Book reviews are an author's lifeblood! They tell people what to expect when reading your book, and gives them an idea of just how much/little other readers enjoyed the story. They may not "make or break" your success, but they certainly play a vital role in it.
Which means people who write reviews have a lot more "power" than they'd expect. Your feedback could enhance the author's sales, warn potential readers to stay away from a bad product, or share something in the book that spoke to you. If you're going to write a review, write it right!
I sat down with a couple of my fellow authors and book reviewers to discuss the art of writing a good book review. I asked questions like:
What do you include in a good book review?
How much detail is too much?
How can you give enough detail while avoiding spoilers?
Can you review as JUST a reader, or does your author side come out?
Here is what we discovered:
The Panelists
Arial Burnz – Arial Burnz is the USA Today bestselling author of HOT Scottish Vampires. She has been both traditionally and self-published, a cover designer and an editor, so she's a real geek about the publishing industry! As an avid reader herself, she has left many reviews of the books she's read over the last 40 years.
To join Arial VIP Club and get weekly book-related freebies, visit http://arialburnz.com/vipclub.
Wendy Van Camp -- Wendy Van Camp is the author and poet behind No Wasted Ink (http://nowastedink.com), a blog about the craft of writing that features author interviews, sci-fi and fantasy book reviews and scifaiku poetry. Wendy's short stories and poems have appeared in literary and science fiction magazines such as “Shadows Express”, “Luna Station Quarterly”, “Altered Reality Magazine”, and “Far Horizons”. Her first Amazon ebook is a regency romance entitled, "The Curate's Brother: A Jane Austen Variation of Persuasion". (https://www.amazon.com/author/wendyvancamp)
Blog: http://nowastedink.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wvancamp
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/indigoskye
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nowastedink
Google+: google.com/+WendyVanCamp
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/wendyvancamp
