Book Reviews for Fiction Readers and Authors!Book reviews can help publicize fiction author's novels, poems, or short stories by providing valuable feedback or testimonials on the content within their books. You can help fiction writers attract more people to your books through reviews by telling a little bit about what they got out of the book when they read it. Likewise, other fiction readers and writers can help you by reviewing your fiction writing and providing valuable feedback to you. Writing fiction reviews for books helps in many ways; it is a great way to let people know the types of books you like to read; it helps people decide on what books to read if they aren't too sure on what to read based on your honest review; it provides great feedback for you as an author in order to make changes to your work that may mean the difference to your writing. When you consider writing about someone's work of fiction, you must analyze, evaluate, and describe what you thought about the book. Before you start reading, break out a notepad and pen and write things down as you read the book so you can recall them later when you are submitting proper reviews. Below are some elements to consider when you want to write a good book review on someone's book: 1. Critical Analysis. You should start your analysis even before you pick up a book to read it. Look at the title of the book and determines what it suggests about the book. Look at the cover art, if it has any. Does the cover immediately capture your attention and make you want to read the book? Read the introduction or preface and identify any of the book's limits. Determine if the author has left out any important aspects of the subject he/she is writing about. Read the table of contents (if it has one). Determine the layout and organization of the book. 2. Detailed Analysis. As you are reading the book, you should consider many of the wonderful aspects of that book, such as the genre, the writer's point of view throughout the book, the style of the book, the type of audience it is suitable for, and general information about the author and the types of books he/she writes or has previously written. The detailed analysis is where most of the constructive feedback comes from. Was it gramaticaly correct? Was punctuation and word usage correct throughout the story? Were transitions from chapter to chapter or all of the scene breaks smooth? 3. Evaluation. When you are ready, start jotting down things to add into your review such as what the book accomplished for you. Did it leave you wanting more or did it leave an impacting image in your mind? Be honest with your book reviews and evaluation. This is not only feedback to other readers, it is constructive feedback for the author as well. You should grab the reader of your review with your opening statement. Try to set a tone of your book reviews. It should be known right away if your review is going to be positive or negative, and if it is negative, that it is an honest, professional review. Don't just blast someone's writing. Be open minded and point out both the good and bad things you find, not just one or the other. You should be familiar with the publisher's guidelines for book reviews before starting your actual review. Some want plot summaries included with your review while others do not. Some may want you to say if you recommend the book or not right away in the review. During your review, you want to compare the book to other books by this author or similar books in the same genre by other authors. This helps established the writing style of the author or if they have a style all of their own. You should consider the person who is reading your book reviews. Is the reader a collector, librarian, a parent wanting to read the book aloud to their children. The person reading your review may just be looking for information about the specific topic or just searching for the next book they may want to read. 4. Your Conclusion. Your book review conclusion must summarize, including a final assessment, of the book you read. Don't add more comments regarding evaluation of the book during the conclusion. This is the closing for your review, not a new topic within your review. This is a great place to recommend the book to others. This is the action you want the author or readers to take.
|
