Views on Reviews

Yes, I recognize the tackiness of the blog title. But I thought “Review my books, please?” would be pathetic, and anything else was just boring.

I used to do a lot of book reviews…I was a freelance editor, which meant little money to fulfill my addiction to books, so reviews were the best way to get books to read.

I always followed certain guidelines…I guess I treated each review like a mini-essay, for grading, which meant that I tried never to say “I liked this” I tried to substantiate why. Guess that’s the English Major in me. Also, I never went over the half way mark…or tried not to. I hate spoiling people.

So I guess, now that I’m on the other side of the fence, what I look forward to is related to that. If you didn’t like something, why? Everyone hates negativity…we all want people to think our children are perfect, I fear…but I also want to know what didn’t work so I can, after wincing a bit, learn from the comment. And why did you like it? What worked for you? I’m in this business to make people happy — yes, I make jokes about wanting to become a hermit, but you and I know how unlikely that will be, but I *can* now, this moment, give people an escape and give them something that brings them joy and interest — so, did I do that job, and how?

Though if you just want to say my book is really awesome, I’ll take that. I’ve read some reviews that did that, and they made my heart smile.