I will begin writing reviews based on this philosophy January 15, 2021. I wrote reviews prior to this date not following this philosophy. From this point forward, I intend to apply this philosophy to my reviews.

My Philosophy for Book Reviews

My goal when writing reviews is to provide honest guidance for readers while supporting authors. From my perspective, the purpose of a review is not to provide author feedback. I view published works as completed and static documents. I understand that some authors will make changes based on reader feedback, even after publication, but I do not believe a public review is the forum for that kind of feedback. Therefore, technical problems, like typos and grammar inconsistencies will only be mentioned if they are so severe that they impact my ability to enjoy a work as a reader.

After careful consideration, I have decided to create three distinct categories of publication that I will treat differently in my reviews: Big Five Publishers (and their imprints), Indie Publishers, and Self Published. Because of the enormous disparity in resources between these three different methods of publication, I believe it is unfair to review them in the same way. I will also be reading classics and non-fiction, but I will not be seriously reviewing them because I do not believe I have the proper background to give helpful reviews of these books. I have not read enough of them.

A few rules that will remain the same across all three publication types:

If I do not finish a book, I will not leave a starred review unless I made through 60% or more or there is something deeply wrong that I want to warn readers about. Either way, I will always disclose that I did not finish the book and how far I got in it.
I will always disclose books that I received as ARCs and/or if I know the author.
I have a soft spot for novellas. I will tend to give higher star ratings and put more effort into written reviews for novellas because I love the format and I want to encourage publishers big and small to pick them up more often, and I want to encourage authors to write them.

Big Five Publishers (and their imprints):

I will be the hardest on these books. As I mentioned before, these publishers have access to resources far beyond what anyone else has access to, and as such, I expect premium quality from these publishing houses and their imprints. I will be much less forgiving of minor plot inconsistencies or stilted dialog. If a big five book has a lot of reviews, or I am able to find a review that accurately hits on all of my thoughts about the book, I will only write something short and quick. When there are two hundred reviews singing the praises of a book in itemized detail, I don't feel the need to spend my time adding to the choir. I'd rather reserve my detailed reviews for books that are harder to find information about. That being said, I will leave a more detailed review of a big five book if it happens to be one that only has a handful of reviews or in a format that I feel is underserved, such as novellas.

I will also give the full range of starred reviews from one star to five star based on my enjoyment of the books.

Five star: I really loved this book and would read it again. I would recommend this book.
Four star: I enjoyed this book, but wouldn't say I loved it. I would recommend this book.
Three star: This book wasn't really for me, but I can understand why other people would like it and I didn't dislike it. I would recommend this book to some people.
Two star: I disliked this book. I would not recommend this book.
One star: I hated this book, and it probably contained something offensive. I would actively discourage people from reading this book.

Indie Publishers:

I recognize that, although these publishers have the might of a business behind them, they have fewer resources than the big five publishers. As such, I am more forgiving of these publications. I still expected high quality from these publishers, but I also recognize that I'm going to see more of the author in these books. They are created with a smaller team and what is lost in polish is gained in authenticity. As this tends to be a middle ground between big publishers and self pubs, I intend to treat it as just that with my reviews. Similar to big five books, if I see that there are a lot of reviews, or I agree with a lot of the reviews that are already up, I will not bother with a detailed review and just write something quick and short about my overall impressions of the book. If there aren't many reviews, I will give a more detailed review. If the publishing house is new or particularly small, I will give a review more akin to what is described in the next section for self published books.

For these books, I do not use the full range of starred reviews.

Five star: I liked/loved this book. I would recommend this book.
Four star: I was lukewarm on this book, but I can see where others might like it. I would recommend this book under limited circumstances.
Three star: I did not like this book. I would not recommend this book.
One star: I hated this book, and it contained something offensive. I would actively discourage people from reading it.

Self Published:

This is the hardest category for me to review. On the one hand, I want to encourage authors with the courage to publish themselves, but at the same time I want to keep my reviews honest. For me, the draw of self published books is that, because of the incredibly limited team of people who work on them, often just the author and one or two editors, maybe a small group of beta readers, these books are authentic. When reading a self-pub book, you are reading the book the author wrote, as opposed to the book designed by a committee that you'll be getting from a publishing house. As such, there are going to be mistakes. Every reader has a different threshold for mistakes they can overlook. There are certain grammatical pet peeves that may bother me, but don't bother other people. There is also the challenge that a negative star review of a self pub book with limited marketing resources is much more damaging than the same review for a book with a publisher behind it. As such, I have decided to focus more on the written part of a self published book review. My self pub reviews will come in two parts. Part one will be more akin to what I would write for a traditionally published book, an honest accounting of what I liked and didn't like about the book with a focus on the story. Part two will highlight what shortcomings a reader will have to be willing to look past to enjoy the book. My goal with self published books is to empower readers to choose books that they will enjoy, even if the book isn't for everyone. I want to help connect authors with good readers for their books.

Due to the extremely subjective nature of reading self published books, and the disproportionate damage that can be done by low star reviews I will not be giving full range stars to self published books.

Five star: I liked/loved this book. I would recommend this book.
No stars: If I come away with a lukewarm or negative impression of a self published book, I won't give it any stars and simply write about it. This way, I don't negatively impact the book, but I also provide honest feedback for other readers.
One star: There is something seriously wrong with this book. I will only give a self pub book one star if there is something deeply wrong that I feel the book would be harmful to read for most readers. I would actively discourage people from reading this book.