Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Review – noun a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation. Reviews don’t have to be wordy. Here’s a review I spotted on Goodreads recently for Holly Black’s new book The Wicked King: Holly Black creates a deliciously wicked world, twisty and dangerous and absolutely fascinating. I loved this. See! In only 16 words, you know how the reader feels about the book. Even if no one ever reads those 16 words, the review helps. The 5 stars the reader gave the book factor in with the 25k+ ratings the book already had to average 4.56 stars (wow, that amazing – perhaps I should add this series on my tbr!) giving a potential reader a strong and fast sense of how readers feel about the book overall. Even critical reviews can help. For example, I mined the reviews of A Cuckoo’s Calling, which I gave 5 stars because I love...

One of the most difficult aspects of being a published author is the public feedback on your work. After toiling over a story for however long, sharing with critique partners, integrating editor suggestions, combing, combing, combing…Obviously, you’ve left little fleshy pieces of your heart scattered throughout your work. Then it goes out into the world. You hit up family and friends and solicit bloggers for honest reviews. The ball starts rolling. Reviews start coming in from all over. So many are good. Three people said, “great writing.” A couple people give props to your favorite character, the best friend. And then…oh…wait… “ It’s like Hunger Games, which I’ve never read, but more complicated and lame ” What the…?! Did you even read the book? But here’s the thing. No book will EVER be the same experience for every reader. There are about a bazillion factors behind why two readers interpret a book differently. Picture credit Let’s say you read a review that says, ...