101 Writing Tips from an Exhausted Reviewer

Stalking Your Reviewer

So, you're on a mission to find a reviewer. Hopefully, by now, you know that there are good reviewers and not-so-good reviewers.

Most of the time, you'll find a review store, request a review, sit back, and wait patiently. Your review will arrive in few days (or weeks, or months, or centuries), and you will either be thrilled at how constructive and helpful the review is, or you will wish you hadn't wasted your time on the payment for that reviewer.

Why would you have such regrets?

Simple: the review was trash.

So, how do you avoid this? Surely, you will only know if a reviewer isn't great until after you receive the review, right?

Wrong.

In this chapter, we're here to help you see whether your reviewer is good before you actually request your review.

When you're looking to see if your reviewer is right for you, there are three main places to look: their profile, their review store, and their stories. Let's start with the first one, shall we?

CHECK ONE: THEIR PROFILE

This check isn't a very long one, but it is an important one. When you check out their profile, make sure you ask yourselves the following questions:

- When were they last active?

This is crucial if you don't want to end up waiting for fifty-eight years for your review to arrive. Make sure you see if they are still active and accepting requests. You can do this by scrolling through their feed, or seeing when was the last time they posted on their newsfeed. Additionally, you can also shoot them a message asking if they are still active and accepting reviews.

- What fandoms/genres do they like?

This is most important if you are submitting a fanfiction to be reviewed. Most people tend to list the fandoms they like on their profile, and this is the perfect place for you to check whether the reviewer actually knows your fandom. If they do, great! They'll know if your characterisation is doing the fandom justice, and they'll be less overwhelmed by the concepts within your story since they are already familiar with it.

A lot of reviewers tend to also write down the list of genres they like. This helps if you want to make sure that you're submitting to a reviewer who actually likes reading the genre that your story is in. If you scroll through their reading lists, you may also see whether they like stories that are similar to yours.

- Do they present themselves well?

This may sound like an odd thing to say. Surely, the way they present themselves does not necessarily reflect their reviewing skills, right? Just because my profile picture is a dog and I mention them in my profile, doesn't mean I'll keep bringing them up in my reviews, right?

Well, it sort of is important to see what this reviewer is saying. For example, if you see them publicly bad-mouthing a story they have had to review, then you may want to avoid them - the last thing you want them to do is publicly shame your story as well. Additionally, if they seem to be complaining about reviewing in general, or other reviewers, then chances are, you should probably stray away (unless they have a good reason for complaining, of course!).

Basically, you want professionalism when it comes to your review. Make sure your reviewer acts like a professional.

CHECK TWO: THEIR PREVIOUS REVIEWS

Reading the previous reviews done by said reviewer can give you an incentive on how they manage the stories they read. Is this reviewer broad, kind, or blunt? Do they tend to focus more on the grammar side, or do they prefer the plot and characters? Do they interact with their clients in some way when they're asking for clarifications, or are they open minded and okay with rebutting statements concerning their pieces of advice?