Writing Reviews

 

Hello! I'm gonna start with a disclaimer: this entire post consists of my personal opinions, so feel free to disagree. I know most of my old reviews don't follow some of the stuff I've mentioned here, because I didn't know that then- I'm still learning! I really hope my future reviews will be much better. Also, this post isn't a step-by-step guide, more of a general thought on reviews.

Introduction: Okay, so you can start however you want. You could include a photo of your book (if you're doing a book review- though applicable for all reviews), the blurb, how you found out about the book etc. You can also mention content/trigger warnings, and the ideal age group. But you can talk about this stuff later on, too. Really, it's up to you. It's your world, so you get to paint it.

The review: I'd like to go over some points I've recently thought of. 

Personally, when writing reviews, I try not to look at other reviews. This is to make sure my review is not biased. However, right before posting it, I'd quickly scroll through a few, making sure to read both 5 star and 1 star reviews. Why? So I can make sure I'm not missing any points. 

However, I've realized that some reviews can be very misleading. This can be incredibly harmful for the creator if you're posting it online. Let's break it down. 

#1: Understand the context: Maybe you don't like fantasy. That's completely fine. If a book that was supposed to focus more on, say, friendship (according to the blurb, for example), but it instead focused on fantasy, then you can say that you didn't like it. On the other hand, if you picked up the book knowing it was fantasy, because the blurb said so, then it's just plain rude to say you didn't like it. You went ahead knowing you don't like the particular genre. Your review may convince those interested to not read the particular book, when they might've liked it. 

#2: If you don't have first hand experience, then don't comment on it: This is pretty straight-forward. If a book deals with racism, and you've luckily never had to face racism, then don't comment on how well the author executes the task. The only instance where you can do this is if you talk to someone who is more educated on the matter. I'm not saying just because you're new to this topic you're completely dumb, just that your opinions may be misleading or biased. 

#3: What you expect VS what you get: This is somewhat similar to the first point. Maybe you expected the story to be more fast-paced. But if the author intended the story to be more slow-paced, then you can't really criticize their decision. You can, however, talk about it if this made you lose interest in the story. 

#4: Things you can comment on VS your personal views: We all read books at different times. Maybe you were going through a rough time, and weren't in the right emotional place for reading that book. Maybe if you had read it at a different time, your ratings would be much more different, better or worse. This can create problems while reviewing. If you like/dislike something, try thinking about the individual reasons. Then figure out if these points were circumstantial, or due to the book. One way to make sure that your own views don't get mixed with the comments is by separating them, but that's just an option. 

Conclusion: This could include a rating of the book, an overall summary of your thoughts etc. 

Anyways, I think it's really important to be neutral in your reviews, especially if you're posting it online. People are going to read it, and it may affect their opinions. Plus, though rare, the author themselves might give it a look. Constructive criticism is good, yeah, but just saying something is bad is not. Also, ratings on Goodreads and stuff can heavily affect an author's career, so it's best to make sure you know what you're writing. If your review is more on the negative side, then don't tag the author. If they want constructive criticism, they'll look at reviews themselves. 

Well then, this post was a little different from what I'd usually talk about. I know I say that pretty often, but I really don't think I've never written something like this before. What do you guys think? Do you have anything you'd like to mention, or something you agree or disagree with? Let me know in the comments, and hopefully I'll be seeing you guys next time!

Note: Not sponsored and just my opinions. If I said something offensive, please let me know!