What Are Book Reviews

2. Usually, book reviews are written evaluations of a recently published book in any genre. Generally, around the 500 to 700-word mark, they offer a brief description of a text’s main elements while appraising the work’s overall strengths and weaknesses. Published book reviews mainly appear in newspapers, magazines, and academic journals. The reader is provided with an overview of the book itself and is told whether or not the reviewer would recommend the book to the reader. So book reviews in essence are the short take on the major themes of the book, its theme, plot, and characters.

3. What is the Goal of a Book Review? Not too long ago book reviews were a regular appearance in every quality newspaper and many periodicals. They were important factors in whether or not a book would sell well. A review from a heavyweight critic could often be the deciding factor in whether a book became a bestseller or end up in low sales. However, in the last few decades, the book review’s influence has diminished considerably with many potential book buyers preferring to consult customer reviews on Amazon or sites like Goodreads. As a result, the book review’s appearance in traditional media has become less frequent.

4. Key take away for a book reviewer: ● He should engage critically with a text ● He should critically evaluate a text ● He should respond personally to a range of different writing genres ● He should focus on improving his own reading, writing, and thinking skills.

5. Book review: The Key Elements Aspects of the book a reviewer may wish to take notes on in a work of fiction may include: ● Themes: What are the main themes of the book under consideration? Are there recurring motifs in the book? Is the exploration of the themes deep or on the surface only? ● Characters: Who are the main characters in the story? What are their believes and motivations? Are they convincingly reflected? ● Style: What are the key elements of the writer’s style? Does it fit into the wider literary world? ● Plot: What is the story’s main happening place? What is the main plot? How effectively is the rising action described? What are the subplots?

6. For a review to be effective the reviewer should: i. Make It Personal Book reviews are subjective. They are opinion pieces that come out of our experiences of life. A reviewer should link the work they are writing about to their own personal life within the context of the review. ii. Make It Universal Just as it is important to show how the work relates to individual life, it is important to switch sides as well. Reviewers should endeavor to show how the ideas explored in the book relate to the wider world. iii. Support Opinions with Evidence By its very nature, a book review is a subjective piece of writing. However, just because it is subjective does not mean that opinions do not need to be rationalized.

7. Book Review-Edit and Revision As with any writing genre, reviewers should polish things up with review and revision at the end. It is critical to proofread and check for accurate spelling throughout, with particular attention to the author’s name, character names, publisher etc. It is good practice to double-check their use of evidence and claims. Are statements supportive? Have the statistics been used correctly? Are the quotations accurate?

8. Video Book Reviews The best way to promote a book is to get people talking about it, discussing it, and sharing it. And the easiest way to combine all of these is to have a video book review. A Video Book Review is an effective way to inform potential readers, reach a new audience, and an easy way to get feedback about your book. The key areas to discuss in a video book review are characters, themes, writing style, and plot. A brief excerpt that highlights the main event in the book is also included in a video book review.

9. Main benefits of a video book review • The video is available to billions of active YouTube users • It is much more engaging than other formats • The YouTube video can be put on your website for a wider reach • It is a quick and easy way for book bloggers to share content about your book • The video can easily be shared on Facebook and Twitter to amplify its reach • It is an effective way to get feedback about your book.

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