In general, I think people like reading for the same reasons people like watching movies or listening to music; they like the entertainment, and they like experiencing stories that are bigger than ordinary life while still being able to relate to the characters, to some degree. 

Hope Hanson – 23 March 2021

About Reviewing

How did you get started?

I’ll be honest; I don’t have any sort of interesting or exciting anecdote about how I got into reviewing. I first considered starting a book blog a couple years ago, but I didn’t get started until around a year ago. It was something I had been considering for a while and had been unofficially planning for as something that I might do at some point in the future, and then I finally took the plunge and got started when I had some extra time on my hands thanks to everything that went on last year.

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 some notes as I go along. The bulk of them are small things like first reactions or reminders to come back to this point in the text, but if I have a thought in my head that’s more involved, I do write it down. Really, I just think my impressions are strongest on the first read, so I make notes about them since often I like to include some in my review. Then, I get more analytical as I go back over it, rereading sections and figuring out what I want to focus on in the final review.

What are you looking for?

Personally, I’m a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi, but I’m open to different genres and types of books. Really, I’m just looking for an enjoyable story with good characters. I need a plot that keeps me interested and characters I can get behind, that I can root for. And I’m looking for good, quality writing, of course. I don’t think anyone likes to read a book that’s just simply poorly written.

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

If it’s just a handful of instances, I can ignore it since it generally doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. After all, editors are human, too, and they can’t be expected to catch every single little mistake. But consistent poor grammar is the worst, both because it just isn’t enjoyable and because it makes the book seem unprofessional, for lack of a better word. I’ve yet to review a book with truly bad grammar, to be honest, but I think the best way to deal with that is to mention that issue and explain how it impacted my experience, just like I would with any other aspect of a book.

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

I am an extremely ambitious planner; I full-on have a spreadsheet calendar where I plan out how I hopefully want my reading schedule for each month to go (I swear, it’s the best method for keeping different requests organized!), and I’ll usually allot three days for an eighty-thousand-word book. I would say that that’s average, but sometimes it does take me closer to four or five days to read something of that length and write the review, since other obligations can get in the way of my plans for reading. And of course, if I’m really enjoying a book, it can take me less time, too.

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

Honestly, my rating system is somewhat intuitive and not so much based on set-in-stone criteria. To break it down, I usually give five stars to books I got totally immersed in, books I would tell friends they “have to read.” Then, I give four stars to books I mostly enjoyed with the exception of maybe one or two issues, and three stars to books that I found to be more “fun” reads that I liked but couldn’t quite get fully immersed in, either because of multiple minor issues or a couple major ones. It’s at two-star reviews that I really start picking apart the problems I found in a book, since I only give a book two stars if there were a lot of problems that significantly took away from my enjoyment of the story. And finally, a one-star book would be one I really, really struggled to get through.

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

I would say that authors who are looking for reviews should take initiative and start finding reviewers to ask about reviewing their book. From the people I know who also review books, no one is going to be rude if they want to turn down your request, so there’s no reason to worry about sending out review requests! Just read the review policies of the reviewers you want to request from and keep trying until you find someone. There are so many amazing reviewers and review sites out there, and authors are guaranteed to find people for their book.

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

I don’t get that, to be honest! I do get some of that type of feedback, or something similar to it, in comments on the mini-reviews I post on Instagram, but that’s not something I get emailed about.

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 totally agree with that! For one thing, arguing with the reviewer is going to seem unprofessional. Additionally, an author isn’t going to be able to change the way a reviewer felt about their book, so there’s no point to arguing it. Personally, if an author reached out to me after I gave their book a poor review and politely asked for more detail on what I disliked or how they might improve, I don’t see that as a problem. But to start with, that’s quite different from “arguing,” and then there are also plenty of reviewers out there who would disagree with me about that point. So, in general, unless you know the reviewer won’t mind that, I would agree with the advice to simply move on and take what critiques you can from the “bad” review.

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?

In general, I think people like reading for the same reasons people like watching movies or listening to music; they like the entertainment, and they like experiencing stories that are bigger than ordinary life while still being able to relate to the characters, to some degree. Obviously, everyone has different reasons, and people also read different sorts of books for different reasons, but I think that’s a somewhat fair generalization. But I don’t think reading is a dying pastime. Most of my friends and the people I know enjoy reading and love books, and that’s always been true, so I’ve never quite understood the idea of reading “dying out.” I mean, obviously, with all the different forms of entertainment available today, there’s more options other than reading, so in that sense people are probably reading less—and hence those statistics. Really, I think that the concept of reading being a dying pastime is rooted in bias and a kind of arrogance, if that makes sense, but obviously I’m no expert on the subject.

About Writing

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

That’s honestly a difficult question; there’s just such a variety in the flaws that different books have. But I think one that I see somewhat commonly is that some authors have a tendency to neglect side characters. It’s not the most common thing, but it’s the first thing that pops to mind, and it frustrates me when I do see it because there is so much potential in side characters. So, I hate to see it when they’re two dimensional or reduced to archetypes and caricatures.

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?

No, I don’t, but mainly because I don’t like not finishing books unless I have some significant issue with them; I don’t DNF just because I’m not enjoying it, there needs to be a bigger problem with the book for me to put it down. But while I can make it through a few pages of dullness, if a book hasn’t grabbed my attention within the first couple of chapters, I do start skimming a little more. Though, I do think the first few pages set the tone for the book; if I’m not enjoying them, then I probably will unconsciously judge the book a little harder.

Is there anything you will not review?

I don’t review erotica, both because I just don’t like it and because I don’t feel I should review books from a genre I don’t enjoy when I know that would mean my biases would almost definitely lead to a poor review. I’m not entirely sure how to put it into words, to be honest, but I suppose I don’t feel I should be recommending and rating books for an audience that I’m not a part of, if that makes sense? Also, I haven’t been in that position yet, but I would not review something that promoted anything problematic, wrong, or hateful. Hopefully, though, I’m never in a position where I’m asked to consider something of the sort for review.

About Publishing

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

I think that’s a perfectly accurate statement. And it makes sense; considering how easy it is for people to put things online, it makes sense that that would happen.

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

I definitely believe attitudes are changing when it comes to those types of titles! Most of the books I review are either self-published books or come from smaller, indie publishers, and I can fairly confidently say that’s the case with many other reviewers and review sites. It’s kind of a beneficial side product of there being more reviewers online in the present; there’s more competition and that means that more reviewers are going to be excited to accept books from indie and self-published authors since they’re obviously not going to be able to get titles from massive publishing houses and uber-famous authors. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing, because there are so many great books out there that are indie and self-published titles.

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

Honestly, that’s a difficult question. From my experience, a lot of good books gain attention through word of mouth, friends telling friends about what books they should read, and so on. It’s frustrating, but there really isn’t a good way to filter the good from the bad other than reviews, especially when determining whether something is good or bad is very subjective. Plus, I definitely don’t know much about the publishing industry aside from a basic knowledge, so I’m far from qualified to even be thinking about coming up with such a solution.

End of Inteview.

Visit The Book Suite to check out Hope’s reviews.