Australian journalist Stephanie Pegler, 38, is the publisher of the Chicklit Club website (www.chicklitclub.com), which began in October 2007. She lives in Perth, Western Australia, and is the mother of three children. 

Q: How did you become a book review blogger?

A: I had been madly devouring chick lit books for several years and was always scouring the internet to find out about new releases and recommendations about what to read next. And it was such hard work since there was no one site that did all that – so I decided to set up the Chicklit Club website in late 2007.

Q: How do you decide what books to review?

A: My basic criteria is it must be about a central female character or characters; generally written by a woman; set in contemporary times and with a chick lit flavour.  I also give priority to books that have been released this year, although the site’s A-Z facility for titles and authors means we always want to add to our  fantastic back catalogue (about 550 rated titles at last count). Up until June this year, all the material on the site was written by me but we now have team of enthusiastic contributors from the US, Britain, Singapore and New Zealand.

Q: What is the demographic of your readership, and do you choose books that are marketed towards them?

A: Even though the site originates in Australia, most of our readers (about 80 per cent) are from the United States, although we have followers in another 130 countries. I would presume 99.9 per cent are women, and most are aged between 20-50. I just read books that any chick lit lover would want to read.

Q: Do you ever do reviews to intentionally expose your readers to books they might not otherwise pick up on their own?

A: I included an Australian Made section to help promote books from home-grown authors to our international audience. We also run regular book news called Making Her Debut, to showcase books from new authors plus we also make an effort to publicise books from outside the big publishers’ lists such as self-published ones. I have had regular comments from readers saying thanks for exposing them to books they wouldn’t otherwise have heard about.

Q: How much does cover design and title influence your decision about doing a review?

A: I have to admit a cover will totally draw me to a book. Chick lit covers have such a distinctive look, so I can usually recognise one at 100 paces. When I’m scanning title lists, the chick lit ones usually stand out from the more romance genre ones. And interestingly I’ve noticed a seasonal cover colour seems to dominate. One month of releases might have lots of pink, then the next it’ll be yellow tones, and then on to burgundy or turquoise (Take a look at our Release Dates section http://www.chicklitclub.com/releasedates.html if you don’t believe me!)

Q: When reading a book for a review, do you read as you would strictly for your own pleasure or are you keeping an eye out for certain components?

A: I do the site primarily as a reader, for readers. I’m a journalist but don’t have any specialised training as a book reviewer so we don’t actually run long, opinionated reviews – instead just a short plot synopsis, quick opinion and a rating out of 10. So, no I don’t have any special criteria I use when I read each book – just do I enjoy it, is it a good storyline with interesting characters, and it is well written and easy to read?

Q: What is more important to you, quality of writing or the actual story?

A: Probably the story because even the best writing in the world can’t hide a boring plot. But if the writing doesn’t flow well or has been poorly edited, then it is going to lose points. I’m also not a fan of really cheesy romance. I really love twists and any books that surprise me. Irish author Melissa Hill is the absolute genius of this – often I will be part way through one of her books and think ‘aha, I’ve got you now, I know what’s going to happen’ but every time she’s totally sprung a killer twist that I never saw coming.

Q: Do you compare your reviews of a given book to those of your peers? If so, do you find your views are generally similar or dissimilar?

A: I always write up my reviews before seeing what other people are saying, but I will then take a look at the mood on Amazon. But I can’t remember ever changing a rating because of other opinions. Sometimes I’ve really hated a book that has raving reviews from others (or possibly these reviews are posted by the author’s nearest and dearest) but usually when a book gets a 3 or 4 out of 10 from me, the book falls into a category where half the reviewers liked it and the other half hated it. And I’ve been pleased to see that often the new releases I’ve assessed as a High Rater (8 or more out of 10) have then gone on to become reader favourites, such as Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon.

Q: Do you think the consolidation of the publishing industry has been positive or negative for the quality and diversity of books that make it to the market?

A: It is not something I really know much about. I think the good news out of the economic downturn for chick lit readers is our supply certainly doesn’t seem to be drying up as it is well known that people turn to light entertainment when times are tough. And despite what people think about chick lit being all about shoes and shopping, there is a huge diversity of topics out there.

Q: Do you think e-books are going to make printed books obsolete like CDs have become in the wake of the iPod revolution?

A: I work all day on a computer so sitting in front of a screen to read a book is like a punishment to me. And I’ve tried listening to books on my way home in the car but I just don’t follow the story as closely as when the words are right in front of me. And of course because I work in newspapers, the demise of printed material is not something I’m hoping for!  Even though I love my iPod and never buy CDs anymore, I can’t see a day where I won’t want to hold a nice paperback in my hands.

Q: What is the best reward for you from blogging about books?

A: The site’s popularity was not something I expected so I think watching our visitor numbers rising every month has been my biggest buzz. And it’s been a delight dealing with the authors as most have been so nice and down-to-earth (yes, they are just normal people!). I originally thought getting free books would be the best bonus but the pressures of a towering to-be-read pile sometimes overshadows that perk!

Q: What are your three favorite books?

A: My top three all-time favourite books are The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger because who doesn’t love an evil boss story and I also crave books set in the world of magazines. I remember reading Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed on a caravan holiday and finding it remarkable that I actually liked Rachel, the woman who had the affair with her best friend’s man, more than the “victim” Darcy. And Where Rainbows End (aka Rosie Dunne), by Cecelia Ahern, probably hit home as I’d known my husband Craig since we were kids and it could have been so easy for us to have stepped off on to different paths like Rosie and Alex.  (And then who would I have turned to to do all my website design?)

 Thanks Stephanie!

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