Why Authors Should like Poor Reviews

by

Will Macmillan-Jones

Louise asked me to write a piece, from the perspective of a new writer, on the subject of book reviews.  From a readers’ point of view, a book review is an interesting and useful tool in helping you decide to buy a book - or not.  From a writer’s viewpoint (especially a new writer) they are close to being a major breach of the Geneva Convention on Warfare.  Or citeable as a cruel and unusual punishment.  And that’s the good ones!

Publishing is undergoing a bit of a sea-change with the growing involvement of the internet.  Now, I write what I assure people is comic fantasy.  If you fancied such a book, you could turn on your computer, search Google, and see what came up. Alternatively, you might seek out the book review websites and blogs like this one, and see what they had to say.  Either way, you would soon be looking at a truckload of books and mostly both the titles and the authors would be complete unknowns.

I’ll admit it.  I’m unknown.  Bet you’ve never heard of me before, and (trust me on this) you aren’t the only one.  But I’d like to be known, and not only to the police! Aside from a major lottery win, it’s unlikely unless my stuff starts selling.  And that means getting reviews.