Tabby Talk is a discussion post I thought I'd do occasionally where I'll share my random thoughts on something and include my cat in them ;)
Hi guys! I wanted to do a quick post on something that's been on my mind for quite some time now. I need to know what you guys think!
So lately I've been wondering if my reviews are too long. I always start off wanting to keep things short but somehow always end up with five or six paragraphs of review content. Oops? I can't help but wonder if that's too long? I'm guilty of skimming other people's reviews sometimes so do people read my reviews from beginning to end?
I also feel like my reviews are just a bunch of rambling. I mean, I always try to make sure the words, paragraphs flow but lately I've been feeling like what I've been putting down are just a bunch of word vomits lol.... Does any one get that feeling too?
I'm wondering, as a book blogger, do you control the length of your reviews? I personally freestyle my reviews (hence why they get long) but do you follow a certain format to make sure you hit every key point you want to make? How do you structure your reviews (with subheadings such as Likes, Dislikes, etc.)? Please share your thoughts with me!
So lately I've been wondering if my reviews are too long. I always start off wanting to keep things short but somehow always end up with five or six paragraphs of review content. Oops? I can't help but wonder if that's too long? I'm guilty of skimming other people's reviews sometimes so do people read my reviews from beginning to end?
I also feel like my reviews are just a bunch of rambling. I mean, I always try to make sure the words, paragraphs flow but lately I've been feeling like what I've been putting down are just a bunch of word vomits lol.... Does any one get that feeling too?
I'm wondering, as a book blogger, do you control the length of your reviews? I personally freestyle my reviews (hence why they get long) but do you follow a certain format to make sure you hit every key point you want to make? How do you structure your reviews (with subheadings such as Likes, Dislikes, etc.)? Please share your thoughts with me!
I try to. I mean, I don't like putting my readers through a long novella of a review. I try to keep it to a max of 500 words. Anything longer than 600 is pushing it.
ReplyDeleteOmg I never count my words... Maybe I should start... Your reviews are the perfect length! I always read the whole thing ;)
DeleteOMG, Joy... I, um... have a max of 1000. LOL. I can be very verbose. But I definitely love your more succinct reviews.
DeleteGreat post! My reviews are almost always short and I don't think that's a good thing but, at the same time, I don't necessarily need to read a multi paragraph dissertation about every book!
ReplyDeleteHahaha I like the way you said it and definitely agreed. I don't want people to get bored with my review :S
DeleteOh gosh, I always wonder about this too. I feel like my reviews are definitely too long. Mostly I think their too long when I say the same thing in every review. I think rather than focusing on the length want to make sure the reviews are interesting. As long as they are engaging and people don't get bored, then they will read it and come back for more reviews.
ReplyDeleteCassi @ My Thoughts Literally
Good point! I hope my reviews are somewhat engaging so people come back often for more :D
DeleteI try to keep a mental tab of all the things I want to mention in a review, talk about pacing, plot, characters and mention what I didn't like and why, but usually my reviews are more ramblings than anything else too!!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way! It's all in my head and I put them down as I write my review! Your reviews are very well thought-out <3
DeleteThis is a great post idea! I have so many thoughts to share about this...
ReplyDeleteI feel like in the beginning, when I first started writing reviews, they were really well written and thoughtful (because I took so long on them), but they were also extremely stiff. I read some of them now and just cringe, because I sound like I'm trying to be a NYT reviewer. I don't know. I don't like them.
Over time I came up with my own voice -- part off-the-cuff and part formal. It works for me, and I have more fun writing reviews now, since I don't worry anymore about sounding "professional."
I write until my thoughts run out, but always over 300 words so I get a good SEO score for the blog. If I approach 1000, I dial it back and save my thoughts for a separate discussion post.
One thing I've noticed, though, is if I don't keep my paragraphs short and my thoughts succinct, my commenters don't respond to what I wrote specifically. I can tell that they browsed instead of read! (Which is really okay. I'm just happy when people leave a note saying they were there.)
Because of this, I try to write in style that's engaging for readers. I don't think I've mastered it yet, but I keep trying.
I love reading your reviews Ellen! You always put in that personal touch and I think it's lovely to read about <3 Ohh I didn't know about the SEO score. I guess I should look into that... except I'm kind of lazy.... Lol XD
DeleteI purposely try to keep my reviews as short as possible but not to short that it can be confused with a quickie review. I just don't want people to feel like they have to read too much, lol. As crazy as that sounds.
ReplyDeleteNot crazy, I get it! You make perfect sense. There's always that chance people will be put off reading a review if it's super long :)
DeleteI try to eyeball it. Like if my paragraphs are looking too long, or just the review in general is looking too long to the eye, I try to break it up by using categories. like-- What I liked: and What I didn't like so much: just to give the skimmers something to skim to.
ReplyDeleteThat's very thoughtful Michelle! I eyeball it too but I never use subcategories. This gives me some thing to think about. Thanks for sharing <3
Delete