A few words about how I choose books to read, and about rating and reviewing them.
Now that I am a published author, I have certainly come to realize the importance of rating and reviewing books. Before becoming established, it never occurred to me to do reviews for any of the books I had read, and there have been many over the years.
Since May of last year, I have taken time to write and publish reviews for the books I’m reading – many in conjunction with The Writers Bridge writing group and the many new writing friends I’ve gained as a result of it. Amazingly, I’m currently writing up my twenty-fifth book review.
No Universal Rating System
When first researching on how to write a book review, I learned there is no universal rating system for rating or reviewing books. Basically, every book reviewer decides how they want to rate the book, many basing that rating on how the book made them feel
How I Rate Books I Read
This is where I want to be up front and clear about how I rate and review the books I read.
- When you see a 5-Star Rating that I’ve given on a book I’ve read – it’s just that good to me. This does not mean, however, that the book won’t have trigger words, sexuality, language, or other questionable content.
- When I choose to read a book, I don’t make judgment on content but rather rate the book as a whole. If I misjudged and a book is so bad I have to put it down, it will not get a rating or review, as I only write reviews for books I’ve completed reading.
- When rating a book, I consider many factors including, but not limited to, writing style, believability, plot holes, grammatical and punctuation, and the overall enjoyment I feel once I’ve finished reading a book.
On Leaving Ratings & Reviews
Book reviews move authors’ books up in the rankings, particularly on Amazon, and help readers decide if a book will be enjoyable and worth their time.
As a recently and first-time published author, I encourage and challenge you to leave book reviews. Not just for my book, but for any book you choose to read. Every author will appreciate it. I know I will. Even one word can help. Or just leave a rating, if you are shy. That will work, too.
Thank you and check out my full-length article on HubPages (see below) about ratings and reviews.
Please Note: Following is a full-length article written for HubPages about providing book ratings and writing reviews. It contains more about how I rate and review the books I read. In it, I also share about how I develop my reviews. I hope you enjoy.
Virginia Alice Crawford 