Hey everyone and welcome to Owl Book World! I’ve been wanting to talk about whether or not people read book reviews anymore for a while now. Don’t get me wrong because I know some readers do still read them. But what about reviews on blogs or YouTube channels? I have been book blogging for 3 years now and for a long time, I didn’t really do discussion posts. So, basically, all I did was book reviews.
When blogging this is probably the wrong thing to do for many reasons. Other than wondering if book reviews are actually read on blogs anymore, pretty much all other book bloggers are writing reviews as well. So, if you’re wanting to create a book blog or you’re wanting to improve your blog then make sure you’re writing other types of posts. If you’re only writing book reviews then what makes you think that readers are going to want to stay? At least that’s what I have come to learn from only writing reviews and not having many discussion posts up.
What are book reviews?
Book reviews are just that…reviews for books. There are so many ways to write a review and there are different ones that readers like to read. Some like longer reviews while others like shorter ones. I like ones somewhere in the middle. I don’t like longer ones because they give too many details away. Shorter ones are bad about not giving you a real reason as to why they don’t like the book. Which one do you like the most?
Book Review Sites
Advantages and disadvantages of book reviews
Book reviews come with many advantages but with the advantages come disadvantages as well. Before I get started on this I do want to say books are for the readers as well as the reviews. If the reviews aren’t that good and readers have a good reason for rating it low then this is a good way to tell you that you need to improve on your writing. With that in mind you need to consider that not everyone is going to like your book so don’t let a few low ratings get you down.
The advantage is that reviews can really help an indie author. Even negative reviews can help because if you have a high rating then that can be suspicious to some readers. But why?! Aren’t good reviews a good thing? Not necessarily especially if this is your debut novel. Don’t get me wrong-a debut book isn’t necessarily always bad but an author’s craft gets better the more they write. So, a book with a lot of great reviews may seem like the author is buying reviews, because like I said your book isn’t going to be for everyone.
The negative side is that some put down the most random reviews that have nothing to do with the book. Or some readers may not give the book a chance before they stop reading a book and leave a negative review.
Why aren’t book reviews working?
This is mostly aimed towards book reviews on blogs and YouTube. I do realize that there are some who still read and watch reviews. However, I do feel like most go to a blog for book recommendations over book reviews. Most are going to go on Amazon or Goodreads because there are more reviews they can see a lot of in one go. That is unless you’re a popular blogger and a lot of people trust your reviews. To start off with I wouldn’t focus on book reviews. But you should still write them up if you’re wanting to and actually enjoy them. This post is by no means saying not to write them but don’t make them the focus of your blog.
On top of that book reviews are boring (there I said it). I don’t care to read them because when I have my mind made up I will read the book one way or another. That is unless the book is below a three-star and then I would have to reconsider. On top of that if you’re taking blogging seriously then it will be really hard to rank for popular books then for books that aren’t popular won’t be searched for very much. You have to get creative with reviews.
What should you talk about instead?
I know you may not want to hear this but discussion posts and lists are a big thing. Controversial posts are a good way to go as well (as long as they aren’t hurtful or mean towards someone). When I say controversial posts I’m mostly mean talking about why you don’t like a really popular book. There aren’t many who don’t like a little bit of drama as long as they aren’t involved. Just think about book-related content you like to read!
What do you guys think? Do you read book reviews on blogs? If no then what do you like reading about? Just want to say this as well… If you are a reader please support book bloggers. We do put a lot of work into our post wether it’s a review or an actual review. It may seem really easy if you don’t blog but more goes into it than you realize.
If you like this post then make sure to check out OBW’s reading challenge for 2022.
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