Alex Clarke describes a personal policy of buying friends' books rather than accepting review copies. Paying for a copy leaves him free to decide whether to recommend it publicly. If he finds serious problems, he prefers to raise them privately with the author. He sees public criticism from a large channel as an unequal exchange when the author lacks a comparable platform.
Notable Point · 2:26:27-2:27:45
Reviewing books written by friends fairly
Buying friends' books independently and raising serious faults privately are parts of a personal reviewing policy.