David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! discussion
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Wow, thanks Riley! That post would surely help other reviewers here on GR and those who have personal blogs such as myself.:-)
Gary wrote: "Wow, thanks Riley! That post would surely help other reviewers here on GR and those who have personal blogs such as myself.:-)"Very true.
Thanks for posting these articles. I found them fascinating! I looked long and hard at what you said about writing a good review and it gave me a few things to think about. I try hard to be constructive but honest in reviews and comment on aspects of it ie style, characters etc. But looking at this article made me realise that there are things lacking to make it more of a personal review ie favourite scenes in the book.
I think I'm so scared of putting in spoilers that I miss the chance to write better reviews. Now I have a few new ideas on making my reviews better.
This was a great help, thank you very much!
Reading the second post, I think I'm doing it right. When I write a review, I do it immediately after reading and while I'm reading, I make notes. My reviews usually look like this:# From who did I receive the book (source) and a thank you to that source (only if I receive it for review in one way or the other)
# Opening sentence(s)
# Short summary of the plot
# My thoughts on the writing, the story, the pace and all that
# My thoughts on the characters
# Would I read it again and/or recommend it and to who.
But sometimes, when I don't have a lot to say about the book I don't do the summary of the plot.
I have a few reviews with gif's but I don't do that anymore because I don't like the way it looks. I rather write my opinion down, than looking for a gif that shows it. And I occasionally use quotes when I can.
There are quite a few people that do excellent reviews - particularly on Goodreads. But I think there are definitely people who struggle with it - whether that's with voicing their opinion (I can't believe how many people are afraid to say whether they liked something or not), or with the actual mechanics of writing a review. I'd actually like to include a few images in mine, but don't really know how to do it on Goodreads (on my blog is fine, but not here). As for gifs, I don't even know where to find them.
Will definitely have to check out some of your reviews - and if any of you ever feel like doing a guest review (or even regular reviews) on my blog, I'd be over the moon.
Riley wrote: "There are quite a few people that do excellent reviews - particularly on Goodreads. But I think there are definitely people who struggle with it - whether that's with voicing their opinion (I can't..."Cool. =) Check out some of my reviews from this http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
Read some of your reviews Bieke - you have a great, conversational style. Well done. If you ever feel like giving some of them a new lease of life on my blog - happy to oblige. :) Riley Banks Blog
Riley wrote: "Read some of your reviews Bieke - you have a great, conversational style. Well done. If you ever feel like giving some of them a new lease of life on my blog - happy to oblige. :) Riley Banks Blog"
Thanks!
I can do a guest review some time. =) My blog is at http://istyriabookblog.com
I use the sandwich method when doing reviews. It means that I offer both positive and negative feedback (if there are any). For example, "I liked so and so's character development, however, blah blah blah was a little too immature for me."
That's a very clever thing to do Kayla - and if you finish the review on a positive note, most people will take the negative a lot better too. Bieke - we can definitely talk more about a guest post. Very interested.
Riley wrote: "That's a very clever thing to do Kayla - and if you finish the review on a positive note, most people will take the negative a lot better too. Bieke - we can definitely talk more about a guest po..."
Sure! :) Just shoot me a message. =)
Thank you so much for posting such detailed ideas and dos/dont'ts. I'm newer to book reviewing. Love it but needed guidance.
Hmmm, my book reviews are actually more targeted towards my friends who have kids that are reading the YA & JF genre. I do usually do a "what I liked" paragraph & a "what I didn't like" paragraph. I'll have to ponder some of your suggestions.I agree with the book reports vs. book reviews. It seems a lot of people like to copy & paste the book synopsis. I also agree with the 4 and 5 star ratings that aren't actually warranted. I am very skeptical of a book that has fewer than 20 ratings & it has a 4.5 star average. It seems to be more of a problem on Amazon than Goodreads, in my opinion, but still a problem at both sites.
One thing I do wonder about is when I see a 5 star review which reproduces the blurb and then says 'I loved this book' and that's it. I don't like reading reviews like that or 3 lines that say you liked it. It doesn't help me to decide if I want to read it and it doesn't give feedback to the author. A detailed 3 star review is better than an empty 5 star review.
Riley I think your article hits the nail on the head perfectly, the one about writing book reports vs book reviews. Sometimes it's easy to get into writing a synopsis so close to reading it, but its the balance between
thanks for sharing your articles. I probably don't write as many reviews as I should because it seemed like everyone was writing a book report. I don't like someone telling me what the whole book is about, I believe that is what the back cover, jacket or synopsis is supposed to be for. I want to know WHY I should read this book, what makes it better or as good as one my favorite books.also I stopped reading reviews on goodreads and trusting the public because it was a book report, if you tell me what the whole book is about how can I discover its secrets on my own, the trick is to get me to want to read those secrets, not feel like I've already read the book.
also I find that books I secretly enjoyed as a 38 year old, the real YA readers hate lol.
thanks again for the articles, I will start doing more reviews :-)
HELP! Please! I need a little bit of help. I wrote a review for a book (750 words long) - My editor wants it only to be 500 words...would anyone mind looking at it and helping me out (I've no idea what to cut)
Ruby - send it to me on riley@rileybanks.net I can have a look over the next day or so.
Riley wrote: "Ruby - send it to me on riley@rileybanks.net I can have a look over the next day or so."Oh Cheers for that Riley!!!
I depend on reviews from Sam (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/63...)because she writes them so comprehensively. It also helps that I tend to like the same things she does - but she's an excellent example of an excellent reviewer.
Riley wrote: "I wanted to share a couple of blog posts I've written on book reviewing. If you are a book blogger, active book reviewer or participate in any of the Read for Review programmes, then you might like..."This is just incredibly helpful! I've been told I'm a good writer in terms of critique, but I have long wanted a real list of things to address in my reviews. This will aid me immensely. Thanks so much!
The "negative side of positive reviews" is a controversial post that looks at the downside of giving unwarranted 5 star reviews. http://www.rileybanks.net/3/post/2012...
"6 things you need to know before you write a book review" tells why a lot of reviewers are getting it wrong, and explains the difference between a book review and a book report, as well as six tips for writing better book reviews. http://www.rileybanks.net/3/post/2013...
Be interested to know what you think.