I rarely give this rating out. If I do, it usually means I read the book in one sitting, not wanting to put it down for anything, and then I either read the whole thing again, or read my favorite parts again.

RaeleighReads – 14 July 2015

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

I’ve been a voracious reader since my Marmy introduced me to The Little House on the Prairie and The Chronicles of Narnia when I was a child. I’ve always had definite opinions about the books I read, but it wasn’t until this year that I decided I wanted to keep track of those opinions. Writing book reviews is a way for me to keep track not just of what I read, but of what I feel about reading, writing, and book construction at a given point in time. For me, book reviews are like a time capsule, capturing a tiny picture of who I am as a person. There is nothing more personal than sharing your thoughts on a piece of literature with the entire world.

How do you review a book? Is it a read first, and then make notes, or do you make notes as you go along?

How I review largely depends on the book itself. Often times I take notes while I’m reading, particularly if I’m reviewing something that is non-fiction. However, every once in a while, I run across a book that I can’t bear to put down even for a second. For those, I wait to make my notes until after I’ve finished reading.

What are you looking for?

I look for a book that grabs my attention from the get-go. I’m more a fan of action than of romance, and I adore scenes that are described in painstaking detail – scenes that transport me out of my reading room and into another world. For that to happen, there can’t be errors in grammar and usage. So, for me, a really well edited book is a must. Beyond that, I look for authentic, meaningful dialogue that is character-appropriate. There is nothing worse than reading a gorgeous line your favorite character would never utter. Again, this type of mistake rips the reader out of the scene. Reading is my means of being transported out of my real life, and a really great book will keep me in its world until the end.

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

I rant. I rant to myself and to my friends, and I write lovely letters on Facebook to all writers and speakers of English about the proper usage of whatever mistake I found irksome that day. Then, I take a deep breath and I try to remember that we are all human. In my reviews I mention grammatical errors that are pervasive, but I do so in as constructive a manner as possible, usually just mentioning that another round of edits will make the book excellent.

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

That’s a difficult one! If I don’t have any distractions and I love the book, I can read an 80,000-word book in a day. But that rarely happens. I give a very conservative one-week turnaround for all the books I read. For people who submit entire trilogies to me, I require at least three weeks from start to finish.

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

I LOVE coffee. I start every day with it – no exceptions. I also tend to do a lot of my reading and writing in coffee shops, thus my five coffee cup rating system.

• One cup means I did not like the book at all or I did not finish it. I rarely give out this rating, and I never give it out for indie reviews. If I couldn’t finish a book that was sent to me, I don’t review it. If I’ve spent money on something though, and I don’t think it’s worth anyone’s time, it will get a one-cup rating.
• Two cups means I didn’t like the book, but it may have had one or two good parts that allowed me to slog all the way through it.
• Three cups means I liked it. It was a solid book – not really good, not really bad, just solid. This is a rating I give out frequently.
• Four cups means I really liked it. It had well-developed characters, an interesting plot, and believable, meaningful dialogue. I give out this rating almost as much as I give out three-cup ratings.
• Five cups means I LOVED it. I rarely give this rating out. If I do, it usually means I read the book in one sitting, not wanting to put it down for anything, and then I either read the whole thing again, or read my favorite parts again. Books that receive five cups usually go on my favorites shelf, and I force all of my friends and family members to read them. There is no clear definition for the five-cup rating. The book must simply be a transformative work of literature that really resonates with me.

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

Four words: make a personal connection. You want me to read your book? Approach me like another human being seeking to make a genuine connection. Don’t query me in the voice of one of your characters. Query me as yourself, and then provide a decent synopsis of your book. No gimmicks necessary. I think authors will find that most people are more inclined to read a book for another person, rather than a nameless, faceless, gimmicky entity.

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

I don’t provide my email on my blog, so, no; I don’t receive thank you emails for reviews. Sometimes I receive a thank you in the comments section of my blog or on Goodreads.

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 would, yes. Reviews are opinions. Nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes they contain insightful criticisms. Sometimes not. My advice to authors would be to take everything with a grain of salt, be objective of your own work, and at the same time, be confident in your own work. And then, yes, move on! You’ve probably got more writing to do!

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?

First, I love reading because I love stories. I love stories for many reasons. Some of those are that stories transport me into another reality, introduce me to ways of thinking that are not native to me, teach me important messages about the world and humanity. Above all, for a brief moment, a story lets me be someone that isn’t me. And that’s an important part of being a better human – understanding a life that is not your own.

Is reading as a pastime dying? God I hope not! What a terrible world it would be if we could not put ourselves in someone else’s shoes by spending several hours/days immersed in their world. If a brief search for book review bloggers or services such as Goodreads is any indication, however, I think we’re a long way off from reading as a pastime dying.

About Writing

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

I most often see simple mistakes that could be easily fixed with beta readers or a good editor. For instance, the misuse of verb tenses, particularly of the verbs to sit and to drink. A quick Google search will tell you how to use these things. There is no excuse for misusing them. The second most common mistake I’ve found it that authors don’t go far enough. What I mean by that is the reader gets introduced to a world or a character with only a few sentences. It takes time for readers to connect to these things, and I would like to see authors take that time to really explain characters and worlds in painstaking detail. I would rather see 200 words of scene description than 200 words of terrible, meaningless, filler dialogue.

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 is crucial to grab attention from the get-go, but I also think it is crucial to keep the attention hanging there throughout. So often I will enjoy the first ten or fifteen pages of a new book only to be disappointed further down the road when the author has clearly given up, rushed through the editing, and probably said something along the lines of, “I just don’t care anymore; I want to be finished!”

Is there anything you will not review?

I don’t review erotica or harlequin romance novels. Not my cuppa tea. Anything else is fair game.

About Publishing

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

It simply isn’t true. Two of my favorite authors are “online” authors. Their writing is honest, breathtaking, brutal, and magnificent! Take that online naysayers!

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

It’s difficult to say. Among book bloggers, I know many of us are supportive of indie authors, and have the utmost respect for them. Among readers, especially those who purchase exclusively for their eReaders, I think the consensus is: published is published. That said, in my local writing group there is a divide. There are those of us that see merit in both indie and traditional publishing, but there are also those of us who are staunchly on one side or the other. And, unfortunately, those on the traditionally-publish-or-die side often lack respect for the indie authors in our group. Sigh. I hope time will change those attitudes.

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

Must be this tall to publish…no I suppose that won’t do. What does good and bad even mean really? Among reviews you will find ten people who think a work is brilliant and ten people who think it absolute rubbish. Literature is simply too subjective to filter (in my not-so-humble opinion).

End of Interview:

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