How to Format a Book Review in Associated Press Style

Your like shooting fish in a barrel-to-utilize volume review format and why it works! Unsure how to structure your book review? Expect no further. I'm sharing with you my tried-and-true template for crafting a substantive, helpful book review, no matter if it's a nonfiction book or fiction book. I'll also let you lot peek into my traffic to see why you should be publishing book word guides, not reviews, so I'll include the steps you need to write ane.

This book review format is intended for anyone looking to write a substantive volume review for a blog, for school, or for review sites similar Goodreads and Amazon.

Get-go… swoop deeper into volume reviewing with my book

(Or but skip to the review template)

If y'all want to larn much, much more about writing a book review, exist certain to check out my bestselling volume, How to Write a Volume Review.

This essential book, which expands on volume reviews and discussion guides, is available on Amazon.

And now for the volume review template!

Each of these components in the book review template serve a purpose. I've learned over the years through SEO optimization and keyword inquiry that these components of a book that readers await for the about.

Hither's the volume review format:

Part i: Introduce the volume and the author: ane-2 paragraphs

Include whatsoever background you can find about the book.
Briefly summarize the author'southward biography.

Introducing the book you're reviewing provides necessary context. Don't expect that readers have already heard about the volume, much less the author. This is besides a practiced time to add together in details almost any buzz the book has; for example, if information technology's been picked for a national book club, is already a bestseller, or is a noteworthy review.

Part 2: Plot Summary: 3-5 paragraphs

If you're writing a review that must include all aspects of the plot, be certain to include a spoiler warning.
Summarize the plot in no more than three-five paragraphs.
Add together 3-five cardinal takeaways (for nonfiction only).

One of the most of import components of a volume review is the plot summary. Readers in book clubs rushing to get the basic framework of what happens in the book are going to hunt for your plot summary first and foremost.

In no more than iii-v paragraphs, summarize the volume's cardinal events.

Not certain how much to add together? Divide how many pages the book is and write one paragraph per each 100 pages.

If you're reviewing nonfiction, exist sure to write 3-5 takeaways that extract the cadre theses of the book.

For example, in Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers, hither are 3 takeaways you could extract for a book review's summary department:

More often than not, we resort to believing people fifty-fifty when they are lying to our faces, a tendency Gladwell calls the "Default to truth."
"Coupling" is a phenomenon that finds links between two factors that can be unpaired, like a rise in suicides by gassing and changing the style ovens are made.
Criminologists were able to beat out back crime in inner cities by making more stops to check for weapons. Notwithstanding, other, more than rural and automobile-dependent urban areas misapplied the findings, leading to an unnecessary increment in motor vehicle stops.

My tip: if you lot're feeling overwhelmed by having to distill the central takeaways, reread the beginning and the final chapter and encounter what themes and ideas echo betwixt the two.

Interlude: A Quick Note on Writing Word Guides Instead of Book Reviews

My How to Write a Book Review guide really sets you up to write volume discussion guides, too.

Wait a second—you may be saying—isn't that a book most how to write book reviews, not book give-and-take guides?

The fact is, every bit I've mined my ain traffic and information over the years, book discussion guides (also known alternatively equally volume group guides, book lodge guides, report guides, or reading group guides) bring in the most consistent traffic to my site vs. traditional book reviews.

Cheque out how much traffic ii of my book guides brought in over a menses of 30 days:

This traffic suggests there'south a market for these evergreen topics. People don't want only reviews anymore. They want substantive content to help them take it to the adjacent level and prep for book clubs, essays almost books, and reading groups.

At present let's practise some SEO inquiry to run into what kind of book discussion topics are trending on Google.

Hither's a screenshot that shows you what are the elevation searches for content that go easily into a book discussion guide for Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls, the book I write a complete guide of in How to Write a Book Review. Have a look at the search traffic for City of Girls, the novel we volition exist using in this book equally we work through the parts of a volume review. Courtesy of the Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere, nosotros can encounter what people expect for when you search Google for: "city of girls":

You see? The top results for Metropolis of Girls are, afterwards the tiptop spot goes to review, all components of a book discussion guide.

The chief divergence between volume word guides and volume reviews, as laid out in this blog post and in my book, are three components: Discussion Questions (Role three of this guide), Quotes (Part 4 of this Guide) and Like Books (Part 7).

Now dorsum to the guide!

Part 3: Discussion Questions (Optional)

Include five-ten discussion questions.

This part is optional. Merely if you're writing volume reviews that you hope will as well work as volume group guides, you'll want to come up with 5-10 questions that stir upwards discussions.

Example

Cheque out my discussion guide to Jenny Offill's Weather. Here are four questions from that commodity, which was published here on the blog:

My give-and-take guide to *Weather* past Jenny Offill

Here are four discussion questions from the Weather guide:

1. Why do y'all think Offill named her novelWeather? In what ways does conditions testify up equally a theme in Offill's novel?

2.Weather is written in micro-moments. Lizzie's narrative is comprised of judgement and sometimes paragraph-long segments that build into a larger story. What was the experience like to read a narrative similar that? How does this unique format serve the story and its gimmicky, zeitgeisty setting?

three. How does Lizzie change over the grade of the story? What specific examples did you lot see of her changing, or lack thereof?

iv. How would you characterize Lizzie'due south relationship with her brother, Henry? Compare and contrast it with other relationships Lizzie has a duty to uphold, such as with her husband, Ben, and son, Eli?

Run across that?

Pretty like shooting fish in a barrel!

If you're already writing a plot summary, consider taking your guide to the next level by including some discussion questions for a reading group guide.

And if you're stumped for what questions are right, How to Write a Volume Review has a listing of 30 book discussion questions anyone can easily adapt to fit their volume review.

Role four: Quotes (Optional)

Include 5-10 fundamental quotes from the volume with speaker and page numbers.

Adding quotes is another optional component of a book review or book discussion guide. All you accept to do is list 5-10 quotes from the book that you felt warrant special attending. You might besides desire to get and then far every bit to clarify each quote, simply information technology's non necessary. You'll want to include the speaker of the quote and the page numbers.

You lot could also pause this out into a divide post.

My quote mail service of the best quotes from Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch gets traffic every twenty-four hour period from Google and Pinterest.

Readers really look for these types of posts, and then you tin can naturally include them in your guide.

Part 5: Pros and Cons

Include ii-four positive qualities or "Pros" of the volume as bullet points (or plus signs).
Include ii-four negative qualities or "Cons" of the book as bullet points (or negative signs).
Depending on whether your review is positive or negative, the balance between the pros and cons will be weighted differently.

There are many means to structure the positives and negatives for the book you're reviewing, merely ultimately, the information should be clear and readable.

Keep in mind that each positive trait of a book or negative trait can be lost if they are buried in lengthy paragraphs. Your readers are generally skimming this section or scrolling fast.

The way to fix that? Get to the betoken, clean and fast.

That's why I endorse separating your Pros and Cons of the volume in 2 separate bullet point lists.

Pro'due south and Con's lists are easily recognizable and intuitive to consumers. After all, one purpose for the book review is non just to enlighten, merely to assist a reader brand a consumer buy to buy the book.

Demand an example? My volume review of Pumpkins follows this format, albeit I switched in "strengths" and "weaknesses" for "pro'due south" and "con'southward":

Here's a "Force" I wrote for Pumpkinheads:

Positive: Pumpkinheads Captures That Fall Mood

If you're coming toPumpkinheads having never gone to a pumpkin patch, don't worry—Faith Erin Hicks fully immerses you in the setting, crammed with tiny details, brilliant colors, and a cohesive visual way that immerses y'all there. The sensory feel translate off the page. I felt like I could smell phantom whiffs of pumpkin spice, hay, and kettle corn merely past reading the novel. This volume totally nails the mood of fall. Whenever you're feeling nostalgic for the autumn, pick upPumpkinheads and get magically swept dorsum into PSL season.

And here'south a "Weakness" I wrote for Pumpkinheads:

Negative: Josie felt a lilliputian 1 dimensional

Of the two main characters, Josie felt less developed to me. Deja was a dandy sidekick, but without her there to keep the conversation rolling, Josie would take made fifty-fifty less of an impression on me. It was virtually similar, his chief motivation in the story was to find Marcy, speak to her, and give her his number. But that felt like a desire line that Deja applied to him. And certainly that is a scrap forced. She's deliberately trying to push button Josie to sort through how serious he is almost Marcy and dating in general. Yet, the result was I didn't really know what Josie himself wanted.

However y'all choose to customize the language in this section: Pro's and Con'due south, Strengths and Weaknesses, "What I Loved" and "What I hated," organize the data cleanly in bullet point lists.

Function 6: Overall Assessment

Synthesize the points you brand in Role 3. Ultimately, does the book go a favorable review?

Now information technology's time to synthesize your pro's and con's into an overall assessment. It can exist as like shooting fish in a barrel every bit adding upwards how many positive and negative qualities y'all've listed and go with the one that has more. Still, in this section, y'all're going to desire to weigh the adept and the bad to make sure you're giving people as objective a point of view as possible.

Remember that you're reviewing a book, non your feelings
Broke by Books

Ultimately, information technology's up to you to make the judgment telephone call and give an overall assessment. Don't back down from whatever stiff feelings yous have about the book. Readers like a book review that feels passionate and earnest.

A quick notation on star ratings…

If y'all're an avid Goodreads reviewer, yous are used to giving i-5 stars for a book'due south rating.

It's upwards to y'all if you want to include a star rating for the book you're reviewing. I usually exercise because it's a cistron that resonates with a lot of readers. If yous're using a star rating system, the Overall Cess is the place to put that.

Part 7: Similar Books (Optional)

Include 3-5 similar books.

This is some other section that often goes in book discussion guides. People who just finished reading a book often require similar books to bargain with their volume hangover. Or the subject of the volume might go out them curious to larn more.

This is your spot in the book review (or discussion guide) to include iii-5 similar books to the one y'all're reviewing.

For example, bank check out my commodity with discussion questions for The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.

Afterwards the plot summary, give-and-take questions, and quotes, I listed 5 books for people who loved The Male child, The Mole, The Play a joke on and the Horse.

Including actress books for people to read if they enjoyed the one you're reviewing brand have more time. The effect is well worth it. People await to y'all as an authorization and your review as more than just opinion, simply a trusted and useful piece of information.

Role 8: Further Information

Include the stats of the book: pub date, publisher
Link to other resources: writer interviews, reviews on dominance sites

This final role in the book review template is one of my favorites. At the very end of your book review, add farther information so readers can leave your review and launch into more info on the volume. That starts with the pub date and publisher, along with basic facts like page count.

But it'southward too fun to include farther information nigh the author. In my review of Atmospheric condition, for instance, I embedded a YouTube video of the author promoting her book. I also included links to interviews with the author. To my surprise, I've seen in my blog'due south traffic that people really routinely click on the extra links to acquire more than about the books.

And… that'southward information technology!

This post has everything you demand to write a comprehensive book review or book review discussion guide. If you desire to accept it further, be sure to cheque out my eBook How to Write a Volume Review:

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Source: https://brokebybooks.com/how-to-write-a-book-review-your-easy-book-review-format/