Our site has gotten off to a great start and the first month was filled with reviews. The thing that was most surprising to us was the number of requests for reviews just in the first month! Obviously word is getting out and we couldn’t be happier!

There is a most interesting trend that I’m seeing with the requests we’re getting. As an LGBT review site, we are getting requests for all types of books, including gay male stories, a few bisexual stories, even a transgender story here and there. But what we’re getting sent in droves is reqeusts for review of lesbian stories. Lesbian stories from all different genres: romance, sci-fi, historical, western, action, mystery, short stories, novels. You name it and we’ve likely gotten a request for at least one lesbian book in that genre.

We aren’t complaining one bit, and in fact I couldn’t be happier, but since I’m the lone reviewer of lesbian fiction on the site right now, I’m trying desperately to keep up! We’ve mentioned several times our need for more reviewers, especially reviewers looking to read lesbian fiction. Hopefully soon we’ll have additional help, but until then I’m reading as fast as I can.

A lot of the authors sending requests have expressed their excitement over a review site willing to review lesbian stories. I’ve been wondering a lot lately, why aren’t there more reviewers and review sites that read and review lesbian fiction? Are there review sites that I’m just not aware of? Are there reviewers out there that I just haven’t found?

There are a plethora of sites and blogs that review gay male fiction, and many many reviewers that only like to read stories with gay men. I can think of one site other than this one that reviews lesbian fiction. Why aren’t there more sites out there that focus solely on lesbian fiction? Where are all the readers of lesbian fiction going for reviews of books?

One of my theories is connected to a reason why ebooks of lesbian stories just don’t sell as well as ebooks of gay male stories. Lesbian paperback books sell very well, and it seems that the majority of readers of lesbian fiction just aren’t as entrenched in the emerging ebook industry. The demand from readers seems to still be for paperbacks, for novels or anthologies of short stories. With the majority of readers of lesbian fiction buying paperbacks, it then would make sense to assume that those readers aren’t as active in any online communities and therefore aren’t as involved in review sites or blogs.

What are your thoughts about the fact that there aren’t very many sites that review lesbian fiction? Would you like to see more sites and reviewers focusing on lesbian fiction? Do you know of any reviewers that read lesbian fiction?

For now, I’ll just have to keep reading and reviewing lesbian fiction and hope that somewhere out there are reviewers that will eventually find our site and want to help out. If you know of any readers that like to review lesbian fiction definitely send them our way!

Star ratings are a fixture of reviews and found everywhere, but they’re not always friendly. Also the star rating meanings seem to change from person to person, site to site, and with the phases of the moon in conjunction with the 12^th star from a distant galaxy as it rotates to the left. So many regard these ratings as somewhat mysterious and without a lot of meaning. Here at Three Dollar Bill Reviews, I’ll try to help elucidate what our particular ratings mean. Also these ratings will stay consistent no matter what site the review is reposted to. Although Good Reads, Amazon, Library Thing and the like don’t allow half stars so the ratings may be rounded up or down accordingly.

So what exactly is our rating system and what does it mean?

Well we rate on a classic 1-5 star system. We will be posting reviews of any rating so we differ from some sites that will only post 3 star reviews and above. Our hope is that each review is thorough and detailed enough to offer a reasonable explanation of the book, our feelings, and the rating. This isn’t always easy but we strive to do our best.

1 star reviews – these are books that we didn’t like. That may seem self explanatory but within these stories we found very little good to talk about. The story may have an offending element that we explain or have serious problems that led to severe dislike. These are books we wouldn’t have finished if not for review and/or wanted to throw said book one or more times.

2 star reviews – these are books we disliked but had some positive elements. Again these may be long reviews to explain many aspects that didn’t work for us and why. Here there may be serious problems with the plot, writing, characters, or all of the above. We got through the book but wouldn’t recommend these titles.

3 star reviews – these are perhaps the hardest reviews to write because the books are ok, decent but not ones we want to read again. Perhaps there were problems in the book but it may simply be we didn’t connect to the characters or story in any meaningful way leaving us bored or disconnected. Some of the stories may be good or decent, just nothing we’d want to read again. Since most books are likely to be average, 3 stars is NOT a bad rating. This rating means the book is ok/good and may fit in well with the genre.

4 star reviews – these are books we liked and would read again. These books entertained and maybe had problems but we got beyond those to still think positively about the book. These are stories that rise above the majority of books in the genre and offer something unique or well written. We enjoyed the story and recommend these titles to readers.

5 star reviews – these are the best of the best. This rating is reserved for the very select few that are simply outstanding in our humble opinion. You likely won’t see this rating all that often but it means the title is something special. While all of these books are highly recommended, these titles are also keepers and beloved additions to our shelves. As voracious readers, anything rated 5 stars caused us to sit up and take serious notice and so should you.