What to write in a book review
How to Write a Book Review
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you
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everyone I'm shaylen here with read Z
today we're going to be talking about
how to write a book review now writing
book reviews is a hobby for some a job
for others but for many writers it's a
very useful tool for helping you become
a more perceptive reader and therefore a
more perceptive writer whether you run a
blog want to write up a review for
Amazon or even if you just want to
improve your own reading skills not only
does it really help out the writer for
you to leave a review for them it can
really help you in your own craft to
help realize what works and what doesn't
in a piece you probably want to be aware
of the general a tacit so that you can
leave a quality review that's respectful
to the author as well as useful for
anyone looking to read the book
themselves let's take a look at how to
write a book review number one start
with a summary readers come to book
reviews to know whether or not they
should pick up a book and a book review
isn't too useful if the reader doesn't
even know what the book is about so
start with a brief summary but make sure
not to spoil anything
when in doubt if it's not on the back
jacket of the book it might be
considered spoiler if you ever do want
to include a spoiler in your review make
sure to hide it under a spoilers tab now
you want to keep this part short since
of course the reader can always just
look up the summary themselves so just
briefly introduce the concept main
conflict and main characters you also
want to be very clear about genre and
category now step two is to actually
evaluate but basically what you thought
worked and what you thought didn't
opinions are of course all subjective
but try to look at the book as
objectively as you can where the
characters developed it interesting were
there any details that just simply
didn't make sense or an area of the book
that was underdeveloped was the plot
paste well interesting was it
predictable you can also think about the
author's writing style was it enjoyable
to read how would you try to describe it
you also want to use details that are
useful for readers to find a book that
will match their tastes so is the book
heavy on action what kind of subplots
are included what kind of tropes might
the book include without spoilers was
the end satisfying did it feel well
edited were there frequent errors or
plot holes and what emotions did the
book leave you with does it compare to
any other similar books if someone sees
that the book is similar or would appeal
to fans of several books that they've
read and enjoyed they might feel pretty
inclined to pick this one up even if you
didn't like the book you could say I was
a huge fan of this but I think
it might appeal to fans of these books
now of course your evaluation is going
to be weighted based on what left an
impression on you and what did there may
even be things that were a drawback for
you but that you think might appeal to
other readers for example a writing
style that you don't typically vibe with
but that you know other readers enjoy or
a trope that's not your favorite but
that you know other people like or maybe
the book just didn't really fit your
expectations but might appeal well to
its proper target audience when writing
up the evaluation section of your review
it's really important to remember that
the author is a person who put a lot of
time and effort into the book no matter
how much you may have disliked it you'll
want to treat their book with respect
even if it really wasn't to your taste
in respect for the author try not to
make assumptions about what was going on
in their head or what their writing
process was like it takes a lot of work
in time to write a book and we just
can't really infer these things based on
the end product and finally you want to
any review by giving your recommendation
this whole review is ultimately leading
up to whether or not you would recommend
this book to other readers and to which
reader specifically this is a great
place to include your star rating
quickly summarize while you gave the
book that rating and include any comp
titles
so to summarize the structure of your
review is going to be a brief summary
followed by the bulk of the review which
will be the evaluation section and then
you want to end with a brief conclusion
that will include star rating why you
gave her that rating and who you would
recommend the book to now that's the
general structure of the review but here
are a couple final tips first of all
don't focus too heavy on that summary it
is important but this isn't a book
report and it's likely that the reader
does already know what the book is about
if they're reading review that summary
section is really there as an
introduction piece and to summarize the
book for any readers who maybe haven't
encountered this book before number two
remember that it's okay to have an
opinion you don't need to be neutral nor
should you it's okay to have a strong
opinion even if your opinion was just
that the book didn't really leave a
strong impression on you and you can
also make your stance clear from the
start you don't need to include any kind
of plot twists near the end of your
review or keep readers guessing
throughout the middle of the review
number three is to support your points
with actual events if you thought the
writing style is beautiful include an
excerpt if you thought there were
elements of the world-building that
didn't make sense include examples it's
a lot like writing an academic essay and
way if you make a point and then don't
support it with any evidence it's hard
for anyone reading a review to really
take that point seriously and finally
think about where the review is going to
be posted follow guidelines and consider
how professional you should be if it's
for a more professional outlet being
more professional in your tone if it's
for your own personal blog or you're
just posting it on Goodreads can be a
bit more informal and maybe include a
gif or two finally if you are a book
reviewer and interested in reviewing in
debug you can check out read the
discovery and apply to be a reviewer and
join our growing community of book
reviewers there so thank you guys so
much for watching remember to turn on
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