Four Steps to Writing Book Reviews
I have never made any great claim to being a book reviewer. I may have a lot of published books out but I’m still an amateur as far as reviewing books goes, and I always will be. My main issue when writing a review is that I’m usually worried about giving out spoilers to those who haven’t read the book.
So when I came across this article that gives four steps to writing book reviews I figured I would share for anyone else who has ever felt intimidated by reviewing.
This is step one:
Simply reading a book takes a lot of time, but it isn’t enough for writing a worthy book report. Read smart! Enjoy your reading, but pay attention to the following points to make book review writing easier:
- Genre
- What is the art form – fiction or non-fiction; if fiction, then which particular form – novel, poem, short story etc?
- Who are the ideal readers for this book?
- What is the main purpose of this book? (To educate, inform, shock, or entertain readers)
- What is the main message from the author?
It’s a pragmatic approach I like. You can read the rest at the link I’ve provided above. And, keep in mind this is for people like me who don’t consider themselves professional book reviewers and often get intimidated writing reviews. But we also take our book reviews very seriously and we want to do a halfway decent job at it.
I think developing a style is important in book reviewing, which should include writing good and bad reviews. Another reason why I consider myself an amateur is because I usually write only good reviews for books I like. I have written a few bad reviews, which are all on record, but I don’t like to do that and I don’t think I should be obligated to do that unless I one day decide to garner myself a professional book reviewer.
But more than that, for the most part, I do pick and choose books I think I’m going to like. I vet other reviews and book reviewer web sites so I know I’m not going to wind up with a book I don’t like.