I’m gearing up to put up some reviews and while I know that not very many people are reading this site, I suspect that the ones who will be sure to read are the authors of the books I review. If I were published, I’d google my name and read reviews of my work. I suspect others are doing the same thing.
And that puts me in a bind. Because I’d like to give everyone five stars and rave about their books. I know how hard it is to finish a novel. I know how much harder it is to get a publisher to buy a novel. And I know that novelists want people to like their work.
And, yet, I know I’m not going to like every novel five-star’s worth. So I’ve laid out my criteria for judging for anyone who is interested.
Travis Seitler says in a comment on his blog:
The “Christian media” is not helped by fluffy praise. If something doesn’t measure up to professional standards, we need to say so.
I agree with him.
So . . . Let the heads roll . . . er . . . I mean . . . let the reviews begin.
Whew! Good thing I write for adults! Hahah–just kidding.
I completely agree. One of the hardest things for an artist is to hear honest criticism, but honest criticism is necessary for growth. I think that latter statement is doubly true for a writer’s career and not just for any one book, so honest reviews should help authors as well as Christian publishing in general.
Becky
heh heh You’re safe. But then you know I love your writing, so you’d be safe anyway.
I’m looking forward to your review of Shadowmancer. Five stars, right?
By the way, you HAVE to read the Amazon review of Shadowmancer written by “Jayce” on December 2, 2005. You will love it!
Ummmm . . . yeah. Five stars . . . if you’ve been bonked on the head and are suddenly seeing quintuple.
That was a great work of art, that review by Jayce. Thanks for calling it to my attention. I know I should be more sympathetic since I would hate to write so poorly and earn such a scathing review. But there is some writing that is so bad all you can do is laugh at it. I figure I might as well get my money’s worth from the book. If I couldn’t enjoy reading it, at least I should get 15 dollar’s worth fun laughing at sarcastic comments about it. And how much does Taylor care? Real writers are hurt by harsh critiques, but is he a real writer? Or is he just trying to get rich? If the latter he is succeeding and all the sarcastic reviews just add to the publicity. If the former . . . he sure does hide it well.