How to Write a Simple Book Review by A R Abbott

Book Review of How to Write a Simple Book Review by Allyson R. Abbott

How to Write a Simple Book Review by Allyson R. Abbott is a comprehensive guide on literary criticisms. Amazon is a good place to post your reviews. It is by far the largest book seller online. As per as the quality is concerned Amazon is the most reliable organisation. Their rating structure consists of both a grading system and a provision to post justification/explanation for your ratings. Not all the reviewers post lengthy, academic level, painstakingly written reviews. Even brief one sentence reviews along with appropriate grading produces impact.

It takes a great deal of time and energy to publish even a small book containing a hundred pages. The main objective of the author is to reach the readers. When you read a book, how is the author supposed to know if you liked it or hated it? The only way is to write your feedback – a book review. This is a serious business, because your feedback is what will help the author in the long run.

Even if you hate the book, or did not finish it because the spelling, formatting or grammar, was so bad you took it to a charity shop, let the author know. How can they ever improve their craft of writing, if they never get feedback?

Though How to Write a Simple Book Review by A. R. Abbott is primarily about re viewing books on Amazon but it also explores other platforms where you can send your feedback to the author and other readers. You can always send direct emails to the authors letting them know your opinions. You can write a guest post in one of those blogs that post regular book reviews. You can also share the link in Facebook with a word or two about how you liked the book. All this immensely helps the author as well as the readers.

Allyson R. Abbott however, cautions against giving away the endings. The purpose of the review is to constructively evaluate a book. Simply narrating the plot is not a book review. Besides, when you give away the ending, the readers loses interest in the book. This adversely affects the sale, even if its a good book. Secondly, a reviewer must not be coarsely insulting. A book is a child of its author. Being rude will not only ruin the author’s reputation but it will also damage your reputation as a reviewer. The author also advises against quoting long passages from the book. Sometimes reviewers can’t control the impulse of padding their articles to unnecessary lengths. The underlying motif is to make it more Search Engine friendly. But this is not how a book review should be written. What readers want is your honest opinion about the book. In case they decide to buy or borrow the book, they will read it for themselves.

Most of us are not interested in reviews because we think there is nothing in it for us. This is a misconception. Being literary critic is a lucrative job. There are places like Fiverr or People Per Hour that actually pay you for posting your review. You can also write your reviews in a blog like this one. There is always an option to write guest posts in blogs. If you have a relevant matter in your own blog, you can also create inbound links to your own article.

If you don’t know how to review a book, this book will definitely help you with that. Even if you uncomfortable in writing formal article, don’t worry. Your book reviews don’t have to be formal. In fact, an informal evaluation always has little bit of personal touch in it. Besides no one is going to criticise what you write. When you are reviewing a book, you’re appreciating the effort that the author has put in it.  However in this book this point is mentioned time and again. I’d say more than 20% of the material is stuffed with it. That makes it somewhat repetitive and boring. Overall the How to Write a Simple Book Review is both educative and fun.

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