{"id":3663,"date":"2014-03-04T05:06:13","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T12:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i81.a52.mywebsitetransfer.com\/?page_id=3663"},"modified":"2014-03-04T05:06:13","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T12:06:13","slug":"dactyl-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dactylfoundation.org\/?page_id=3663","title":{"rendered":"Dactyl Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For readers<\/strong>. As literary fiction disappears from the pages of major book reviews, it becomes harder to find good books to read. With tags forstyle<\/em> and\u00a0influence<\/em> and easy access to excerpts,\u00a0Dactyl Review<\/a><\/em> is unlike any other fiction review site, helping readers find the particular kinds of \u201cliterary fiction\u201d they prefer. Because we\u2019re not a commercial site, we don\u2019t favor the newest books or books by best-selling authors.\u00a0 We publish reviews of only the best literary fiction, older and new, as judged by other literary fiction writers.<\/p>\n

For writers<\/strong>. We encourage literary fiction authors to support the kind of work they admire by reviewing their favorite works on this site. (Click\u00a0here <\/a>to submit a review.) This will help authors build a readership for their own work. Reviewers can also offer their own books for review; for more information click\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0Reviewers with the highest percentage of positive feedback will be noted in the top ten reviewers section.\u00a0All books reviewed on this site may be submitted for consideration for the\u00a0Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award ($1000). Please see instructions\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Literary fiction\u00a0writers<\/em> can support Dactyl Review and the literary community by\u00a0contributing reviews<\/a>. Literary fiction needs YOU. \u00a0Literary fiction\u00a0readers<\/em> can support Dactyl Review and the literary community by buying books that are reviewed on this site. If you click a link on this site 4-6% of your purchase price will go to support Dactyl Review or (if the reviewer has provided the link) to support the writer who reviewed the book. Dactyl Foundation also accepts direct donations supporting Dactyl Review<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The\u00a0Dactyl Review<\/a>, <\/em>a\u00a0web 2.0 \u00a0website,\u00a0and the Dactyl Foundation Literary Award for undersung fiction are supported by donations from generous people like you. \u00a0Your donation, of any amount, is much appreciated and is fully \u00a0tax-deductible. Donations of $500 or more will be acknowledged on the website under \u201cSponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is this a Good Cause to Support?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social Good. <\/strong>Reading fiction helps build the pre-frontal cortex area, the seat of empathy, as no other kind of activity can.\u00a0What better reason do you need? Empathy is the ability to imagine other people\u2019s point of views, allowing you to provisionally hold a view not your own, in order to understand it before accepting, rejecting or adapting to it. \u201cLiterary\u201d fiction tends to offer new or fresh perspectives; whereas, \u201cgeneral\u201d fiction tends to confirm popular views and tends to, like movies, \u201cshow\u201d rather than \u201ctell,\u201d which does not help as much in developing a sense of perspective . Storytelling<\/em> is an ancient and essential part of the development of human culture.<\/p>\n

Literary Fiction is Inherently Non-Commercial and Needs Charitable Support. <\/strong>Only a small percentage of Americans read book-length works these days, and only a very small percentage of these people read literary fiction.\u00a0 Although there are rare and much-publicized exceptions, most literary fiction novels earn their authors less than $5000 and most of this earned income is reinvested into marketing.<\/p>\n

Why this Website Will Help Literary Fiction as No Other Can.<\/strong> For a number of years, publishing has been dominated by commercial fiction. Literary fiction novels and short story collections by small presses or independent authors have little chance of being noticed by reviewers or placed on bookstore shelves. \u00a0Even the literary fiction written by relatively well-known writers published by big houses has been pushed to the side by pseudo-literary fiction\u00a0 \u2014 written and reviewed by those who don\u2019t \u00a0know the difference between thought and sentimentality, poetry and the use of adjectives \u2014 such that the meaning of \u201cliterary\u201d is lost. There are four main unmet needs in the literary fiction community that, we if addressed, will improve the situation tremendously.<\/p>\n

1. Search Filter Help.<\/strong>
\nWhile there are a number of online social media groups where literary fiction writers and readers might form communities, currently none of these websites offers sophisticated filtering options that would allow writers and\/readers to connect with those who do the kind of writing that particularly interests them. Readers looking for literary fiction that suits their interests have to sift through too many books that are not appealing. \u00a0Our research has shown that \u201cliterary fiction\u201d is too broad to be very helpful to those looking to locate a book that meets the criteria of his or her own idiosyncratic definition of \u201cliterary.\u201d \u00a0Today, the Internet offers sophisticated tools for tagging and categorizing works and these tools have not been sufficiently utilized by literary websites. \u00a0Small press websites seldom categorize books by style or influence but by subject and author name. Our research has shown that literary fiction readers are not interested in particular subjects per se, but in certain types of writing. \u00a0And finally, most small press websites do not offer easy access to samples of the writing itself, \u00a0and likewise book reviews \u00a0tend not to offer samples of the writing. Writing samples are very helpful to readers looking for a particular style.
\n2. Niche Building Help<\/strong>.
\nThere is currently no online review site dedicated\u00a0solely<\/em> to literary fiction that is accessible to a general search. There is currently no online review site self-managed by the literary fiction community. \u00a0We feel that the Internet presents a wonderful opportunity for niche-building that has not been sufficiently utilized. We feel that it is important that literary fiction writers are judged by their peers and not by those who actually prefer other genres.
\n3. Timely Recognition.<\/strong>
\nMost review sites are dedicated to \u201cjust released\u201d titles. With the way the publishing system is currently organized books aren\u2019t given much time in front of judges and audiences. Those that don\u2019t make it immediately are tossed in the remaindered bin. A deep pity, as literary fiction is slow-growing and takes time to find its audience. No one in the literary fiction community denies this, and yet there are no awards for the best five-year-old novel; no reviewers interested in what came out last year.
\n4. Professional, objective reviews.<\/strong>
\nIn an age of reader-reviews and commercially motivated reviews, too often those who are both \u00a0uninterested in literary fiction and unqualified to judge it are given the task of reviewing it. If not simply overlooked, literary fiction will likely be criticized for its literary qualities: not observing conventional pacing or using too many difficult words. Moreover, too many reviewers merely give opinions without supplying examples from the writing to support their views.<\/p>\n

Addressing these needs.<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Dactyl Review<\/em> is managed by the literary fiction community.\u00a0Literary fiction writers are best judged by their peers. Fellow writers \u00a0are not motivated by commercial interests; they only want to help promote the kind of literary writing they like. \u00a0Since\u00a0DR <\/em>requires its reviewers to supply generous quotes to support their readings, the reviews on this site are more easily judged as accurate or not.<\/p>\n

DR<\/em> is also be fairly unique in accepting reviews of books by any living literary fiction writer and multiple reviews of the same book. \u00a0It is our hope that this review website will bring to our attention undersung works of literary fiction, those books who have not been properly recognized yet by the existing award \/ contest \/ publishing system. \u00a0Every book reviewed on the website is eligible to be entered in Dactyl Foundation\u2019s Literary Fiction contest, with an award of $1000. \u00a0This contest seeks to award any book by a living author worthy of recognition, without regard to its form of publication (which can be ebook, small press, traditional press, or even self-published) or publication date. Our research shows that there is no other award system that successfully utilizes this type of \u201ccrowd sourcing\u201d approach to find appropriate books to award.<\/p>\n

Any amount, even $1, is very much appreciated.\u00a0Donate.<\/a><\/p>\n