Review Formatting
Before I post my next review, I wanted to throw out a warning of sorts. I've had this journal since December 2005 and over the years, I've tweaked and changed how I review books and how I present those reviews to you. When I started out, I broke everything up into categories, but that didn't last very long at all. I just wanted to write it like I felt it, and that's what I've been doing. At first, I didn't want to get into spoilers, but I found I really hated not discussing all elements of a book that caught my interest, so I started discussing spoilers. I've added a rating system, cover art commentary, and other things that I hope are of interest.
You'd think, with all the reviews I do, that I'd post my reviews on places like Amazon. I've done that on occasion, but what I've discovered is that for the most part, I really hate posting reviews on Amazon. My style of reviews really don't allow for cutting and pasting, and I don't want to post spoilers, and for that matter, most of my reviews are too long for the site (IMHO) and I don't want to condense them. This becomes a problem if I ever read a book that I want to review on Amazon or if someone, such as an author or a publisher, requests that I post my review there as well.
Another problem I feel I have deals with consistency. I feel, though I haven't sat down and gone through all of my reviews to verify this, nor have I had readers say such a thing, that I'm inconsistent. The rating system really helps, but you guys, I ramble. It's one thing to say what I need to behind a cut in case a spoiler or two slips and then repeat it in a general summary outside of the cut for those of you who are avoiding such spoilers, but even within a cut, I sometimes feel like I'm beating a dead horse.
This especially happens if I don't like a book or if the book does something to make me rant. While I won't apologize for the reasons I dislike something, nor will I hold back in explaining why something simply doesn't work for me, I feel like I'm not being very concise. Furthermore, in all that ranting, I sometimes forget to talk about the things I do like, even if it's just a wee silver lining on a really cloudy day.
The opposite is true as well. Sometimes I love a book SO MUCH, or I'm biased because I love the author so much and/or I know the author personally, that I can't write a coherent review that's worth a damn. I'll praise everything I love, but ignore the things that bug me, or actual weaknesses of the book. That's frustrating to me. How frustrating it is to you, well, I guess it depends on what you're hoping I'll say about a book you've got your eye on.
The point of all of this rambling (I told you, I ramble!) is that I'm going to experiment with my review style a bit. Contain the spoilers so that even if I'm posting stuff behind a cut, it's because of length, not to keep you from getting spoiled. Work it so that I consider every element of what I'm reading and once it's covered, leave it save for the final summary. That sort of thing. I may go back to categories, but the point is, we'll see. The next review will be the start of the experiment, and no doubt, you'll see categories come and go or maybe disappear altogether. But I would like to ask that, if you read this journal, you'd let me know what's working for you and what doesn't in terms of the format of the reviews.
If you liked everything the way it was, I appreciate your support. Save for the above-mentioned reasons, I like my way too, but I feel I need to evolve a bit. We'll see what happens. Your feedback will be most useful during this experimental time. :)
Thanks!
You'd think, with all the reviews I do, that I'd post my reviews on places like Amazon. I've done that on occasion, but what I've discovered is that for the most part, I really hate posting reviews on Amazon. My style of reviews really don't allow for cutting and pasting, and I don't want to post spoilers, and for that matter, most of my reviews are too long for the site (IMHO) and I don't want to condense them. This becomes a problem if I ever read a book that I want to review on Amazon or if someone, such as an author or a publisher, requests that I post my review there as well.
Another problem I feel I have deals with consistency. I feel, though I haven't sat down and gone through all of my reviews to verify this, nor have I had readers say such a thing, that I'm inconsistent. The rating system really helps, but you guys, I ramble. It's one thing to say what I need to behind a cut in case a spoiler or two slips and then repeat it in a general summary outside of the cut for those of you who are avoiding such spoilers, but even within a cut, I sometimes feel like I'm beating a dead horse.
This especially happens if I don't like a book or if the book does something to make me rant. While I won't apologize for the reasons I dislike something, nor will I hold back in explaining why something simply doesn't work for me, I feel like I'm not being very concise. Furthermore, in all that ranting, I sometimes forget to talk about the things I do like, even if it's just a wee silver lining on a really cloudy day.
The opposite is true as well. Sometimes I love a book SO MUCH, or I'm biased because I love the author so much and/or I know the author personally, that I can't write a coherent review that's worth a damn. I'll praise everything I love, but ignore the things that bug me, or actual weaknesses of the book. That's frustrating to me. How frustrating it is to you, well, I guess it depends on what you're hoping I'll say about a book you've got your eye on.
The point of all of this rambling (I told you, I ramble!) is that I'm going to experiment with my review style a bit. Contain the spoilers so that even if I'm posting stuff behind a cut, it's because of length, not to keep you from getting spoiled. Work it so that I consider every element of what I'm reading and once it's covered, leave it save for the final summary. That sort of thing. I may go back to categories, but the point is, we'll see. The next review will be the start of the experiment, and no doubt, you'll see categories come and go or maybe disappear altogether. But I would like to ask that, if you read this journal, you'd let me know what's working for you and what doesn't in terms of the format of the reviews.
If you liked everything the way it was, I appreciate your support. Save for the above-mentioned reasons, I like my way too, but I feel I need to evolve a bit. We'll see what happens. Your feedback will be most useful during this experimental time. :)
Thanks!