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How To Write A Book Review
By
Dries Cronje |
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One of my favorite pastimes is reading. I literally devour books, up to 6 per month. As I am reading, I often realize that what the author is sharing is a profound truth that needs to be realized, and implemented, by more people in our world.
I do not have enough reading friends (to tell about the book) to feel satisfied that I played my part in spreading this truth. The solution? I write reviews online.
When you write a book review online, you are spreading the news about it. You are creating awareness, and promoting the book. As people see and read your review, they will most probably be enticed to read the book (if it’s a good review) and the message of the book is spread further and wider.
The only question that remains is “How do I write a successful, high-quality book review?” I hope to answer that in the rest of this article.
Firstly, a set recipe for creating a book review is not necessarily a good idea. Organic is the new way. People like to read something from the heart, something natural and authentic. Something organic. Therefore, let your emotions and your heart be your guide.
Write about books that you feel passionate about (why in the world create a buzz about something you dislike?), but also write the review in a way that communicates your strongest emotions on the subject matter.
Secondly, use short, sharp sentences and paragraphs of four or fewer sentences. Reading an online review is something that you are supposed to enjoy. Fancy, difficult-to-grasp words, complicated sentences or paragraphs that look like pages hardly ever contribute to my enjoyment of reading anything online.
I prefer lots of white space, and writing that communicates FAST.
As a third point, I will consider adding a section on how the book read. You will agree with me that some books read easier than others. Is this book long? Did you need to fetch the dictionary once or twice? How long are the pages? What is the font size used?
How many footnotes were used? Did that distract you? All these things are factors contributing to the reading experience. And where better to talk about a reading experience than in a book review?
Fourthly, I would consider making the main aim of my review to share the main message of the book. What sells a book is its message, or topic. Share with you readers what this is, in your opinion, and share with them why you are excited about this message.
I prefer never to write about books that I am not excited about, or that I would like to criticize. I am not a criticizer… I just want to promote quality, useful books. Books that will make a difference in other people’s lives.
Finally, add some structure to your review. Share your main thoughts in the first few paragraphs, while making sure you introduce the book thoroughly. End the review with a Conclusion, maybe right after telling readers what the book meant to you personally.
What better proof is there of the fact that a book is life changing than the testimony of someone who read it? Go on, share your story. Tell those readers how and why this book made a positive impact on your life.
Good reviews conform to certain accepted length guidelines. I would call a 300 word review short, an 800 word review solid, and a 1,300 word review long.
So, there you have it. My advice for writing an online book review. What do you do once you have completed it? Good question. You can post it on your own blog, or website.
If you are going to publish reviews on your own site or blog, consider rating the reviews. Five stars to a good review and four stars to a fair review. If a book deserves less stars than that, I will not write about it.
You can also post reviews on the Amazon website.
Or, you can post it at one of the numerous free article directories. Here you are sure to get the word out, as webmasters and newsletter authors will pick up your review publish it.
Have fun reading! And then next time you discover one of those real life-changing books, why don’t you take a bit of time to do a review on it? It might just be a blessing to someone who really needs it.
Author's Bio
Dries Cronje is the Founder and Webmaster of www.BookDisciple.com. He reviews and recommends quality Christian books and other media. To read some of his reviews, visit www.bookdisciple.com/christian-book-reviews.html.
Dries also writes about his life and ministry on his blog, carboncopy.typepad.com. You can follow his posts, or subscribe to the blog’s feed at feeds.feedburner.com/CarbonCopyDriesCronje.
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