Why review?

A single review can make a huge difference, especially for indie authors.

For one, reviews spread the word. They connect like-minded readers with authors they might not hear about through any other avenue. Reviews also make books seem alive—if someone is reviewing, that means someone is reading.

But reviews also inspire. When impostor syndrome sets in, a thoughtful review can remind a down-and-out author why they wrote that book in the first place. And if a review does nothing more than teach an author how to better their craft, that’s a good thing, too.

So, let’s talk about how to write reviews!

But first. This isn’t a sponsored post, and the opinions expressed are my own.

Where to review?

Typically on the site of purchase. If you bought the book from Amazon, review it on Amazon.

If you bought the book from a physical store, you can still review it on Amazon or other online stores, but the review won’t show the ‘verified purchase’ badge. In that case, a review on a site like Goodreads, The Storygraph, or your blog/social media is great, too.

Listing helps with those pesky algorithms authors are always on about. It just means that readers who like the same kinds of books as you might have a greater chance of seeing recommendations for those books you’ve listed. For example, if you’re planning to read a book, listing it as ‘want to read’ shows said book to your followers.

How to review?

Honestly.

A review is an opinion piece, and you’re allowed to have and voice opinions. There will always be someone who likes a book, even when I don’t. Likewise, books I adore will without a doubt make someone else cringe.

That said, there’s a difference between critique and criticism, and it’s super easy to forget a human being created the thing we’re tearing apart when we’re all anonymous ghosts on the internet. For that reason, I try to phrase my negative feedback so that it won’t leave someone sobbing on their screen.

If you’d like to learn more about criticism vs critique, my post about beta reading offers pointers about delivering feedback that ties in nicely with reviewing.

By awarding stars.

Every person alive has unique criteria for how they rate a book. For example, if I did not finish (DNF) a book, I won’t give it a star rating. I rarely give one-star ratings (because I typically DNF those books), and reserve two stars for books I think have potential but didn’t like. Three stars for a good book. Four stars for a great book. Five stars for an epic book.

Some reviewers dock stars for spelling or grammatical issues. Others grant stars purely on how much they connect with the characters.

Once you know what makes a story work for you, it becomes easy to figure out your personal rating criteria.

Through detail.

Mention what you like or dislike, but word it in such a way that it’s clear it’s an opinion. For example, “In my opinion,” “IMO,” or “I thought”.

I mostly post reviews on my blog, where I split the review into segments discussing characters, setting, and plot. I also include the blurb and links to the author’s website or the book’s Goodreads page.

It’s considered good etiquette to place a spoiler warning if necessary. Most review sites will allow you to hide the review due to spoilers, which means the spoiler warning will appear at the top of your review, and the folks who want to read it will have to click to show what you wrote. If I add spoilers to a review on my blog, I place a spoiler warning at the top of the post.

On social media.

If you’re reviewing on social media, great! Once an algorithm picks up a trend, posts reach more eyeballs.

Mention the book’s title and author’s name in the caption or include a hashtag with the author’s name/title so other readers might find it. Some people even tag the author in the post.

Many books go viral thanks to BookTok, Book Twitter, and Bookstagram, and social media is an excellent tool for book promotion.

Review bombing tanks the credibility of star ratings.

Scrolling through the reviews of trending books will often have many “I hate this author, so even though I’ll never read this book, I’m giving it one star,” ratings alongside the “I can’t wait to read this book, but in the meantime, I’m giving it five stars!”

And because Goodreads allows readers to review books pre-publishing, this happens far more often than it should.

Additionally, bad seeds in the industry use fake accounts, bots, bought reviews, or social media influence to bomb or elevate titles. For example, in the December 2023 Goodreads review bombing scandal, a debut author created fake accounts with which she praised her upcoming novel, while she tanked books by her perceived competitors and ultimately lost her publishing deal (read more about this on The Guardian and Today.com).

Where do you typically leave book reviews?

Until next time.

Yolandie