Did you hate those school book report assignments and hope that Cliff’s Notes were available? You may wonder why you should even consider writing a book review or reviews voluntarily. While I admit that it’s not for everyone, I believe that every reader, writer or not, should give book reviewing a try.

There are several advantages of reviewing books:

Get Free Books:

Once your talents become known, you may receive free review copies. Especially if you feature book reviews on your web site or blog, you may be in luck. Establish your niche as a reader of mysteries or romances or science fiction or whatever, as I’ve chosen to review mostly books by, for, and about senior citizens and baby boomers. The down side is that you may get some books that don’t appeal to you at all, or more than you have time to read.

Good independent authors and agents usually give you some information and ask your permission before sending you a book. Feel free to recycle any that you didn’t ask for and don’t want to read.

Provide Valuable Information for Readers:

If you trade book recommendations on web sites such as eGenerations, consider writing mini-reviews instead of merely saying “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it.” Give your comments about books more specific content. A review need not be a long, formal, scholarly essay. More on that below.

Learn; Become a More Discerning Reader; Broaden Your Horizons.

Writing a book review requires you to be more than a passive reader. It requires you to think. It may help you remember the book better. You may achieve a better understanding of your tastes in reading and thus become better able to select books you’ll enjoy. If you’re in a rut, reading only one type of book or books by just one author, book reviewing may help you to expand your tastes. Venture beyond best-sellers.

Still unconvinced? Examine some short, simple reviews. See  my “Brief Reviews of Amazon Shorts: Women’s Fiction” here in Seniorwriter’s Journal. Granted, those are reviews of short stories, not books, but the principles are the same. To write a short review, just ask yourself what the book is about (the theme). Why did you or did you not enjoy reading it? Is it well written? What impressed you most, positively or negatively?

Check out the customer reviews on Amazon.com. Just look up any book, whether or not you’re considering ordering it. You should get a good idea not only of what the book is about, but about how customers go about writing reviews. Admittedly, not all the reviews there are well-written, but you can usually find out more than enough about any book. Or look up reviews of a book you’ve already read. Do you agree or disagree? You may also check out book reviews I’ve written for my blogs “Never too Late!” and “Write your Life!” by clicking on the “book reviews” label in the sidebar of either blog.

So what are the bare-bones requirements of a book review? Tell what genre or type of book it is (fiction, non-fiction, romance, mystery, horror, etc.), name the author, mention good and/or bad qualities of the book, and give your opinion. Is this book worth reading or not?

Here are Reader Views’ somewhat more specific questions to consider: These questions are for official Reader Views reviewers, and they assume that your main purpose is to provide a review for the author; a more casual approach may work better for personal web sites or blogs.

1. What is the author’s main point or plot?
2. How successful do you think the author was in carrying out the purpose of the publication?
3. How well does the author write? You can use brief quotations to illustrate your observations.
4. Who is this book for (general reader, specialized audience, age range, etc.).
5. Your personal experiences that relate to the topic. Your personal opinion. Your favorite part or what you learned.
6. Your recommendations on editing issues, future publications, or story line.
7. A conclusion to tie together the review and provide a comment to be quoted.
8. Be creative! Give your own honest and fair opinion. Be candid. Authors love the personal flair that you give the review.

So you want to give book reviewing a try. Try writing a short review of the next book you read. If your review is any good, or if you want comments on it, share it here in your eGenerations journal. Submit your review as a customer review on Amazon.com (even if you did not buy the book there); you do need an account, but that’s easy—and free.

At the very least, start paying attention to book reviews in print and on line. We need them, and paying more attention to them may encourage you to try writing your own. Take my word for it: book reviewing, like reading, can be fun!

Additional Links:

“Write your Life!” http://www.seniormemoirs.blogspot.com

“Never too Late!” http://www.seniorwriter.blogspot.com

Reader Views: http://www.readerviews.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com