Tuesday 2 August 2011

Review Policy

You may have noticed that I've reviewed a fair few works of fiction lately. Most of them are by writers that I talk to online, and whose work I want to champion. Sometimes I'll review books by writers I don't know, and sometimes I review books about writing - I'm tricksy like that. Now, I know there are arguments against writing reviews, since a) a bad review could earn a black mark against your name with future publishing companies and other writers and b) you don't want to look like you're just sucking up to the people you know.

That's why I wanted to make it clear that I'll only post a review on my blog if I feel I can award the book four or five blunt pencils - for fiction, I want to help spread the word about enjoyable writing, and for non-fiction, I want to help people find books that may be useful to them.

I also post the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, which is obviously important for the millions of book buyers who don't read my blog. However I restrict myself to only reviewing the books I like because I want to help promote the writers I know. Besides, why waste my time reviewing a book I didn't enjoy when I could be start to read a new book that I'll love? Obviously, that's not to say that if you're a writer I know and I haven't reviewed your book yet that I don't like it - chances are, I just haven't gotten to it.

Here's a recap of some reviews I've already done, listed in alphabetical order. Treat yourself, and check them out.

Blood Picnic and Other Stories by Tony Noland
From Dark Places by Emma Newman
Jailbait Justice by Danny Hogan
Just My Blood Type by Carrie Clevenger and Nerine Dorman
Must Love Dragons by Monica Marier
The Soulkeepers by G.P.Ching
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill

2 comments:

Helen A. Howell said...

I love your attitude to reviewing Icy. I think it so much nicer to give a positive review about something you feel is really worthy than to slam something you feel is not.

Kudos (that's my favourite word of the week ^-^) to you girl! You have my applause and maybe one day even a book by me. Tee-hee

Icy Sedgwick said...

Oh I'll slam crap books all the time on Amazon but I never use my real name! I don't want people to buy something genuinely atrocious but they tend to be the kind of non-fiction books that have somehow managed to get through quality control at a massive publishing company. No, I want my blog to play host to books I enjoyed. Passin' on the love!

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