The reviewers speak out

For an article in the current issue of the Sisters-in-Crime newsletter, author and critic Hallie Ephron interviewed several top mystery/thriller critics. She asked them questions such as "How do you pick the books to review," "Do you review hardbacks and paperbacks," "Does the author's gender, ethnicity or nationality affect whether you might review a book" and other interesting stuff.

The reviewers she interviewed are: herself, me, Oline Cogdill, Sarah Weinman, Eddie Muller, Joe Hartlaub and Enid Schantz.

Here's a sample question:

Do you review self-published books?

OC, HE: No.

JH: I wouldn't exclude a self-published book.

DJM: No. The overall level of quality has been too low to justify the time.

EM: I reviewed one in my first column and bookstores hated it: "We can't stock this book so you're not helping us out." Readers appreciated it. If I come across a book I think has merit, I don't care if it's print on demand.

ES: Never. Ten years ago we might have been willing to give non-traditionally published authors a try, but [now] we have a hard enough time choosing from established and exception­ally promising new authors.

SW: Just on pure volume I can't deal with self-published books.

The piece contains a lot of good information -- and reflects a surprising amount of agreement on the part of the reviewers on most of the topics.

You can view a PDF file of the newsletter here.

Comments

[Elaine Flinn]

May I applaud you all...

[Guyot]

"The reviewers she interviewed are: herself, me, Oline Cogdill, Sarah Weinman, Eddie Muller, Joe Hartlaub and Enid Schantz."

Hmm.... sing along with me: one of these things just doesn't belong here, one of these things isn't quite the same...

Two, actually.

[Elaine Flinn]

Are you singing tenor? I can do an alto...

[Patrick Balester]

Excellent newsletter, thanks for posting this. I think a lot of writers are convinced that the reviewing process is a mystical puzzle they can never unlock. This interview does a lot to explain the process. I added the link to my own blog.
Well done!