Web Content Recipe: How to Write a Book Review by Rachelle Money, 20 May 2008
Generating good content for your website is key to search engine optimization. And writing a review of a book that your audience will find useful is a great strategy. In this article, our own journalist Rachelle Money explains her approach to writing the Microtrends review and gives you a step-by-step guide with some handy tips on how to write your own.
Top Tip: Read the book! I know that sounds silly but you have to pay due care and attention to the author’s work and only then can you be confident of critiquing it.
Ingredients:
The book has to be relevant to your site and be of interest to your readers.
Make a list of pros and cons of the book as that can really focus on the mind on what angle your review is going to take.
Take some time to mull the book over and then the review will be more considered.
Email the author or publisher and send them a link to your review.
Writing a book review is a challenge we should relish. As readers this is an opportunity to be honest and say what we think, but how do you critique someone else’s work and do it justice too?
Before you embark on a book review you must ask yourself, "will visitors to my site be interested in this book"? The book you choose should be relevant to the subject matter your site is based on. So if you own a florist, choose a book about flower arranging; if the site's on eco-living, make sure the review is related; alternatively, if you’re a marketing guru, the book you review should be on that very subject. If you don’t choose the book wisely your online visitor will either click away from your page immediately or be confused as to what your site is about.
When you have selected an appropriate book, ensure that it’s something that will benefit your reader and entice them to explore your site further. Putting yourself in the position of expert - with good services, products and pertinent content such as blogs, book reviews and articles, will make your online visitors more likely to sign up to your e-newsletter or to purchase your products.
In this article I’d like to show how I constructed my review of Mark J Penn’s Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s Big Changes, and the type of points I decided were important to include. The first thing I did of course was to read the book!
When I read the title I thought the book would be a dry piece of writing, using technical language and lacking color. Let’s be honest, Microtrends is hardly a sexy title, is it? However, in reality I found the book to be thoroughly interesting and informative. The fact that I was pleasantly surprised by the book formed the basis of my critique of Microtrends, and that’s why I chose to lead on this point in my introduction.
Have your notebook open as you are reading and include page numbers where you found an interesting point or idea. You may want to lightly annotate the effective passages with thoughts that spring to mind, either by placing ‘post-its’ on the page, or using a pencil to underscore examples you will include in your review, (although I know some people will think writing on a book is sacrilege). Making notes as you read will also make writing the review easier.
Critiquing someone else’s work is a real responsibility and you should think carefully about what you want to say. Those reading your review will take action once they’ve read it, either by rushing out to buy the book, or by leaving it on the shelf. So think carefully before you start your review and treat it as considered judgement.
After I read Microtrends I scribbled down a rough structure of what I thought were important points to cover in my review. Here’s what I wrote down:
Introduction (You must include the title of the book in this opening paragraph.)
Description of the author (Who is he/she? What other books have they written? Are they an expert in this field?)
What promises does the book make?
Are there any interesting questions raised or debates discussed etc. (For example, do the ideas contribute to an industry debate?)
How topical or important is the book?
Are there any pitfalls in the book? Is there anything you disagree with?
Pick around three or four examples from the book which back up the points you want to make or the opinions you have.
Why should I read it? (Think about the books target audience. What made you choose to read the book?)
Look at the book’s introduction, is there anything that you can pull out of it which helps put the book into a wider context?
How does it compare to other books which look at a similar issue? (Does the book you are reviewing add any new opinions?)
Has it changed your mind about anything?
Even when a book is awful, if the reader gets one good idea from it, it’s worth the cover price. (Does this apply to the book you are reviewing? Did you get new ideas or form a different opinion after reading it?)
Conclusion (this is where you should be tying everything up).
You can copy the rough structure outline I have given above and then fill in any subdivisions you want to include. This will allow for you to expand on the basic points I provided.
Being critical of someone else’s work doesn’t come easy to some, but think about when you last received bad service. Did you complain? Disagreeing with someone or something, is not necessarily a bad thing. If you read a book and completely disagree with the author, that’s fantastic - tell other readers how you feel. This is great material for generating debate so you should not water down your opinions, nor sit on the fence. Instead, treat a book review with considered judgement and go for it.
Don’t carry the book everywhere you go - you need time to gain some perspective. Read the book, make notes as you go along, and then put it down. Go back to it after a few days and re-read your notes and key chapters and then begin to formulate a structure for your review.
Make sure any quotes you lift from the book are put in quotation marks ("") so as to avoid any confusion for you and your readers.
The concluding paragraph should sum up or restate your central argument and judgment about the book. NEVER introduce a new idea at this stage. It’s also worth reading the book’s introduction when you come to conclude your review as it can serve to reaffirm the context the book was written in.
Now that it’s written, email the author or publishing house and offer a link to your review. If they like it they may link to your website.
About Rachelle Money
Rachelle Money is a freelance journalist based in Scotland, UK. She graduated from the Scottish School of Journalism in 2005 where she was awarded an internship with two national publications - The Sunday Herald newspaper and The Big Issue magazine. Rachelle has been working with Wordtracker since August 2007 and is a regular contributor to the newsletter.
13 comments
Rachelle,
Another well written and very helpful article. Well constructed and entertaining.
Now that I'm old and grey I can afford to buy books rather than borrow them from the local Carnegie library.
It is such a joy to annotate and mark those passages that intrigue or interest.
To turn page corners down so you can find key points quickly.
If you really want to understand the topic I heartily recommend you devour a book in this way and bend it ruthlessly to your will.
However be aware it does tend to put a big dunt in the resale value
Thank you for the great article...I am in the middle of reading a book that one of my readers sent me to review.
Thank goodness it is about Baby Boomers!
And even though I have written hoards of book reviews for school and college...I felt that what I needed was something more...plus I have a tendency to get side tracked and I do love a good rant!
There I go...focus, Sharon! LOL
I am going to print out your Web Content Recipe and use it as a guide.
See you in the funny papers...
Southern smiles and world peace, Sharon ~The Baby Boomer Queen~ http://www.BabyBoomerQueenAdvisorClub.com
Rachel, your article was very helpful to me -- and very timely, as I have been planning to add a regular book review feature to my web site and ezine. Now, thanks to you, I have the perfect step-by-step model to follow. I'm sure my readers will benefit; I really appreciate your advice.
BTW, have YOU written a book I can read & review? If not, you should... you're an excellent writer! :-)
Rachelle,
I too would like to thank you for a great article, very well written and informative! Your structure for writing a book review make's perfect sense, and could serve as a structure for other types of work like consulting for instance. I think I'm somewhat of a "disorganized reader", and would probably get more lasting, meaningful information from a book if I approached it with the structure you have recommended.
I hope I'm not out of line if I say you are very intelligent/attractive writer!!!
Cheers,
Thank you for the great article...I am in the middle of reading a book that one of my readers sent me to review.
Thank goodness it is about Baby Boomers!
And even though I have written hoards of book reviews for school and college...I felt that what I needed was something more...plus I have a tendency to get side tracked and I do love a good rant!
There I go...focus, Sharon! LOL
I am going to print out your Web Content Recipe and use it as a guide.
See you in the funny papers...
Southern smiles and world peace, Sharon ~The Baby Boomer Queen~ http://www.BabyBoomerQueenAdvisorClub.com
Your guidelines came just in time. I have been considering writing a book review for my blog on container gardening for urban gardeners. I will definitely follow your tips. thanks much!
Bob, that's what Post-It notes are for! I find it makes it even easier to find pages than dog-eared corners do...
Rachell,
You really did a good job. It is very informative and revealing. Thanks a lot as I have been searching for information as this for my book review works. I hope to implement the contents and pass on the information from you to others.Great work.
Rachelle, I too must thank you. It was a great piece and as mentioned many times over I will also be printing out a copy of the guidelines. Since I listen to books on CD & Mp3, dog earing the pages & using post it notes may be a bit tricky but they sure do paint a interesting picture in my mind. Thanks again.
Critiquing someone else’s work is a real responsibility and you should think carefully about what you want to say. Those reading your review will take action once they’ve read it, either by rushing out to buy the book, or by leaving it on the shelf. So think carefully before you start your review and treat it as considered judgement.
When I write a book, I'll definitely send a copy to you for criticism.
Regards
Prince http://www.CrewlaneTechnologies.us
me steven joke microsoft boat land
This is a really good and informative article and very timely for me as I am about to start putting some book reviews together for my blog.
I find reviewing quite a daunting task and this breaks it down nicely into manageable steps - thank you