The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Billy @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book-related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to their own blog.
My review writing changed somewhat in late 2019 or early 2020. Back then I was only reviewing on Goodreads and Amazon, but I joined the Historical Novel Society and contacted them about doing reviews for their magazine. They looked at some of my Goodreads reviews and accepted me, but it was then that I learned that print magazines only have so much space, and I would have to limit all of my reviews to 300 words, and some of them to 200 or 250. After a couple of years of doing that, I almost always write in the style they require, which is a short synopsis of the book followed by an honest and interesting review. The whole finished product can be no more than 300 words. I’m quite comfortable with that style now. So I would say my reviews are on the shorter side compared with some other bloggers out there.
Here is a link to all the reviews I’ve done for the Historical Novel Society. I haven’t counted, but I might be close to 100 now.
That’s a nice brief format. I like it!
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It really has gotten comfortable for me. Though I can think of one book that ticked me off so much that I really went long!
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I think you do a great job, Bonnie. For me, it depends. Sometimes I can be pretty terse, but other times I can ramble a bit.
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I tend toward longer reviews because I want to be use I’ve done the book justice. (And that’s how I was taught to write about literature in college.)
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I totally get that perspective too.
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That’s amazing!
I get worried that if my review is too long then I am just saying the same things, but in a different way. I haven’t counted how many words I do, but I tend to write just under a page.
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
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Because I have to have 300 or less words for HNS, I use an online word counter.
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Fair enough. I draft mine on my phone, spell check using Word on the computer then paste it across onto the blog.
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Helpful blog and a good link. Thanks.
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks! How’s your next book coming along?
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I write fairly short reviews as I myself won’t read a long review. Folks are busy and don’t have time to read long reviews. I think it’s best to write enough to encourage others to read the book (or not). There is no point in writing a summary of the book, they can read the blurb themselves. I took a course on writing reviews and we were encouraged to write a three or four-sentence review in a concise manner.
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I’ve almost always written a small summary. Sometimes the blurb doesn’t emphasize what I want it to, and I have to do a short summary for the reviews I do for HNS. Sometimes if I post the full blurb from Amazon on my blog, I won’t do the summary, but sometimes I do it anyway.
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Very interesting about the evolution of your reviews, Bonnie. I used to write what I thought were reviews, but they were basically just a synopsis of the story. Now, my reviews include a brief synopsis, then my thoughts. They are not too long, about 2 decent paragraphs. I tend to skim reviews if they are too long.
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I love your reviews, and like the length very much.
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Thanks Wendy! I love your reviews too!
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Yes, when I was writing for Book Browse, I also had a word limit.
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I would always have said long reviews, though the term “long” is somewhat subjective. For arcs, I try to write at least 3 or 4 paragraphs. However recently I have been struggling to write more than 3 or 4 sentences for some books.
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Your reviews are well-crafted. It takes skill to accomplish that in so few words! 🙂
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Short and simple is sometimes the best way to write reviews. Sometimes I have so much to say about a book.
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[…] Friday I participated in #Book Blogger Hop: Do you write long or short reviews? I also announced I’m willing to make Black Friday sales posts. If any authors are planning […]
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