I would be the first to admit that we need reviewers and reviews. We need them to help broaden our profile, to draw attention to ourselves and our writing, to create interest in our work and, let’s face it, to ultimately help us sell our wares.
It goes without saying that I would certainly not advise rubbing any prospective reviewer up the wrong way, and let’s face it, these days, that doesn’t leave many people we can safely rub up the wrong way, does it?
From the, supposedly, top ranking book reviewers — in the US that would perhaps include the New York Times’ Janet Maslin and Dwight Garner, to name just two; and on the other side of the pond, possibly The Guardian’s Olivia Laing and Michael Hogan come to mind — to the blogger reviewers, who are gaining in popularity and credibility (thank goodness), and some of them, like our own Cathy Speight and Big Al, and the likes of Linda Parkinson-Hardman, are becoming an integral part of the Indie Revolution. Goodreads is another foundation that is important and becoming integral to the Indie cause. Then of course there are the indispensable ‘reader reviews’. Continue reading “Reviews, Reviewers and Reviewing”
A couple months ago, David Antrobus had a post titled, 
a comment about it in an online forum of some type. Since the reader represents an author’s customer base, these have the potential to be very valuable. Some are very thoughtful, analytical pieces, while others are more of the loved it or hated it variety with little specificity or guidance for an author open to feedback.