Interview with Lea Schizas of Muse Book Reviews - Page 3

Unfortunately, I do believe that many ‘writer friends’ who are reviewers do help fellow writers. I find this does nothing to help the writer if the book truly is not up to par. The reviewer risks the chance of ruining their good name if it gets out after several readers purchase the book based on that reviewer’s recommendation.

As for negative reviews, we have four ratings:
1 rose = average
2 roses= good
3 roses- great read
4 roses= highly recommended

As you can see we don’t have 0 roses for bomb. We’re not there to bash. The lowest rating is one rose. In all these years I’ve only had one author who requested a review not be posted. We post all of our reviews. When a writer sends us a book, they understand a review will be posted. This year, to be honest, one of the reviewers contacted the publisher, told them she was not able to write a review based on several reasons, one being she found the book read more like a draft than a published book. That review was never written.

There was a lot of controversy last year between print publication reviewers and online bloggers. In your opinion, what defines a ‘legitimate’ reviewer?

What defines a ‘legitimate’ reviewer? One who is honest about their reviews based on an objective evaluation on the book itself and not what the reviewer might have liked the book to have contained. We judge a book based on consistency, plot, characterization…basically what you would judge when doing a critique. A few typos here and there is not going to make us write a bad review. However, change your character’s name a few chapters down, then go back again further in the book, and we’ll mention that. Headhop from one character to another, we’ll mention the difficulty in connecting with any one character because of that. These are all elementary details a writer should know before they get published. However, give us a good plot, memorable characters and situations, and we’ll praise that.

What is your stand on paid reviews?

I am against them. I understand some sites will review your book quicker for a fee. If the fee includes other areas, like an interview, a possible chat with the author, spotlight the author…then I’d say you are buying a promotional package. But to pay for one review – no. As a writer, I would feel the readers would think I paid to get a good review and I know that is not the case. When paying for a review you are not guaranteed how the review will go.

Article Author: Mayra Calvani

Mayra Calvani is the National Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com.

Visit Mayra Calvani's author page — Mayra Calvani's Blog