Writing Book Reviews
by:
Scott Whiskeye
There is a definite art in writing book reviews and the author should give due consideration to both the author and the people who are likely to read the review. Ironically, it is more important to consider the future readers than the author. Basically an author can write a really interesting or exciting or fact-filled book, but that is not going to achieve anything unless they can get it reviewed in a light that stimulates the reader in some way.
It is a fact that writing book reviews is very much in demand, but how does one write a good review? Writing book reviews is much like writing any other short essay. The review should help readers decide whether a book is appropriate for them to buy or read. When writing book reviews, the author should ignore minor typographic errors, writing style, and small errors of fact unless these have a significant affect upon the substantive content of the book.
Writing
Like most pieces of writing, the review itself usually begins with an introduction that lets your readers know what the review will say. Writing something that might damage the author's sales could be risky. Thus, in writing book reviews, you combine the skills of describing what is on the page, analyzing how the book tried to achieve its purpose, and expressing your own reactions. Time spent now on organization not only produces a clear strong structure, but also allows you to concentrate on phrasing during the writing of the first draft.
There are certain key issues to concentrate on when writing book reviews:
When writing book reviews, remember that a book review is not the place to preach sermons or get on a soap-box about your own personal pet-issues. Reviews can be good to write, good to read, and good for culture in general. It is generally a good idea before starting writing book reviews to only consider doing reviews about books in a particular area of interest to you. Like other essays, book reviews usually end with a conclusion which ties together issues raised in the review and provides a concise comment on the book. However, it differs from an essay in that it never includes:
When writing book reviews, decide on your reason for doing the review. If you are reviewing a large number of books as a living then your job is to just review the book impartially and, depending on your reputation, you might or might not be very critical of any problems or badly presented facts.
If you want to help the author get started or particularly like the book or the author’s style, then write the review in such a way that you are highlighting the good points of the book and maybe not over-emphasizing the not-so good points.
It is important to carefully distinguish your views from the author’s, so that you don’t confuse your reader.
About the Author:
Scott Whiskeye is a semi-retired programmer, now working from home as a website developer. He lives in Scotland with his wife who also writes articles. Scott’s websites include Help for all you WeigtWatchers Scotch Whisky and Mortgages & Real Estate.
It is a fact that writing book reviews is very much in demand, but how does one write a good review? Writing book reviews is much like writing any other short essay. The review should help readers decide whether a book is appropriate for them to buy or read. When writing book reviews, the author should ignore minor typographic errors, writing style, and small errors of fact unless these have a significant affect upon the substantive content of the book.
Writing
Like most pieces of writing, the review itself usually begins with an introduction that lets your readers know what the review will say. Writing something that might damage the author's sales could be risky. Thus, in writing book reviews, you combine the skills of describing what is on the page, analyzing how the book tried to achieve its purpose, and expressing your own reactions. Time spent now on organization not only produces a clear strong structure, but also allows you to concentrate on phrasing during the writing of the first draft.
There are certain key issues to concentrate on when writing book reviews:
- Identify the book by author, title, and publishing information where possible.
- Is the author already well known – if so, milk this for everything you can get out of it! Getting an author to be even relatively famous is a key part in an author’s success.
- What is the author's purpose and viewpoint in writing the book? You can usually find some good information on this in the introduction, preface, table of contents, chapter headings, or sub-headings.
- Does the book achieve the author’s purpose and viewpoint?
- Defined the problem fully.
- Identified causes of concern.
- Interviewed people who are responsible for a particular organization that is currently leading the approach to the particular public problem.
- Interviewed people currently or previously affected by the public problem.
- Determined who is responsible for changing the system.
- Planned points of attack.
- Provided necessary background information.
- Offered specific solutions.
- If the author is claiming to be an expert in a particular subject, do they have the necessary expertise / qualifications to write on this subject?
- What level of expertise is expected of the reader, and is this clearly stated on the back cover?
- How does the book rate against other books written on the same topic?
- Will the reader feel as if they have got good value for money, or will they feel conned in some way?
For example, if an author says their purpose is to argue for a particular solution to a public problem, e.g. school reform, international relations, changes in the approach to mental health care, then the review should determine if the author has:
When writing book reviews, remember that a book review is not the place to preach sermons or get on a soap-box about your own personal pet-issues. Reviews can be good to write, good to read, and good for culture in general. It is generally a good idea before starting writing book reviews to only consider doing reviews about books in a particular area of interest to you. Like other essays, book reviews usually end with a conclusion which ties together issues raised in the review and provides a concise comment on the book. However, it differs from an essay in that it never includes:
- Chapters or other divisions.
- Long quotations from the book or other reviews (although brief quotations may sometimes be used to illustrate a point).
- Footnotes (if quoting from the book, put the page number in the review in parentheses immediately after the quote).
When writing book reviews, decide on your reason for doing the review. If you are reviewing a large number of books as a living then your job is to just review the book impartially and, depending on your reputation, you might or might not be very critical of any problems or badly presented facts.
If you want to help the author get started or particularly like the book or the author’s style, then write the review in such a way that you are highlighting the good points of the book and maybe not over-emphasizing the not-so good points.
It is important to carefully distinguish your views from the author’s, so that you don’t confuse your reader.
About the Author:
Scott Whiskeye is a semi-retired programmer, now working from home as a website developer. He lives in Scotland with his wife who also writes articles. Scott’s websites include Help for all you WeigtWatchers Scotch Whisky and Mortgages & Real Estate.
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