Writing Book Reviews
Reviews can be written on any book. Newspapers and magazines often have writers read and review books as part of the entertainment sections of their publications. They're published online, print and sometimes used on TV as well.
Some authors will look for people to review their books for promotion, but the aim is discover whether you enjoy the material or not, and why. You could also suggest who the book might be suited for if not you.
Basics:
There are heaps of guides and tips online about what is right and wrong to include in a book review, but here are some simple tips from lipmag's literature editor, Freya with a few added hints from me.
- Try not to read other reviews of the book prior to reading. You don't want to be influenced in any way. Why? Because you need to give honest opinions in your own words. It's easy to be mislead when reading someone else's work and think “Yeah, I like what they've said”. You want your reviews to be your own work, free from outside influences.
- Enjoy your reading of the book on the first read. Remember that you are writing for other readers, you're not writing a critical essay. You don't have to deconstruct the text, you just need to reflect on it. Tips: Things to include in your reflection will be setting, plot, characters, length and anything that stands out to you. Depending on where you are submitting your reviews (or if they are just for practice) you might want to include publisher, year and price of book as well.
- Learn a little bit about the author, because this can help give your review shape and/or colour (a good example of this is Stephanie Meyer being a mormon, as despite the gothic content, Twilight is very vanilla in terms of sex etc)Also: Take note of particular spellings, inflictions, letters, numbers, etc that might be used for a particular reason. You should write it as it stands and not change quotes, images or other details on behalf of the author (or other artist) because you think it should be so.
- If you want to take your review a step further and make the review more so engaging, you can do one (or two, or three, depending on word lengths) of the following:
- Draw on your own experiences. In Ian McEwan's Atonement, Briony says something that changes the lives of everyone around her, and spends the rest of her life thinking about the consequences. Has there ever been anything you wish you could take back? You don't have to be explicitly personal, you could just talk about how easy it is to misrepresent information or to reveal information you shouldn't.
- Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a novel about a young boy whose father died in September 11. You could use this to talk about what it must have seemed like through a child's eyes, and how the collective magnitude of 9/11 often overshadows the grief of the individual families.
- You could easily draw parallels with F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby with the economic crisis of today and investigate why you think it is people become so drunk on money and so hung-up on status.
Look for examples, before you write:
Open a paper and flip to the entertainment section where you'll find book reviews. They are short, concise and give almost a small plug line on a few different books. These reviews are different to one that might appear on a website or in a print magazine.
Publications will, mostly, have their own guidelines for submissions. You can find this on their website or by giving them a call or email. It will state topics, word length, layout and style guide used. This is important to take note of! If you set your writing to their approved style, this gives you more of a chance for your writing to be accepted because they can see the time you have taken to understand their processes. If publications need to take time out of their busy schedules to make edits that you could have done, they are less likely to accept your submission.
I would suggest writing your reviews between 400-600 words and be prepared to cut down or add in if you need. It's important to be flexible and open to criticism on your work but still knowing your abilities and the points you want to make. As it is with many things, writing takes practice and practice most certainly makes for better writing. (Not necessarily perfect, but that would depend on your definition of 'perfect!').
How and where to submit a book review
First, determine your target. Some publications offer you the opportunity to receive a free copy of a book in return for your review that may or may not be used in print or online. If this is the case, send them a quick email or jump on the phone to enquire what might be available and make yourself known.
You might not get paid for your review. However building up experience and networks is a good part of becoming a writer and some volunteer work can really help you in ways you might not realise yet.
If you've read an amazing book lately and just have to get a review out there in there world, you can either go ahead a write it and send it to a number of publications to see if they'll publish it, or contact a few of your options and pitch the review before you write it. This might save you some disappointment if your review isn't picked up; but you might have to work quickly if they end up being keen!
Self publish online – It's incredibly easy to set up a free blog these days, and this could be a good start if you feel you've got some words you just have to get out. There's a real sense of community in the blogging world, as freelance writer Benjamin Law once said, you give and take with different bloggers.
Other Types of Reviews
More reviews will include movies, theatre, opera, festivals, music and more. The process for many of these are very similar and as a writer, you'll discover your own ways of approaching situations and what will work best for you. Remember the main points you look out for with the piece of entertainment, whatever it is, and remember your target audience.
As a writer it's said that you should always have a pen and paper with you (or the technological equivalent) and this isn't bad advice at all. I find this helpful to record particular words that I want to use or some detail that I absolutely don't want to forget. Remember you don't want to do too much research after you've read/seen the material for fear of unwanted influence on your review.
Opportunities
In many cases, you can go to your favourite websites and find out information about their submissions online. Here are a few that The Write Group have association with; feel free to contact us to add more opportunities in the comments section below!
Lip
lipmag.com
Bug in a Book
Picture Books (PB) and Young Adult (YA) Books
Your Local LibraryInquire at your local public library about writing reviews – a great way to get started and the books are free to read!
The Write Group
We'll be happy to include your writing and reviews up on our newly added blog!
We at The Write will proof read and give advice on any reviews if you would like some help, or if you have a general question or suggestion, send us through to us at: thewritegroup11@gmail.com
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