Did you know some people think I don’t know how to be a reviewer? That my twenty years of experience has been wrong. That I must put my review here, here, there, but not if negative.
I’m not to point out inconsistencies, errors, off (yes, read bad) writing. I must only say great things. I should only give out the top rating, never middle ground.
Oh, and then there are others who demand I talk nothing but the negative. I’m not doing my job if I don’t tell the readers of misplaced commas.
Job? Reviewing’s your job? (if you heard the taken back voice, well, you were supposed to). Wow, lucky, you get to sit and read all day long. I could do that, but I have a real job.
Okay, I don’t get paid to review. It’s one of the few areas my payment is in free reading material…possibly good, bad, ugly, and WTH-is-this-crap. No, I don’t share. I took these books/ebooks under the professional wing of reviewing them, not to give them away and costing the author a sale(s).
Oh, but the author will never know. I will know. I’m the one who has to live with myself.
Yes, I treat this job as a profession. I may not be able to tell the author when the review will be done, but one will always be done. Oh, and for the record, sitting and reading all day long isn’t easy. If I’m lucky I’ll enjoy what I’m reading. Most times, I am lucky. But, I still have to take notes, write out my opinion, and wait for the response.
Every new author, new publisher is a new relationship being built on the trust they’ll get something for giving a free book/ebook. Yeah, there are fake reviewers out there just grabbing material for nothing and running.
Easy? I wish.
Good thing I love what I do.