Developing a New Review Structure [A Book Blogger’s Reflections]

Part 1 – What Am I Doing Here? | Part 2 – Learning from Other Review Styles | Part 3 – Favourite Reviews I Wrote in 2019 | Part 4 – Developing a New Review Style | Part 5 – Reading Challenges & Community

Today’s post synthesizes what I learnt from the previous two weeks. Here are a list of changes that I would like to try in my reviews.

Content

• Continue to blend personal reaction with evaluative comments when relevant, but don’t hesitate to separate personal reaction if that helps with structuring the review
• Consider how a book may be received by its intended audience
• Be upfront about acknowledging my biases and/or lack of experience with certain topics
• Experiment with contemporary fiction reviews so I find a smoother way to write them instead of avoiding reviewing such titles all together
• Don’t cling to a particular length – consider whether a shorter or longer reviews says what I really want to say to do a book justice

Format

• Incorporate at least one quote into each review
• Move ratings to end of the review (as part of the personal reaction section where applicable)
  • A brief aside: I considered star ratings back in August 2018 but didn’t make any change to how I use them. I value the star ratings for personal record keeping. I want to keep them for anyone else who may find them useful. By moving them to the end, I hope to emphasize that they’re a personal cataloging tool and not a strong indicator of a book’s quality.
• Include a recommend for/appeal factors section with keywords
• Include a brief professional description/annotation for at least the books that I may not have personally enjoyed or been the target audience for

Design

I did not start a blog because I wanted to design a blog… But I’ve been around long enough, I feel like I should put more effort into design. Not my strong suit so expect more trial and error! (Please share any advice lol.)

• Stylized headings
• Graphics for my further reading list (which generally includes links to the author’s website, an interview, blogger reviews, and professional reviews)
• Rating icons
• Redesign Family Reads banner
• More consistent imaging across different post types… (this may be a lil ambitious)

You can expect to see these changes rolled out gradually starting in January, if not earlier. If you have any other suggestions for how I can improve my reviews, I’d appreciate if you shared them below.