The How and Why of Book Reviews

Book reviews offer gold to authors, representing one of the best ways to market a book. Even ten reviews on Amazon will add significant credibility to your book and place it above poorly formatted and badly edited books. Readers also find reviews on Goodreads valuable, and many look for their next book on this site. Goodreads costs nothing to join and leave reviews. In comparison, Amazon expects you to spend $$$ on its site before you can review (currently, this means AUD $50 in the last 12 months). Other helpful places to leave reviews include blogs and book retail sites.

Sadly, obtaining reviews proves surprisingly difficult. Giving away advanced reader copies doesn’t guarantee that readers will actually write a review for your book – a disappointing reality. 

As Australian Christian authors, we have an advantage over the thousands of US Christian authors. We can leverage our smallness to get to know each other and support our fellow Christian authors. Commendably, many Christian authors buy their friends’ books. I’ve seen writers leave the Omega Conference bookstore with an armload of books. However, if they never read or review the books they buy, they only offer their friend a token financial gift, roughly the cost of a cup of coffee. Imagine if ten people supported them by writing a review, and each review encouraged just two people to buy the book, suddenly they would have sold twenty copies.

The Instruction of Jesus

Jesus said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). If we want other Christian authors to support us, we need to support them. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by reading and reviewing books. This doesn’t function as a “tit for tat” system where I’ll write a review for you if you write one for me. Jesus said this as a general way of treating others, not a pay-back system when someone treats us well.

Book reviews don’t require long or complicated formats. A simple four-sentence book review looks like this (many other simple templates exist online):

The Four-Sentence Book Review

1.         Introduction

Include the title, subtitle, name of author, genre, and setting (or location of author for non-fiction).

2.         Overview

What happens? Mention the overall theme.

3.         Evaluation

What did you like or dislike about it? Identify strengths and possible weaknesses.

4.         Audience

Recommend the type of audience who would like the book.

A Fiction Example

Australian author Barbara Hannay sets her romance story, Second Chance Family, in Townsville and the Atherton Tablelands in northern Queensland. The story explores the developing romance between Carrie Madden, a widow with two teenage girls and an eight-year-old son, and Ben Galbraith, a bachelor from Scotland with a banking background. The major strengths of the story include its descriptions of the Tablelands and its exploration of how past unwise decisions influence the present, which make for an intriguing read. While I found the romance a little drawn out, it will appeal to romance readers.

 A Non-Fiction Example

American Pastor Levi Lusko's latest spiritual growth book has the rather long title, Blessed Are the Spiraling: How the Chaotic Search for Significance Can Lead to Joy Through Life’s Shifting Seasons. Through the book, Lusko tells the story of his own midlife crisis, which led him to confront many issues from his past, including his parents’ divorce, a pornography addiction, and an excessive desire for success and recognition. I appreciated Lusko's honesty and the many lessons he shares about learning to trust God more deeply. Though the book aims to reach men in their late 30s to early 50s, I did gain some insights for myself.  

If you stick rigidly to this structure, your review may sound stilted. Also, if you write a lot of reviews, they will start to sound the same. So use your creativity and editing skills to add your personal touch.

Screenshot of some of my Goodreads book reviews from Christian authors

A Common Concern

What if I don’t like the book or find lots of errors? If you have received the book as an advanced reader copy, let the author know and gently tell them why you feel unable to write a review. I have read books I dislike, but have reflected on whether others would enjoy them and/or may not notice the errors. In the four-sentence book review, only one sentence focuses on your opinion, so consider highlighting one positive aspect while remaining true to your values. Including a small criticism doesn’t reduce the value of a review. For example, in my fiction review above, I mentioned that I found the romance a bit drawn out.

As Australian Christian authors, we all benefit from visibility, credibility, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Yet, writing book reviews remains one of the most powerful and effective ways we can support one another. 

[Featured Photo from AAGraphics on Pixabay]

Author Bio

Susan Barnes, author of 10 Blessings of God, holds a degree in Christian ministry and writes to renew the mind and stir the soul. She has over thirty years of experience in pastoral ministry, serving alongside her husband, Ross, in various roles. They live in Bendigo, Australia. 

Find out more about Susan at:
My Website | Facebook Author Page | Amazon | Books2Read | Goodreads

Omega Writers Needs You

Hello CWD people. 

Let me introduce myself, if you haven’t run across me before. My name is Meredith Resce, and I am the new president of Omega Writers—a formal members group who seeks to connect writers from around the Australasian region, and to put them in touch with resources and educational programs.

I first became aware of Omega Writers about nine years ago, and at that time it was a Christian writers’ group based only in Queensland. They invited me as a guest speaker from South Australia to one of the initial writers’ conferences, and it was the first time I had connected with other Christian writers in Australia.

From that time to this, Omega Writers has expanded at a steady rate. One of the affiliated resource/Face Book groups is ChristianWriters Downunder, and I don’t need to tell you how valuable this group is. I might take this opportunity to congratulate Jeanette, Anusha and Paula on the opportunity they create to connect, engage and discuss writing issues, and they do this making it freely available to us as Christian writers.

We are all part of a large body of writers—a team, if you like—who unselfishly work to encourage and assist other writers to improve their craft and find success in their dream of being published.

Omega Writers as a group has been working to increase the benefits of membership. There are not nearly as many paid up members as there are Australian and New Zealand Christian writers, and I would like to take this opportunity to again encourage you to become a financial member. Well how does that benefit me? You may well ask. There are a number of things that are accessible to you as a member:

1.       If you are a writer, publisher, editor or illustrator you may give us your profile, details and picture to add to our resource directory.

2.       You will receive discount on conference registration, CALEB prize entry fee, and a number of editing services will offer a discount to OMEGA members.

3.       You will receive a 25% discount to become a member of the Australian Writers’ Guild.

4.       There have been some substantial discounts offered from Day Translators (a reputable translating group) for OMEGA members.

5.       You will get information on groups that are forming in your region, or who are aimed specifically at your genre. (eg state chapters, the screenwriters group, the science fiction group etc)

Other ideas have been floated that would add value to your membership, but I need to remind everyone, that this organisation is run by volunteers, who give up time and effort to pull all of these resources and opportunities together.

                Being a financial member helps us pay the bills, and at times we would like to be able to remunerate certain volunteers who pour months of work into the jobs done.

                Next month, I will be initiating a fund-raising strategy (currently being prepared by a fund-raising professional, free of charge). We want to bring some better known writing specialists to our next conference, and this of course takes money. We would also like to offer some good prizes for our writing competition, while at the same time being able to offer some remuneration to the judges and other hard working officials.

                What do Omega Writers need you for? Well at the very least, if you would consider becoming a paid up member, that would encourage us, and give us a little bit more in the kitty. But wait, there is more you could do for us. We need judges for the CALEB prize; We need enthusiastic, confident members who will help enact the fund-raising strategy; We need conference help volunteers.

                One thing I’ve learned from over twenty years in the Australian writing scene, if we don’t band together, and each carry some of the load, there won’t be an Australian or Australasian writing scene. We do not have the huge Christian population of the US, and we have to fight for every small thing we achieve. Will you become part of the team?

                Omega Writers needs you!

                Check out this short promo video I made last year.

Blessings and looking forward to hearing from you soon.

president@omegawriters.org