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Loading... The slippery art of book reviewing (edition 2008)by Mayra Calvani, Anne K. Edwards
Work InformationThe Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Have you ever been frustrated by the lack of quality of book reviews on Amazon.com? So many “love it” or “hate it” comments, but so little who tell you why this book meant so much to them… I desire to change that in my writing, so I bought this book to learn to write book reviews better. Mayra Calvani and Anne Edwards cover everything in this book – how to write an effective book review for any audience, how to avoid common pitfalls, where one might write in order to gain influence, and how to contact helpful channels to acquire (free) books to review. My copy is dog-eared in many places so that I can return for future reference. The book is divided into many short chapters, most of which consist of only two pages, but a few of which are longer. The text reads quickly and easily. The final section contains places to submit reviews – helpful to any reviewer. One cannot help but wonder how in-date a book published in 2008 can be, though, especially as the Internet continues to change the dynamics of the marketplace. An expanded section on blogging would update this otherwise-helpful reference work to contemporary standards. Overall, this book is ideal for people interested in sharing what they read with others so that they, too, can benefit. I plan to refer back to its resources in the coming months. It has some good tips on how to properly review. The book gives examples of reviews such as comparing amateur reviews to more professional reviews. There is a section on how to review different types of material from audio books, graphic novels, etc. For all the helpful things that are in this read, there is just as much useless information. Such as, Is there any money in it?, Reviewer Vs. Bloggers, Dealing with editors, and a lot more. So it has good information and some useless information. That's all I got to say. This would be an amateur review. This book was written in the early days of the book blogger explosion, and you can tell - and not just from the facile "Bloggers vs. Reviewers" chapter. It shares the attitude I often see toward writers of fanfiction: doing this for free online is fine, but only if you aspire to the more traditional standard of success. If the authors really were targeting all these new book bloggers with this manual, they couldn't have done a better job of alienating them. On top of that, I noticed a whole lot of typos and just generally poor design decisions. I'm not sure the structure works well, either - surely the section on the impact of reviews should come first, to explain why adhering to high standards is important? The web links are at least 50% outdated, but that's a flaw of print media generally (dear everyone: stop printing lists of websites). Most damning for me, really, was the complete and utter lack of personality both in this book itself and in the example reviews it holds up as professional. (That's the example reviews for fake books, not the real reviews reprinted as examples: those are fine.) I've seen more interesting reviews in LibraryJournal. Not inspiring in the least. There's some good advice here, but it's barely worth digging through the rest of the book to find it. This seems like a serviceable and useful book for the intended audience, which unfortunately is not me. It discusses book reviewing from a professional standpoint, with a number of contrasting review styles discusses and critiqued. There is also substantial attention paid to the profession of reviewing, the importance of reviews to authors, publishers and libraries, and fluffier considerations like whether it's appropriate to sell on review copies. Unfortunately, this approach means it's of very limited use to someone who isn't interested either in becoming a media book reviewer, nor in writing that quite particular kind of review. Reader reviews are mentioned only in passing. The book is focused on reviews that might appear in a magazine; rather arch hooks to draw attention, blurb-friendly discussion of the writing and content, and a dread of spoilers that severely limits the ability to engage interestingly with the material. As such the talking points of the book don't intersect particularly well with the more objective and nitpicky style of reader reviews. In particular, reader reviews frequently do go into detail about the book's contents, analysing and comparing them. There are only a handful of pages with suggested talking points that are pertinent to this approach. Personally, I don't use reviews to pick reading material (though they occasionally inspire me), but often either to learn about books I won't read, or to compare opinions with other people after reading it. If this is what you're interested in, this book will not help. no reviews | add a review
Are you passionate about books? Do you have the desire to share your thoughts about a book with readers, yet are unsure about what makes a good review? Are you curious about the influence reviews have on readers, booksellers, and librarians?If you're an experienced reviewer, "The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing" will serve as an excellent reference tool and amalgam of resources. If you're a beginner, this book will show you how to write a well-written, honest, objective and professional book review. It will also teach you: How to read criticallyHow to differentiate the various types of reviewsHow to rate booksHow to prevent amateurish mistakesHow to deal with the ethics and legalities of reviewingHow to tell the difference between a review, a book report, and a critiqueHow to start your own review siteHow to publish your reviews on dozens of sites and even make money while you're at it, and much moreIf you're an author, publisher, publicist, bookseller, librarian, or reader, this book will also bring to light the importance and influence of book reviews within a wider spectrum. No library descriptions found. |
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Since I'm not new to reviewing, in some cases the book simply reinforced what I've already been doing, or reassured me that I was on the right track.
The examples provided were helpful, as were the "dos and don'ts" sections. While I realize that individual publications' requirements may vary, one aspect I would have liked to see more of (or more clearly delineated) is structural advice or templates.
The book explores sensitive questions, like how to handle writing a review for a book you thought wasn't all that well written, and addresses the difference between book reviews and book criticism.
At the end of the book, a number of review markets are suggested. Unfortunately, since the book is copyright 2008, some of these markets are no longer in existence.
My sense after reading the book is that it would be most of value to someone who is just starting out with book reviews, or has a few under their belt but would like to refine their technique or efficiency.
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