Fave Five Friday: Reviewing Tips

1. Don’t Just Summarize

If you’re writing a review you want to remember to actually review the books you read. If you get caught up summarizing what happened and never talk about what you thought, then you’ve written a summary and not a review. The point of a review is to have an opinion and ideas about the books content. You can talk about plot, tone, character development, anything you want, but make sure you have an opinion in there.

2. Be Clear

There really are three main ways to feel when approaching a review. You could like/love the book, hate/dislike it, or stand in a more neutral position. You have to remember to have firm opinions so that your readers can have a clear view of what YOU thought about the book. It seems almost pointless to write a review if you don’t have a firm grasp on what you thought of it. Reviewing is persuasive writing, so be persuasive.

3. Don’t Just Say You Like Or Dislike A Book

Why do you like or dislike a book? Make sure that you elaborate. Giving a star rating and saying yeah I liked it is not a review either. Your review should encompass the whole concept of the book to do it justice. How was the tone? Was the pacing too fast? Were the characters lacking depth? Let your readers know, because it helps them to make an informed decision about whether they’d like to read something.

4. Create An Intriguing Opening Line

Your very first sentence should capture the attention of the reader. Like a salesperson you want to say something right from the beginning to catch a readers eye. You can compare the book to another book/movie/TV show, or you can open with something about the book being innovative for its time. You want your opener to call out to something within your followers.

5. Be Unique

Stand out from the crowd. Do something you don’t see anyone else doing, or do it better. The easiest way to stand out is to be yourself and speak from your heart. I mean, you are one of a kind aren’t you?