No one would ever give less than a five-star review to a newborn baby

It’s common, in the world of publishing, to compare the act of publishing of a book to the act of giving birth to a baby. Both require a long incubation period; both have a way of fully absorbing your heart and soul; both feel like a piece of yourself wrenched from your body and presented to the world.

I know that I, too, made this comparison…prior to ha…