Online book reviews should be brief and concise. If you're reviewing a work of fiction, don't give away key plot points or the ending of the story. Don't be nasty. If you didn't enjoy the book, don't be insulting or snide.Apr 22, 2014
Do not write in the first person (no I or we). Single space after all punctuation. This is APA format.
A critical review is not merely a summary of the book's contents (though that may be included) but primarily an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses. Nor does “critical†mean bad-mouthing the book; it means you must decide what is good and bad about the book and why.
The size of your literature review should be between 2-3,000 words and it depends on the area of your study, type of review and of course the current task or aim – is it a general task or this is a dissertation literature review.
The general outline for a book review is as follows:
- A brief introduction to your review, telling the reader what the book is about and whether or not you would recommend it.
- What you liked about the book, using quotations to illustrate your point, if necessary.
- You, the Author. Of course you're reading the reviews of your book.
- Other Writers. Yes, other writers who write in your genre will read your reviews.
- Publishers. Your publisher will be reading the reviews of your book.
- Librarians.
- Booksellers.
- Teachers/Educators.
- Academics.
- The Reading Public.
Top tips for writing a review
- 1 Read, watch, or listen to the work more than once.
- 2 Provide essential information.
- 3 Understand your audience.
- 4 Take a stand.
- 5 Explain how you're judging the work.
- 6 Introduce evidence to support your criteria.
- 7 Know the conventions of the genre.
- 8 Compare and contrast.
Purpose of a Book Review. When writing an academic book review, start with a bibliographic citation of the book you are reviewing [e.g., author, title, publication information, length]. Adhere to a particular citation style, such as Chicago, MLA, or APA. Put your name at the very end of the book review text.
A book review is a guide for potential readers. In a concise manner, a review summarizes the author's qualifications and main points, often providing examples from the text. A review also provides an opinion on whether the author succeeds or not in convincing readers of his or her points.
There are many types of reviews in the publishing industry, and you should be be familiar with each type and how to get them. We will be covering four of the most common: endorsements, trade, reader, and editorial reviews.
Open with a general description of the topic and/or problem addressed by the work in question. Think, if possible, of a hook to draw your readers in. Summary of argument. Your review should, as concisely as possible, summarize the book's argument.
The 10 Best Book Review Sites and Book Rating Sites
- Goodreads. Goodreads is arguably the leading online community for book lovers.
- LibraryThing. LibraryThing is the self-proclaimed largest book club in the world.
- Book Riot. Book Riot is a blog.
- Bookish.
- Booklist.
- Fantasy Book Review.
- LoveReading.
- Kirkus.
It should include your view on what the purpose of the book is and who it is intended for, and it should address the context (time and place) in which the book has been written, an evaluation of the author's arguments for strengths and weaknesses, and your identification of any bias in their perspective on the topic.
Avoid making common mistakes by following these writing tips:
- Don't write sporadically.
- Don't ignore story structure.
- Don't second guess yourself.
- Don't abandon your first novel.
- Don't pigeon-hole your process.
- Don't start off slow.
- Don't switch POV.
- Don't create flat characters.
When talking about book length, it's common to talk about word count rather than page count. A typical manuscript page (8.5×11 paper, 1-inch margins, standard 11- or 12-point font, doublespaced—like you would type in Word) is considered to be 250 words. So a 25,000-word manuscript is about 100 pages.
How many pages in a novel? For a first release, 200 pages are enough. One can also look at authors like Chetan Bhagat, who even today continue to release books well below the 300-page mark.
If you're writing your first novel, the general rule of thumb for novel writing is a word count in the 80,000 to 100,000 range. While anything over 40,000 words can fall into the novel category, 50,000 is considered the minimum novel length.
All book publishers and book designers have a standard they go by to estimate page length. Both rules of thumb are imperfect, but we've found the “250–300 word per page†rule works better more often than the “60 percent per page†rule.
How many words are in a 200-page book? A 200-page novel should have between 50,000 to 60,000 words. That's the total word count. This means if you're someone that can read 300 words in a minute, then you'll be done with a 200-page novel in 166 to 200 minutes.
Anyone can write a book. It might be bad or be incomprehensible, but so what: it's still a book and many published authors haven't done any better. I like this though: it means anyone who puts in enough time can actually write well. Some of our best writing comes from ordinary people from all walks of life.
Pages by Word Count
| Word Count | Pages (single spaced) | Pages (double spaced) |
|---|
| 500 Words | 1 Page | 2 Pages |
| 600 Words | 1â…“ Page | 2â…” Pages |
| 750 Words | 1½ Pages | 3 Pages |
| 800 Words | 1â…— Pages | 3â…• Pages |
