Image via WikipediaI develop peer review forms for authors. Our company, Opine Publishing, is in the process of another round of reviews by peers for a new book by an author new to our company. It's an exciting time!
Yet, when I sent the book I wrote to a publisher (my penname was Jane Bullard) years ago, before I became a publisher, I did not know about peer reviews outside academic circles. I did hire a book analyst and an editor to look at the first chapter and the entire manuscript, respectively.
Later, as founder of a start up small press, I attended a three-day workshop with self-publishing guru Dan Poynter, He said that a major help for advance feedback is the peer review. (Equally important to Dan is professional cover design.) Peer reviewers are people invited by the author, or the editor. Those that agreeto participate, read all or parts of a manuscript and give feedback. Peer reviewers are people who know the subject or sub-topics of the book in progress.
Did Poynter's advice about peer reviews prove helpful? Having had some years of experience with peer reviews, including designing specific review forms for authors, I would not send a book to a printer without putting its manuscript, almost ready for print, through a peer review process.
Yes, a peer review definitely can strengthen a book's case. And sometimes reviewers allow their comments to be used within the book or on the cover. That's beyond review, to endorsement, which is priceless when it comes from thoughtful advance readers.
The main advantage of the peer review process is to let the author and publisher know if the most important messages of a book are reaching readers' interests, including emotional impact and enlightening experience and information. That's the general picture, which well designed questions can achieve. A well planned peer review process can give a forthcoming book the kind of vetting every book needs.
Copyright (c) 2011 Jean Purcell and Opinari and Opine Publishing
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