After all of their preparation and hard work in the comfort of their creative space, it is easy for young authors to get caught up in the excitement of producing a new book and spending some time on the promotional circuit with book signings and speaking engagements. The publicity can, however, cause some authors to overlook or neglect some important aspects of their book that are of great importance to potential readers. While publicity can be important for marketing a book, it may not necessarily be the most important facet of a book’s success. Young authors who are not paying attention to some of these aspects may discover that their efforts to promote their new book may have little impact and that they may be wasting money and time.
The book review should not only provide readers with information about the new book, but also give context about its overall merit as a literary work. A literary review isn’t an unbiased assessment of the book. Rather, a literary review considers the book’s theme, style, plot, character development, dialogue, character motivation, and themes and ideas. Most importantly, a literary review considers the message the author is trying to convey. The book review doesn’t “praise” the book; rather, the book review criticizes the book based on its merits as a literary work.
Many times, a book review will focus on a single aspect of a book without considering other aspects. For instance, many book reviews fail to consider how the author defines his or her themes or the themes expressed in the text. Without these other elements, a reviewer tends to review the plot or the mechanical aspects of the plot. This leads the reviewer to overlook the author’s broader points about the theme, plot, character, and so on. In short, a critical review doesn’t review the book based on whether the author made valid criticisms in regards to literary devices or on how the author responded to criticism of literary devices in his or her previous works.
Another mistake that many reviewers make is failing to read book reviews in the same manner as critics. Authors who have published their first books may not be aware of the many ways that critics evaluate their work. By reading book reviews in the same way as critics, a new author can learn how other readers evaluate their work. For instance, book reviews often talk about how a new writer needs to consider the character’s actions to build the plot, while critics think that the author needs to construct the character’s motivations within the context of the plot. New authors may find it helpful to read book reviews in the same way as other readers do so that they can see how other readers think about a book before purchasing it.
Many authors are intimidated by the sheer number of reviews that are available for their books. One strategy new authors can use to overcome this problem is to interview several critics and writers. By having an interview with a few different critics, a new author will gain insight into different aspects of the writing. Interviewing writers not only gives the author an opportunity to gauge their thoughts about their book but also gives the author the chance to learn new things about their book that they may have otherwise overlooked. Another advantage of interviewing writers is that they often have personal experiences with a particular book. New writers can learn more about the characters in their book by talking to readers who have also purchased the book.
Many readers rely heavily on book reviews to help them make their final decision about buying a book. Good book reviews give readers important information about a book and the author. Writing book reviews helps the public understand the strengths and weaknesses of a book and the target audience. Reviews are an invaluable tool for authors, publishers, agents, and retailers.
Finding a good review of a book does not require any extra effort. A book review can be found online when a reader searches for information about a particular book. There are a variety of websites that offer book review templates for writers to use that are easy to customize. Most book review websites offer links to the contact details of the authors who have been reviewed so that readers can request additional information if they do not understand all of the information provided in the review.
Reviewing books before publishing them is important for authors, publishers, retailers, and librarians. When a book is purchased and a person reads it, they might share their thoughts and review it online or in a book review directory. Online book reviews allow readers to compare a book to others and to leave comments about the author, the book’s place in society, and the way the author has written the book. If you have never written book reviews before, it may seem intimidating to compose the review, but once you get started you will find that the work is easy and rewarding. Good book reviews let readers know that a new book is out there, that it is worth reading, and that another writer has written a favorable review of the same book.