3 Rules I Follow to Write Book Reviews
A Mini Evergreen Rant
If you are subscribed to my emails, you already know that I write a lot of Romance novel reviews. I try to keep them short. I try to keep them fun (for me, at least). I try to keep my space a positive, constructive energy zone. In other words, I try to write the reviews I want to see out there on the Internet.
So I took the time to write out what resulted as three rules I look to create a review for the bookish community.
Get your Bottom Line Up Front.
You can ignore the rest of this post as far as I care if you just get your bottom line up front.
This is also known as a BLUF. It is a helpful approach for most short-form communication. I use this writing approach during my 9-5. My emails, my meeting agendas, my reports…BLUFs are everywhere. The BLUF is the tagline and thesis statement. It is the elevator pitch. It is the "understand this if nothing else" point.
I try to make that first line work anywhere with minimum context and attention. So, it is usually one or two sentences with the title, author, and my primary sentiment. Bonus if you make that sentiment useful for your fellow readers, your target audience, to decide whether or not to read that book.
Do not bother tagging authors on reviews that are overall negative.
This isn't me trying to suck up to authors. This is me looking at the bigger context and purposes of reviews.
Authors are tough bastards. A good author purposefully seeks out constructive criticism anyway. That is a significant point of having editors and beta readers.
That being said, I personally don't think tagging authors on social media posts that tear apart their work is polite or helpful. Often, when I see negative posts tagging authors, they come from a place of personal taste rather than literary quality. My or anyone's personal taste is not something anyone should attempt to better emulate because we demand it. Drop the main character syndrome and find a different book.
Additionally, I question if tagging an author over a disliked book is useful for readers. Why try spreading the unenjoyment? I tag because I want others to find this author who made something I enjoyed. If I see someone say they didn't enjoy something, why do you want me to waste more time on them? I have enough people to hate scroll on social media. I'm good.
If you are not enjoying yourself, you're doing something wrong.
Most review work is not paid. Compensation is most commonly in the form of free ARCs for those of us who get really into it. I have a rule that I no longer review something I don't think I will enjoy or didn't enjoy. I don't fuss. I move on.
I do this out of respect for my time and the author's. I think it is a rare instance when authors genuinely deserve to be put on blast for a book.
I understand that there is such a thing as rage reviewing. I accidentally did this when I first started blogging about my reviews to make a point that I was a reviewer of "integrity" or something like that, I guess.
I still stand by my points in that review, but I cringe when I remember it. It was my most engaged review on GoodReads before I deleted it. All that experience did was remind me of how much energy I put into something I didn't enjoy.
Bonus! Tips for Making Reviewing Easier
Take notes as you read. Note when you are surprised, blushing, sad, etc. Give yourself a map of how your thoughts on the book formed while reading. Those are your supporting points for your review. Copy, paste, and edit away.
Mark. That. Book. Up. Or use a pencil and/or sticky notes. I'm not here to push book vandalism. Or use an ebook reader that lets you do exactly that. Kindle makes this easy and I would love to see other e-readers be so feature-filled.
Keep it short and simple. Unless you are writing a review for a publication like a newspaper or Book Riot, keep a review for your fellow readers, like one or two paragraphs. Go up to three if you have a lot to say.
Housekeeping
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