Book Blogging 101: Tips for writing a great book review.
Our little part of the blogging world is based on one main function, writing reviews. In order to keep the readers coming back to read our reviews we have to structure them in a way that makes sense and conveys concise information. But a lot of us get frustrated and find ourselves at a loss as what to include and what not to include. Here are some tips and tricks. When I structure my own reviews I don’t always use everything here, this is just tips…find the ones that work best for you.
Writing Book Reviews Quick Tips:
- After finishing the book, quickly jot down a few points that you want to mention in your review.
- Keep a Reader’s Diary, a book that you keep with you while reading. Use your diary to jot down page numbers for quotes, character names, thoughts, feelings etc while you read.
- It is suggested that you write your review two to three days after you’ve read the book, this gives you time to process the book in your head, but not long enough that you forget pertinent information.
- Put some personality into the review. Write within a tone of voice you would use when relating your opinion to a friend. Keep things friendly and maybe add a bit of flair that makes things uniquely yours in the review.
Photo Credit: iStock
Writing Book Reviews What to Include:
- You always want to mention the author’s name, instead of using pronouns. You also want to mention the book name, instead of The Book. This keeps bringing your readers back to title and author and keeps them focused on what the review is about.
- Summarize the book in a quick, short fashion, usually at the beginning of the review. Try describing it yourself. You don’t have to go into every facet of the story, just a quick summary.
- If you feel something about the book, explain why you feel that way. If you dislike something explain it, same if you like something about the book. The key point of a review is that it is YOUR OPINION. But, you have to back-up your opinion with proof.
- i.e. I liked the main character because he was relatable and genuine.
- I did not like the back-story because it was based on environmental facts that are false or embellished.
- Use short quotes, one or two lines from that story to emphasize points in your review. This also gives readers an example of the author’s writing style.
- Did the book make you think of another author? You can also mention other authors that are similar.
- Was there a topic in the book that should be discussed, like a political thought, or religious belief? What were your thoughts on this topic? Did you agree or disagree?
- Always include a conclusion. What were your final thoughts on the book overall? What was the main impact it had on you?
- Who would you recommend this book to? Is there a certain age range or niche group?
Questions to Ask Yourself When Reading to Help You Better Review:
When reading a book, there are a few questions you can ask yourself that will lead to a more analytical review.
- Is the book labeled a particular genre? How well does it compare to others within the genre?
- What POV is the book written within? Does it stick to that POV and maintain cohesive POVs?
- Does the author stick to a style? Is it a witty novel, or fun writing style? Does this style maintain throughout?
- Is the language clear and makes sense? Everything defined and laid out in a manner that makes sense to you?
- If the author provides factual information is it correct and accurate?
- Is the story or ideas convincing? Do they feel real to you?
- Are the characters of the book realistic?
- Who was your favorite character?
- Who was your least favorite character?
- What was your favorite part of the story?
- Do you find yourself relating to anyone in the story?
- Do you share any experiences with the characters in the story?
Things to guide you before you start:
- Aim for fair, not nice.
- Criticize the book, never the author.
- Never review a book from a genre you do not enjoy reading.
- Do not review your friends books.
- Do not review an author you hate.
Reader Question of the Week:
Ella, I’m flabbergasted. Do people really do stuff like this? Me, personally, I would post about it. Use the internet archive to look at her site and see that she changed the date of that post. That could be significant proof right there. Or did you take a screen shot when you first noticed the theft? I urge everyone who finds stuff like this…SCREEN SHOTS! Right there, the fact that she post-dated her review is proof positive that she has nefarious intentions. Take the bitch down! People like this should not be in our community profitting off of smaller blogs! You shouldn’t let stuff like this make you want to quit blogging it should energize you to STATE THE TRUTH, honestly and with purpose. If you quit blogging SHE WINS. She’ll just do it again to another start-up blogger because she knows she can get away with it. I’m dying to know who this is…email me if you want this to come out Ella. If the proof is there, I would have no qualms to post about it. And if this has happened to ANYONE else, don’t be afraid…you have to let people know about it. I urge everyone to come forward. If you are afraid of repercussions or lack of an audience to get the word out…find bloggers like myself and ask for their assistance. There are a lot of great bloggers out there with experience and follower backing that would be happy to help. XOXO — hang in their Ella. I’m sorry this happened to you.
Book Blogging News:
Last week’s BB101 comes to life.
Last week’s BB101 was based on facts that were occurring in the Book Blogger world. Theft of images is happening a lot and it was happening to one of my blogger friends. She posted about it and how she discovered it here. The reason it should be known is because the offending blogger runs a Blog Tour company and is promoting authors with stolen images. It was a very bad business move for the blogger and something that could reflect negatively on authors associated with the tours. What a shame. This is something all authors should keep in mind when they hire someone to promote their book. That person’s ideals and how they go about promoting your book can make a negative impact if done incorrectly. {source}
More Amazon Insanity
There has been a rash of author posts that go like this:
For a few of us, these posts send up red flags, because isn’t it FTC regulation that we have to disclose that the book was provided to us for review? Yet, argument aside, what these authors are stating is false. In fact that probably have no idea why the reviews were removed, considering that Amazon specifically has in their guidelines:
| Full disclosure: If you received a free product in exchange for your review, please clearly and conspicuously disclose that that you received the product free of charge. Reviews from the Amazon Vine™ program are already labeled, so additional disclosure is not necessary. |
So, if they are asking for you to disclose — why are they removing reviews that did disclose? I do believe this is a case of one author writing a post that says OMG don’t do this…without getting all the facts straight and a ton of other authors jumping on the OMG bandwagon. Which in turn might get more reviews removed because of the non-disclosure. Read the Amazon Reviewer Guidelines, stick to it and you shouldn’t have a problem. {source} {source}
Plagiarism Sucks and Mega Imps
Because of the drama that went down last week regarding the Up-To-Date-Reviewing plagiarism drama, a few of the victims have gotten together to do a Plagiarism sucks feature. Bloggers involved Sparkles & Lightening, Auntie Spinelli Reads and Book Haven Extraordinaire relate their accounts of what happened and the not so fun response they got from the offending blogger. The posts paint a good picture on what a stupid Copy & Paste move can do to a lot of people and the havoc it can cause. {source} {source}{source}
Happy Thursday. Talk Less. Read More. Blog with Integrity.
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Thanks for more great pointers on getting our blogs to be even better, Rachel!
I try to always use something personal when I write a review, and I almost always add a few quotes from the book. I am really running behind these days, though, because it’s exam-session time for me, and most of my time is sadly spent reading about French syntax and grammar to get ready
I always appreciate your posts, whether they are the 101 blog tips or reviews, or anything else.
Have an awesome afternoon.
Thanks Lexxie. I always appreciate your comments. Good luck with exams. I hope you get back in the swing of things too.
Once again another great BB101. Love the review tips just to reiterate. I don’t sum up b/c I include a synopsis unless there’s something that’s not included that I feel is important.
Also, thank you for being an ally to blogs who feel they don’t have as large a “voice.”
I try to summarize in my own words, just because I feel some of the synopsis’ provided by authors and pubs can be misleading…maybe on purpose. Maybe because the person that writes the synopsis didn’t read the book. But that is just my choice, I think everyone needs to find their own way to review…it makes it unique. Sets it apart.
I can’t imagine if something like what happened with the question of the week happened to me when I first started. I probably would have run away too. This is so unfair, so I would hope that anyone that comes across this sort of thing takes a stand. Stupid and malicious people can’t be allowed to force out good people. And start-up bloggers shouldn’t be afraid.
+JMJ+
I have to disagree with Rule #3, Rachel! If only because there are some reading challenges which book bloggers sign up for specifically to break out of their comfort zones.
It’s true that if you “know” you’re not going to enjoy the book before you read it, then you probably won’t be able to review it fairly. But if you’re reading something new with an open mind, then your opinion on it will be valid. =)
New is one thing…a genre you don’t enjoy is another. For example, if you can’t stand Chick Lit books, you don’t like the light, zany characters…why would you review that title? I understand reading new, or maybe retrying an old genre but deliberating stepping within a realm that you don’t enjoy usually results in a negative review.
A reading challenge is one thing…but I don’t think this would be a good idea when deciding to do a review for an author.
+JMJ+
Well, if it’s for an author, I see what you mean. I don’t really blog for anyone but myself, so I tend to forget the other considerations of book blogging that everyone else always remembers!
Oh certainly! If it is for your pleasure alone I understand your perspective. Sorry I usually do these from my stand-point. Thanks for bringing up a good point. As far as reading I think there is no-holds-barred perspective. Anything goes.
As always great post. I love all your blogging 101 posts! This one is a great help. Even to bloggers that have been blogging for a while now but are feeling that their reviews need more. So thanks for sharing.
No problem Ali! Thanks for the comment.
Parajunkee, you are amazing, this was incredibly insightful. I also love that your reviews aren’t 3 pages long. You get to the point without cutting out the good stuff. I enjoy reading your reviews. Thank you for these pointers!
Emmalee
It’s sad that bloggers like Ella are scared to come out when they’ve been wronged. (I understand the why but it still sucks.) I hope she contacts you because plagiarists should be outed.
And I agree – when you find someone plagiarizing, SCREEN SHOTS are key.
I love these book blogging 101 post! I may not be the best blogging but I feel like every single one of your post has made me a better blogger! These are the best tips around
Great post dude!!!! Even after almost two years, I freaking flip out about my reviews… Probably because I have no “structure” to them! I just have at it. Lol
I’m pretty much dying to know who the new plagiarizer is! Just sayin.
Me too! OMG when I read that question I was racking my brain as to who it could be. If they run blogads there are only about 15-20 book blogs that big. Maybe they are one of the ones that do private advertising. But, that is only a handful more. Crazy.
I love your post, very helpful! I used to recommend books at the end of my review, but I keep forgetting to do that anymore. I also like the reminder not to hate on the author! Sometimes I feel disappointed, especially when I’ve been waiting for the next book in a series, but it does not live up to expectations, and I know the author can do better.
Sadly I don’t think I’ll ever be able to follow these guidelines though they are totally helpful. I lose the ability to think when I read. Unless, of course, the story doesn’t entertain me, then all I can do is think.
I tend to find myself swept up into whatever world the story takes place in and I barely have any notes other than page numbers and the occasional character name – as I tend to forget character names the second I turn the last page, unless it’s the second or third book in the series.
I totally agree about the notepad/journal. It’s awful to want to make a note and you can’t. When reading a printed book I have my phone’s notepad feature which is a godsend as I can email the page to myself so that I have it when writing my review.
TY so much for the info about Amazon and mentioning the source. I always do that on my blog posts but as I only put a partial review up on Amazon I never copy the part where I say “this review is based upon…” I will definitely make sure to mention that at the bottom going forward. It never dawned on me. Having a bit of a “duh” moment now.
Just wondering if I need to if it was an ARC received as a gift or from a trade where the review wasn’t given in exchange for a book.
And taking screenshots is so important when discovering wrongdoing. I’m so sorry Ella is feeling she can’t come forward, but I understand it. There’s no winning. But the community can be a wonderful source of support.
Awesome post as always!
Comment
Great post! I feel so bad for Ella. It’s comforting to know that us smaller blog owners can turn to you for help. While I personally haven’t experienced this, I would be very upset if it ever happened to me.
Thanks so much for writing this post! I’m really trying to make my reviews better and these tips are a great help!! I always look forward to your posts!
Thanks for your tips. This post is very helpful. All of your tips are helpful. I must start taking notes! I’m not used to doing that while reading. Thanks again.
Great tips! Thank you for sharing. =)
I really love your BB101, I save them in my email so I can refer to them all the time. Thanks for sharing your blogging knowledge with us newbies!
Great article! Although writing reviews does still is something personal. I mean I personally don’t like providing a summary in my review, but in some cases the blurb indeed doens’t give a good sense if where the book is about or may be a bit misleading. I do love including conclusions in my review, especially so that people who don’t have time to read my whole review still get my main points.
I do have a few questions I usually ask myself when reading a book, but I never take notes (only when beta reading). For some reason it disrupts my reading. And usually I write my reviews directly after finishing a book, because I have some problems bringing any enthousiasme at all in a review if I wait for a day or longer.
That tip about using the author name and book title is really good, I should do that more often. I use “the book” or “the story” too often.
Another great post! I love your tutorials and tips, the are always helpful for novice bloggers.
What’s your opinion of including the blurb of a book in a review. I do at the moment, because its one of the first things I look at when looking for reading material, but I’m starting to think it makes the reviews a bit chunky. What do you think?
This is a brilliant post! Saved it to refer to when I’m writing my next review.
(I know I’m rather late commenting haha, I’ve been making my way through your BB101 series!)
Thank you Eleanor!
I did a google search of you on book reviewing and this was the post it directed to. I love your advice and tips and I never thought about having a book journal. Plus I have pently of unused book journal so there for I might be re-reading a couple books I jsut read and take in what your advice and tips.
Thanks Parajunkee!