Behind the Curtain: Jen A. Miller, book reviewer

Nearly every writer worries about reviews - hoping for the best, expecting the worst, cursing the negative ones, fully believing the positive ones. :) Okay, maybe not quite, but getting reviewed can be agonizing, so it's with much joy that today, I'm lucky enough to present a wonderful book reviewer, Jen A. Miller, who writes about books for a slew of mags and papers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Poets and Writers, and US Airways Magazine, among others.

Next year, Jen crosses to the dark side (and the hunter becomes the hunted!) to become an author herself (an author of books, I should say, as she already scribes for plenty of magazines and papers), when her first book, The South Jersey Shore, Atlantic City through Cape May: Great Destinations, is published. She also maintains two blogs, so check 'em out: Book a Week and Down the Shore with Jen, which is a taste of her forthcoming book, all about the Jersey Shore.

Here, a few reviewer insights:

1) How did you get into book reviewing? How could someone break in if he or she is interested?
I've always been a reader, and I reviewed books for my college newspaper. I've also been reading book reviews in the Philadelphia Inquirer since I was in seventh grade, so when I came home after graduation, I pitched myself as a reviewer. Didn't get very far! I then went on testing out a few careers, and when I started freelancing, one of my first niches was author profiles. I built relationships with magazines and PR people so that, not only was I writing about authors, but I was also gaining access to book catalogues and galleys. I pitched the Inquirer book editor again -- four years later -- and was assigned a review not too long after that.

Book reviewing for newspapers, I think, is not easy. Not only are a lot of people trying to do it, but the space for reviews is constantly shrinking. Someone who is interested in reviewing can try their local alternative weekly, or a book website to start. Or they can start blogging reviews on their own (even though I've been reviewing books for over a year, I still do this at bookaweekwithjen.blogspot.com -- new project, but fun outlet for book writing). This way, they can show editors that they know what they're doing.

2) Who are some of your favorite authors?
Caroline Knapp had a real gift for non-fiction writing. She wrote a few books that were blends of memoir and research. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2002, but I keep going back to her books -- I even wrote an essay about 'Pack of Two," which is about dogs, for the September 2007 issue of Paste Magazine. I don't read a lot of fiction, but I'm always eager to read anything new by Elin Hilderbrand and Ian Sansom -- his Mobile Library Series is a hoot.

3) If you see a book on the horizon that you're interested in, do you pitch it or can you request that you review it?
I'm usually so busy with freelancing (and this summer, writing my book) that I can't keep track of new books like I used to -- it's more I look at whatever galleys come in the mail. But if there's something I really want to review, I'll send an email to an editor (whichever I think the book would be better for) asking if I can review it. I just did this with a magazine. I was on vacation, but wanted to be the first to 'put her name in the hat' for this book. And it worked.

4) What do you take into account when reviewing a book? I.e., even if you didn't love it, do you consider that other readers might and highlight its strengths?
I try to gauge the overall effect of the book because, even if one aspect of the book is lacking (word choice, sentence structure, even point of view), the book can still be powerful and worth reading. I'm also pickier now in what I review. I know I don't like overly flowery prose, so I don't review books like that. I'm not a chick lit or a mystery fan, so I don't review those titles -- it's not fair to the authors, or the readers.

5) What happens if you're assigned a book you really dislike? Or suspect that you might dislike?
I don't like writing negative reviews. I'm human, and even if the book is bad, someone still slaved over every word in that book. That being said, my allegiance isn't to the author. It's to the publication where I review, and to the readers, so if the book's a stinker, I will say so. That being said, I don't always review a book I don't like, even if an editor assigned it to me. This just happened -- my editor sent me a book he thought I would like. I couldn't even make it through the third chapter, so I emailed him and asked him if I could review something else. He didn't have a problem with that because, as he said, real estate for book reviews is so limited that he didn't want to waste space on a bad book.

But sometimes I will go ahead with a negative review, for one of two reasons:
1. Even if the book is bad, the reader can still learn something from the review. I just turned in a review of a biography that I thought was terrible. It was about a fascinating person, but the book was very poorly written. However, I felt that the readers would learn something about this fascinating person through the snapshot of the review, so I went ahead with the assignment.
2. It's an anticipated book. My first review for the Philadelphia Inquirer was the follow up work by someone whose first novel was a well-received best seller. I liked the first book, and I knew a lot of people were looking forward to book number two which was, well, seriously lacking a lot of what made the first book a gem. It was my job to alert readers that this second book might not be worth their $24, which is why I went ahead with the assignment.

6) Book reviews are getting cut from newspapers left and right. Why do you think this is? What are some of your favorite resources for readers who seek out reviews?
I think that a lot of this comes down to dollars. Publishers aren't spending as many in newspapers as they were before. If you look at your local paper, you'll probably see a weekly home and garden or food section. Why? Because businesses support those sections with ads. You won't find that with books. But that's not saying there isn't good literary criticism going on. You only have to go to book sites like bookslut.com or beatrice.com to see that.

Readers can also go to the blog of the National Book Critics Circle, Critical Mass, at http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a member. The blog links to industry news, and to reviews written by members. It's a great way for readers to see what reviewers from all over the country are saying. I'm also keeping tabs on the new Barnes & Noble Review. It'll be interesting to see how that goes over.

7) I know that you have your own book coming out...are you concerned about your own reviews? :) Or do you know, as a reviewer, that everything is subjective and you have to try to roll with the punches?
Yes! It's scary putting something -- anything -- out there. I don't know how many reviews I'll get in the traditional book review sense since it's a travel guide, but that's not stopping anyone from picking it up, reading it and saying, "well, she didn't cover My Favorite Pizza Parlor, so this book is crap." It's scary, but I understand that I can't please everyone all the time. Remind me of that if I get a negative review!

Conversation with Cindy: A Famous Blogger

So today, I have a little Q/A going on with one of my favorite bloggers, Cindy, from Conversations with Famous Writers. If you haven't checked out the site, do it asap - she manages to lure all sorts of fabulous and interesting authors to the site, and it's a must-read for me each week. Cindy is also the author of Thousand Dollars for a Kiss, a fun read set in the world of celebrity, and she took an unconventional route to getting published. Since I know so many aspiring writers check out this blog, I thought she might make for a bit of inspiration. Check it out!

1) You run one of my favorite blogs. What compelled you to start blogging and how did you attract such a big audience?

I started blogging for fun about celebrities in my (now defunct) gossip site, Conversations About Famous People. I got many, many hits every day, which was great fun but not satisfying to my soul, you know? It's not like I was doing something really positive by making fun of celebrities. It was bad karma.

I began Conversations with Famous Writers as a way to read and review and write about books and authors in an entertaining and casual way. I didn't want a stuffy, very literary type blog, I wanted to combine interesting, off beat interviews and inspire people to read really good books while getting to know the writers behind those books.

CAFP afforded me the opportunity to gather a big audience, some of which followed me to the book blog and helped make it successful. I still can't believe that this stay- at- home mom ran a successful gossip blog and reached over seven million viewers. Like, wow, millions of people read my work! I went to the E! channel in Los Angeles and did a screen test. It was exciting but not the direction I wanted to take my life in.

2) You interview a lot of well-known authors. Has any interview stood out as the best among others? How do you approach these authors? Anyone ever say no?

Jeannette Walls was super nice, she stands out as being one of the best. Jen Lancaster is lovely and hilarious. I adore Caroline Leavitt and Gayle Brandeis who I knew before I started my site. The fact that Pamela Anderson did an interview with me and linked to it on her website was huge for me. The majority of the authors are awesome and kind and grateful. Writers are generally speaking, a wonderful bunch.

I approach the authors through their PR people, some writers contact me directly. Paulina Porizkova wouldn't be interviewed for Model Summer and Angelina Jolie's manager said she wasn't giving interviews for her book Notes From My Travels. I was totally bummed!

Imagine me and Angelina doing an interview? We would become best friends forever and our kids could play together, we could get tattoos and were matching black clothes! She really missed out.

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring novelists. You refused to give up when it looked like a large publishing house wouldn't grab your manuscript...how did you then go about getting published?

I wrote two books and sent out hundreds and hundreds of query letters to agents. I received so many rejections that I seriously lost count of all of them. I could have wallpapered my whole house with those rejection letters.

When I wrote my third novel, A Thousand Dollars for a Kiss, I began the process all over again and of course the rejections trickled in. It was torture! I thought maybe I should self publish. I couldn't bear the thought of one more "no". I assumed that because I had a well known website and a built in audience of book buyers getting an agent would be easy. Not so.

At this time, Ephemera Bound got in touch with me to review their books. Instead of reviewing books, I asked if they would be interested in publishing my novel. I submitted it; they liked it and set me up with an editor. I was anxious.

4) What were the pros and cons of taking this route?

The positives aspects of going with a tiny publisher was that my book would be published in less than a year, I would work with an editor, I wouldn't need an agent, I would have a say in the cover art, the book would be available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com. I would finally have a published book that people could read. My dream of being a published author would come true. Fame and success were sure to follow! Visions of Prada and a new Infiniti FX 35 danced in my head.

The downside is a small publisher doesn't have a lot of marketing or advertising money, I did not get an advance, they didn't send out review copies to the big reviewers so my book was not widely exposed.

Places like Barnes & Noble, Costco, and Target have deals with the bigger publishers to have their books displayed and/or sold there but not with a small, relatively unknown publisher. Had I held out and found an agent who could have negotiated a great deal for me, my book would be in every book store and I'd be zooming around in my silver Infiniti wearing my True Religion jeans, lunching at The Ivy and shopping at Neiman Marcus.

5) What are you working on now?

I finished the sequel to A Thousand Dollars for a Kiss which is called Fifty Cents for Your Soul. It's about the celebrity obsessed character of Barrett and it features Marilyn Monroe. I'm plotting out the third book in my Hollywood series; this one will take place in the 60's with Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. I love that whole era. I wish I could wear faded bell bottoms and daisies in my hair all the time. But with MAC Lipglass and YSL mascara of course.

I'm reviewing my beloved beauty products on Hello Dollface and interviewing writers on Conversations With Famous Writers. Lately on my blog, I'm featuring movie trailers and news of novels being made into films. My goal is to have my books made into movies and somehow develop other good books into films. Angelina and I will become BFF and she can also star in my movies and we could do charity work together. It's a win/win all around.