by Rachelle Money
Generating good content for your website is key to search engine optimization. And writing a review of a book that your audience will find useful is a great strategy. In this article, our own journalist Rachelle Money explains her approach to writing the Microtrends review and gives you a step-by-step guide with some handy tips on how to write your own.
Top Tip: Read the book! I know that sounds silly but you have to pay due care and attention to the author’s work and only then can you be confident of critiquing it.
Ingredients:
· The book has to be relevant to your site and be of interest to your readers.
· Make a list of pros and cons of the book as that can really focus on the mind on what angle your review is going to take.
· Take some time to mull the book over and then the review will be more considered.
· Email the author or publisher and send them a link to your review.
Writing a book review is a challenge we should relish. As readers this is an opportunity to be honest and say what we think, but how do you critique someone else’s work and do it justice too?
Before you embark on a book review you must ask yourself, "will visitors to my site be interested in this book"? The book you choose should be relevant to the subject matter your site is based on. So if you own a florist, choose a book about flower arranging; if the site's on eco-living, make sure the review is related; alternatively, if you’re a marketing guru, the book you review should be on that very subject. If you don’t choose the book wisely your online visitor will either click away from your page immediately or be confused as to what your site is about.
When you have selected an appropriate book, ensure that it’s something that will benefit your reader and entice them to explore your site further. Putting yourself in the position of expert - with good services, products and pertinent content such as blogs, book reviews and articles, will make your online visitors more likely to sign up to your e-newsletter or to purchase your products.
In this article I’d like to show how I constructed my review of Mark J Penn’s Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s Big Changes, and the type of points I decided were important to include. The first thing I did of course was to read the book!
When I read the title I thought the book would be a dry piece of writing, using technical language and lacking color. Let’s be honest, Microtrends is hardly a sexy title, is it? However, in reality I found the book to be thoroughly interesting and informative. The fact that I was pleasantly surprised by the book formed the basis of my critique of Microtrends, and that’s why I chose to lead on this point in my introduction.
Have your notebook open as you are reading and include page numbers where you found an interesting point or idea. You may want to lightly annotate the effective passages with thoughts that spring to mind, either by placing ‘post-its’ on the page, or using a pencil to underscore examples you will include in your review, (although I know some people will think writing on a book is sacrilege). Making notes as you read will also make writing the review easier.
Critiquing someone else’s work is a real responsibility and you should think carefully about what you want to say. Those reading your review will take action once they’ve read it, either by rushing out to buy the book, or by leaving it on the shelf. So think carefully before you start your review and treat it as considered judgement.
After I read Microtrends I scribbled down a rough structure of what I thought were important points to cover in my review. Here’s what I wrote down:
· Introduction (You must include the title of the book in this opening paragraph.)
· Description of the author (Who is he/she? What other books have they written? Are they an expert in this field?)
· What promises does the book make?
· Are there any interesting questions raised or debates discussed etc. (For example, do the ideas contribute to an industry debate?)
· How topical or important is the book?
· Are there any pitfalls in the book? Is there anything you disagree with?
· Pick around three or four examples from the book which back up the points you want to make or the opinions you have.
· Why should I read it? (Think about the books target audience. What made you choose to read the book?)
· Look at the book’s introduction, is there anything that you can pull out of it which helps put the book into a wider context?
· How does it compare to other books which look at a similar issue? (Does the book you are reviewing add any new opinions?)
· Has it changed your mind about anything?
· Even when a book is awful, if the reader gets one good idea from it, it’s worth the cover price. (Does this apply to the book you are reviewing? Did you get new ideas or form a different opinion after reading it?)
· Conclusion (this is where you should be tying everything up).
You can copy the rough structure outline I have given above and then fill in any subdivisions you want to include. This will allow for you to expand on the basic points I provided.
Being critical of someone else’s work doesn’t come easy to some, but think about when you last received bad service. Did you complain? Disagreeing with someone or something, is not necessarily a bad thing. If you read a book and completely disagree with the author, that’s fantastic - tell other readers how you feel. This is great material for generating debate so you should not water down your opinions, nor sit on the fence. Instead, treat a book review with considered judgement and go for it.
Don’t carry the book everywhere you go - you need time to gain some perspective. Read the book, make notes as you go along, and then put it down. Go back to it after a few days and re-read your notes and key chapters and then begin to formulate a structure for your review.
Make sure any quotes you lift from the book are put in quotation marks ("") so as to avoid any confusion for you and your readers.
The concluding paragraph should sum up or restate your central argument and judgment about the book. NEVER introduce a new idea at this stage. It’s also worth reading the book’s introduction when you come to conclude your review as it can serve to reaffirm the context the book was written in.
Now that it’s written, email the author or publishing house and offer a link to your review. If they like it they may link to your website.
Generating good content for your website is key to search engine optimization. And writing a review of a book that your audience will find useful is a great strategy. In this article, our own journalist Rachelle Money explains her approach to writing the Microtrends review and gives you a step-by-step guide with some handy tips on how to write your own.
Top Tip: Read the book! I know that sounds silly but you have to pay due care and attention to the author’s work and only then can you be confident of critiquing it.
Ingredients:
· The book has to be relevant to your site and be of interest to your readers.
· Make a list of pros and cons of the book as that can really focus on the mind on what angle your review is going to take.
· Take some time to mull the book over and then the review will be more considered.
· Email the author or publisher and send them a link to your review.
Writing a book review is a challenge we should relish. As readers this is an opportunity to be honest and say what we think, but how do you critique someone else’s work and do it justice too?
Before you embark on a book review you must ask yourself, "will visitors to my site be interested in this book"? The book you choose should be relevant to the subject matter your site is based on. So if you own a florist, choose a book about flower arranging; if the site's on eco-living, make sure the review is related; alternatively, if you’re a marketing guru, the book you review should be on that very subject. If you don’t choose the book wisely your online visitor will either click away from your page immediately or be confused as to what your site is about.
When you have selected an appropriate book, ensure that it’s something that will benefit your reader and entice them to explore your site further. Putting yourself in the position of expert - with good services, products and pertinent content such as blogs, book reviews and articles, will make your online visitors more likely to sign up to your e-newsletter or to purchase your products.
In this article I’d like to show how I constructed my review of Mark J Penn’s Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s Big Changes, and the type of points I decided were important to include. The first thing I did of course was to read the book!
When I read the title I thought the book would be a dry piece of writing, using technical language and lacking color. Let’s be honest, Microtrends is hardly a sexy title, is it? However, in reality I found the book to be thoroughly interesting and informative. The fact that I was pleasantly surprised by the book formed the basis of my critique of Microtrends, and that’s why I chose to lead on this point in my introduction.
Have your notebook open as you are reading and include page numbers where you found an interesting point or idea. You may want to lightly annotate the effective passages with thoughts that spring to mind, either by placing ‘post-its’ on the page, or using a pencil to underscore examples you will include in your review, (although I know some people will think writing on a book is sacrilege). Making notes as you read will also make writing the review easier.
Critiquing someone else’s work is a real responsibility and you should think carefully about what you want to say. Those reading your review will take action once they’ve read it, either by rushing out to buy the book, or by leaving it on the shelf. So think carefully before you start your review and treat it as considered judgement.
After I read Microtrends I scribbled down a rough structure of what I thought were important points to cover in my review. Here’s what I wrote down:
· Introduction (You must include the title of the book in this opening paragraph.)
· Description of the author (Who is he/she? What other books have they written? Are they an expert in this field?)
· What promises does the book make?
· Are there any interesting questions raised or debates discussed etc. (For example, do the ideas contribute to an industry debate?)
· How topical or important is the book?
· Are there any pitfalls in the book? Is there anything you disagree with?
· Pick around three or four examples from the book which back up the points you want to make or the opinions you have.
· Why should I read it? (Think about the books target audience. What made you choose to read the book?)
· Look at the book’s introduction, is there anything that you can pull out of it which helps put the book into a wider context?
· How does it compare to other books which look at a similar issue? (Does the book you are reviewing add any new opinions?)
· Has it changed your mind about anything?
· Even when a book is awful, if the reader gets one good idea from it, it’s worth the cover price. (Does this apply to the book you are reviewing? Did you get new ideas or form a different opinion after reading it?)
· Conclusion (this is where you should be tying everything up).
You can copy the rough structure outline I have given above and then fill in any subdivisions you want to include. This will allow for you to expand on the basic points I provided.
Being critical of someone else’s work doesn’t come easy to some, but think about when you last received bad service. Did you complain? Disagreeing with someone or something, is not necessarily a bad thing. If you read a book and completely disagree with the author, that’s fantastic - tell other readers how you feel. This is great material for generating debate so you should not water down your opinions, nor sit on the fence. Instead, treat a book review with considered judgement and go for it.
Don’t carry the book everywhere you go - you need time to gain some perspective. Read the book, make notes as you go along, and then put it down. Go back to it after a few days and re-read your notes and key chapters and then begin to formulate a structure for your review.
Make sure any quotes you lift from the book are put in quotation marks ("") so as to avoid any confusion for you and your readers.
The concluding paragraph should sum up or restate your central argument and judgment about the book. NEVER introduce a new idea at this stage. It’s also worth reading the book’s introduction when you come to conclude your review as it can serve to reaffirm the context the book was written in.
Now that it’s written, email the author or publishing house and offer a link to your review. If they like it they may link to your website.
__________________________________________
About Rachelle Money
Rachelle Money is a freelance journalist based in Scotland, UK. She graduated from the Scottish School of Journalism in 2005 where she was awarded an internship with two national publications - The Sunday Herald newspaper and The Big Issue magazine. Rachelle has been working with Wordtracker since August 2007 and is a regular contributor to the newsletter.
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