Writing Reviews

     

How to Write a Review:

1. In the Review Text (below) replace the prompts with your own words.
2. Go online to the website where the book is sold.
3. Click on the button "Write a Customer Review".
4. Copy and paste the edited review into the online text boxes.


Review Text:

<What is the name of the book?> was <What was your initial impression?>.


That's it! Wow, that was hard, wasn't it?

Your initial impression needn't be prose; just use the same words that you would use to tell your best friend about the book.



For Example:

"The Lord of the Rings was a classic sword-and-sorcery adventure of good versus evil."

"Romeo and Juliet was a romantic story of star-crossed lovers with an ending you won't forget."

"One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was a warning tale for children about what could happen if you don't take care of your pets."

See how easy it is?



Do any authors want reviews from people who have read their books?

Answer: ALL AUTHORS WANT REVIEWS.

Reviews are critical to writers. Good reviews may help spread the word of a great book. Bad reviews (well-written) may point out weak points in the story that the author needs to work on. Authors need reviews; the future of their writing careers depend upon them.



What else should you comment on?

That's easy: what qualities do you look for in a book, and did this book meet your standards?


For Example:

Did you like the story?

Was it a joy to read?

Was it hard to put down?

Were the characters realistic?

When the characters succeeded, did you feel glad?

When the characters were in danger, did you worry for them?

Was the setting (world-view) unique and interesting?

Was the writing-style engaging?

Did you learn anything new from the book?

Was reading the book a rewarding experience?


Questions like these are optional, but they enhance any review. You needn't answer any or all of them; the goal for a review is not to tell what the book was about, but what you thought about it.



!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

Generally, any spoilers do not belong in a review. I remember reading a review of the 2nd StarTrek movie; the opening 2 words were: "Spock dies". This is bad - don't say which characters get a happy ending, which don't, or what happened in the book that you liked or didn't. A review is about your impressions, not a retelling the incidents in the story.

Worried about what others might say about your review?

If you don't like to place yourself in the public eye, or worry that your writing might not be appropriate or sophisticated enough, then those issues are easy to deal with. Don't write your review on the webpage; write your review in a modern text editor like Microsoft Word. Use Word's spelling and grammar checking, and just fix everything that is underlined. Then show it to someone else for a double-check, just to make sure that you didn't miss anything. Send your review as an email to a friend, asking them to proofread it; your review should sound exactly as if you were telling them about the book in-person.



Worried that you review won't sound professional?

Relax: reviews are not meant to sound professional. Yes, you should avoid bad language (websites like Amazon recognize curse-words and delete those reviews), but the most important aspect of any review is that it sounds like it came from you! If you were a professional writer, then you would be the author asking people to write reviews for you!



What do you get for writing a review?

One word: Gratitude. The author will be eternally grateful. Future readers will be grateful; people who don't like certain types of books will know not to waste their time reading a genre that they don't like, and those looking for the same type of books that you like will be encouraged by your comments. To this day, I cannot remember the name of the former co-worker who first told my teenage-self about hobbits; having read Lord of the Rings more than 17 times, I wish that I could thank him.



For a trilogy, must I write a review for each book?

No; a review of each book is great, but a single review is equally appreciated. Just tag a single review to the first book, and that will earn you deep and heartfelt thanks.

To insure that your review matches the length and style of others, just read the other reviews. Compare them to yours. For The VIKINGS! Trilogy, look on Jay Palmer's Book Reviews page:

Jay's Reviews



What if I still don't want to write a review?

Don't feel bad; two simple tasks can equal posting a review online:

1. Contact the author (via phone, email, Facebook, etc.) and tell them what you thought, even if it is just one word; all feedback is treasured by authors.

2. Tell your friends and relatives that you read the book. If they seem interested, then tell them about it.

The biggest problem that most new authors have is not lack of quality, it is lack of people knowing that their books exist. In the information age, so much garbage is distributed that quality gets lost in the data-flood which inundates us daily.

If you do write a review, and do not know the author, feel free to go to their website and send them a private message, telling them who you are. Trust me: they will want to thank you personally.

(Note: To post a review on The VIKINGS! Trilogy, start with this link:)

DeathQuest Reviews