The Book Reviewer Online - Writing on Books for the Web

Book reviews have immense power in today's world, shining a light on our thinking. This is mainly because books have such power.

A well crafted book review is a fine art, yet there are so many ways to write them that it's easy to get confused. This article focuses on not only writing the book review, but what to do before you write it and after you write it. This means increasing earning potential, and comes from my experience in writing and publishing over 100 book reviews both online and in print.

Before You Write the Book Review:

Before you even sit down with a book and write a review, there are many points to consider. First, do you want money for this book review (not so fast, read on)? What author do you read the most, and therefore have most experience with? Do you have any contacts at book review websites? What are the hottest new books on the market, and what is everybody else reviewing? This is just the beginning, but let me get right to the answers.

If you want money for the book review, it almost always must be a newer book. That means reviewing Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" and submitting it to a major entertainment site is a complete waste. They want new books. Even books a year old may be questioned.

Next, you need experience with the author in order to write the book review. It's not mandatory, but reading outside articles on the author surely helps publishing the book review, but you're golden when you've read previous books.

Choosing a hot title or a cult title each have dangers. Someone else gets to the review before you, or the cult status of the author makes publishing a review harder. There is no easy answer to this, but following your favorite book review sites, seeing what they publish, helps plenty.

Writing the Book Review:

This will be shorter and more to the point. You can't fall into reading up other reviews for ideas on your review. In my opinion, that should come after the review is written lest your own opinion is tainted. Next, the online book review can, in an odd way, be longer than a normal book review. Why? Because editors aren't cramming a dozen reviews and articles into one magazine. Still, each site is different about length. Speaking of the site ... study their guidelines, and if they don't have any, ask.

Submitting the Book Review:

I didn't completely explain the fine art of writing a book review, mainly because it may hurt you more than help. However, submitting book reviews is perhaps the most important part. Do you want money for it? Get this part perfect. Try to stay in touch with editors, if possible, because they might offer advice on the book review. Tben consider whether the site offers simultaneous submissions or not. This is important in the online world, where you may be waiting a month for a response. After a month, it may be somewhat late to submit the review elsewhere. Find a list of book review sites who hopefully pay, and find out if simultaneous submissions are okay. For book reviewers, this is a must.

Endgame:

Now let's get to the reality of the situation. While not impossible, it takes plenty of attempts to publish a book review on a major site, especially if they pay well. If you treat it like a business, the art of book reviewing has vast potential. And if you love reading and writing already, it's not only a career but it can be profitable. It is for me.