How to Write A Good Review
Authors can benefit from using the Goodreads platform in several ways, such as:
Establishing a Goodreads author profile
Claiming and connecting your books to your author account
Using listopia to showcase your book in the same lists as similar books
Using groups to find writer friends
Writing a blog and publishing some flash fiction to showcase your writing style
Reviewing other authors’ books.
All the points above provide the answer to the question: Why is Goodreads a good platform to start creating your author presence?
But, as a highly creative writer and book marketing genius (I’m not too shy), I see one point being under-used by authors. Authors, for the most part, seem to have missed one important point:
*By reviewing other authors' books, you can showcase your own writing style.*
Let’s think about what a book review is…
It’s a rating of stars plus text. The rating shows whether or not we liked the book. The text contains a line or two that basically says, “Nice read.”.
Let me ask you this: What are you looking for in a review?
The majority of reviews I have written myself were somewhat similar: Nice characters, breathtaking setting, nice pace, and so on. I paid a lot of attention to the technical implementation of the story, but…
What is a Book Review?
A book review is not about the technical implementation of the story. It’s not about whether you liked the characters or not. *It’s about your reading experience.*
And this experience could be expressed by writers in very short stories. Let me give a review of Cassia Hall’s “Summer Lights”.
“It was a cold autumn evening. I was alone at home and rain was pouring outside. Thunder struck as somebody knocked on my front door. My dog barked. Alerted, I went to look through the spy hole on the doors. It was a soaked delivery boy, holding a parcel in his hand.
Can’t be… I was frozen, unable to believe my eyes. My long-awaited book had finally come to my hands.
I knew Cassia Hall from her previous book “Spring Song” and anticipated the reunion with my beloved couple. Heinregard and Clay took me to their world and reintroduced me to the magical life at the House of Silveria.
But, who is this?
This time I meet a new character, the wild and uncontrollable Fang, who came to turn Mara’s peaceful life upside down. I was captivated by the way Cassia made those two characters interact. I totally fell in love with desert warrior Fang. The way Mara cared for the wildings was so charming.
I was so taken in by the story that my dog needed to come and stare at me because I forgot to feed him. So, my warning for the people who will order Cassia’s book “Summer Lights” - Feed your pets before starting to read, because you will be totally captivated by the story.”
In this example, I wrote what I liked about the book, introduced the couples and setting, and wrote a long review without one word of spoilers.
*I believe someone who reads it would be interested in reading the book. Moreover, my review would stand out from others because it is a short and funny story. This might get people interested in me. They might check my Goodreads profile and read my Flash Fiction and published books - a win-win scenario.*
Use your creativity to start creating your author platform. I have several upcoming posts about blurbs and social media, so stay tuned.
