A good review should be informative and entertaining. Put the needs of the readers first and remember the purpose of the review: to give an account of the subject in question and offer a reasoned opinion about its qualities. The main task is to report on the content, the approach, and the scope of the work for the benefit of the readers.

The type of audience is likely to be determined by the topic. A general reader may not have detailed knowledge of the subject. Advanced readers will want specialist information to establish its worthiness. If possible, cater for the needs of both.

• Write in an easy to read and friendly manner. Avoid (or explain) jargon.
• Use shorter sentences and paragraphs as reading on a computer screen is more tiring.
• Keep the reader’s attention by ‘chunking’ the information.

The structure of a typical book review

1. Full bibliographic details of the work

• Author(s)
• Title and Sub-title
• Place of publication
• Publisher
• Date of publication
• Number of pages
• Full ISBN

2. One-sentence summary of the work

3. Introductory opening paragraph: this should be attention-grabbing, conversational in tone and it might be slightly provocative. Its purpose is to introduce the work under review and to encourage the viewer to read on.

4. Body of review: this will be a series of short paragraphs – up to 50 words each in length. The total length of the review should be between 200-500 words with longer reviews for exceptionally interesting works.

A typical review might answer the following questions:

• Why was the book written? What is its purpose?
• Who wrote the book?  What are the author’s credentials?
• Who is the book for? Why should they be interested?
• How much is it? How many pages?
• Where can it be bought?
• When was it written?
• Does it have any unusual features?
• What distinguishes it from similar publications of its type?

5. Concluding paragraph, which can summarise the reviewer’s opinion and may offer a personal flourish echoing the introduction.

6. The review should be accompanied by an image of the book cover and a link to the publisher’s site or where it is listed on Amazon.

Some final book review tips...

Use examples: a brief quotation to illustrate good qualities of the work will enliven the review. Alternatively, use a ‘block quote’ statement which can appear separated from the main text of the review. These are usually chosen to capture the flavour of the work under review.

Be succinct: reviews which are short and to-the-point are more effective than ones that go on at length, as readers can become bored wand wander off.

Be positive: overly negative reviews are of limited value. If something is bad, it may not be worth writing the review. After all, why bother giving publicity to bad work? There is an exception to this, which is to counter other reviews which might have been mistaken or over-generous.  However, make sure to give convincing reasons for negative opinions – otherwise it risks seeming prejudiced.