The good of an unread review

I’m taking up a two-strike policy when it comes to authors who do not share reviews I’ve written on their work. I see this as more pragmatic than spiteful. There are already too few incentives for reviewers (y’know, besides the major one of facilitating discourse for literary voices that are important and rarely acknowledged); why commit time, consideration and imagination when the author we’re indebted to cannot even bother a retweet? Disagree with me, insult my take if you feel so compelled, but don’t pass it by.

So instead of bemoaning discarded reviews as wastes of time, I’m using them as a filter to ensure that future critiques centre on writers who have a vested interest in reaching readers. (I suppose this two-strike rule also applies to publishers, although I’ve yet to encounter a press that isn’t psyched to find one of its titles reviewed.) 

In fact, scratch that, it's a one-strike policy. Why count notches?