How to Write a Book Review if You Feel Like It
Since I have a new book on Amazon, I have started to ask readers to consider reviewing it. That’s fun, she says with great sarcasm. …. Oh, to put a book in the world and let magic be the wings that carry it to all the real humans who will buy and read it. I’m promoting my book lately and have been applying for jobs most of this year so my “putting myself out there” meter is MAXED.
Here’s the skinny on book reviews. It actually is a great way to support authors you like. Apparently, it’s the number of reviews that help (specifically) Amazon books get seen. The last I heard—although, like plane ticket prices in Sleepless in Seattle, this probably changes “practically every day”—50 to 75 reviews is the sweet spot for a book to possibly gain momentum and get seen by readers other than my BFFs who went directly to my book on Amazon from a link or something. Reviews make Amazon consider putting my book in front of people who are looking for something similar to mine.
As a reader, I know authors want reviews. I do it on Goodreads, occasionally, but the stars and a sentence or two are usually all I can muster.
Writing book reviews is tough for me because of what I believe about reading and love.
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
A lot goes into loving a book. More than the author’s effort is involved. The author can’t help what the reader is going through at the time, what the reader reads between the lines, the playlist in the background, what the reader needed from the author, what they expected, or what they wished.
All of that goes into any reader’s feelings about a book. It makes “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” vaguely useless, and stars mean nothing without taking into account all that reader personality and background.
Regarding the stars, my advice is this: Don’t sweat them. I’ve quit sweating them on Goodreads. I don’t feel this earth-shattering obligation to readers to get those stars right. I have my way of thinking about the stars, and every other reviewer has their way. I’m not stressing over it. The first time my memoir got a non-five-star review, I was thrilled. Finally, my reviews wouldn’t make people wonder if only my mom and best friend had written them all.
So, yeah, don’t sweat the stars. And, I think stars are all it takes to count as a review on Amazon. If you wish to add some words, don’t sweat those, either. A review doesn’t have to be subjective—probably shouldn’t be all that subjective—to be helpful to other readers. And being helpful to readers is the real goal of book reviews.
These are the kinds of things that might be helpful:
What kind of story is it? Scary, heartwarming, sad, moving, light-hearted, adventure, fantasy, crime, how-to, inspirational, memoir…
How does it feel? Fast-paced, slow, literary, academic, light, heavy…
Who might like it? Those who like thriller, romance, epistolary novels, self-help, memoir…people in specific circumstances or professions…people who have experienced a certain thing or those who have not…Gen X, millennials…those who liked this book or that one…
What did or did not meet your expectations? I expected more dragons. It had less research than I expected (or more) or more or fewer personal stories than I would have liked. I didn’t know it would be funny. It was sad in parts; it was sadder than expected at the end. It’s more (or less) religious than I expected. I didn’t know it would be written so clearly for this or that target age and gender. I couldn’t keep up with the pop culture references (or I loved them!); the science went over my head or (perhaps) you don’t need to know anything about xyz to understand this book.
These are the kinds of questions I ask myself to keep from saying I liked a book or didn’t like it. If I don’t feel I was the target audience, I probably didn’t love it, but maybe I can figure out who the target audience might be. If the title is vague, maybe my review can help someone figure out what the book is really about.
Writing book reviews is a big, fat favor. It’s a favor to the author because it might help more people find their book. It’s a favor to readers because it might help the right people find the book.
Write them only if you feel like it, and try to write them in a way that lets the reader know what they can expect. You might like this if is much more enlightening than, “It’s bleak, and I wasn’t in the mood,” which is a real review I left on Goodreads once because I am not the best example of great reviews.
Be better than me.
Other readers will thank you, and your favorite authors will be super grateful, too.