If a book doesn’t snag Joe-Schmo right away he’ll put it back on the shelf and never buy it.

Erin Henrikson – 24 March 2015

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

Back in 2013 a fellow author asked if I’d like to add a blog to her newly established virtual book touring company. I signed myself up to free blogging site unsure how long it would last but here I am two years later. I love it!

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 as I go along. I have no idea how I survived without that Notes App.

What are you looking for?

I love genre fiction. I personally accept anything dark, paranormal, horror, fantasy and all of it’s sub genres as well as historical, thrillers and mysteries. There are reviewers who especially like romance and YA so we’re basically looking for a good book.

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

Less than perfect? Not a big deal. Editors don’t always catch everything. So, unless it’s one of the big five, I don’t dwell on a few grammatical errors. I primarily focus on the characters and plot anyway.

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

Depends on my schedule and time of year, but I can usually read one 80,000 word book in a week. Winter I read much more than in the summer. Here in Canada when the sun comes out I’m slathered in sunscreen and outside finding a project.

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

I realized that some five star books were better than others so I decided to do this:

Five Golden Stars is when a book that completely blows me away! I will be buying copies and encouraging everyone to read them!

Five Stars is a book that has hit all the marks ie, plot, pacing, character development, twists & unexpected turns. It hasn’t so much blown me away but it was a great read and I know people who like the genre will love it.

Four Stars is when most of the marks have been hit but one or two were lacking. Still makes it a good book and worthy of a gander.

Three Stars is usually a book that doesn’t reach my expectations. Sometimes it’s pacing, sometimes characters and sometimes it’s because I was pitched one genre but it was something else entirely (oh yeah, this has happened a few times), but the story overall was decent.

Two Stars is rarely used. I often don’t review if it’s going to be two stars. The book fell flat and was confusing, or frustrating, to read.

One Star does not exist.

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

Patience. For me, I’ve managed to find a few awesome people willing to review books but there’s just a handful of us. I send out two newsletters a month with books for review and maybe 1-3 out of the 12 are picked. I know several bloggers who have to deal with a heavy TBR pile. It can be a bit overwhelming sometimes.

Read the Policy. This cannot be highlighted enough! I know that it’s time consuming but a reviewer might be taking a week or two to read your book. So, to take the 10 seconds to read a few short paragraphs shouldn’t be that hard. The other day I put up that we were closed until April and two days later I received a review request via our online form. I discarded it.

Be Polite. A snarky reply to a refusal or waiting list will be remembered.

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

No, but I’ve received tweets and Facebook messages. If I can get someone to pick up a book that they otherwise wouldn’t have, then I’ve done my good deed for the day.

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 mention that we provide honest reviews and I encourage authors to check out our reviews before applying. Not everyone is going to love every book out there so there’s always that chance. Heck, I thought Gone Girl was awful and look at how well it did!

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 think people love reading because it’s an escape from real life. It’s seeing a story where a character overcomes odds. Odds that can often be reflected onto our own lives. Also, with reading you get a personal approach to the main character. With TV shows you watch what’s going on. With reading, you’re involved in what’s going on.

As for reading being a pastime that is dying, I believe it. I recently read an article that said people are becoming more and more impatient. It’s arguably revolutionary. Remember when a webpage could take up to twenty seconds to load and we were okay with it? If that happened now we’d go nuts! It’s all about time, and reading means taking the time in an increasingly busy world.

About Writing

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

Seven paragraph synopsis’s. I’m involved in a few book touring sites and they pitch multiple books a day. I find if I’m scrolling through I often skip the ones with a synopsis longer than three short paragraphs because there’s over a dozen in my email pitching books.

Bad covers. If it looks like you did it yourself on Gimp, people will avoid your book. If you can’t take enough time to make a pleasing cover, how would a reader know you took enough time to have a great story or have it edited? It could be the next John Grisham, but not with that picture your kid drew.

Don’t explain everything or repeat pertinent information more than necessary. The reader is much more intelligent and you’re talking down to them.

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 think it all comes down to time again. If a book doesn’t snag Joe-Schmo right away he’ll put it back on the shelf and never buy it. For me, a book doesn’t have to grab me right away. I like the meat of a story and if the pacing is good at the half-way mark, they’re doing a great job.

Is there anything you will not review?

Personally, I don’t review erotica, cook books or non-fiction. But, I have a few romance fans so erotica might not be completely off the table but the odds of it being picked could be slim.

About Publishing

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

This can be both negative and positive in its results. Self-publishing is growing! Look at Jamie McGuire for example. She started out self-publishing because she grew frustrated in waiting for an agent to say yes. She became a bestseller and just recently decided to move back into self-publishing.

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

Absolutely! I recently spoke to one of my reviewers and she said some of her favorite books lately have been self-published works. It was the whole reason that she signed up. She wanted to discover some of the hidden gems out there and I don’t blame her.

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

That’s a tough one. I think it comes down to word of mouth. If a trusted reviewer, friend or relative likes a book, you might be more inclined to pick it up. That being said, I’ve walked into Chapters, picked up a book that’s published by a New York Times Best Selling author and found the pacing, characters and plot were all over the place. I couldn’t figure out how no one caught that and this was from one of the big five publishers!

Visit The Reader’s Hollow to read Erin’s reviews.