Writing Tips (V) Reviews

 Reblogged from:

http://www.examiner.com/article/write-a-review-like-a-teacher-grades-an-essay

Write a review like a teacher grades an essay

by Paula Hrbacek

Several discussions by authors on Linked In and Good Reads are discussing how difficult it is to get someone to write a review of their book. There seems to be the idea that the reader isn’t qualified to make an assessment. But, really, it’s not all that hard. Just think of it like grading a high school English paper.
A teacher uses something called a Rubrik to grade papers. It’s a chart. On the left side, going up and down, is a list of the things the teacher wants the student to accomplish. To the right of that are spaces where the teacher can give them points on how well they did each of those things. A review can be written the same way.
In the left column, put these items.
Grammar, spelling and proofreading. This is how well the sentences are written. If it is hard to understand for any reason, then a point of two can be subtracted from this score. If it has a lot of typos (most self-published books have four or five, so a few shouldn’t count) then a point can be subtracted for that. If it uses words that are too big for you to understand, a point can be subtracted, too. If you found it to be easy to read and understand, then give the author all five points.
Compelling. This means that the story made you want to keep reading it. If you couldn’t put it down, it gets all five points.
Engagement. This means that the author made you feel that you were there. You could see the places and people in your head. You felt like you were listening to a real conversation. If the dialog is stilted, or there wasn’t enough description, a point or two can be subtracted. If you felt like you just took a vacation, or made a new friend, then give the author all five stars.
Ethics, moral values and politics. Authors have a message inside what they write. If you agree with that message, then give the author the points. But if you felt the sex was too casual, or their statement about a political issue wasn’t right, or their portrayal of an ethnic group was biased, then subtract a few points.
Industry standards. Compared to the best book you’ve read in the same genre, how well did this book meet the standards set for that genre? Don’t compare science fiction to romance, but compare it to another science fiction book. Did the book give you what you expected to get?
Each of these items is given points with five being an A, and one being an F. That’s right, give it a grade. Then, average all the grades to get the overall star value for the entire work. Five stars is an A, four stars is a B, three is a C, two is a D, and one is an F.
Now you know how many stars to give a book. Five means excellent. Four means it has a few flaws. Three is OK. Two means you don’t recommend it. One means it should never have been published.
After that, all you have to do is make a few of the most important comments about why you gave or subtracted points from the book. Tell other readers what you liked the most, and what, if anything, disappointed you. Your statements can be as long or as short as you wish. Just remember that opinions are not right or wrong, they are just valid or unjustified. To be valid, an opinion must be based upon the facts. If you can give some facts that back up your opinion, then your opinion is valid. If two opposite opinions are both based on facts, even if the facts are different, then both opinions are equally valid.
No one expects a review to be a professional opinion. In fact, most authors are hoping for the opinion of a typical reader. They want to know how well they did so that they can do a better job the next time. They want to know if they reached their goal of offering you a pleasant read.
Let them know. Please take the time to post a review.
*Photo borrowed from 4rxcom.com 
Read more at http://www.examiner.com/article/write-a-review-like-a-teacher-grades-an-essay

All Fantasy Worlds: About Book Tours: When Is It Too Much?

 Reblogged from:

http://www.allfantasyworlds.com/

All Fantasy Worlds: About Book Tours: When Is It Too Much?:

I remember the first time I came across a book tour company. It was some years ago, and reading book blogs had just become one of my obsessions. I’d spend hours in front of the screen, going from one blog to another, saving them to my “favorites”, and adding lots of titles to my ever-growing TBR list. And one day I came across Bewitching Book Tours and I was blown away by the genius idea of book tours and how they offered bloggers the opportunity to connect with the authors. Yes, I’ve always been one of those people who believed authors are some kind of evolved species, made up of wisdom and pure awesomeness, who forged ideas, characters and plots by the fireplace, while muses cheerfully danced around their desks. So, this is how it all looked like in my mind: book tours = bloggers meeting authors = great books to read and review = bloggers interviewing authors (I mean, who wouldn’t want to interview a member of that evolved species, who forged ideas by the fireplace?) = authors getting promoted = bloggers dying of happiness because they’re a part of something so big and exciting. Conclusion? If I was ever going to make my own book blog, I promised myself I’d tour with Bewitching.

Yeah, well, that happened eventually. A year ago. By the time I built up the courage to create my own blog, there were so many book tour companies out there that I wasn’t sure which one to check out first. Of course, I kept my promise, and the first one I signed up for was Bewitching. Then I chose two or three more and I kept an eye out for the books that really grabbed my interest. However, my enthusiasm had died down, and I tried to keep myself from singing up for too many book tours. When I did sign up for one, I usually tried to choose a book that I also wanted to review, so I wouldn’t only post a promotional thingy, like a guest post, a book spotlight, or an excerpt. Why, you might ask? Here’s why:

Many of the book blogs I was following were now doing lots of book tours. I mean, lots of them. Some blogs that used to post reviews and other interesting stuff about books ended up posting only book tours, book blasts, and memes. The posts were all the same. Sometimes they would also have a review that went along with the promotion, but there’re only so many books one can read. Even some of the blogs I follow now on Bloglovin’ post only book tours. Twice a day, if possible. They don’t seem to filter the books they promote to choose only the ones that they truly, truly want to feature on their blogs. They don’t personalize their posts. Obviously, they don’t get many comments. Maybe they do get a lot of hits because most book tours have giveaways now. Do I still follow them? Yeah… they’re there, in my Bloglovin’ feed, but I rarely check them. Because I know I’ll find the same content. Over and over. The same content with a different cover and a different blurb.

So, what’s your opinion about book tours? Do you do them on your blog, and if yes, on what principles do you choose them? Do you check them out on other blogs? Do you leave comments? And please don’t hate me for this post. I just think that sometimes…. sometimes… there are too many of them everywhere, and they all look the same. (You can read the whole post on Oana's blog page.)