Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
Many of you are involved in the writing community, and as part of that, you write book reviews on your own blog or other websites. But writing reviews is not always an easy task, so I thought I’d offer a few tips.
1. Primarily review books you’d recommend.
There has been some debate about whether the purpose of online reviewing is to promote books (by giving positive reviews) or to give an honest opinion, even if you hated the book. My opinion is that because you are part of the writing community, the primary purpose of reviewing books online is to help promote them, which means you should choose to review books you’d recommend to your readership. The book review sections of most major magazines and newspapers do exactly this: they choose a handful of books to review and recommend. For example, People magazine features 3 or 4 books every week. They say nothing about the hundreds of books that came across their desks but didn’t impress them.
Of course, there will be exceptions, but overall I think you should decline to review books you don’t like. There’s no sense throwing a fellow author under the bus. Your review is a valuable promotional hit for the author of any book you feature; why not reserve this gift for the authors you appreciate?
Please note: I’m NOT saying you should only say good things about the books you review. I’m saying: only review the books you can honestly say some good things about.
2. Judge the book, not the author.
Some might disagree with me on this, but I’ve noticed a trend, particularly in reviews of Christian books, where the reviewer trashes the book based on a difference in theological or doctrinal beliefs. The reviewer is judging whether the author has represented Christianity appropriately—according to the reviewer’s specific brand of belief.
If you’re going to judge the author’s beliefs, their morality, their theology, or anything else that is personal, give it context by saying something like, “This aspect of the book made me uncomfortable because it doesn’t square with my beliefs.” You might notice in the thumbnail reviews that Publishers Weekly does every week, there is sometimes a line such as, “More conservative readers may find some of the language offensive,” thereby acknowledging that there are different preferences among readers, as opposed to saying the author was “wrong” to use such language. I recommend you keep this in mind as you write reviews. Be aware of how your own beliefs and assumptions color your response to someone’s work, and be honest about it when writing a review.
3. When reviewing fiction, don’t give away the story.
It’s not okay to say “spoiler alert” and then give it away. It’s not fair to the author, and as a writer, you should put yourself in their shoes and remember you wouldn’t want someone to do that to you.
4. Acknowledge the author’s purpose and/or intended audience.
Every book isn’t going to appeal to every person. Make a recommendation as to who would enjoy the book. For example, you may not enjoy science fiction, but you can see that the book has some positives. You can acknowledge that “readers of science fiction should find this enjoyable.”
5. Concentrate on the most important questions:
»Did the book keep you turning pages?
»Were you satisfied at the ending?
»If it was non-fiction, do you think the book accomplished its purpose?
Within this framework you can talk about the characters and whether you related to them; whether the theme was well-developed; if the plot was suspenseful and interesting; your thoughts about the author’s style; whether the setting was important and how it affected your interest in the story. For non-fiction, address how well the author made their point and how the book affected you.
These are just a few ideas for writing book reviews. Anybody else have advice gained from experience?
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Great post, Rachelle! You’ve given some excellent guidelines.
* I’d suggest this – include a positive comparison to a ‘great’ when reviewing a newer or less-known author.
* To say that a historian’s research matches the depth of Stephen Ambrose, or that a novelist’s scene-setting is reminiscent of Beverley Lewis gives (as long as it’s accurate) a nice point of reference.
Rachelle Gardner
Great suggestions, Andrew. Doing this would certainly help potential readers understand a bit more about the book.
Shirlee Abbott
I’ve read reviews that resemble the book reports we had to do back in elementary school. They feel more like proof that the reviewer actually read and understood the book; that is, they seem to be more about the reviewer than the book. And I think, “OK Buddy, I get that you read the book. The question is, should I?”
*Reviewing a friend’s book would be a challenge. I know the long hours, disappointed tears and stubborn perseverance behind it. How can that intimate knowledge not creep into my opinion of the final product?
Jackie Layton
Hi Rachelle,
Thanks for these great tips. I rarely review a book on my blog, and I’ll only review on Amazon and other sites if I can say something nice. I appreciate the specific points you’ve given us to focus on when reviewing a book.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
A thought, and this may be unpopular – I do believe that Christian reviewers should address some of the books that are antithetical to our beliefs; we are still called to engage the world, and we have to know what we’re fighting, and how to talk to the quasi-believer who may be influenced by evil.
* Two examples come to mind – Richard Dawkins’ atheistic diatribes, and the appalling (from a literary and moral standpoint) “Fifty Shades Of Grey”.
* Dawkins’ academic credentials are impressive, and he stands on those to present his ‘case’ against religion…which is pretty childish, and has more to do with the “why doesn’t Santa God make it all better” viewpoint than any serious reading of Christian Scripture and history. I feel almost sorry for the man; he’s a sitting target, but one who wants to destroy nascent faith. I can, therefore, legitimately shred his arguments and worldview, and as it hppens, his personality, since he makes it part of the argument.
* “Fifty Shades” is actually harder to take on, because aside from the execrable writing, it does address the issue of personal freedom and criticism raises the twin accusations of ‘prude’ and busybody’. I found that an effective line was to tie the frankly pornographic nature of the book into human trafficking, and the fact that there are more slaves in this world NOW than at any time in history…and the majority are ‘sex slaves’. It’s not a matter of personal preference or the First Amendment; it’s the question of raising tolerance for an industry that is in every respect evil
* If we, as Christians, don’t step in, who will?
Norma Brumbaugh
I’d like to review a book that is written by a world. renowned atheist who writes to discount and create doubt regarding faith and the viability of Christian beliefs I hold dear and have built my life around. The book both fascinated and challenged me, and I found the author’s irreverence somewhat humorous and like able (his personality is engaging). As I read it I bought to myself, every Christian should read this book. His discourse was stimulating but the questions were there, do I really believe what I say I believe. But I haven’t reviewed it for fear of being misunderstood in my intentions.
Elissa
Andrew, I believe the difference between what you’re talking about and an ordinary “negative” review is that you’re calling out books that can cause actual harm and specifying what that harm is.
*
If “Fifty Shades” were just a poorly written book, there would be no need to even mention it. But, as you so rightly point out, the explicit sex scenes are not the main problem, it’s the way the characters treat each other and how that’s presented as acceptable, even desirable, behavior. One doesn’t have to be Christian to abhor such degradation.
*
A bad book is just a bad book, but evil is something else entirely. Sometimes the mask must be pulled off to reveal the corruption beneath.
Casey Herringshaw
One concept that I have adopted and work to strictly adhere to, is to never mention the author or their name. Not even the phrase “the author”. Which kind of goes along with your point to judge the book not the author. I don’t ever want the author of the book I’m reviewing to ever feel like I’m attacking them. And while I know that comments, even said in love, about how you might not have liked a book or certain aspects of the book can be hurtful to an author, I personally work very hard to separate the two in my reviews. Once a book is published, yes the author wrote that story and spent hours making it into the work that it is. But now it’s out in a world that won’t always love and agree with the author. And I don’t want them to feel personally attacked in anyway by labeling them in my review.
The book and the author are now two separate entities, in my opinion, once that story is published and I wish to treat the book reviews I write about the book as such.
That’s just what I’ve done. It seems to be helpful for me in how I craft my reviews. 🙂
Jackie Layton
Casey, I think that’s why I only write positive reviews. I’d never want to attack an author and hurt them with my words about their book.
I’ll keep this in mind next time I consider writing a review. Thanks for sharing!
Jeanne Takenaka
Great post. I tend not to leave a review if I can’t give it at least 4 out of 5 stars, for the very reasons you mentioned. I don’t want to disrespect an author’s hard work and effort in writing their book.
*I like your suggestions about how to handle ideological/theological differences.
*And, I so appreciate your questions at the end of your post. I have a few reviews to write in the next few days, so this blog comes at a perfect time for me. 🙂
Norma Brumbaugh
The struggle I have with reviewing books is when the book is interesting, engaging and strong but there are multiple errors throughout or the font or format takes away from a completely positive reading experience. I find I want to recommend the book because it has worthy content and to help the author out but I have some misgivings because of my own reputation as a writer. I will add a note about the issue if I think it necessary. These are the books I’d like to rate with a 4.5 star review.
Janet Ann Collins
I often post reviews of books for kids (and, rarely, young adults) on my blog and on Facebook. Years ago I wrote book reviews for a parenting newspaper. I agree about not giving negative reviews. If I don’t like a book I won’t review it because I think authors should support each other as much as possible.
Cheryl Malandrinos
Great post, Rachelle. I’ve been reviewing books since 2007 and truly enjoy it.
While there are definitely authors I seek out when new books release, I’m fairly open to reading books from any author in favorite genres.
My understanding of what you’re saying is that you probably don’t want to review books where you can’t pick out at least a few nice things to say. I agree that there are so many books out there we shouldn’t spend time reading ones we don’t like. Reviews, however, are meant for the consumer. That the author is going to use good reviews to promote themselves shouldn’t be a consideration.
I truly think this boils down to being more selective in which authors’ books we agree to review. If the author is unknown to you, ask him to send you a short excerpt or a chapter of the book first. It’s much easier and no expense to the author if you politely decline at that point than to wait until you have a book in your hand or an e-book gifted to you.
If you decide to go ahead and review a book that might not have met your expectations, present it in a way that isn’t insulting. Usually if I come up against a book that I just didn’t care for overall, I’ll suggest the reader check out the other reviews on Amazon or B&N and decide if it’s for them.
Sylvia A. Nash
I don’t suppose you could find a way to get Amazon to post this, could you, especially the spoiler alert part? Just kidding, although it would be nice if all reviewers followed your advice. I printed out a post of yours several years ago on this topic and try to follow it when I review. Thanks for the reminders. (Yes, I’m print this one out, too.)
Rick Barry
Thank you for emphasizing not giving away the story! So many readers seem to confuse the word “review” with book reports from school days and reveal each plot twist. I’d rather know they found it gripping, or predictable, or intriguing. If they’ll do that much, then I can discover the story myself.
Janet Ann Collins
Rick, I strongly agree with you.
Peggy Booher
Rachelle,
I’ve been thinking of writing book reviews to put new life into my long-neglected blog, so this post is timely for me. I have a question: When reviewing books, are there issues with copyrights I need to be aware of (as in quoting from the books)? Thank you.
Shawn D Brink
Great input. Thanks.
Nikole Hahn
Write both positive and negative in the review. Build up the author, but be honest about their writing. Be kind, but be honest. Otherwise, it truly is just being the book’s publicist. Plus, you try to pick books you enjoy to review, but sometimes you just get the really badly written ones. Now you are committed to reviewing it or you can’t review another book for them. I do give the option to not post it on Amazon.
Shelby Kent-Stewart
One of the best blogs I’ve ever read on reviews. Happily, I ascribe to every point. Regardless whether it’s a review of one of my books or another author’s, nothing irritates me more than reading a rehash of the story, and in many cases giving away the ending, in what is supposed to be a review and not a CliffNotes summation. Thanks for this.