Reviews - Yes or No?

Full disclosure: I barely passed High School, got bad grades in English classes, and therefore it disqualifies me to legitimately critique anybody’s book.

 

I have, however, read a lot books – when I was a young lad, I read a couple of Jules Verne books and sports books (football- baseball); classics and D&D books in my 30’s; pirate and adventure books in my 40’s; I started writing a trilogy in my 50’s and only read specific styles of writing; and currently piles of indie books.

 

If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be doing it wrong.

Reviews:

Everybody wants a review – electricians, plumbers, car repair people, stores, and writers. A review for a waiter/ waitress is determined by the size of the tip you leave them.

Are they important?  Depends. 

If an electrician did their job in a timely manner and everything works, I write a review, so other people know that the person can be trusted or not. I believe that's important.

I have written 100’s of reviews for people who have provided a service and I am a super generous tipper.

On the other hand, I believe my current number for writing an indie book review is three. I do rate all the ones I have read, 1-5 stars.

Why?

Indie writers are an extremely delicate class of people. One wrong word and there is a strong possibility they may never write again or worse. But there are some who can handle constructive criticism.

The are 3 main points I focus on when reading a book – pace, readability, and imagination. Readability is grammar and punctuation, and I fully expect there to be errors, but if there is an excessive amount, I might stop reading the book. Thus far I have never not finished a book. I’ve come close.

The biggest difference, I have noticed, between an indie book and a traditionally published book is pace. Indie writers are generally horrible at pace. I think the reason is because they try to hard and over think the basics.

Recently, (last night) I was reading an indie book, and I was literally screaming in my head, . . . JUST TALK TO ME! If it’s not important, why did you write it. Page filler? If you feel compelled to write page filler material, please make it interesting.

I give up, today, but tomorrow is another day.

Writers are their own worst critic – me included.

I have officially completed six books, published three, and working on a seventh. I cringe when I reread parts of my books and pat myself on the back when I think a particular passage is good.

Of course, writers are trying their best to write a readable book.

Sadly, there are some books that are truly awesome, but will never get the notice they deserve.

 

In the beginning, I intentionally skipped what I was doing in my 20’s. I’ll spare you the details – we have four children.

 

To the people who write reviews – Thank You!  Don’t stop.

 

Have a great day reading and writing fellow book people.

 

j/k