Interesting, but making it a Patreon that we have to pay to access and discover all the great new LitRPG/GameLit books is a problem. Casual readers won't join to learn about a new genre, and writers need to attract new readers to keep their careers alive.
This is a wonderful idea and I have a few thoughts on it. I'm just a bit concerned about where they're going to find "reviews from notable GameLit bloggers" though. Are there a lot of those that I just simply don't know of? I've tried searching for respectable reviewers I can trust, but so far nothing has come up. I mean, if there are maybe 5-6 good reviewers (the more the better, of course, but 5-6 should be the minimum) who make their preference clear, read pretty much everything and give honest, thoughtful reviews, that would be really helpful for readers.
I don’t think it’s appropriate for authors to pay reviewers. I meant something like getting hired as a critic for a magazine or website. But you’ve seen the reviews I’ve posted here and you can check my review history on amazon - lemme grab a link.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AGSYWERKOXVJIQLWELXAZYZLTORA?ie=UTF8&preview=true (I think that’s my profile link? Either way it should be searchable under my name there, Cheshire Phoenix)
I think what LitRPG Reads needs is a collection of impartial respectable reviewers and article writers who are willing to write regularly and the website can be a place for organized, intelligent debates, which will be tremendously helpful for the community. Like, you can publish reader posts "In Defense of XYZ Online" or something like that, and then have a heated comments section below the article (to drive traffic! ). Right now it's good, but it's kinda 'safe'.
LitRPG Reads should hire Chesh as a regular "reader reviewer" cuz he writes really well and has interesting stuff to say about stories
I waffle back and forth on the idea, honestly. On the one hand, I can write a hell of a review. But on the other hand, I’m pretty sure the only reason I can is because I don’t have to. If you look at the reviews I’ve posted here, they follow a pretty set pattern. Start with something completely unrelated, then pivot and draw the parallel between what I was rambling on about and what I’m actually reviewing. I have a hard time forcing that on things where it just doesn’t apply. If I were to take a paid position as a reviewer, whether for litrpgreads or any other site, I’d be obligated to produce a certain amount of content - and that obligation would force it to be churned out rather than crafted. It would turn my small batch microbrews into Pabst blue ribbon, essentially. And the idea that my quality would suffer to drive quantity is just something I can’t abide. So, I can’t in good conscience take a paid reviewing gig.
How about being paid for things you've already written? New model: readers can submit well-written reviews, and if a review passes the writing standard, the piece is published on the website, and the reviewer gets a small amount of 'credits', which can be collected and... uh, eventually traded for free books/amazon gift cards? (I can imagine this would be a nightmare to manage though...)
Eh, just keep it as a labor of love. Paid reviews are ALWAYS something of a sticky wicket, so it’s better to keep money (other than advertising revenue on blogs and such) out of them. Think of it as practicing solid ethics in book journalism, heh. Seriously though, there’s just too much to factor in, especially for a small shop. A globally distributed magazine like say, GameInformer, or one of the old (and now mostly defunct) sf/f magazines is another story entirely. Even those have some pretty major controversies surrounding them - controversy that they can ignore by size alone, if nothing else, but even a small amount of dissatisfaction with a site the size of Paul’s would be enough to tank the entire enterprise.