The Official POD Critic Rating System Post

Mistakes and errors such as those in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling, etc., won’t lose authors as many points as those in story structure, plotting, character development, and overall execution. Also, if a story isn’t accessible enough, major points will be taken off for that. If a book is engaging, despite its editorial flaws, it can certainly earn a passing grade under the POD Critic rating system. You see, errors in punctuation, grammar, and spelling can easily be fixed. Errors in story structure and plotting, and sloppy execution, are other matters altogether, and tackling these issues may not result in a better book. Once the underlying quality is there, however, and a story is captivating for what it is, despite its many flaws, a capable editor can usually salvage it.

Now I’m not quite sure how other reviewers arrive at their conclusions regarding the books they vet, but I evaluate books with all of the above in mind. It is just my way of doing things. And I offer this post simply to give you, the reader, a better sense of how we at POD Critic (that is “I”) do things around here. I mean, we are talking about POD books here, and we’re all aware of the limited resources available to many authors, so there is almost always going to be errors of some kind found within the pages of a given title. If I were to judge these books with the idea that grammatical, punctuation, spelling, and other errors aren’t supposed to be there, then hardly any of them would get the “A Worthy Read” rating. While I’ve acquired a reputation of being a “hard” critic, I am also very fair and considerate, without being partial or overly charitable.

That said, I’ve decided to add a guide of sorts to the site, which will clue you in as to what the ratings actually mean. This should aid you in your choice of books to purchase. The guide follows below:

Three and a Half Golden Eggs and Above

If a book receives four golden eggs, you can be sure that I’m endorsing it, with the full backing of the POD Critic Special Selection seal, no less. The book was considered outstanding for reasons that will be pointed out in the review; and there is probably a high degree of originality—basically the book hit all the right marks and is considered a rare gem. Nothing more needs to be said about this.

Three and a half golden eggs mean that a book is highly recommended for sheer quality, accessibility, and entertainment value. It is the next best thing to receiving four golden eggs, and this achievement won’t be met very easily.

Three Golden Eggs

Whenever a book receives three golden eggs, I’m not saying that the book comes without flaws, because it probably has a tremendous amount strewn throughout, but I basically warn of that in my review. Three golden eggs always indicate that I believe a book will be to your liking, despite its flaws—that is, if the genre, story, or plot is something that attracts you as a reader.

Two and a Half Golden Eggs

This means you may or may not like the book, but there are elements that will probably interest you. This rating also indicates that the book is perhaps poorly executed, meaning it isn’t as accessible as the books that receive a higher rating, but it isn’t exactly dead in the water either.

Two Golden Eggs

Venture at your own risk. I didn’t like it, but maybe you might. I appreciated the efforts of the author, and their valiant attempt at writing a book, but they fell far short of their goal, whatever goal that was.

One and a Half Golden Eggs and Below

Like the rating system says: “Fuggettaboutit!” Buy the book only if you need:

1. Firewood,
2. A new doorstop, or
3. Something to extend a short table leg.