This post has been moved! The Indie How-To Index has become Boyce’s Guide to Writing, a separate blog dedicated to helping writers succeed. You can see the original post here and explore the site for other great tips and advice.
This post has been moved! The Indie How-To Index has become Boyce’s Guide to Writing, a separate blog dedicated to helping writers succeed. You can see the original post here and explore the site for other great tips and advice.
As a book blogger I have only had to give a single two-star review if I remember correctly. I tend to be a little nice with my reviews, so three stars are my normal “I didn’t totally like this, but maybe you will.” With all of my reviews, however, I make sure to explicitly state the weaknesses and strengths of the book. This both helps my readers decide if they can live with the weaknesses and if the author does happen to see my review, I hope that they will understand where the number of stars is coming from. I’ve also flat out said in three-star reviews that I don’t think I was the target audience and here’s why. Sometimes it is hard to tell what kind of audience a book is going for, and I think it’s helpful for my readers to know my interpretation of that as well to determine if they are in the target audience or not.
Thanks for doing these posts!
Anya
I think listing both the weaknesses and strengths of a book is a great and balanced way to review. It’s also awesome that you take target audiences into account. Sounds like you know what you’re doing! I’ll go look at some of your reviews now.