It’s been almost a year since I began writing reviews and actually published them. I remember that first review… well um ok maybe it wasn’t my first review if you want to consider those book reports you were required to write in school, let alone the literary analysis required in college… but ok my first published review that I didn’t do because I had to in order to earn a grade but simply because I wanted to express my opinion and say thank you to an author. Since then I’ve written, edited and published well over a few hundred reviews. That being said you might be asking why I would even read this book in the first place. Obviously, I know how to write a review. And, yeah I know that is subjective too… because face it we all have different expectations from a review. But the reality is once upon a time I felt some anxiety about writing reviews. I still do sometimes. I also questioned whether writing a review was really important. After all, I seldom made purchases based on reviews. But the reality is that since the advent of Indie publishing combined with Amazon’s review system the customer review has gained in significance and influences a lot in the publishing industry today.

Ms. Abbot’s book not only explains the difference in types of reviews and how to write one but she explains the importance of reviews to an author’s career these days whether they are positive, negative, short or long. She touches on a few hotbeds when it comes to the things that can get your review removed or banned from some sites… things like being a relative or friend of the author or being paid for the review. She outlines how you can take the one or two-word review and turn it into a review of over fifty words simply and easily. She provides simple templates for assigning star values to the books you read. All in all, for such a short read this book is chock full of helpful information for the novice reviewer. I enjoyed reading it not just from the aspect of a simple how to but for the explanation of how the industry has evolved and the impact reviews have on an author’s success.

So if you haven’t started leaving reviews for the books you read consider this… Leaving a review doesn’t have to be lengthy. It doesn’t have to be glowing. It can simply be your “thank you” to the author for a book you enjoyed reading. It can also be the feedback the author needs to hone their craft. It can be your method of sharing your love of reading with others. Finally, it can be your closure to a book read. I’d never thought about this last one before. It’s a lovely sentiment as we all become rather connected to the characters and stories we read. If you’ve been on the fence about leaving a review and maybe don’t know where to start How to Write a Simple Book Review is a good place to start.

And for those of you snickering over the fact that I wrote a longer review… much more than 50 words for a 30-page book… yeah, I know maybe I should be looking for a book on how to write short concise reviews… I could easily apply what Ms. Abbot demonstrates… but then that wouldn’t be me 🙂

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