WC Newsletter Feedback and Submissions

Wow, you really hit the nail on the head, Holly! I agree with you 100%! Reviews should always be sent with a rating. Also, if an item is not perfect, helpful and encouraging comments are much appreciated. I know I shouldn't get upset, but if I get anything under a 5.0, I would love to hear what I could do to improve it. About a month ago, I received a 3.5 on a piece that had been rated rather well. I didn't mind the 3.5 so much, but the comment that with it was... "This is wonderful! I just loved it!" That's it. No helpful suggestions at all. Sometimes I will write back to my reviewers and ask them what I could do to improve the piece. The usual response is... "Nothing. It's perfect just the way it is!" Maybe most authors would be happy with that answer, but it's very frustrating to me as I want to improve my writing if it is not perfect. How can we get it across to reviewers? There are so many articles already written on reviewing.

One more comment that I tend to agree with is about the reviewers that are doing it as a contest to pad their statistics. While I do my fair share of reviewing, I work 40 hours a week and do have another life, lol! But I have committed myself to the Noticing Newbies Committee so I try to do at least 3 reviews a day, if possible. I have noticed some reviewers in the Public Review Forum are giving out advice on typos that aren't even incorrect at times. I cringe and wonder if I should send an email to that author and tell them. I haven't done it yet, but what I should probably do is send an email to the reviewer and let them know. Or perhaps I should do what I'm doing now and stay out of it. Another thing that I don't understand are reviewers there that hand out a 5.0 accompanied with 2 or 3 corrections. Um.... If it needs any work at all, to me it is not worthy of a 5.0.

Okay! I'm done, lol! Great article.

Love, Cubby ")