Welcome
to Up Around the Corner, Scott. Could you tell us a little about
yourself and what led you to become a book reviewer?
Thanks
for having me here, Terry. There isn’t a whole lot of interesting stuff about
me. I’ve been married for 3 years and have a 2 year old daughter. I live in a
suburb of Columbus, Ohio and work as the shipping supervisor for a small
company that makes and distributes pet treats and toys. I read a ton as a kid
and at some point in middle school just kind of lost interest. When my
grandfather passed away my grandma told me to take any of his books that looked
interesting.
The first
book of his I read was The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy.
That drew me in to reading his entire series when I was in eighth grade. In
high school a buddy of mine introduced me to DragonLance and I have
been a huge fantasy geek ever since.
My
interest in doing book reviews started when my wife got me a Kindle for
Christmas two years ago. I started a thread on Amazon inviting authors to pitch
their books to me and I would pick the ones that got my attention and review
them. A couple months into doing that I decided to start a blog and do author
featured guest posts and interviews along with reviews in order to help spotlight
some of the truly fantastic authors that I discovered.
Sounds
interesting enough to me, Scott.
What
would you list as the best or most enjoyable thing that comes with being a
reviewer and what would you list as the worst or least enjoyable thing that
comes with being a reviewer of books?
The most enjoyable thing by far is meeting all the people
and reading all the books. I’ve met people all over the world who are brought
together by their love of books and found some amazing works. I’d have to say
the least enjoyable part is the selfish people. There are a lot of people who
ignore review policies and do what they can to circumvent the rules in order to
try to get a little publicity. I’ve been very fortunate to not run into any of
the truly horrible stories that some reviewers have experienced with
unscrupulous authors.
What type of book and/or pitch is most likely to result in
a review on Indie Book Blog? Are there certain types of books that you
just don’t enjoy and won’t read, based on genre, point of view or something
else?
I don’t
review erotica, poetry, chick-lit, or romance. If you want the best chance of
getting reviewed on my blog just fill out the form properly. I created the form
to make things easy on the authors and very easy on me, but there are still a
lot of people who don’t fill out the boxes properly.
Also, don’t expect to get a review if you demand the review
be done in a certain timeframe. It’s not that uncommon to see people saying
they need the review done in two weeks’ time for some event they are doing, but
honestly that’s just not realistic. I have a family, full time job, and a huge
list of books to read so I’m not going to drop everything to hit an
unreasonable deadline.
I started
the blog focusing on fantasy/scifi and I still enjoy those genres the most. I
have learned that I really enjoy a good mystery, action, and thriller as well.
Having a well-written blurb and an eye catching cover also increases the chance
for a review from me. Even an entertaining blog will help out. If the link is
provided in my form I will check out the authors blog/website to get a feel for
writing style and personality to determine how much it fits with what I like to
read.
Do you
have an audience in mind when you write a review? What three people would you
say, “Now that’s AWESOME!” if they stopped by, read, and commented on one of
your reviews?
I don’t
really keep anyone in mind when I write reviews. Hopefully the people who check
my blog out regularly are people who enjoy reading and do it for the entertainment
value. Three people that I would make my day to see a comment from…that is a
pretty tough question to narrow down. Seeing a comment from Brandon Sanderson
would be pretty amazing. Any of the DragonLance authors would be
pretty cool as well. Kevin Hearne would be another author I would love to get a
comment from. I’m listening to his Iron Druid Chronicles now and I
am really enjoying them.
Yes,
Scott, the Iron Druid Chronicles are great books to both listen to
and read.
About
how many requests a month do you get from authors and/or publishers to review a
novel or series? How long has that left your ‘to be read’ list?
It’s been a little less than two years since I started
using my contact form for review requests and I’m over 900 submissions on that.
That doesn’t include the direct contacts that I get from authors/publishers
that I have already worked with, so I’d say on average I get about two requests
a day.
My TBR list is pretty intense, my Goodreads list has 423
books on it. Those aren’t all books from my blog though. I’ve started a system
of getting a mobi file from people whose books sound interesting, but there is
no guarantee that it will get reviewed (I try my best though). I like to have a
variety available to me so I don’t have to read the same kind of book all the
time. If I request a print book it’s almost a guarantee of a review, though I
still won’t leave under a 3 star rating.
Considering
fantasy and science fiction novels, is there one you’ve enjoyed where the world
created is one you think would be neat to live in (compared to others)? And is
there a novel that sticks out where you’d say, “No way would I ever want to
live there!” (compared to other novels)?
I think
one of the coolest worlds to live in would be Lentari from the Bakkian
Chronicles by Jeffrey Poole. Everyone who lives there has an
innate magical talent and some of them are pretty awesome. The King is
also a good ruler who genuinely cares about his subjects and the people have an
alliance with dragons and griffins.
I
recently listened to the audiobook for Steelheart by Branden
Sanderson and that is a world where it seems like it would be terribly
unpleasant to live.
For
purposes of reviewing, as a reader, do you prefer ebooks or print books, or
doesn’t it make a difference to you?
Even
though getting a Kindle is what got me interested in the indie book scene and
got me started doing reviews, I still really enjoy print books. I tend to go
through phases where I will read primarily one or the other when I’m doing my
reviews and when traveling a lot or reading at small stretches nothing beats my
Kindle for convenience.
What
do you hope visitors to your blog come away with?
Ideally
people who visit my blog will find a new and interesting book that they
wouldn’t have found through the normal channels. Depending on what’s going
on they may be able to leave with a free book or some other kind of swag as
well.
Sounds
good, Scott.
As
we’re closing in on the end of this interview, is there anything else you’d
like to add or say to the readers?
Thanks
for having me on your blog, Terry. Hopefully this interview can provide
some solid info for your readers.
You’re welcome, Scott. I definitely think it
will provide solid info for readers.
For those
interested, here’s the link where you can find The Indie Book Blog:
Link: The Indie Book Blog
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