I have  now received over three hundred reviews for my novels and have read every one of them. I’m struck by the variety of ways readers perceive my stories. One person’s “page turner” is another’s “thought provoking and beautifully written.”

Why so subjective?

Novel details and painting brushstrokes

To me, fiction is a partnership between the reader and the author. The words on a page do not constitute reality. The reader adds their own life experiences to the imagination of the author. Look at the images above, On the left is a zoomed in view of the brushstrokes, the detail meticulously crafted by the artist. On the right is the perspective of the viewer, a lovely Cape Cod scene. In the same way different people see brush strokes on a canvas and imagine a scene in a painting, each reader fills in the missing details of a story in a unique way.

The new age of publishing

With the many changes to the publishing industry, readers can partner with authors in another way. Anyone can publish today, leading to what some call “the slush pile” problem. The entire slush pile, once filtered by publishers, can now be found on Amazon. How is the reader to distinguish the wheat from the chaff? Here’s where the partnership comes in. If a reader finds a book they like, they need to take the place of the publisher’s marketing machine and tell the world about it–through reviews, social media and word of mouth.

As always, I’m open to providing a free copy, if you’re interested and willing to post an honest review.