I was just reading a reviewer’s blog that describes
why they don’t accept self-published (SP) books to review. Their main reasons were SP authors can have
bad manners and argue over reviews, SP books usually have substandard covers
and too many plot holes and grammatical mistakes. These reasons for the policy excluding SP
books made me laugh. Well, maybe not LOL
laugh, but it made me smirk a little.
I’m sure that there are SP authors that can’t take
a bad – or even less than perfect – review without firing off a heated email. Obviously,
that’s extremely bad form. It’s better
to find out where they live and stalk them. Just kidding. Really.
But I know of traditionally published (TP) authors that have done the
same. Recently, an author of a
well-received, TP, first-in-a-series book, ridiculed many reviewers of the
second when certain plotting details were criticized. And this author’s disparaging remarks were in
public forums and blogs.
I’ve seen a lot of fantastic TP covers, and many
mediocre TP covers as well. You know what I mean, all those covers with the
author’s name and the title in ginormous print, surrounding some okay photo or
illustration must have taken at least five minutes with photoshop to design. And while a fantastic cover can help sell a
book, it shouldn’t necessarily mean that a less than fantastic one should
relegate your tome to non-reviewable.
The reviewer can certainly comment about the cover art as part of the review,
but to not review it at all based on their interpretation of the cover art
seems a bit harsh. My first book, Special Offers, had a perfectly hideous cover when I first released it. Someone even nominated it for Goodread's worst cover. It still got reviews -- good ones -- even with the grimace-inducing image (but I did change the cover art, eventually).
Which brings me to the final reason why these
reviewers won’t review SP work: SP authors can’t write worth shit. Now, I have read a lot of traditionally
published books as well as many self-published ones. And, for the most part, a fair percentage of
the SP stuff is a bit iffy when it comes to plotting, grammar and
spelling. But just yesterday, I was
reading a new book from a very popular paranormal romance author where she
wrote about one character saving another’s life by establishing an unobstructed
airway – in his ESOPHAGUS. Really? There’s a reason the procedure is called a
tracheotomy. Because one’s lungs are
attached to one’s TRACHEA. The esophagus
is what one’s food slips down en route to the stomach. And the author correctly calls it a
tracheotomy later in the book. And how
did this get passed all of the TP editors, beta-readers and ARC reviewers? Plus, I already counted three typos, and I’m
only 75% through.
So my point is this. Rather than an outright refusal to review the
dreaded SP book, why not read the first chapter. If it sucks, then don’t read any more and
forget about it. Or post that you read
the first chapter and you wanted to shove a sharp pair of scissors in your eyes
rather than have to keep reading. And
it’s not just because I am a SP author.
I think it’s a little snobbish to restrict oneself (and one’s blog readers)
to the creations that are brought forth by TP companies, as if they have all
the answers and do everything so much better than anyone else. Sure they
do. That’s why Mike "The
Situation" Sorrentino landed a book deal with a TP house.
