Bristol Book Blog review policy/criteriaI was at Br...

  Bristol Book Blog review policy/criteria



I was at BristCon fringe last night   - http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2074 a really enjoyable monthly meet up that I highly recommend (and not just because I'm doing a reading at the next one!) and my friend Pat (@MrsHirez) asked me about my review ratings. I think it's worth me going through my review "policy"



I used to review on a 5 star rating scale but, although it offered good granularity, didn't really fit my needs. I then named the stars but dropped down to 4 categories a while ago (I used to have a "Bad" category but now I just drop bad books without finishing them)

My categories are:

Unfinished - self-explanatory really, a book so bad or so dull I can't be bothered to finish it, so many books, not enough time means that I use the Pearl Rule generally (based on Nancy Pearl Rule of 50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pearl)

Pearl's approach to enjoying reading is the Rule of 50 which states "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages."

I supplement this - if someone I know (& respect their opinion of books) tells me it is a good book I'll probably give it 100 pages if it has a slow start (I abandoned Perdido Street Station the first time I read it but went back to it after prompting and really enjoyed it)


Average - also fairly self-explanatory, the book has done nothing to raise itself above the level of being an average example of the genre. I read it and it was OK but i doubt I'd recommend it. I didn't hate it but it didn't excite me either.

Good - Books that I rate Good are books that I've read and would say are a good example of the genre, ones that I'd be happy to recommend, ones that stand out somehow  - maybe with an excellent plot or excellent characters, or maybe really cool world building but, and for this category there is always a but, there is a flip side. I'm likely to say things like "I really enjoyed the plot but the characters were a bit 2-D", or "The world building was amazing but the plot didn't do anything for me". Always leave yourself somewhere to go though (that's why I have a Brilliant rating) - people who get a Good rating should be happy with that rating, I can be pretty scathing when I don't like something.

Brilliant - These are the books you put in other people's hands and say "you have to read this", these are the books that I buy for friends and families as presents, these are books I can't fault, or who's faults actually add to their charm. These are the books that remind you why you read. They are the world changers, they are the books that make you laugh out loud on public transport or make you blub into your cornflakes (what do you mean you don't read at breakfast what sort of freak are you?) These are books that touch you (and I don't mean in the "show me on the dolly where the naughty man touched you" sort of way)



Are my reviews always honest? Well depends really - I always try to accentuate the positive if I'm doing the review for an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) or a friend/acquaintance but I will try to present my views honestly saying what I liked and didn't like about a book. If it's a random purchase then I'm more likely to "let loose" but I'm still more than aware that authors do actually have feelings so I'll try not to be "nasty" about it.

All reviews are my opinion only and are of course totally subjective. Reviews will be given a day or two after reading the book in general so are my immediate impressions. If I were to review after a week or so then it's entirely possible that the rating may be different. Some books I've rated as Brilliant in the past have faded later and didn't have as much of an impression as I thought they did at the time. Going back and changing ratings would be madness though!

What do I aim to do in a review? I try to give a sense of the book (but my reviews are pretty brief so it is only a sense) and some idea of why I liked or didn't like it. I may or may not give an overview of what the plot is, depends as I like to remain spoiler free and sometimes some books really reward you going in with no preconceptions at all or no knowledge of the plot.

Who do I review for? I get sent review copies from a few publishers and also use NetGalley to grab review copies of books that look like they'll be up my street. I don't get paid to review and I get nothing in return apart from the book generally. I review pretty much everything I read, including shop bought stuff but don't differentiate in the reviews (i.e. I don't identify ARCs as ARCs in 100% of cases). If you like my reviews and would like me to review your book then feel free to contact me at BRSBKBLOG@GMAIL.COM. I'm happy to review indie authors as well as books from the largest publishing houses and everything in-between but won't review on spec, please do contact me before sending anything!