"Was This Review Helpful" Part II: Tips and Tools.

This article originally appeared in Underground Book Reviews 17 May 2014.  I have updated this article slightly due to market and technology changes.

​In the first installment of this series about writing effective  consumer book reviews, we explored maximizing the five-star rating. Today, we’re taking a closer look at writing the review itself.  Let’s start with some general guidelines applicable to all consumer book reviews. I emphasize the word guidelines, because the first rule of a properly structured consumer book review is there is no such thing as a properly structured consumer book review. This isn’t English Composition 101, it’s a product review.  However, a poorly written review can be misinterpreted, and possibly reflect poorly on the reviewer.  Therefore, here are a few tips and tools regarding writing effective consumer book reviews. 
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First, some important tips interspersed with some example reviews that hit several (not all) of these tips:

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Review Example

Tip 1: Take writing reviews seriously. Make it worthy of your  time and effort, as well as that of your fellow readers.  
 
Tip 2: Use a word processor first, and then paste the review into the website’s form. This technique inhibits impulse reviews and gives you latitude to save it and let it “cool” before posting. It also aids in spell checking and proofreading.  (Update: AI makes a great spell check, but that's about it. See Bonus Tip below.)

Tip 3: Always be respectful, even when being painfully honest. 
 
Tip 4: Profanity has a place in literature, but not reviews about literature. It’s a bad idea, and may not make it through the website’s content filter. 
 
Tip 5: Never make your review personal, derogatory, mean-spirited or bullying. 
 
Tip 6: Be cautious when employing satire (not recommended) and humor (best know what you’re doing before taking this leap).  Remember, the written word can easily be misinterpreted by the reader. 
 
Tip 7: It’s good to discuss how a book made you feel, but not  how you felt when you read the book. In other words, it’s a book review, not a  diary. No one wants to know how you felt the day you read it, if you had the flu, or you had just broken up with the love of your life. 

Review Example

Tip 8: Shorter is better. If your consumer book review runs much longer than the book description/back-cover synopsis, then it’s probably too  long.  Around 300 words is a good rule of thumb. 
  
Tip 9: One way to keep it short is to avoid rehashing the plot unless it’s absolutely critical to your piece.  
 
Tip 10: If you rehash the plot, then avoid spoilers. If you delight in blowing the plot for the next reader, there is probably little I can say to change your mind, other than please don’t do it.   If, however, you find it absolutely critical to include a spoiler in a  consumer book review, please be kind and add “SPOILER ALERT” as the first two words in your review. 
 
Tip 11: Never say anything like “I usually don’t read this kind of books, but...”  You read it or  you didn’t. Your opinion is as good as anyone else’s. 
  
Tip 12: Unless a book is mechanically or structurally broken, don’t review a book if you didn’t finish it (see the previous installment for  more on this). If you didn’t finish a book just because you didn’t like it,  writing a review reflects more on you than the book. 
  
Tip 13: Buy the book whenever possible.  Seeing “Verified Purchase” above your review bestows instant credibility.
 
Tip 14:  If you received the book as a complimentary review copy, then state so upfront. This doesn’t ruin credibility, but in some markets this may be mandatory. (Update: In some places its legally required to disclose if you received a complementary copy.) ​

(Update, Tip 15: artificial intelligence (AI) "summaries" are becoming common for book reviews. Never let an AI write the review for you. Large Language Models (LLM) AIs can only recognize and regurgitate word patterns. A purely AI review is a review written by other people and, essential, plagiarism. Choose your words careful, as your review may be plagiarized by AI and forever get caught in the "Matrix." If you copy and paste the review on multiple website, the AIs statistically be more likely to use it. )

Review Example

Now it’s time to look at some review writing tools, starting  with the headline and first line of the review. The first sentence and headline (if the website supports headlines, such as Amazon) should directly tie the review’s narrative to its star rating. This is the “walk-away,” the primary point which drove you to give the book a particular rating. In the previous installment, I provided several examples based on a one-to-five star rating. It could be as  simple as “I gave this book a three star rating because...,” or “I disliked this  novel due to...”  Once you have established the framework for your review, write a short paragraph supporting your opinion.
 
Writing a review shouldn’t be painful, so don’t write a  dissertation. Simply craft a few well-written sentences expanding on your opening statement. If you can’t think of a way to organize your thoughts, try the “PCCS” Template: Plot, Characters,  Climax, and Author’s Style. You don’t have to cover all of them, nor do you  have to discuss them in this order. The PCCS template merely gives the reviewer  a tool to structure his or her thoughts.  Chances are, you already mentioned one of these elements in your opening statement and need only expand on the idea. This template is especially great  for middling reviews, were some of a book’s elements get favorable marks, while  others don’t. 
 
A great way to wrap up a review is with a recommendation. Should  the next reader buy it? Maybe it’s not worth the ten bucks you dished out for  it, but might be worth three dollars. Do you want to run out and immediately buy  the author’s next book? Should the book be banned? You get the idea. Provide  the next reader a recommended course of action that is commensurate with your opening statement. 
 
How do you know you’ve written a good consumer book review?  There is no one metric, but it’s a good sign if people start marking your reviews as helpful. 

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