Today I speak with Jessa Crispin, editor of Bookslut, a monthly web magazine dedicated to books and the people who love them. I find out from her the delicacies of book reviewing and how one can write online about what they love and turn it into a living.

What advice would you give to a newcomer to book reviewing who will be tackling his or her first review?
Don't read other reviews of that book, at least not until you have your first draft written. It's easy to for your opinion to be swayed by others, especially if you're nervous about having a controversial opinion. If you hated a book that everybody else loved, or vice versa, don't be concerned with it. Just make your case the best you can and don't worry about the general concensus. Also, don't be so nervous that you start cranking out the Publisher's Weekly sterile reviews all written by formula. You should read other reviews that the publication has printed to find out if there's a particular style they only use, but otherwise write in your own voice.

How do you determine a 'serious' blog versus one that might be more of an ego or fly-by-night project?
Well, first off, I think all blogs are an ego project, but I think you just have to read it for a while. If it holds your interest after reading it for a few days, if it's consistently good, it's probably a high quality blog.
Blogging doesn't really get anyone anything, so if a blogger is out for personal gain, the blog will stop being updated pretty quickly.

Tell us about the publication you're starting.
Saucy is for food what Bookslut is for books. Features, reviews, interviews, columns... I'm not much of a fan of blogs, unless they're strictly news gathering. I like magazine formats with lots of different voices covering lots of different angles. There are a lot of food blogs out there right now, but I wanted to read a food webzine. So I created one.

For writers hoping to hitch their wagon to the buzz star, are there any book topics or genres that seem to be getting hot right about now?
Comics, of course. Science fiction is getting a little more attention, although you don't see many reviews outside of those ghettoized round ups. I think we might start seeing the return of poetry reviews, although that might be my blind optimism speaking.

You get all kinds of feedback for Bookslut. Do you have any tips for freelancers or writers on developing thick skin when dealing with editors and critics?
I've had such mixed experiences with writing reviews. Some editors will want you to do three or four drafts of a 250-word review, and others you'll write a 750-word review that they take with minimal changes. Either way you just can't take it personally, although figuring that out takes some time. As far as critics go, someone is always going to disagree with you. If you state an opinion, someone will always have the opposing view. There is nothing you can do about it. But most people who will write you to tell you you're wrong are very nice about it. I've had many very interesting conversations with people who disagreed with something I wrote. And the people who are rude about it, who get ragingly angry because you thought a particular novel was too sappy or fell apart at the end, are probably just having a bad day and
should be ignored. That takes a while to figure out too, which e-mails should be answered and which should just be deleted.