If you’re an author like me, you probably often think, “You
know, I really should write more book reviews.” It’s kind of a karma thing. If
you’re a reader (again like me), you’d probably love to write more reviews so
you can encourage the authors you like most.
But writing reviews can be hard. Even if you just want to
write a short paragraph, you may not get to it right away, and even the best
books can fade from memory as whatever book your currently reading takes over.
Here’s a trick I learned that has really helped me. (Although,
I still don’t write as many reviews as I should!)
Take Notes!
While you’re reading, add notes to the book about things you
might mention in your reviews. I do my reading on my iPad, usually in the
Kindle app. All I have to do is highlight a passage, then click on it again to
bring up a pop-up menu. It also brings up Wikipedia, Translate, and Dictionary
functions, but don’t let yourself get distracted. The icon you want is the one
that looks like a paper and pencil in the strip above that.
If you do that as you read, you’ll have all sorts of notes
when it comes time to write a review, but don’t make it harder than it has to
be. Authors are happy with one paragraph or even one sentence reviews.
Remember, Amazon’s magical fifty review threshold (that determines which books
get promoted) doesn’t care how long your review is.
You could take this same approach with physical
books, but that either requires carrying a notebook and pen around while you
read or writing in the margins. If it’s a library book or one you borrowed,
obviously the latter isn’t an option. Plus, not only do I have writing in my
books, I can never seem to decipher my handwriting later!
Goodreads Can Make
You Even More Efficient!
I just discovered a way to use Goodreads to make the process
even more efficient. You need to have automatically linked your Amazon account to your Goodreads account. If you aren't getting a pop-up message asking you if you want to do that, here's a link you can use - https://www.goodreads.com/amazon.
If that's still not working for you, add a note below and I'll see what I can do to help you figure it out. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit of a technophile.
Once you have your accounts linked, go to the books you are currently reading. These should be showing on the left-hand side of your home screen. (I can’t be the
only one who has four or five going at a time!) Just below the author’s name,
you should see clickable text that says “X notes & X highlights.”
Clicking on that brings you to a page that lists all your
notes and highlights. Below is a screenshot from my reading of Amazing Grace
by Eric Metaxas. These happen to only be highlights, but if I had taken a note
in the early portion of the book, it would show up here.
Note that you can also choose to make your notes and
highlights visible and add comments to them. This seems to me to be a great way
to promote your favorite authors and perhaps start some interesting dialogue
with other readers. (I wonder if others can add comments to my visible
highlights. If anyone is up for testing
that, I’d love to know!)
Have a Favorite Tip?
Do you like to write book reviews either professionally or
just for fun? I’d love to hear more tips for getting more reviews done in less
time. I’m shooting for twenty-five book reviews this year, so any suggestions you
can provide would be welcome!
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