THE WORLD OF BOOK REVIEWS

I received a rejection last week.  Aaargh!

From Amazon.

They rejected a book review I wrote for Amber Stokes' novel Forget Me Not.

 I was stunned. 

How can they do that? 

They sent me the list of their book review guidelines.  (I didn't even realize that there were such things)  But what puzzled me was I had met all the guidelines.  They did have a reference number so I was able to email them and ask why. They did answer back and said I had a personal relationship with her so they felt the review would be biased. How they knew that she was my editor and publicist is beyond me. But she has plenty of great reviews so I am not too concerned. Personally, I think that God knew I was going to write this post about book reviews and made sure I had the guidelines.  He does have a sense of humor.

So please note that there are guidelines to writing a book review on Amazon. I also write reviews on Goodreads, Barnes and Noble and christianbooks.com.    When I write a review, I copy the first one and then just paste into the others. Saves bunches of time.

So that being said, I want to talk about the world of book reviews that I discovered through my publicist, Amber Stokes. When my books were released, she set up cover reveals and blog tours. I had no idea there were so many wonderful bloggers out there giving the most remarkable book reviews on their websites and/or blog sites.  I have interviewed several of them and asked them how they got started and why they feature book reviews. I found their reasons varied and interesting.

Rachelle Rea has an excellent website for book reviews called Inspiring Daring.

Rachelle says: It all began quite organically, really. I love books, so when I realized my blog could be a place to write about the books I've read recently, I ran with it! I believe my first reviews may have been written for Kindred Grace's annual March of Books...which is coming up, actually! Receiving emails from authors interested in providing me with review copies in exchange for honest reviews is pretty neat. When that started happening, I realized how powerful book reviews really are in the ever-changing world of publicity and book promoting. To be able to contribute is a wonderful thing--because it means I'm supporting authors I enjoy and enabling them to write more!

GUIDE FOR WRITING BOOK REVIEWS IN BLOGS

On RACHELLE'S site she has one of the best guides for writing book reviews  for blogs or websites that I have encountered.  This guide also includes a list of publishers that she reviews for with links to their sites. So if you think you might like to write reviews check this out. Great info Rachelle.  Thank you.

Kav is a regular on Seekerville. I knew she was a librarian, but I didn't know she reviewed books on her blog Best Reads.   Here is what she says about reviewing books:

Reader feedback motivates me. I've had people tell me that they'll buy a book if I like it, that they check my blog for books to add to their TBR pile. I've had people email me with requests for recommendations for books on a particular topic. That kind of thing sets my librarian heart to pitter-pattering. I can't tell you how much I LOVE sharing about books!

I'm an emotional reader so I try to convey what engaged my emotions. What grabbed me and kept me reading. What was swoonworthy about the hero or how the heroine drove me so crazy I wanted to throw the book across the room (only of course I would never do that!) Why my blood pressure will never be the same after reading a suspense, why I'd recommend a box of Kleenex with the purchase of a certain book. I guess I try to express my gut reaction to a really good read.

Renee (Steelergirl) has a wonderful blogsite for reviews Black 'N Gold Girl's Book Spot. She has links that show who she reviews for and also has a disclosure policy that is very professional.

 Renee writes:  My blog came about since I needed a way to discuss and share stories I loved with a bigger audience of like-minded people. Sometimes you just have to dish with someone who will listen, “Did she REALLY do that? How about that hero? Dreeeeeammmmmy! Le sigh. I couldn’t believe that kiss!!!”

I try to write honest and helpful reviews, I think readers and authors appreciate that. I also like to mix it up a bit and keep it fun. My blog has evolved from the book review blog that I originally started with to include some of my other interests. You might find a Christian romance book review followed by a Doctor Who or Sherlock “geek girl” post later that same day! I’m such a dork, but that’s me and I love sharing that on my small part of the Interweb.

Alyssa Faith has a book review blog called Literary and Lace.  

Her story of how she started writing reviews is kind of like my story of how I started writing. We both started while responding to an assignment from a university class. Alyssa writes:  

What inspired me to create a blog that features book reviews is actually an interesting story. It all started in my junior year of high school, I had just transferred to an independent study program in my area. After talking with my teacher she discovered I had a love of books and reading. She told about a course I could take to get English credits and it was a course consisting of reading books and writing reviews. And that is where it started. I started my current blog, Literary and Lace, in March of 2013. And through blogging and Twitter I have become good friends with other fellow bloggers. What keeps me blogging is my love of books and wanting to support the authors. Over time I have become friends with many authors in the industry and because of those friendships I have an eagerness to support them.

Brooke M. has an interesting story of how she got started with her blog I Blog 4 Books.  I love her quote "so many books...so little time". Don't we all feel that way?  Here is her story:

Well, my story is probably a little different than many. In 2010, my pastor challenged our church to sacrifice anything and everything we possibly could for one year in order to spend that money on advancing the gospel around the world. My husband and I had only been married for a few months and didn’t feel like we had much “extra” to sacrifice, but we took a close look at our finances and evaluated everything. It was hard, but we made three changes—turn off the cable, limit (significantly) how much we ate out, and stop buying books.

Seriously? Stop buying books? I wasn’t sure I could do it (or that I even wanted to!), but I committed to refrain from purchasing books for the entire year. I dusted off my library card and was ready to go. A few weeks later, a friend told me about Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program where bloggers receive free books in exchange for posting reviews online. I thought it would be a fun to get a few free books and share my thoughts about them. A few months later, I started i blog 4 books, my “book blog.” Four years later, I’m still at it—reviewing books, meeting new friends, interacting with authors, and enjoying a hobby I didn't even know existed!

While I originally started blogging simply to get free books, I quickly realized that there was more to it than that for me. I primarily review Christian fiction and enjoy spreading the word about books that are clean, well-written, and point people to God. 

(And by the way . . . I did start buying books again after my one-year moratorium on book buying. I just try to limit myself to only buy ones I'm dying to read!)

Ann Lee Miller writes reviews on her site My Two Cents Worth for practical reasons. She wanted a venue to publicize her own books and what she does works for her. Here's what she says when asked why she writes reviews:

Laziness! Even though there's no consensus about whether blogging helps book sales, I wanted to blog Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But I didn't want to steal precious fiction-writing hours from my schedule. Since I read a couple novels a week and have years' worth of titles floating around in the gray matter of my brain--I thought, why not post reviews? Very short reviews that take five or so minutes to write. Readers who like the books are potential readers of my books. Busy people prefer short reviews. Win, win, win.

Hits on my website drastically increased and stay healthy as I blog. My book sales are steady. It's fun when readers occasionally comment on the blog or on Facebook about a book review.

I post my reviews on my personal Facebook page and my author Facebook page once for each blog post. I schedule tweets every two hours viaHootsuite.com seven days a week--advertising the current blog. All that tweeting sounds obnoxious, but apparently it's accepted in Twitterdom. When I don't tweet, my daily website hits drop from several hundred to double digits. I have about 5,500 Twitter followers.

Tammy Shelnut writes a lovely blog Bluerose's Heart. Here is why she started blogging book reviews:

I was tired of reading books that were full of "bad" content, so I started blogging as a way to help others find clean reads, and give content ratings. Plus, the free books were extra motivation! ;)  I enjoy the interaction with other bloggers that love books as much as me. I have a hard time convincing my "real life" family/friends of the complete joy of getting lost in a great read. It's always a joy to pick up a book that another blogger has recommended!   It's also always a joy to get to recommend a book that I loved, especially when another reader adds a book to their "favorites" list because of it.


And Virginia Carmichael Munoz on her site The Things That Last will occasionally write a book review. She featured LOVE'S MIRACLES and I thought did an outstanding job.  She has also featured Tina, KC Frantzen and others. 

Virginia says the reason she writes reviews is:  I don't think I could have a blog that DOESN'T feature book reviews. Books are such a big part of my life that it would be weird to blog about something and never mention a book. Even when I blog about food over on Yankee Belle Café, we still end up discussing books.

Something I really love is meeting people who love the same books I do. We all know how subjective reading is, and how two close friends can completely disagree on which books are "the best". So, it's such a treat to meet people who swoon over the same books I do, who admire how the author worked such a difficult plot point or how they were completely surprised at the same place I was. That's a huge bonus of doing book reviews- meeting the people who love the same books.

If you follow Seekerville at all you know Vince and probably love him as much as we do. He does have a blog that features some of the best reviews I've ever read.  Please be advised that if you go to his blog Philosophy of Romance you will have to go to past blog posts as he has been extremely busy with a project these past two months. In fact, we are very fortunate to get these words of wisdom, but he needed a break. smile

When asked why he writes reviews he answered:   It has been said that the best way to learn anything is to teach it. Writing reviews is like teaching. First, you have to understand the material before you can present it well to someone else. 

I also thought that Romance, as a genre, has not been given the respect it deserves by the academic establishment. I wanted to give excellent romance novels the respect they deserved. I also wanted to review them as I would the most serious literature.  Yay Vince.

I don’t think any other authors work as hard on their craft as romance authors do. Romance has a ‘contest’ culture. Romance writers have always been in a ‘continuous improvement’ mode of operation. They were doing TQM long before it came into vogue.

Lastly, I wanted to learn how to write romances. The best way to teach myself how to do this was to read and review the best romances I could find. I wanted to ‘look under the hood’. For example, what I like best about Mark Twain, is also what I like best about Mary Connealy. While authors have a ‘voice’, they also have what I call a ‘talent print’ – a way their talent is expressed. This ‘talent print’ is part of the voice but it is not the voice.

Janet Dean writes the most crystal clear prose I’ve encountered since the Norwegian poet Tarjei Vasaas -- who I feel was the master of this talent. (As a copywriter, ‘crystal clear’ – is the gold standard.) 

My reviews try to find what the author does better than anyone else and then to show this with examples. My reviews are best directed to other authors who are still building their craft skills. Ruth Logan Herne writes books that  have so much good stuff going on under the hood, it is hard to choose what to talk about.   

A good review will direct the right readers to the books they would most enjoy reading. 

For example, Debby Giusti’s Military theme romances are extremely well developed in four threads: the romance, the inspirational, the mystery, and the suspense elements. All four threads are complete. Debby is the only writer I know who weaves all four of these separate story elements into one story while, at the same time, employing the setting or nature herself to act as a mirror to reflect the story action like an orchestra giving a full bodied resonance to the virtuosos playing on the stage.  I always feel that plotting one of Debby’s stories would take longer than writing it. Reading her books is like watching a juggler keeping ten knives in the air at the same time. It keeps this writer on the edge of his seat. 

As for my motivation being heightened at times. Oh, yes, sometimes a new author writes me saying how  my review lifted her spirits and how it gave her encouragement to go on. This is especially so when the review was able to put a spotlight on the areas in the book of singular excellence. There has to be this proof or else the review is just flattery that will soon dissipate into the mist of memory. 

(This folks is exactly what happened to me. One of Vince's reviews came at time I most needed it-smile) Thank you Vince.  If that isn't enough reason to write a review, I don't know what is.  

And of course there is Amber Stokes  where I started in this wonderful world of book reviews. Amber has a wonderful website called Seasons of Humility that includes a page for book reviews. Interestingly enough she started because of a university assignment also. And she contacted Renee for advice on getting started.  Consequently, Amber has some great advice especially if you are interested in getting started.

Amber says:

It takes time to get your name out there, whether as a blogger, an author, a businessperson, or what-have-you. One of the most helpful ways to spread the word is by hosting giveaways. Yes, it takes investment, but giveaways/freebies are especially effective in attracting attention, although it will still take time and effort to build up interest in those, as well. Another especially helpful way to spread the word is by taking the time to meet other bloggers. Follow other blogs, comment on their posts, and build friendships with them. Not only will that generally result in them taking an interest in you and your blog, but it will also lead to something even more important: real relationships. The joy of book blogging is in the discussion, in the shared passion for stories and the challenge of exchanging ideas.

There are several things I’ll often discuss in a review: whether or not the characters are authentic and/or endearing, the setting drew me in, the plot kept me engaged, and the writing impressed me. I especially like to convey those times when a book resonates with me—when something unique about the story charms me, and when the story as a whole affects me and touches me deeply. If a book makes me cry or feel some sort of strong emotion, I take that as a sign of gifted storytelling. I like to provide summary statements, usually emphasizing the story’s strengths, what other readers might also enjoy about it, and the take-away message/value. But I also think it’s important to note the things that readers might not care for. For much of my blog audience, that would include crude language and sexual content, in addition to noting when the plot is slow, the characters are frustrating or unrealistic, etc. I believe in looking for and sharing the good in a book, but I also highly value honesty in reviews—thereby finding a balance between being encouraging but also helpful to both the reader and the author.


Here are some other sites that participated in my blog tour:

Flowers of Quiet Happiness

The Curried Nut

Edgy Inspirational Romance

My Favorite Pastime

Tell The World

The Wonderings of One Person / all about books

Buzzing About Books

Come Meet Ausjenny

I also want to thank our friend Marianne Barkman who faithfully writes reviews for Goodreads and Amazon.  

A little birdie named Virginia told that these Seekerville friends also have book review sites:

Books I've Read

Inspirational Historical Fiction Index

So Seekerville and friends.  
Do you look at book reviews before ordering a book?  
How much weight do you give them in selecting a book?  
What do you look for in a book review?  
Do you have any great book review sites that you like to follow?  
Do you write book reviews?

Answer any of these questions and be in the drawing for a Seeker ebook of your choice. (Or if you want a print copy, you can have your choice of one of mine or one of Julie's Romance-ology 101)

I have provided a platter of fresh fruits (peeled and sliced already) so you don't have an excuse. :)
There are still oranges on my tree, apples, pineapple, mango, strawberries, cherries, blueberries and raspberries.  

I still have free audio copies of LOVE'S MIRACLES and LOVE'S REFUGE if you are interested in doing a review in audible.com.  They don't have guidelines yet, but they have about 4 or 5 set questions they ask and they suggest you answer in 15 words or less. It is pretty easy.  The reason audible doesn't carry over reviews from Amazon books is that the narrator is also rated.  I discovered in my own listening that this makes a big difference in whether you like a book or not.

If you want a free copy of an audio use my contact form on my website at sandraleesmith.com
You only need to fill in your email address and in the subject put free audio.  

Have a great day.

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