Me - but not to put on reviews on sites or Amazon using an alias! I'm not that daft! What I've done is write short self-critiques of my books on my own website. Done two so far: Big Brother and Epiworld. Going to do Abbie's Rival and Goalden Girl shortly. I've done it because it's easy to think your book is the best thing to come into print since Gone With The Wind, but I know my work isn't perfect at all (Gone With The Wind isn't!) and I don't mind holding my hands up to that. Someone on Facebook said, 'Whoa!' but actually I found it quite therapeutic. Has it affected sales? Well, no, not really.
Yet if I announced I was setting up a page on my site inviting indie authors to self-critique their books I wouldn't get one single taker!
It's not easy to be self-critical, however. It's easy to say what you like about your book (and there's a danger you can talk yourself into thinking, 'Yeah. I'm right, that's good that bit!' when it may not be!) but not what you don't like. For instance, with Big Brother, I felt I could have given more time to the editing. This is reflected in a lot of the reviews, but I do have an excuse. Not only was I trying to juggle my writing with my work (which I do, anyway) but also with family problems. I was constantly in worry mode. I live 180 miles away from home and it felt like I was continually driving up and down the M6 for months. I'd spent nearly two years on Big Brother and I wanted to get it out, move onto the next book. Still, I know I should have given more time to it, but there you go. Most of the reviews have been well received so all isn't lost, but fair enough, it could have been better. All I can do is make sure I learn from my mistakes and do better next time.
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