Publishers Weekly Review

On May 3, I received the prize for making it to the quarter-finalists in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.

A Publishers Weekly Review.

And it didn’t disappoint.

Don’t get me wrong.  Part of me hoped for a miracle, that the PW reviewer would say my novel was “best seller” material and that I was the next Jodi Picoult.  But the rational part of me knew that my novel still needed work.  I just didn’t know exactly where.

Now I do.

I won’t bore you with the details.  I’m sure you’ve seen PW reviews before.

When you click on a book at Amazon.com and scroll down, you’ll likely find an Amazon.com review and a Publisher’s Weekly review.  And, believe me, the PW reviewers don’t hold back their punches.  If you check the PW review for Jodi Picoult’s House Rules, for instance, you’ll get a taste of how tough they are.

Following are a few passages I plucked from the review:

1. “…Picoult has a rough time in this Picoult-esque blend of medical and courtroom drama that lacks her usual storytelling finesse.”
2. “The whodunit is stretched sit-com thin and handled poorly…”
3. “…the wobbly plotting is a massive detriment…”

And this about a master!

Guess my review wasn’t so bad after all.

Anyway, it’s not a PW reviewer’s job to line-edit or nitpick about sentence structure, but to give an overall impression of the work.  They’ll overlook a few spelling and punctuation errors, but they won’t tolerate a bad story.  And the things my reviewer mentioned are ones I can–and will–fix before querying an agent.

Thank goodness I found out on time.

Some contestants didn’t react well to their reviews.

What some of the them overlook is that handling criticism is part of the process.  Getting a PW review is huge.  Nasty or not.  It’s best to put it aside for a few days and then go back and re-read it later.  I’m grateful that a PW reviewer pinpointed exactly where my novel needs work.  I’m letting the information ferment for awhile and hope my subconscious will come up with some solutions.

And will I enter the contest again next year?  You betcha.  But with a different novel this time.  This contest gave me hope and a mission during the three months I was a contender.  And I learned a lot.  I have a good pitch.  I have two good opening chapters.  And I need to get back to work.

Someday I look forward to another  Publisher Weekly Review and hope it will come closer to declaring my novel a darn good read.

How good is that?

As always, thanks for stopping by.