Confessions of a Book Reviewer (1946)

I had a five year period where I wrote book reviews for fun - and to get more book reviews posted to Slashdot, so I could post Amazon affiliate links there.

It was an interesting combination of events. It got kicked off because I read a book review on Slashdot and the reviewer mentioned getting a book in the mail. I asked ( not expecting any response ) how people just got books in the mail for free.

Later that day I got an email from a publicist at O'Reilly. That kicked things off.

When I was in the thick of it a few years in I got to exchange brief emails with Jon Scalzi, Tim O'Reilly and Lev Grossman. I think Grossman was my favorite because I've read his reviews, respect his ability and he complimented my review of The Magicians.

The other part of it was that I had a Slashdot subscription and that meant I saw things that were greenlit by the editors early. All book reviews would have a link to Barnes & Noble. I would see the reviews early and often get a first post and I'd put a link to the book on Amazon at a lower price. That would be an affiliate link and anyone who clicked on it - I'd get a cut of anything they bought on Amazon for the next 24 hours.

So the publicists liked me getting reviews in front of a large tech audience ( Slashdot still was at the time ) and I took my affiliate payments as Amazon gift cards - so I got free stuff.

Something else I found funny was my reviews were all tech books, Sci-fi or fantasy. Whenever possible I'd get an ebook. Somehow I got on a list with Penguin where they were just mailing all kinds of physical books that were fiction but not anything I'd read. I couldn't get them to stop. They kept sending them for years after I moved away from where I lived at the time. (Friends would occasionally let me know books were still showing up.)

* The text describes a 35-year-old man, looking far older than his age, living in a disorganized, cold room filled with cigarette ends, half-empty tea cups, and piles of paperwork. He is a writer, specifically a book reviewer, who is constantly overwhelmed by his work and struggles with procrastination, distractions, and a chaotic environment. * This man is constantly sent numerous books for review, most of which are on topics he knows little about, forcing him to read extensively to avoid inaccuracies in his reviews. Despite the paralyzing dread he feels about starting his reviews, he always manages to meet his deadlines. * The author comments on the thankless, irritating, and exhausting nature of the job of a book reviewer, stating that most reviews give inadequate or misleading accounts of the books they discuss. The job requires the reviewer to constantly invent reactions to books they may have no feelings about. * The author criticizes the system in which all books are reviewed, stating that this results in overpraising a majority of them. He emphasizes that the reviewer’s truthful reaction would often be disinterest or a claim of the book's worthlessness, but these honest reactions are not what the public wants to read. * The author suggests a solution: ignoring most books and only giving extensive reviews to a select few that matter. He also compares the plight of a book reviewer to a film critic, stating that at least the former can work from home, while the latter often has to sacrifice their time and integrity for little reward