The Art of a Book Review

Author: Madyn Rose

I’ll admit that even though I have been an avid reader since childhood, it wasn’t until I started on a path to become an author that I even started to leave reviews. Not that I didn’t enjoy the books or any particular reason not to have reviewed them I just didn’t understand the need for it, but let me say I have learned the error of my ways!

Reviews are critical to the success of authors, especially us little fries trying to break into the industry.

Not every book is for everyone, but there is a reader for every book.
-Book lovers

Why is this so Important?

As a new author and an avid reader I admit I barely understood the importance of a review. When I started my path to publishing there were so many key things I learned, not only to help myself but also to help fellow authors.

Now, sure all authors want to become the next best-seller and maybe it will or won’t happen sometimes it’s sheer luck and the right person finding your book. There’s no doubt influencers can make or break a book. Don’t believe me? Check out Oprah’s Book Club and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine or even scroll through BookTok and you can see the effects. The truth is without the reviews helping to pull the book front and center it will get lost in the millions of other book titles.

Here are a few fun facts… self-published, or small press/digital first authors (like myself) don’t have a giant wheel behind them pushing their book into brick & mortar stores, we rely on online places such as Amazon, Kobo, Apple books, Google etc… and a book needs to have so many reviews to even gain traction and start being pushed from their algorithms. For example Amazon needs 50. Now this sounds like it’s not that difficult… but it can be.

For myself between my ARC readers, and sales I still only have about 11 Amazon reviews and almost 20 on Goodreads. Despite having 50-60 readers. It’s still a long way off from 50… hopefully I’ll get there.

The Art of a Review?

What do you really need for a review? Not much to be honest. A review can be short and sweet or lengthly with or without spoilers. The truth is any review will work even if it’s a quick, “I enjoyed the book” to something more substantial that gives a bit of the story, characters and enjoyment level.

Since my journey into publishing I have seriously read a ton of books and since I was already reading it made sense to start a book blog Ladywood Readers Club because even though I don’t have a huge BookTok, Bookstagram friends are often looking for recommendations from me.

I was lucky enough to get a kindle for Christmas a couple years ago and it was a game changer. I found some of my absolute favourite indie/ hybrid authors through my Kindle Unlimited which gives me way more access to different authors that I would never have found in a bookshop. Don’t get me wrong I love a paperback as well, but I read a lot more now than ever before.

As someone who runs a book review blog there is a bit of an art to a review. Even for myself there was a bit of a learning curve.

Here is a few things I have learned about the art of reviewing a book:

Be detailed, but don’t give spoilers.
Know the main characters correct names. Nothing looks worse than reading a review and the characters names are wrong. It gives the impression you never read it or it’s a dishonest review.
Focus on a few good things about the book. A specific plot, or quote.
Describe how the book made you feel. For instance when I read Emily Henry’s Book Lovers I felt like I was grinning the entire time as opposed to reading Colleen Hoovers Verity and when I read Meqhan Quinn I know I’ll be howling with laughter as she really nails the rom/com genre.
It’s okay not to love a book. Not every book is for everyone. It’s okay to leave a negative review, authors expect them. But be mindful and ask yourself what you didn’t love about the book. Did it fail your expectations? Not worth the hype? or just couldn’t get into it?

Things not to do:

Stay in your lane. What I mean is read what you love to read and if you decide to step out of your comfort zone, change your expectations. For example, let’s say your reading a murder-mystery but you normally read romance/ fantasy and you don’t love the book don’t ding the author for that. You have to know this isn’t normally what YOU read.

It’s not the authors fault if you find the book too gory or wasn’t your cup of tea. Think of that genre and it’s expectations then go from there. Look at the labels, hashtags and trigger warnings in a book to figure out if it even suits you.

Don’t go on a tirade and nit pick at every significant detail. It’s fine not to like a book for whatever reason(s) but maybe just generalize some of the points that make you dislike or that you did not finish the book. You do not have to tag the author in the post.

I myself have been caught up in the influence of a book, or it’s description and thought why not try it. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised and other times I think it’s okay, but not for me. When leaving the review i’ll acknowledge this genre is outside my range and to take it with a grain of salt.

Where is the best spot to leave a review?

Anywhere and everywhere you can! But here are the top author choices.

Amazon.com is the most universal place because for small little indie authors (like myself) chances are most books are sold digitally through Amazon and other online distributors.

Goodreads. If you read then you know about goodreads. The entire platform is built for book reviews.

Store/site specific like Barnes & Noble, Indigo & Chapters, and most of the independant book stores have an area to leave a review on the books page.

Booktok/Bookstagram are online worlds of book reviews but it’s hard to land in this pile unless you happen to be a blogger or a ‘booktoker’.

Try to leave reviews in at least 2-3 places. Copy and paste or float along the same lines to make it easy on yourself.

Conclusion…

Reviews are a FREE way to help support your favourite author. They can be left multiple places and maybe even help gain some traction for us indie authors.

No matter where you get the book from, online, a bookshop, Walmart, Costco, Target, borrowed, gifted or even the from the library please take a few minutes to write something the next time you’re scrolling through Amazon.

Reviews are on of the few things where quantity over quality matters. So, if you have read anything lately, or you have some on your holiday book wish list then don’t forget to leave that review.

Madyn Rose