pastime.

About Writing

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

Overuse of dialect puts me off. I don’t want to have to continue interpreting what a characters is saying. It destroys the flow. Study Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and his interaction with the slave, Jim. Also, know your characters. You cannot, for instance, write for young adults of today using terminology of teenagers of a previous generation. Another is failure to do the research. If writing about guns, learn about guns. Even an expert pilot needs to check a plane’s manual to be sure the stats are correct. Working from memory is a sure way to build a distracting clinker into a story that destroys credibility from that point forward.

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?

You don’t have to eat all of a rotten egg to know it’s rotten.

Is there anything you will not review?

No erotica. No gratuitous sex, obscenity or profanity. I am not a fan of fantasy, nor much of sci-fi.

About Publishing

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

I believe a reviewer has the responsibility to either accept or reject a work in a timely fashion and not let it languish as “cyber-slush.”

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

Now that anyone can publish anything there are far too many bad books out there. That has put prospective readers off. Readers invest their time and money carefully. If they are disappointed too often they won’t come back. Reviews, good and bad, can help preserve a higher standard, although I will not personally completely trash an indie or self-published book.

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

The question that troubles me is: who gets to decide whether an author has a right to publish? I can understand that in the case of a traditional publisher who would not want to spend their resources just because the author wants them to. However, an indie or self-published author has the right to put out anything they choose. Still, I doubt that a writer exists who does not believe his or her book is completely ready for prime time the instant they key it into word processor without first being filtered through critique groups, professional editors, etc. As long as anyone can publish anything it is likely to remain that way, but I would still hate to see an eBook Gestapo develop.

End of Interview:

Read Steve’s reviews at his site.