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BookBrowse reviewers have written thousands of book reviews in the 20+ years we've been around, and we receive thousands of applications each year from would-be reviewers. However, the review samples in these applications vary widely—in terms of length, summary vs. analyses, quality, etc.—and we thought both reviewers and readers might be interested in our perspective on writing reviews. So for the first time, we've taken our internal guidelines for BookBrowse reviewers and amended them for the general public.
Book reviews are by nature subjective, and the way we approach reviewing is quite flexible and allows for a wide range of expression, so we don't claim to have the only template or guide to writing good book reviews. Nor do we believe that reviews that don't follow this guide can't also be high quality. But readers have been appreciating reviews written with the guide in mind for decades, so we hope it can be helpful to book reviewers everywhere, even if you're just writing your own personal review for sites like Goodreads.
We believe that great book reviews generally have a substantial amount of analysis versus summary. We feel there is little point in reviewing books the way many sources do (90% plot summary, 10% commentary), because that's just repeating what's already been said before—both in reviews and in the book’s own jacket description. As such, we believe good reviews focus more on analysis and opinion.
BookBrowse seeks to guide readers to the very best new books. With rare exceptions, we only publish full-length reviews of books that we wholeheartedly recommend. Therefore this guide is biased toward reviewing books positively, but critical reviews certainly have their place.
Our advice is to treat reviews as if they're going to be read by the author. Book reviews do not need to be—and often should not be—entirely positive. If there are points to criticize, they should be noted. But it should be done professionally, and when the criticism is a matter of preference, that should also be noted (see our section on bias below).
A good book review helps the reader decide if a particular book is right for them (or their child, friend, customer, patron, etc.). Here is a list of four rules on book review writing that we like to refer to, the first three taken from Robert Pinsky, who in turn got them from an anonymous style sheet while writing for a newspaper:
1. The review should tell what the book is about.
2. The review should tell what the book's author says about that thing the book is about.
3. The review should tell what the reviewer thinks about what the book's author says about that thing the book is about.
4. The reviewer should remember that they are writing not for themselves or the people they want to impress but for the people the writer is hoping to reach.
When writing book reviews, it's important to consider who your audience is. We consider our readers well-read and inquisitive. They want to find out about new books, find their next great read, and absorb a few interesting nuggets of information along the way. We want our reviewers to appear as the authoritative and well-read people they are, and if they have expertise in a topic we encourage them to express it, but they should do so in a way that talks “to” the reader in a conversational, approachable manner. The review should be a forum to showcase the book, not to show off a reviewer's superior intellect.
We don’t have a recommendation on whether or not to use first-person voice. As a rule, writing in the third person lends the review a certain air of authority, whereas writing in the first person offers more of a personal connection. You should feel comfortable writing in whichever form best suits the particular book.
Book reviews should be carefully structured with thought given to the arc, through-line, and shape of your review. Without the extensive plot reconstruction that determines the shape of more summary-heavy reviews, you’ll need to pay special attention to your structure. Your review should not read like a list of bullet points or unrelated observations — it should be fluid, cohesive, and easy to read, and should be enjoyable as a piece of writing in its own right, so that even those who have read the book, or perhaps don’t believe they’re even interested in doing so, find it compelling reading.
Feel free to be enthusiastic about books you love, and to thoughtfully criticize elements you find problematic. Seek to engage your readers, to excite or incite with your reflections, analysis, and opinions, and make them glad they took the time to read your review.
As one of our members wrote, “What I hate about many reviews is just that they rehash the story and never really include the negative aspects or gush about a particular point. BookBrowse’s are the only reviews that I find are deeply honest."
We aim for book reviews of about 600 words, but the length should be determined by the scope of each book and review, so it may be appropriate to run a bit shorter or longer, keeping in mind that a shorter, tightly-written review is preferable to a longer rambling one. Depending on your format and criteria, your review length may vary considerably, but we go by the general principle of less is more.
We all have biases. There is no such thing as an entirely objective review—and one that attempted to be so would likely be rather dull. The key is that reviewers are clear with their readers if a significant bias exists.
For example, the world of books is small. As a result, many of our book reviewers count authors among their friends and acquaintances. In general, we prefer that somebody who knows an author does not review that author’s book but, depending on the connection, it might be appropriate. However, what is essential is that if assigned to review the book, the reviewer should be clear with readers that there is a connection.
The same applies if you are reviewing a book in a genre or with a certain style or characteristics towards which you are aware of holding an existing prejudice. Strong opinions can make for interesting reviews but it is your responsibility to be clear with readers if you're approaching the book with an existing bias. Doing so doesn’t negate the value of the reviewer’s opinion, it simply puts it into context.
Finally, take the opportunity to use the review process to interrogate your own taste. This sometimes happens unconsciously, as you process why a book does or does not resonate with you. For example, maybe you don’t consider yourself a fantasy fan but you end up loving a particular fantasy novel. Why is that? How does this discovery fine-tune your understanding of your taste? This kind of interrogation is another layer of transparency and awareness of bias and can make for a richer book review.
Our fiction reviews focus on analysis and opinion of the author’s prose style, character development, structure, handling of the subject matter, themes, and your experience of reading the book. Referencing plot elements is fine and setting the story into context (e.g., setting/time period) is a must, but plot should not be the focus of the review.
When writing nonfiction reviews, it's often appropriate to provide specific details about the book over what would be the norm in a fiction review. We believe nonfiction reviews serve multiple purposes: to pique readers' interest in the book and give them sufficient information to decide whether to read it; to provide nuggets of information that expand their immediate knowledge; and to provide enough key points so that they might be able to withstand a water cooler chat on the topic, even if they haven't read the whole book.
Take notes while reading so you can support your opinions with quotes and examples from the book.
At the risk of pointing out the obvious — do not plagiarize! It's an easy way to get fired from any paid writing gig, and if you're writing for your own blog, it will hurt your site. AI-generated reviews are not only generally low-quality, with more summary than analysis, but they are also typically boring to read, regurgitating the information available to them (which for a new book is typically limited). Supporting the use of AI to create supposedly original work can also hurt writers who are being paid for their hard work of reading and reviewing books, and can potentially normalize lower expectations for this type of writing.
As EB White said, "the best writing is rewriting." At BookBrowse, each of our reviewers is paired with an editor to finish their review, and we find it works wonders for the quality.
We hope this guide has been helpful. To an experienced book reviewer, much of it may seem obvious, but we know from our own reading that many reviews fail to meet these standards. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave them in the comments below, and if you’re interested in writing for BookBrowse, you can find our reviewer application here.
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