book reviews in blog

• BLOGGERS DATABASE
• SUBMIT YOUR BLOG

News Reader

Brand Monitoring

Blogger Outreach or Influencer Marketing

Combined Newsletters

Embeddable RSS Widgets

RSS Combiner beta

Select Page

• Get 250k Bloggers, Podcasters and Media outlets with email contacts. Export Full Database
• Request Bloggers Contacts
• Export Contact List

100 Best Book Blogs To Follow in 2024 (Book Reviewers)

Here are 100 Best Book Blogs you should follow in 2024

1. Book Riot

2. Maryse's Book Blog

3. Modern Mrs. Darcy

4. Kirkus Reviews

5. That Artsy Reader Girl

6. Pretty Little Memoirs Blog

7. A Little Blog of Books

8. Sybrina Publishing

9. Linda's Book Bag | Loving books and reading

10. Booklist Queen

11. The New York Review of Books

12. Barnes And Noble Book Blog

13. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

14. Literary Titan

15. Crossroad Reviews

16. BookTrib

17. Caffeinated Book Reviewer

18. Book Club

19. Wishful Endings

20. The Bookish Elf

21. Under the Covers Book Blog

22. Largehearted Boy

23. Joy's Book Blog

24. TLC Book Tours

25. NewInBooks

26. Book Room Reviews

27. The Reading Diaries

28. Nerdy Book Club Blog

29. Bewitched Bookworms

30. Why Not? Because I Said So!

31. Reading Books Again

• Book Bloggers

• Maryse's Book Blog
• Modern Mrs. Darcy
• Kirkus Reviews
• That Artsy Reader Girl
• Pretty Little Memoirs Blog
• A Little Blog of Books
• Sybrina Publishing
• Linda's Book Bag | Loving books and reading
• Booklist Queen
• The New York Review of Books
• Barnes And Noble Book Blog
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
• Literary Titan
• Crossroad Reviews
• Caffeinated Book Reviewer
• Wishful Endings
• The Bookish Elf
• Under the Covers Book Blog
• Largehearted Boy
• Joy's Book Blog
• TLC Book Tours
• Book Room Reviews
• The Reading Diaries
• Nerdy Book Club Blog
• Bewitched Bookworms
• Why Not? Because I Said So!
• Reading Books Again
• Book Marketing Blogs
• Book Club Blogs
• Historical Fiction Blogs

Book Review Blogs By Country

Kirkus Reviews About - Book reviews and recommendations from the most trusted voice in book discovery.

BookPage.com - The Book Case Blog About - America's book review: sharing the best in new books since 1988. Includes fiction book reviews, nonfiction book reviews, children's book reviews, romance, sci fi etc.

For Reading Addicts About - British bibliophiles brilliantly babbling about books, bookshops, bookshelves!

Lovereading | Helping you choose the next book About - Lovereading is the UK's leading book recommendation site where you will be guided to great books that will keep you inspired and entertained.

Travelling Book Junkie About - Inspiring book lovers worldwide to pick up their passports and explore the world whilst focusing on their love of literature. We highlight the literary trails you won't want to miss. We explore locations that authors have visited and gained inspiration from.

49thShelf.com: Discover Canadian Books, Book Reviews, Book Lists & more About - Canada's biggest selection of Canadian books, Canadian authors, book reviews, book lists, and more. It is A website stocked with Canadian books by authors both world-renowned and up-and-coming, writing in every genre. On 49th Shelf, you’ll find books you’ll never forget, meet people whose lists and reviews you’ll admire, and learn more about the authors who intrigue you.

Chapter by Chapter | A Mostly YA Book Blog About - A Mostly Young Adult Book Review Blog, You'll find reviews on different YA, MG, and some Adult novels. The reviews will generally be in two perspectives; one adult and one teen.

Rabid Reads – Speculative Fiction Book Reviews About - Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Young Adult are the three main genres featured on Rabid Reads but Historical Romance, Fantasy and Erotica books also make the occasional appearances. Two out of our four reviewers have a strong penchant for stories that showcase werewolves and as a result, the blog has cemented itself as one of the leading paranormal fiction authorities on all things furry.

Darlene's Book Nook About - I am a busy mother of two, and I love reading on the go! I love listening to audiobooks on my iPod. My genres of interest are paranormal, suspense/thriller, mystery, young adult, horror, urban fantasy, fantasy, romantic suspense, mainstream fiction, and juvenile fiction (which I will read aloud to my children). Accepting a book for review does not guarantee that my review will be positive. I can only post fair and honest reviews which I feel will be helpful to readers.

The Boomerang Books Blog About - Founded in 2002, Boomerang Books is Australia's online independent bookstore, with a distinct focus on Australian books, Australian authors and Australian publishers. Specialising in Australian books and Australian authors, Boomerang Books has all your book buying needs.

Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books About - Since 2001 Aussie Reviews has been drawing attention to the wonderful literary talent in this country by providing online reviews of all kinds of Australian books – from adult fiction to children’s books to non-fiction.

Booklover Book Reviews | Find your next great read today About - Hi! I’m Jo, an unabashed book lover living in Brisbane, Australia. Since starting this website in 2009 I’ve come to realise I enjoy writing about books almost as much as reading them. Read hundreds of book reviews, wide range of titles by Australian and international authors, book giveaways, author interviews. Find your next great read today!

The Booktopian About - Voted Australia's Favourite Bookstore. We love books and want to spread the word. Delivering more than 4 million books per year, we offer competitive prices and stock a wide range to guarantee faster delivery times. Bringing together writers and readers, combined with our expert opinion, Booktopia is Australia's local bookstore.

BookGeeks | Book Reviews | Author Interviews About - BookGeeks is a book review blog dedicated to Indian authors. We do Book Reviews, Author Interviews and help Indian authors promote their books. Our mission is to be the first choice of book lovers looking for simple & apt review of books written by Indian authors. Find the best books written by Indian authors on bookGeeks.in

Booxoul | The love literature, books & all things bookish About - If you are looking for one blog to meet all of your diverse book review needs, Booxoul it is. We review books, suggest books and we try our level best to answer the most asked book-related questions.We love literature, books, and all things bookish, and want to share that with the world through our Blog, We are the excitement of realizing you’re falling in love with a book and so much more. And the only thing we like as much as books is talking about books with you all.

Vidhya Thakkar | Read, Write & Explore! About - An Avid reader, a Gemini Soul and A versatile personality. Know about books, Lifestyle. One who Love to review books. A girl who loves the smell of a new book, a reader, a girl who wants to Inspire. At the end, I am an Entrepreneur and a Social media trainer who love to communicate and meet new people, so don’t hesitate to connect. A Mumbaikar soul who loves to communicate with various people led her to the creation of #Mumbaibookstagrammers.

Anu Reviews About - Anureviews is a book blog featuring books reviews, author interviews, excerpts and all other activities related to books and publishing. I have been reading ever since I can remember and reviewing them for more than 10 years now on this portal Anu Reviews. Never thought that writing down my reflections on the books I read is going to culminate into this. Sharing my thoughts with other readers have often given me multiple views of the books we read and authors we talked about.

Request Blogs Contacts

Thanks for your interest in FeedSpot Media Contact Database. Our team will get back to you by email in 1-2 business day. You can also email us at [email protected] Copy email to get priority reply from our team. You can also export media list directly from our website.

400K active blogs with direct email contacts.

20K+ Customers Worldwide.

For Marketing Teams, PR Pros, Journalists & Writers, Business Owners, Authors, Communication Teams

Advertise   Contact   Privacy

Browse All Reviews

New Releases

List Reviews by Rating

List Reviews by Author

List Reviews by Title

50 Best Book Blogs to Read in 2022

Book blogging can be fun, but reading other literary and book blogs is part of the fun as well. I often prefer book reviews from other bloggers over ones in literary magazines or newspapers, since they’re sometimes more straightforward and candid about their thoughts.

When it comes to other book blogs, I tend to follow blogs that update more frequently and ones that post more in-depth book reviews, though I know not everyone likes lengthy book reviews. I also appreciate a layout with good navigation, nice graphics or high-quality photos to go with their posts. And in general, I’m more inclined to recommend blogs that have been around longer.

So, in a completely unscientific and totally subjective list, here are my picks for the 50 Best Book Blogs to Read !

General Fiction and Non-fiction

Non-Fiction

Crime and Thriller

Romance Novels

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Young Adult

Writerly Blogs (Blogs Geared to Writers)

Literary Blogs

Corporate & News Blogs

Obviously, there are so, so many more fantastic book blogs out there — feel free to drop a comment if you have a favorite book blog that you think belongs on this list!

Share this post

Middle of the Night

The Housemaid is Watching

She’s Not Sorry

The Seven Year Slip

Darling Girls

It Finally Happened + Summer Romances

Best Literary Fiction of 2024 (New & Anticipated)

The Housemaid Book Series Recap

2024’s Best Book Club Books (New & Anticipated)

Bookshelf: Development Diary

43 comments

Share your thoughts cancel reply.

This is so nice. Thank you! So honoured to be among some amazing blogs. ❤️

you’re so welcome! I always look forward to your blog posts! :)

Thank you for this! I’ve only been on WordPress a few months and am trying to find more great book blogs. I follow a few of these, but I look forward to checking the rest out.

awesome! glad to spread the book love! :)

Great list! Sadly, middle-grade book bloggers get ignored a lot. There are so many fantastic bloggers who share books for kids at a crucial stage of their lives. Many middle-grade books also tackle issues that adults can benefit from reading about too.

I found your blog and have bookmarked it. It looks really great!

Aw, thank you! Hope you enjoy :)

hey Afoma, thank you for sharing your thoughts — I totally agree that middle-grade books can be really valuable. I just don’t personally read those books so it’s a little harder for me to judge, feel free to let me know if you think there’s any blogs that definitely belong on this list and I’ll be happy to check them out! :)

Oh, this is fun. Thank you for the list.

glad to hear it! thanks for reading!

Thank you! I got to know about (and follow) some amazing blogs as well as Bookstagram. 😍

that’s great to hear! thanks for dropping by!

Great post for finding new blogs, thanks for sharing your favorites!

thanks for reading! :)

So honored to be included on this fantastic list! Thank you so much Jenn, and I now have a bunch of blogs to check out!

you totally deserve it, your blog is always full of thoughtful high quality content :)

I agree with Afama Umesi. Middle-grade books are rich and exciting. I hope you will give some a try.

hey rosi, I totally agree that middle-grade books are really valuable and important. it’s definitely something I should consider, if you have a favorite, I’d love it hear it!

Thank you so much for including my blog on your list, Jenn! Feel so honored and grateful! I see some other blogs which I follow in this list too! Yours is one of the few I follow closely and whose reviews I enjoy reading, always detailed and unbiased! Now, time to check out the other blogs on your list! Thank you for taking the time to do this, Jenn ❤️

hey jee, I always love your reviews and I think you have fantastic taste in books! thanks for being an awesome part of the book blogging community! :)

Thank you, Jenn and right back atcha! ❤️

For your Science Fiction and Fantasy heading, I’ve been enjoying this blog: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/feed/ .

Thank you so much! ❤️

you’re so welcome! :)

This is an awesome post! I’m always on the lookout for more blogs to follow.

thank you, and glad to hear it! :) thanks for reading!

It is exactly the post I needed! Thank you 😊 I’ll check them all 👍🏼

that’s awesome to hear — thanks for dropping by!

Thank you so much for including me…and putting this list together so I can find other fantastic bloggers to follow!

Hi Jen, I can understand that it would be hard to judge since you don’t read MG. For one, I blog about middle-grade books on afomaumesi.com/blog. I also wrote a post about six kid lit blogs I frequent: https://afomaumesi.com/top-kid-lit-blogs/

A few other middle-grade book blogs I read are:

MGBookVillage https://mgbookvillage.org Kidlit Underground https://kidlitunderground.com/ Chattering Librarian https://chatteringlibrarian.com Here Wee Read http://hereweeread.com/ Bridget and the Books https://bridgetandthebooks.com Lindsay Maeve Schubert https://lindsaymaeveschubert.wordpress.com Imagination Soup https://imaginationsoup.net/ Cece Librarian https://cecelibrarian.com

I hope these few get you started :)

Thank you very much to be useful for develop my books website. And this is the information I was looking for

This is an incredible list of book blogs.

Is there anyway you can include my blog (www.bookishelf.com) to this list?

Please consider adding Fictionophile.com to your book blogger list.

Thanks so much for this awesome list! I can’t wait to dig in and find some new favorite bookish corners! For the SFF section, I recommend this blog: https://www.bookishvalhalla.com I love finding all these hidden gem books there <3

Thank you so much for the shoutout for my blog! And thanks for showing me so many great blogs to follow. Sue The Bookalicious Babe

Oh gosh, I am so honored to be included on this list – thank you so much! If you ever decide to create a button let me know, as I would love to boast about this listing on Reader Voracious :)

This topic excites me since I am a fan of books, I think that a book has the most explicit things, it seems that you were the character, it is a world that I love if it were me I bought a library.

Thnaks for this complete article!

I Must Say person Who Wrote This Article has a Great Taste In Books

it is very nice and useful content thanks for sharing

hi sir hope you are doing great . I am SEO expert.I have 5 years experience in the field of SEO .I have worked with the different agencies for the short and long term projects.

I saw your website and i find out a lot of potential in your website but there are some technical issues that is the reason your website is not ranking on Google. i can help to boost your ranking on Google and get organic traffic on it ,and as well as it “be helpful for increasing the DA and DR of your website.

If you are interested so feel free to contact me for more details in my Email account.

(Note) I “ll Do free website audit and find out the errors on it.this offer is for a limited time period .If you want to get our services so contact me as soon as possible……thanks for your attention

(40K+ Subs)

(2K+ Sites)

(300,000+ Users)

Exclusive Insights

The 50 Best Book Blogs

Last updated: august 31, 2024 . updated every 24 hours ( learn more )..

Book Blogs Changelog

We pride ourselves on keeping the list updated and accurate.

September, 2023

Changed the URL for the Waterstones blog as it's hosted under a new directory

Fixed the link for The Uncorked Librarian as it now uses 'www'

Fixed the link for Nose in a Book as it no longer uses 'www'

Fixed the link to For Reading Addicts as it's now secure

This wasn't a standard list of blogs. This isn't your standard SEO newsletter.

Exclusive insights from tracking the rankings of 2,114 specifically-chosen websites. Learn more .

"Glen found a very sneaky technical SEO issue on our homepage. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes goes a long way."

"Glen's recommendations helped us improve crawl budget, remove deadweight pages and led to overall improvements in organic traffic to our key pages."

"I've been a practitioner of digital marketing for over a decade and I've learned more from Glen about SEO than anyone else."

CLAY COLLINS

What the...?

• Private SEO Audit 🔒
• SEO Extension (300K+ USERS)
• SEO Blog (40K+ SUBS)
• Behind the Scenes
• Algorithm Updates
• Top 50 (All Niches)

is our own fully fledged SEO framework and private community focused on taking search engine rankings to the next level.

SEO Blueprint is updated weekly (including now in 2024) and contains exclusive insights we don’t share in public.

Join members at companies like…

Kindlepreneur

Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors

Home / Book Marketing / Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs

Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs

Book reviews are one piece of the book marketing puzzle . An important piece that some authors find impossible. This article is designed to help you get those initial reviews to bring in and sales and, you guessed it, more reviews.

In this article, you will learn:

• Why book reviews matter
• How to get your book reviewed by blogs the right way
• What to look for in a good review blog
• The best book review blogs for your genre

Table of contents

• Verified purchase reviews
• Does Amazon put a lot of weight on verified reviews?
• The mentality of the Buyer
• Different Types of Book Review Blogs
• Professional Book Reviewers
• Easily Understand Amazon's Book Review Do's and Don'ts
• List of the Best Book Review Blogs by Genre
• 1. Guilty Pleasures Book Review
• 2. Jeri’s Book Attic
• 3. Kindle Book Review
• 4. Reads all the Books
• 5. Literary Titan
• 1. Jeri’s Book Attic
• 2. Guilty Pleasures Book Review
• 3. Fang-Freakin-taskic- Reviews
• 4. Early Bookish Birds
• 5. Kindle Book Review
• 6. Christian Book Reviews
• 7. Reads all the Books
• 2. Raven and Beez
• 3. FanGirl Confessions
• 4. Kindle Book Review
• 5. Christian Book Reviews
• 6. Reads all the Books
• 7. Jessica Map Reviews
• 8. Dream by Day
• 2. Kindle Book Review
• 3. Romancers Rehab
• 4. Totally Booked
• 2. Early Bookish Birds
• 4. Chapter in My Life
• 2. Fang-Freakin-taskic- Reviews
• 3. Raven and Beez
• 8. Jessica Map Reviews
• 9. Aces High Joker’s Wild
• 10. Cat Pollock Writes
• 5. Jessica Map Reviews
• 3. Reads all the Books
• 4. Jessica Map Reviews
• 1. Raven and Beez
• 2. Christian Book Reviews
• 4. Fictional Fates
• 7. Fictional Fates
• 1. FanGirl Confessions
• 4. Mundie Kids
• 2. FanGirl Confessions
• 3. Reading for Sanity
• 1. Christian Indie Book Reviews
• 2. Redeemed Reader
• 3. Mom of Wild Things
• 4. Dream by Day
• 1. Kindle Book Review
• 1. Rachel’s Reading
• Here are a few Instagram handles for you to check out:
• Book Review Blog Table
• The Right Way to Ask
• Digital Book:
• Paperbacks:
• How to Respond if They Say No or Don’t Respond:

Reviews and Amazon Ranking

You’ve probably noticed Amazon has two kinds of reviews. Some have a little “Verified” tag and some don’t. Amazon implemented the verified status to show the book was purchased from Amazon so people can’t just give their book to all their friends and get dishonest or biased reviews. Of course, readers who get the book as a prize or from signing up for your newsletter can still review it, but Amazon doesn’t give as much weight to those reviews in its algorithms. Which leads us to our next tidbit…

Yes, they do. Even if two books are selling at the same rate, a book with more positive verified reviews will rank higher than one with fewer reviews . You can still hit number one if you’re selling enough copies compared to the other books in your category , say during a promotion .

Which brings us the next piece of this crazy puzzle:

There’s no doubt the publishing world changed dramatically in the last ten years. With it changed the way readers find books and make purchasing decisions. According to this post from Written Word Media readers are most likely to buy a book if it has 30 or more reviews with an average rating greater than 3.5 stars on Amazon .

For this post, I created a survey for readers. I set out to see how much weight bibliophiles put on book reviews. I got several responses from people 60-years-old and older who don’t look at reviews at all. So if you’re targeting older readers, reviews may not be as important for the readers…but, they’re still important for the algorithms.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”If your readers are less than 60-years-old, reviews are a must to sell books! But how in the world do you get them? #amwriting” quote=”If your readers are less than 60-years-old, reviews are a must to sell books! But how in the world do you get them?”]

So beyond getting reviews from your email list , are there other ways authors can get more reviews?

Enter book review blogs…

There are two main types of book review blogs:

• Professional (aka Paid)
• Blogs (aka Free)

Professional reviews are ones that are paid for and cannot count toward Amazon’s ranking. You can put them in the editorial review section which can help if you don’t have any other reviews.

Kirkus – The Kirkus Review used to be the be-all end-all of editorial reviews. It carried a lot of weight in publishing. But more recently it seems they have lost their edge. Readers aren’t looking to editorial reviews as much as they once did.

IndieReader – Similar to Kirkus is  IndieReader , who focuses on indie authors. Both are expensive and don’t give you as much in return as they once did.

Are Professional Reviews Worth It?

That really depends. If you just get the professional book review, and then sit on it, or don't even promote it, then you can't expect it to have a positive return on investment. However, if you add it to your Editorial Review section of your book's sales page on Amazon correctly, or use it in your book marketing tactics , then you can absolutely have a positive effect.

Book Marketing Made Simple

Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market.  Help your book now

Blogs that Write about Books in Their Genre

Authors and readers have filled the web with book review blogs. These bloggers are dedicated to reading and spreading the word about the books they read. They will usually review your book in exchange for a copy while others buy the books they read.

As I mentioned earlier, verified reviews hold more weight on Amazon. However, non-verified reviews hold just as much weight to most readers, so don’t discount a blog that requires you to send them a copy. These people are not getting compensation for their reviews (that would be unethical and against Amazon’s terms of service) so giving them a copy allows them to read more books.

This is also why a lot of the blogs listed below have additional things on their site.

Watch Dave's video below that explains when and how you can give your book away in exchange for a review using direct language from Amazon's policy.

Now that you are clear on the Amazon book review rules, let's jump into those blogs that review books for authors.

Later on, I'll explain the right way to ask a blog owner to review your book.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Can't find a blog to review your book? You haven't seen this list…#amwriting” quote=”Can't find a blog to review your book? You haven't seen this list…”]

Some on review blogs this list are a little tricky to navigate, but I wanted to include a variety. Sadly, a lot of the really well laid out review blogs are overrun with requests and no longer accepting new ones.

When looking through this list of book review blogs, make sure to look for reviews with:

• books in your genre
• reviewers who give detailed feedback
• are accepting new review requests
• constructive feedback if they did not like a book

Note: The genre lists of book review blogs below are sorted by genre for your convenience. They are numbered in no particular order.

Use the Links Below to Jump to Review Blogs for Your Genre:

Paranormal / Urban Fantasy

Contemporary

Erotica / BDSM

Mystery / Thriller / Suspense

Sci-fi / Fantasy

Young Adult

Middle-Grade

Children's Books

Graphic Novels

Non-fiction

Bookstagrammers

Romance book review blogs:.

In no particular order, here are worthwhile blogs that review romance novels:

GPBR also has a lot going on for authors and reviews contemporary mainstream, erotic and dark romances, paranormal romances and romantic suspense. As well as reviews, GPBR also has opportunities for guest posting, author interviews, and an active Goodreads following.

While primarily a romance review blog on the surface, this website has a lot to offer. They review books in multiple genres and it has a lot of opportunities for authors. Including guest posting and author interviews. Check out the contact page for more information.

This site has so much for authors. They have reviews of course, but they also have book awards and readers choice specials. Because this is an entire team you’ll have to check out their “Get Reviewed” tab to see which reviewers are a fit for you and your book. Some genres only have one reviewer so those might have a slower turnaround. Keep that in mind as you make your request.

This blog is broken down into middle grade, young adult, and adult based on who the reviewer would recommend the book too.

Literary Titan is an organization of professional editors, writers, and professors that have a passion for the written word. Literary Titan reviews romance, and all of its sub-genres, as well as fantasy, mystery, horror, science fiction, memoirs and poetry. Literary Titan also conducts author interviews, and recognizes talented authors with their Literary Book Award where recipients are announced monthly.

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Book Review Blogs:

These blogs will review your paranormal or urban fantasy books:

This site is all about horror and the paranormal but if you have a strong romance plot sub or otherwise, I’d avoid these ladies. They are very clear about their preferences in their review policy. The genre’s they read include paranormal, urban fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, science fiction (limitedly), and epic fantasy.

Nada reads YA, NA romance, fantasy, thrillers. So if your book falls into one those categories this is the blog for you. With a search bar and a beautiful layout, this site is also an excellent place for your book.

This one is all about Christian books. That’s all they do. While Rachel might be a good fit if you have Christian themes or book on Christian living, CBR is the place for books where Christianity has a more prominent role.

Contemporary Book Review Blogs:

These blogs will do book reviews for contemporary books:

This two-woman show reviews books in the following genres fantasy, science-fiction (including steampunk and zombies), young adult, middle-grade, contemporary, dystopian, horror, and a HELL YES to graphic novels (of the mentioned genres).

This fangirl reads YA, NA & adult, fiction, contemporary, psychological thrillers, murder/mystery, graphic novels, and children's books. She’s also open to other genres so have a look at her blog and see if she might be a good fit.

Jessica accepts the following genres thrillers, mysteries, true crime, historical fiction, horror, general fiction, YA, and fantasy.

Samantha’s blog Dream by Day is a one-woman show. What sets her apart from others on this list is her love literary fiction. She also read mysteries and things but finding a reviewer who enjoys literary books was tough. She also has an Instagram where she shares book reviews giving you two opportunities. Her Insta following is small (for now) but as bookstagram grows in popularity so will this feed. She’s got the gorgeous photo thing down to a science.

Erotica / BDSM Book Review Blogs:

If your genre is erotica or BDSM, these book review blogs are worth checking out:

Romancer’s Rehab is a great little blog with a clear-cut rating system you can count on. Be sure to check this one out if you write erotica or other romance-related plots.

Totally booked only reads mobi files so that’s something to consider as you move forward. However, they share your review everywhere they are on the internet for maximum exposure. Definitely check them out.

Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Book Review Blogs:

For suspense, thriller and mystery book review blogs, these are your best bet:

Sharon is all about mysteries and crime. She’ll read crime fiction, true crime, thrillers/psychological thrillers, and mysteries (darker/noir). This dark themed blog goes right along with the books she reads. In her bio, Sharon mentions she’s in a few book clubs . Offering copies to the group might get more bang for your… time.

Need Help with Your Keywords?

Take my full featured video course on how to select the best keywords and categories for your book.

Sci-fi/Fantasy Book Review Blogs:

For all the sci-fi and fantasy authors, these are the book review blogs for you:

This site is all about horror and the paranormal but if you have a strong romance plot sub or otherwise, I’d avoid these ladies. The genre’s they read include paranormal, urban fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, science fiction (limitedly), and epic fantasy.

This is an incredibly fun themed site that I just had to include! If you write science/tech-heavy fiction, or spy/secret government related books, this one is for you. The reviews titled “Travel Documents” and posted like a secret file make this one a blast for readers and authors alike. If you’re interested in having your book reviewed by Aces, you’ll have to head over to their facebook page.

This is another author turning to book reviews to help her fellow authors. I love seeing authors reaching out to readers and offering up books they enjoyed. We can’t possibly write enough books for most readers so share the love and write reviews. This is also a science fiction based blog.

Horror Book Review Blogs:

Here are blogs that will review horror books:

Historical Book Review Blogs:

Here are your historical book review blogs:

Young Adult Book Review Blogs:

These websites will review YA books:

Joel of the Fictional Fates website is strictly a young adult and middle-grade reader. He enjoys books in the following genres: fantasy (high, urban & fairy tale retellings), historical fiction, science fiction (sci-fi), contemporary, action/adventure, dystopian, paranormal, and mystery/crime. Note: Joel doesn’t have an eReader yet! So he prefers physical copies.

Middle-Grade Book Review Blogs:

For middle-grade, these blogs will do reviews:

Children’s Book Review Blogs:

If you write children's books , here are websites that will do book reviews:

Mundie kids a great place for MG and Children’s book authors to get some exposure for their books. They are not accepting unsolicited reviews at this time but put it in your calendar to check back in a month or so.

5. Realm of Books

Realm of Books is a great review site for middle-grade and children's book authors. It contains a relatively large volume of detailed, engaging reviews across a variety of genres, and they do accept requests for reviews.

Graphic Novel Review Blogs:

For graphic novels, here are your book review blogs:

Reading for sanity has multiple reviewers and accepts a variety of genres including graphic novels.

Christian Book Review Blogs:

These book review blogs will review Christian books:

This one is all about Christian books. That’s all they do. While Rachel might be a good fit if you have Christian themes or book on Christian living, CIBR is the place for books where Christianity has a more prominent role.

Another great blog that accepts Christian books. They suggest your book be accessible by local libraries so if you’re on Amazon only this may not be the blog for you. If you are on Kobo or Overdrive the library can order your ebook on request.

This blog has expanded from its original book focus to one that encompeses more family and parenting. However, Bethany’s love of reading still shines through and could be a happy home for both children’s books and adult fiction.

Dream by day is a great blog browse the reviews to see if your title would be a good fit. She enjoys a wide variety of books including christian titles and also offers author interviews.

Non-fiction Book Review Blogs:

These non-fiction book review blogs are worth checking out:

Memoir Review Blogs:

Finally, if you wrote a memoir and need reviews, here are book review blogs for you:

Rachel accepts young adult (All Genre), biography, true crime, memoirs, Christian living, non-Fiction (especially if it’s about cults), middle grade, adult fiction, thriller/mystery, comics, graphic novels, history, travel, and feminist literature.

I couldn’t write this post without making a note about bookstagramers. Instagram is a unique social media platform , but one not to be dismissed by authors. The hashtag on Instagram (#bookstagram) is an amazing place to find book reviews and reviewers that are engaged with readers. Most of these blogs had no comments. And I couldn’t find ones that did. I settled for active with more than 1k followers (if they listed their followers) and blogs that were accepting review requests.

With bookstagram you would be sending a physical copy of the book (most of the time) so they can photograph it for their feed and if all goes well you can offer to do a giveaway. They host it on their page and select a winner and you send out a book. (again keep in mind media mail and international shipping costs). The buzz around the give away will help your sales and the Instagrammer can grow their following. It’s that win/win I was talking about.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Want to prove you're still young and hip? Bust out #Bookstagram in your next conversation ” quote=”Want to prove you're still young and hip? Bust out #Bookstagram in your next conversation “]

@ Jennyblogsbooks

@ cakefacerreader

@ inquisitivebookworm

@ 9racereads

For even more book review blogs, please check out the table below. And if you know of any blogs that are missing, please reach out!

How to Get Your Book Reviewed by a Blog

Once you’ve found a book review blog that’s a good fit, you need to dig a little deeper. The first thing you need to check is whether or not they are accepting review requests.

If you want to stand out among the other review requests these bloggers get, look for a way to help them. If someone says “Please review my book” and someone else says “Please review my book, and I’d like to write a guest post for your site” which one do you think will get a yes? The second. If you write a post, that frees up a week of this bloggers time, you’ll be ahead of the game. They might not accept guest posts, so just be looking for a win-win opportunity as you do your research. If you’re website savvy you might offer to help them fix a glitch. Or you could feature their site in your newsletter. Put yourself in their shoes and try to be helpful.

How to Respond if They Say Yes:

If they say yes, you’ll most likely need to send them a copy of your book .

Most reviewers accept ebooks, but some don’t. Make sure you find out before you ask for the review.

Please use some kind of third-party to deliver ebooks. As a reviewer, I’ve received PDF copies of books and they are a pain to get on a Kindle or iPhone. You can also choose to enact DRM on your books, which will help with ARC’s especially.

• BookFunnel – Bookfunnel is an amazing tool to help distribute your books. For $20 dollars a year you can have one pen name , 500 downloads a month, and store 5 books. This is great for beginners. If you want to step it up a notch and use Bookfunnel for collecting email subscribers as well, you can do so for $100 a year.
• Instafreebie – Instafreebie (now Prolific Works) is another option for delivering your book to bloggers. Their free version might be a good option for those just starting out.
• StoryOrigin – When you use StoryOrigin, not only do you join a community of other authors, you basically have all the not-so-fun back end of things taken care of by using them. They help you build your email list, find reviewers, deliver lead magnets and more. Be sure to check them out!

Some reviewers require paperbacks. Bookstagrammers (book bloggers on Instagram covered later) need the physical copy for their pictures and others just prefer the physical book. Whatever the reason, be prepared for this. If you don’t want to send out paperbacks, look for how the book should be delivered in the “Review Policy” section of the blog. Most reviewers who want paperbacks will tell you right there.

NOTE: When mailing paperbacks to reviewers, select media mail at the post office. It’ll save you some money. Also, mailing things internationally is expensive. Keep that in mind when researching reviewers.

• NetGalley – If you are traditionally publishing and have not signed a contract yet, ask them to add at least 100 galley copies to the contract. These will be digital copies of the book you can send to reviewers through NetGalley. If you’re not traditionally published you can still use NetGalley, but you won’t have to worry about a limit on how many you’re allowed to give away.

Move on. Do not respond negatively. If they respond with no, thank them for their time and move on. If they don’t respond you can send one follow-up (unless noted otherwise on their site) then move on. Don’t waste time being upset.

The bottom line here is you need reviews. Amazon rankings and reader buying decisions are affected by them. But don’t freak out about negative reviews. Remember your book isn’t for everyone and when people leave a review saying why they didn’t like it, it will help your ideal readers find you and keep others who would leave negative reviews way.

So do your research, plan your ask, find a win/win, and get your book into the hands of the right readers to get more book reviews .

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Related Posts

How to write a book description that captivates readers (and sell books), how to change your kindle keywords and why you should, how to become an organized author, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

20 thoughts on “ Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs ”

Great info! Thank you. I just published my first book and did not see Self-Help/Relationships as a genre. Who could I contact?

For book review blogs…hmm..I’m not sure.

Comments are closed.

Join the community

Join 111,585 other authors who receive weekly emails from us to help them make more money selling books.

A Literary Escape

A Book Review Blog

ARC Review: This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher

Today’s review is about THIS WILL BE FUN by E.B. Asher. Three of the realm’s heroes reunite after a decade apart. Forced together, the trio and a former assassin for hire bicker and banter their way into a group therapy session and another quest.

Author: E.B. Asher Series: None Age Category: Adult Publisher: Avon Books Publish Date: October 29, 2024 Print Length: 416

Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of  This Will Be Fun  on  Bookshop.org !*

*These are not affiliate links and I do not make a commission from any purchase made using these links.

Last 10 Book Tag

I saw this Last 10 Book Tag on Janette’s and Ashlee’s blogs a couple weeks ago. The Last 10 books tag was created by  Marc Nash  on BookTube. I thought it looked simple enough and fun to do, so I decided to join in. For your convenience, I listed the questions only at the end of this post in case anyone wants to partake.

September 2024 TBR

The last few months I focused on reading from my own stack of physical books. As a result, I haven’t made much progress on any ARCs I received recently. So my September 2024 TBR prioritizes ARCs this time around with everything else categorized as hopeful reads. I had a nice break from ARCs, but it’s time to get back into it with my September 2024 TBR. I know myself, though, so I probably will read some non-ARCs. It’s all about balance.

August 2024 Book Blog Wrap-Up

I had to write this August 2024 Book Blog Wrap-Up a little earlier than usual since I’m in Maine. I decided to leave my laptop behind and travel light. It’s an annual tradition of my husband’s family and I always enjoy the fresh air and Maine-caught lobsters. So this post is mostly accurate with regards to stats and books completed this month. I hope everyone in the U.S. has a good Labor Day Weekend!

On My Radar: August 2024

Good morning, everyone! You know what it means when I have an August 2024 On My Radar post…the end of the month is here! I rounded up a nice number of reviews, but didn’t come across many discussion posts. So if you wrote one and I missed it, feel free to comment with a link to it. Happy blog hopping!

• ARC REVIEW: Eddie Winston is Looking for Love or the Sweetest, Cutest Book of All! by Susy at Susy’s Cozy World
• Book Review: Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling by Julie at One Book More
• Book Review: The Enchanted Lies of Celeste Artois by Ryan Graudin by Jodie at Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub
• Book Review The Maid And The Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko by Books With Dan Sam End
• Blog Tour Review: 1000 Tudor People by Melita Thomas by Danni at For Books Sake
• Book Review: Breath of the Dragon by Kate at Blogging With Dragons
• ARC Review: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle by Rachael at Tea Rex Reads
• The Reanimator’s Heart by Kara Jorgenson – Review | Blog Tour by Debjani at Debjani’s Thoughts
• Book Review | THE FASCINATION by Essie Fox by Louize at The Page Walker
• Daughter of the Merciful Deep, by Leslye Penelope by Jamedi at Jam Reads
• The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec by Briana at Pages Unbound
• The Girl with No Reflection – ARC Review by Chris at Biblio Nerd Reflections
• A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL by T. Kingfisher – Review by Tammy at Books, Bones & Buffy
• I read Fourth Wing… and I liked it by Ellie at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
• Blind Listening: When Aphantasia Meets Audiobooks by Laure at Reading Delicacies
• Requiem for The Acolyte: Mourning the Best Star Wars Story Since George Lucas by Michael at My Comic Relief

Bookish Miscellany

• BBNYA 2024 – Books I’ve Added to My TBR from Round One by Chris at Biblio Nerd Reflections
• Book Tag: The Fantasy Tropes Book Tag! by Leslie at Books are the New Black
• Last 10 Books Tag by Janette at Wicked Witch’s Blog
• Accepted SFINCS2 Submissions
• Game Night Book Tag by Jodie at Wicked & Sarcastic Bookclub

13 Fresh Review Formats for Your Book Blog

Reviews are an important part of any book blog. In the past we’ve shared advice on writing reviews , writing critical reviews , and writing audiobook reviews —now we want to look at creative ways to showcase those reviews on your blog so that you can strike the perfect balance of keeping your content fresh and engaging while continuing to share your insights on what you’re reading. Don’t forget to include the link to your review (on your blog) when you submit your Feedback in NetGalley!

Go classic You can’t go wrong with a traditional review template. For this kind of post, you’ll be speaking at length about a single book. This format is best served for books that you have a lot of thoughts on that you’d like to explore such as the books’ themes, writing style, character development, and more.

Bite-sized reviews Bite-sized reviews are an excellent way to concisely sum up your thoughts about a book in only a few sentences. This format allows you to share multiple reviews in a single blog post, and is easy to share on platforms like X and Instagram. Pro tip: Your bite-sized review can be sentences pulled directly from your NetGalley review!

Last five NetGalley approvals If you’re looking to accomplish #NetGalleyGoals this year, this is a surefire way to do it.  For this post, read and review the last five books you’ve been approved for on NetGalley. You’ll grow your Feedback Ratio, tackle your NetGalley Shelf, and serve up blog content all at once with this format!

Thematic connection Connecting books by a theme in a review roundup is a fun angle for your readers, and offers you a lot of freedom in which books you select. For example, you could pick a subgenre, a trope, or character archetype to focus on. Keeping it general opens you up to a lot of options, but going hyperspecific (such as historical fiction set during World War II with bookseller or librarian protagonists) provides a great hook!

Author spotlight For this post, review two or more books by the same author! By pairing a new release with an older work (or even their debut) you can see the ways an author has changed and spot trademarks of their style. Looking at an author’s evolution can also give you more insight into discussing their craft in their latest work.

Frontlist backlist mashup If your monthly TBR pile is a mix of upcoming new releases on NetGalley and backlist titles, consider pairing them together in review posts! You can compare books from the same genre, that use the same tropes, or even by the same author. For example, reviewing a new mystery novel alongside a backlist title, such as In the Woods by Tana French, allows you to review both books and also think about ways the genre has changed or evolved over the last few years.

Adaptation Pair your latest read with its movie or tv adaptation for a cinematic twist on the typical review post! Start with a review of the book, a short review of its adaptation, and then include a section comparing the two and how you felt the adaptation did at capturing the story and characters.

Expectation vs reality Before you start a book, jot down your expectations based on the cover, summary, and what you’ve heard. When you’ve finished, compare your experience to what you originally thought. This offers you a chance to review a book as well as take a closer look at your expectations as a reader and how they impact your reading experiences.

Let a friend pick your books Feeling like you’re in a reading rut? Invite a friend to pick your next TBR to add some excitement to your reading! They might pick their favorite books for you to read, or you can have them pick books from your NetGalley Shelf. You could even make the blog post a collaboration rounding up why they picked each book and your reviews on them.

Monthly wrap-up A monthly wrap-up offers the chance to give an overview of what you read in any given month. Slower reading months offer you more space to discuss each book, and for months where you read a massive stack of books, you can use the bite-size review format to keep each review short and snappy.

Sequels and series Raise your hand if your TBR pile is largely made up of series you intended to finish but haven’t gotten around to yet. For this review format, you can either finish reading all of the books in one particular series or use the post to round up reviews of the next book in multiple series!

Narrator spotlight Have you ever found an audiobook narrator that you love and can’t get enough of? Create a blog post where you review multiple audiobooks all narrated by the same voice actor. This could be especially exciting with a narrator who covers different genres, to give you a taste of how they approach each one.

Star rating Share your rave reviews all together with review roundups featuring your last four or five-star reads! You’ll get to showcase some of your new favorite reads, and your followers will certainly find books to add to their own TBRs.

Find more NetGalley and social media tips here!

Living a bookish lifestyle.

We’re with the Banned: Bookish Gifts for Banned Books Week

Bookish Gifts to Celebrate Autumn Reading

Get Crafty with These Bookish Gifts

How to Plan a Reading Retreat

19 Bookstagram Props You’ll Want for Your Next Photoshoot

The Different Ways to Access Books on NetGalley

24 Must-Have E-Reader Accessories

How to Review Books Across Different Platforms

Bookish Gifts to Celebrate the Start of Spring

Bookish Gifts Based on Your Zodiac Sign

Kelly Gallucci

Kelly Gallucci is the Executive Editor of We Are Bookish, where she oversees the editorial content, offers book recommendations, and interviews authors and NetGalley members. When she's not working, Kelly can be found color coordinating her bookshelves, eating Chipotle, and watching way too many baking shows.

Loved these suggestions, keep em coming

This is such a fun post! Thank you for all the ideas about how to approach writing a review. I’m an avid reader but an infrequent reviewer. I think having a focus to how I might approach doing a review or series of reviews could help keep me on track and be a fun challenge.

Very useful. I don’t have a blog but these tips will still help with IG posts.

Thank you for the tips. I generally stick to the classic format and have recently started the monthly wrap up. I think I’ll start to incorporate the 4-5 star review wrap up, too.

Thank you very much for some great advice and ideas. Much appreciated!

Thank you for these tips! Many I was already thinking about, but found some new ideas, too! These will really help me to step up my game! ????

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Please enter an answer in digits: 19 + 13 =

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter for book recs, interviews, and favorites from our editor.

the wordy habitat

book recommendations, blogging tips, & asian dramas

11 Ways to Format Book Reviews for Your Blog || A Guide for Book Bloggers

There are several ways to format book reviews and hence it can be hard to pick one. Especially when you're in a blogging slump or don't know how to begin the review.

At such times, seeing other reviews for inspiration or options helps . It can give you an idea of how you want your book review to look and inspire you to start writing it.

This guide will help you write great reviews by listing out ideas, providing examples and inspiration—all in one place. We book bloggers need some help from time to time.

I was actually looking for a guide with book review formats to help with my indecision. When I googled variations of this title, I did not find any posts! So here I am, writing this guide, instead of writing the review that I've been procrastinating on for months 🙂

how to write a book review for your blog

Basic book review layouts, 11. book reviews with annotations, additional elements to level up your reviews, book review checklist.

Yes, this post is about formats but it is good to start with the basics.

The first rule of writing book reviews on your blog is to throw away all the rules that you were taught.

Reviewing books on blogs is very different from what we are taught in school. I definitely don't review the way I was taught. It is because that format is the standard for newspapers. Good formatting is very different for blogs.

Blogs are an entirely different domain with different features and requirements. You can do so much more with reviews on your blog.

Don't worry about going unconventional or trying a new review format. Those are fun . Don't think about sticking to the professional style as well. Shout in your reviews, if you want to! Use all caps, bold, GIFs, images—whatever you like.

It is YOUR blog. The only rules in place are the ones made by you. Instead of seeing how to write reviews that others will read, just write what you want to say. And choose a review format that fits what you want to say.

There are three basic parts in every review— introduction, basic information on the book, and your review.

The introduction is a few lines where you can say how you came across the book, why you picked it up, and a line on whether it surprised you or not. Or, it can be a short catchphrase to hook in readers. For example, "this book blew me away. I was not ready when I picked it up."

Basic information on the book can include title, author name, genre, category, blurb, publisher etc. You can also mention how you acquired it (bought/review copy).

The review part is where you explain your opinions and discuss the book. The 10 review formats that I'll mention soon is for this section.

There are three popular and basic layouts. Most people choose one and stick to it throughout their blog, but you can switch it up if you like.

• The book's information first, introduction, then review body. This is an easy format that a ton of book bloggers go for. Example: Dedra's review of Float Plan .
• Introduction, the book's information, and then review body. This is another fun way because you can give an introduction first without dealing with the blurb etc. Example: my review of The Right Swipe .
• Introduction, review body, and information on the book at the last. Use this when you want your words to be the highlight and stick the basic info at the end, in case people want to see it. Example: Kat's review of Game Changer .

You can skip the basic book info if you want but you'll have to give a brief on the book's plot yourself.

book review format ideas

Now onto the main part of the post. All the suggestions in this post are standard formats that you can take and apply to your reviews easily if your thoughts fit the format.

These ideas are for book reviews as individual blog posts but you can modify them for mini-reviews and social media reviews.

Note : I am NOT mentioning reviews that are free-flowing thoughts because those reviews don't involve a standard format across and are more specific to books and thoughts.

1. divide your review into basic categories

This is the most popular and easy method of formatting reviews. Choose categories and explain your views below the subheadings.

Basic categories are ones that everyone recognizes. For example plot, characters, writing style, and representation. The categories can change based on the genre. Romance books can have "romance" and "chemistry". Fantasy books can have "world-building". Mystery or thriller books can have "suspense".

Example reviews: Erin's review of Fable duology , my review of Drag Me Up

2. CAWPILE rating + review system

This is a rating system devised by Book Roast which makes your decision process easier when rating books. It is a categorized system that is standard across genres so you always have set categories to consider.

It can also extend into a reviewing format as you can mention your individual rating and explain why you gave that rating.

The categories and more are explained by the creator in this video .

3. divide into "liked" and "disliked" sections

This format is good if you have clear opinions on what you liked and didn't like. It is not good when you have conflicting thoughts about something.

Additionally, you can also have "liked", "it was okay", and "didn't like" sections .

Another way to phrase this would be "enjoyed" and "didn't enjoy."

Note that this review format is highly subjective so it is good for book reviews where you don't want to talk from a neutral perspective and want to only share your experiences and opinions.

Example: Marie's review of Crier's War

4. divide into pros and cons sections

This is similar to the above review format but it is suitable for more neutral reviews i.e. reviews where you're stating facts like "this exists" which is generally a pro or a con like diversity, plot tropes etc.

To give you an idea, a pro for me is friends-to-lovers romance and con would be a bad/unnecessary third act break up in romance books.

Example reviews: Shealea's review of The Bone Shard Daughter

5. review using book-specific subheadings

Instead of using the basic categories, you can use custom and specific categories for the book. The categories can be "a great character arc", "disappointing ending", "brilliant chemistry" etc.

How to go about writing this review : note down the biggest things you want to talk about like "well-rounded characters", "contradicting plotlines", "plot holes" etc. Make these your subheadings and expand upon each of the points under them.

This does require a little bit of planning before starting the review. But it is a great format if you can't go into a review without a plan.

Examples: Avalinah's review of Skyhunter

6. list reasons why others should read the book

This is a great review format for books that you loved and want people to read. The title is catchy as well, so people are more likely to read your review.

The reasons can act as subheadings and you can expand on the point below the heading.

This also requires planning beforehand about the reasons you want to list. Make some notes with what you liked about the book, see if they can fit into "reasons", make a list of the reasons, and then start writing the review.

Examples: my review of The Henna Wars

7. reviews with discussions

This format is good for book reviews where the book includes a topic that you're very passionate about or you have a lot to say about the topic which is tangentially related to the book . Sometimes the posts may be more discussion than a review of the book, but it's okay! Many times, discussion posts do better than reviews so this would be hitting both categories.

These posts are rarer (from what I've seen, probably because they involve a lot of effort and opinions) but are very interesting to read. They include discussions, rants, and raves along with thoughts on the book. It's a great way to convince people to read a book you love or completely mark off a book you didn't like.

Examples: Anukriti's review of Loveless with a discussion on representation and college life , my review of Fahrenheit 451 discussing books along with annotations

8. "thoughts while reading" reviews

These are almost like vlogs. You take the reader with you on your experience of reading the book. This is a fun way to review books if you want to showcase your feelings/thoughts, especially if the book has a lot of plot twists or invoked a ton of feelings in you. You can annotate when reading or make notes elsewhere and use it for this review.

This would be very fun with spoiler-filled reviews. Doing it spoiler-free would be a bit of a challenge.

Examples: Isabella's review of We Free The Stars , Riza's review of This is How You Lose The Time War

9. spoiler-free and spoiler-filled sections

This is for when you NEED to talk at length about parts in the book that are spoilers but also want to pitch the book to new readers.

Having spoiler-free and spoilers-aplenty sections is very fun. I almost always do it with my Kdrama reviews , and it can be done with book reviews too!

Example reviews: my review of This Is How You Lose the Time War , Mehek's review of Tiny Pretty Things

10. free-flowing thoughts that are loosely categorized

This is a very popular, and sometimes easy, reviewing style. It can make the reader feel like they are having a casual conversation with you as the entire review flows together.

At the same time, there are clearly sections in the review which makes it easier for you to write and for the reader to follow. This format is good whether you plan it beforehand or not. It allows both.

In order to subtly separate the sections of your review where you talk about different topics, you can use quotes as a divider . Quotes that match your points will fit in very well. Some bloggers use their custom post-dividers for this as well.

Note: try to highlight important parts of your review so that it is easier to skim. Yes, we'd love our readers to read every word but sometimes life is just too busy and highlights help.

Examples: my review of American Betiya , Minna's review of The Poppy War

If you annotate your books, you HAVE to try writing reviews with pictures of your annotations. This way, you can share what resonated with you the most as well. Annotating books is very fun and I assure you that people will want to know how you annotate and your annotation process for every book. It doesn't get boring.

Examples: my review of Fahrenheit 451 , Cosette's "annotate with me" post on Babel

Book reviews can be much more than just talking about the book. You can spice it up by including elements that can help the reader know more about the book. These are some suggestions that come to my mind but there are innumerable ideas that you can implement.

content and/or trigger warnings

I'm putting this under additional elements that you can add, but you SHOULD add them . Content and trigger warnings are NOT interchangeable. They mean different things. But you can use "content warnings" as a blanket term for both of them.

Just mention warnings somewhere in your reviews (I generally put them along with basic info) so that readers can be aware of any topics they may want to avoid.

Read this post by Marie to understand more on why you should include warnings.

"let's chat" section at the end

It can be termed "let's chat", "talk to me", "shout your opinions", or whatever else. You can include a section at the end with some questions for the readers. Basically, a call to action.

Book reviews are hard to comment on unless the reader has either read the book or connected to a topic in the book. You can make it easier for them to comment by adding questions to prompt them.

They can be general or specific questions relating to the book. Do include at least one general question as that would be easier to reply to.

your own short version of the blurb

Many bloggers include a few lines on the plot themselves even after including the basic information in order to explain more about the book. This is a grey area because sometimes it is redundant.

If you include the book's blurb in your review, and it explains everything, don't add another version of your own. Only do it if the official blurb is inadequate* or if you are not including the official blurb at all.

*I've seen this happen a lot with romance books which was why I used to write my own blurb. Some books have blurbs like "he is bad for me, yet I wanted him. But I can't have him." It's SO ANNOYING. Many times the book is actually good but the blurbs suck!

diversity/representation overview

Like content and trigger warnings, you can have a small section to mention the various representations present in the book. By representation, I mean factors like disability, mental illness, Asian-American characters, sapphic love etc.

This can be a helpful section if readers are looking for books with specific factors for readathons or challenges . Other times it just signals how diverse the book is.

Example: Gargee's review of American Betiya

custom ratings and rating images

First of all, I believe ratings themselves are optional. I don't use ratings on my book reviews anymore because they are not sufficient to indicate all that I want to say.

If you do include ratings, you can level them up by using images that relate to your blog theme like Leelyn .

You can also use a modified rating system like Shealea or completely switch it up to a system of your own.

links to Own Voices reviews

There is a ton of discussion on using the term "Own Voices" because experiences and views can be wildly different. Not all Indians would relate to my story and vice-versa. The publishing industry has also started to misuse the term which has caused many to stop using the term at all.

Read this post by Camillea to know more about the term "Own Voices" and what "Own Voices review" means.

In the end, I still think the term has its merits when it comes to reviewing. Especially because only Own Voices reviewers can properly point out accurate and problematic representations.

If you're reviewing a book that represents a marginalized group for which you are NOT an Own Voice reviewer, consider linking to Own Voices reviews. They might bring up important points that you would not have noticed.

For example, I quoted and linked Own Voices reviews in my review of Children of Blood and Bone . I simply didn't like the book and noticed some concerns raised when going through other negative reviews so I linked them in my review.

recommended if/avoid if

This is a cool way to end reviews. Readers can quickly make decisions about whether to pick up the book or not based on general tropes and factors.

mood boards/aesthetics

I've seen some bloggers do this and it is so fun to see! Mood boards and aesthetics can be images or collages that depict the book's setting or the characters.

For example, you can look at Cielo's review of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Lila's review of Raybearer .

a quotes section

If you don't like adding a few quotes in the middle of the review, or simply have too many that you want to share, you can add a quotes section at the end and share your highlights.

These quotes can sometimes be enough to convince readers to understand the writing style and get hooked on the book.

For example, my review of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone .

When writing book reviews, we can be very focused on putting down our thoughts and might forget to include all the required elements in the review. To help, I've created a handy checklist of elements you should have in every book review to refer to before hitting publish.

If you are already a part of the inner circle, you can directly access the checklist in the resource library . If you're not, you can get instant access by signing up below!

There is no right or wrong way to write a book review , especially on YOUR blog. The mentioned ways to format book reviews for your blog are just my opinions and suggestions. At the end of the day, you write your reviews and you should do it the way you like best.

You also don't have to stick to a format throughout your blog. Sure, it creates a brand, especially if it is a unique reviewing format (like what Kat @ Novels and Waffles uses with on-brand terms like "ingredients", "kitchen of the author", and "cooking directions"). But sometimes, you need the flexibility to choose formats based on the books. Allow yourself to experiment and try out new things.

This is also not an exhaustive list of ways to format book reviews. There are so many unique styles and many more generic formats. These are the ones that are easy to pick up and apply to your reviews if you're stuck.

Related post: How to Make Your Blog Posts More Readable

chat with me!

Are you a book blogger? Do you use any of the review formats that I've mentioned in this post? Do you use any additional elements in your reviews?

What are your favourite kinds of reviews to read? Have I missed any easy review format? If so, do mention it in the comments and I'll mention your comment in the post!

Also, is there any blogger whose reviews you love to read because of their reviewing style or format? Give them a shoutout in the comments so the rest of us can admire them too!

Sumedha spends her days reading books, bingeing Kdramas, drawing illustrations, and blogging while listening to Lo-Fi music. Read more ➔

you may also like

• BlueHost Review || Pricing, Support, & My Experience
• 20 Blog Statistics to Keep Track Of + Free Blog Statistics Tracker Template
• 13 Blogging Tools That Help Me Blog Better
• 20 Monthly Wrap-Up Ideas For Your Blog + Bonus Tips

Be wordy with me! Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

98 comments

Thank you! This was very helpful!

glad to help!

Great post! This will be handy for me to start structuring my blog posts!

Thank you for this article. I have a book blog and am working on smoothing out my posts. This was very helpful to me.

Glad you found it helpful!

readers are loving these!

Support the habitat, join the inner circle.

for exclusive curated content & access to the resource library

some more amazing blogs

Bookishly Ruby Drizzle & Hurricane Books Melina Elisa Books Teacup and Reviews First Line Reader

Find book review blogs, vlogs, and bookstagrams to promote your book

Reach the most popular book blogs

The book blog sites listed in our directory are vetted for quality: they are active, have clear review policies, and usually have a good following on social media. In fact, the ~1000 book blogs in our catalog have a cumulative following of over 1,000,000 readers . The most popular book review sites in our catalog have between 10,000 and 70,000 followers.

Many of these sites not only review books but also accept guest posts, do cover reveals, and participate in blog tours. While the top book blogs tend be YA book review blogs and romance book review blogs , we also feature less common genres like travel book review blogs , business book review blogs , comic book blogs , and paranormal book blogs .

Increase your response rates

Book promotion blogs are in demand because they provide a valuable service: free book reviews and book promotion. We surveyed ~500 book bloggers and learned that ~25% of book pitches they receive don ' t match their preferences. Some bloggers reported as high as 50%! Not only are book bloggers often getting irrelevant requests, but they are also busy. Book blogging is their spare-time hobby, not their job.

We have curated a large book blogger list so you have the necessary information at your fingertips to craft a personalized and relevant book pitch to book bloggers. These bloggers have opted-in to be in our directory , so they are expecting your email.

Here are some tips to optimize your response rates:

• Address them by their first name. Bonus points if you also peruse their blog and find something in common to break the ice.
• Mention how your book ' s genre fits into their reading preferences. For example, don ' t send your mystery novel to horror book review blogs . Send it to mystery book review blogs instead.
• Provide them a format of your book that they will actually read.

Expedite your reviewer outreach...

• Save time and let us handle the busy work of distributing your book to reviewers and following up.
• Promote your book to bloggers you see here plus thousands more readers who enjoy writing reviews.
• See more honest reviews appear on Amazon / Goodreads while you spend your time writing!

Save time with smart filters

Looking for the top YA book blogs ? Or perhaps you want to connect with Christian book bloggers ? Maybe you want to restrict your search to the best book blogs in the UK? We have you covered. You can start by searching our book blogger directory by genre to see the book blogs which review books in the genre you searched for.

You can further narrow down the search results based on whether the blog is currently open to review requests, is a free book review site, is an ebook blog, is open to self-published authors, and cross posts their book review on Amazon and Goodreads. Best of all, we keep every site ' s preferences up to date, so you can be confident that you are not missing out on potential leads.

We surveyed ~100 indie authors and publicists and learned that the average indie author spends between 6-24 hrs contacting book reviewers to review their book. Our search tool will reduce your time investment considerably, so you can win back your time and do what you do best — write! And best of all, it is free :)

What authors are saying...

Search our book reviewers list for free and find the most influential book reviewers for your book.

10 Steps To Start Your Book Review Blog (in 2024)

Starting a book blog takes a lot of work, but it’s ultimately worth it. Reviewing books is fun as a hobby, but it will also feel much more meaningful when you share your insights and experiences with the world. But how do you even approach creating a book review blog? Here are ten actionable steps that will help you set it up quickly and effortlessly!

10 Steps To Start a Book Review Blog:

1. get inspiration from other bookish bloggers, 2. define your goals and prepare for the long haul.

Before you begin your book blogging journey, set specific, measurable goals. Think about the reasons you want to start a blog: do you want to do it for fun, as a creative escape, or do you want to monetize your blog and turn it into a side hustle? Maybe you want both? Figuring out your goals before you get started will help keep you on track as you build your blog and publish your first articles. It’ll help guide you through the process and bring decisions that are in tune with your goals and purpose. Finally, your pre-defined goals will help you determine where you are on your journey and help you adjust along the way.

Here are a few questions to consider:

Answers to these questions will help you stay on track and don’t give up when the going gets tough.

3. Establish Your Favorite Content Format

4. read, write, sleep, repeat.

Creating content for a book review blog takes more time and effort than most other blogging niches do. There’s a simple reason for that – you need to spend a long time reading the book first. Sure, bloggers of all niches do research before writing too, but it’s not typically several hundred pages long. The point is – preparing and writing each book review article takes a long time and a lot of effort, so it’s a good idea to have some content prepared in advance when you launch your blog. As a book blogger, your content will probably contain book reviews, but also discussions, book tags, interviews with authors, and much more. Figure out what you want your schedule to be like, how often you want to publish, and if you want to make a repeating post-type rotation. Try to prepare at least three weeks’ worth of content to avoid feeling burnt out once you launch your blog. Chances are you’ll have a lot of work setting up your website , so you might not have enough time to create content when your blog goes live.

5. Set Up Your Blog

Platform (cms):.

First things first, figure out which platform, otherwise known as the CMS (content management system) you want to use for your blog. The platform will keep your blog running, provide you with statistics, and give you control over your content. Two of the most common platforms that freelance writers and bloggers use today are WordPress and Blogger . I use WordPress because it’s a free, open-source system that powers as much as 30% of the web. Your blog will require a bit of hands-on work to set up the CMS. Luckily, most web hosting services also provide a simple way to import CMS.

Web Design:

Web hosting:, 6. find your (domain) name.

Picking a name for your blog is a huge step, which can also be surprisingly hard. Your blog’s name should also appear in its domain name (the address of your site). So, your next step is to register a domain name. The internet is huge, and a huge number of websites already exist. That means that you may come across a problem – your desired domain name may already be taken. That’s why you should come prepared, and try out a couple of options. If it doesn’t work out, you may get in touch with the current owner of your preferred domain name and buy it from them. You may get a domain name directly from Siteground , or use a specialized service like GoDaddy or Google Domains .

7. Introduce Yourself

8. set up your review policy.

At one point, as your blog grows, you’re likely to get requests. Your audience, publishers, and even book authors themselves may get in touch with you requesting books to discuss next. To help your future self out, decide what is and what isn’t worth your time and effort. It’s worthwhile to set up a review policy in advance. Your review policy can include anything you feel is relevant. For example, think about what kinds of posts you will consider, what genres you want to cover, and whether you want to post negative reviews too. Then, figure out if you only want to post on your blog , or other websites too like Goodreads or Amazon. If publishers offer you the book in exchange for a review, which formats do you accept – print only, or PDFs too?

9. Organize Your Archives

When I find an interesting book review blog, I always want to browse through the books they reviewed, interested to see what the author says about my favorite titles. That’s why I, and other book review readers, always appreciate an easy-to-access blog post archive.

10. Be Social and Get in Touch With Other Bloggers

Once you’re all set up and start publishing content on your new book review website, it’s time to help spread the word. The particular way you choose to advertise your blog doesn’t matter much – the goal is simply to help your blog reach the people who would love to read content like yours. You can market your blog by interacting with other book bloggers (leaving meaningful comments on their content or following each other on social media). Another way to advertise your blog is through social media, and I especially recommend posting your reviews on Goodreads with a link leading to your site.

Closing words

Rafal reyzer.

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I'm a full-time entrepreneur building two companies, a digital marketer, and a content creator with 10+ years of experience. I started RafalReyzer.com to provide you with great tools and strategies you can use to become a proficient digital marketer and achieve freedom through online creativity. My site is a one-stop shop for digital marketers, and content enthusiasts who want to be independent, earn more money, and create beautiful things. Explore my journey here , and don't miss out on my AI Marketing Mastery online course.

Book Blogging 101: How to Write A Book Review

Book blogging is getting more and more popular with the community expanding fast and is welcome to anyone willing to join. There are blogs out there for any topic so it makes sense that the large number of reading and book enthusiasts out there would create their own little blogging community.

If you’ve been thinking of starting your own book blog, we highly encourage you to! Reading other people’s opinions and starting up a discussion on a book is a great way to interact with other readers online and at The Nerd Daily, we believe that book reviews are one of the essential types of posts most, if not all, book blogs have on their platforms.

Writing a book review can be tricky. Sometimes you feel an itch after you read a book that you need to discuss it and sometimes you’ve enjoyed or not enjoyed it and absently don’t think about it ever again. Reviewing isn’t for everybody and isn’t for every book. It is largely based on what the individual wants to share in their review to express their opinions on the book.

As a writer for The Nerd Daily and a book blogger on my personal blog, I’ve been writing reviews for over a year (and nearly a year on my blog). I’ve received many comments on my review writing style so today, we are bringing you a Book Review writing guide.

Reviews for me are a great way to analyse what I’ve read and get an overlook at what I experienced and how that’s relevant or enjoyable to me. Sometimes a book makes me want to rant or gush about it and sometimes I need to actually go back and have another look. Guaranteed, once I have another look or another deep think about the book, I usually come out of it feeling pretty good and almost better than when I’ve just finished the novel. I think it’s a great thing to reflect back on material that you read, you can spot things you didn’t fully notice before and this is especially true when you read other people’s reviews too.

So how can you write a book review?

Step 1: Finish The Book

It’s really easy to make the mistake of starting to write a review for a book before it’s over, however, you should definitely finish the book first because you never know — sometimes, okay a lot of times, the ending of a book can make or break it.

Sometimes it can also help to wait a little while before writing a review so you can fully reflect on what you’ve read in a holistic way and have a small time out to think about everything you want to write. Tabbing your books also helps to keep those favourite quotes/moments/important information at the ready for when you need it to write your review.

Step 2: State The Basic Stuff Including The Blurb

Not everyone who reads your review will have already read the book or know about the premise or author. It’s pretty important for people to have the right context on what review they are reading so it’s quite standard in reviews to include the blurb.

Blurbs can also be known as the synopsis but to me, that means including a summary of everything that happens in a book not just an introduction to the story, the meaning can vary and is up to you.

The blurb of a book gives the reader a general idea of the premise and also just states what the publisher and author want readers to know before they pick up the book. It’ll have the basic information of what it’s about and hopefully, also makes the reader want to read it too!

It also never hurts to reiterate some information about the plot and/or characters so that readers can generally know exactly what you’re talking about in a review. If the reader doesn’t know that e.g. the love interest’s name is Jared from the blurb and you’re talking about how much you love Jared in the book, confusion will hinder how enjoyable and how easy to understand your review is.

Don’t forget that if your review does include spoilers, to please put a warning so that anyone who hasn’t read the book yet doesn’t get spoiled. No one likes getting spoiled about character deaths or lethal plot twists (unless you happen to enjoy spoilers…I kind of do but I still avoid them).

Step 3: Categorise

So, you’ve read the book, you’ve got the basic info explained. Now it’s about planning!

I happen to prefer categorising out my reviews so that my opinions on a book are logical and slightly systematic for a more consistent structure. As fun as it is sometimes to just throw out your opinions on a book in any order based on what I’m feeling, when a review is too jumpy or unorganised, it isn’t as appealing to read.

I don’t always have these categories in subheadings – it’s generally whenever I feel like it or whatever is easiest which is, again, depending on what book is being reviewed.

Basic book review categories are:

Characters  (and their development) Plot  (plot twists, the direction of the narrative, concepts/issues it discusses) Writing (including tone, style, medium, flow, cohesion & coherence) World Building  (this is usually for more fantasy/sci-fi genre books, but you can still address this for general fiction/contemporary novels – generally includes the setting of the book, magic system, languages, culture & customs introduced etc.) Overall  (a brief summary of your opinions/feelings on the book)

Step 4: Dot Point & Write It Out

Now you’ve got a basic structure, the next step is to actually write the review! I like to write out short dot points for each category before I start writing so I don’t forget things I want to mention.

Writing a review doesn’t have to be like an essay, it can be informal and relaxed with lots of first-person comments like ‘I like Jared’s character development’ (I don’t even know a love interest named Jared, don’t ask) or more formal and critical like ‘Jared’s character development was well written and added much depth to the story’.

Read An Excerpt From ‘It’s Elementary’ by Elise Bryant

You can be as straight forward or abstract as you like. Share what gripped you in the story, what made you cry or laugh, what were your favourite parts, tropes, scenes, characters were – share anything you’d like because this review is YOURS.

Step 5: Edit, Add Fine Details & Schedule/Post Away

I’m guilty of not editing my own work as much as I should (which is handy that we have our chief editor at The Nerd Daily) but it is important to look over your review to make sure you didn’t get information mixed up or wrong, like author, character and place names, and to pick up any small typos. Software like Grammarly can also be your friend for picking up grammatical and spelling errors in your review too.

You can add some fine details at the beginning or the end of your review, such as a book rating; out of 5 or 10 or 20 stars if you’d like, you can also add where anyone can purchase the book if they’d like, maybe an author bio, or a cool photo to show your readers what the book looks like. The world is your oyster when it comes to flexibility in book reviewing, don’t be scared to try out new things, new formats and challenge yourself but most importantly, have fun! Reviews shouldn’t be like a chore, review if you want when you want.

Once you’ve written your review, you can schedule it ahead or post it on whatever platform you use. From your own personal blog to Goodreads or even in a twitter thread.

What About Mini-Reviews?

Sometimes you might want to review a book but not go into a lot of detail or write much and mini-reviews are therefore your friend. I tend to write mini-reviews when my thoughts are shorted, more straight forward are generally only 1-2 small paragraphs. They’re great to share your short, sweet and simple thoughts on a novel without getting too much into the nitty-gritty.

What About Audiobooks?

Who said that you couldn’t review audiobooks? Listening to audiobooks is reading too and the only changes to this review writing system for them is that I add a couple of categories to my review drafting process to address:

Cast  (the different voices for characters, especially when there’s more than two people narrating the book)

Narration  (style, tone, speed, etc.)

Audiobooks are a growing part of the book industry and book community, and it’s so exciting to see more and more books come out with audiobooks that have a full cast too. It can truly create such a great, immersive reading experience.

So, what did you think of this review writing guide? Do you write your reviews or plan to start a book blog? Tell us in the comments below!

Five Ways To Organise Your Bookshelves

12 Gifts For Your Favourite Bookworm

Ideas For Your Bookish Bullet Journal

Before you begin, you should ask yourself how much time you have to read the book and how much space you have to write the review. In general, you should plan on spending as much time reading the book as you would spend on a class.

This post is super helpful! I’m always looking to upgrade my book review game on my website, and these points are amazing! Thank you so much!

I write book summaries of all of the books I read. To be honest, the book How To Read A Book really helped me in my reading and writing process. It’s such a great read which is kind of strange. People think that reading is such a simple task. Well, it’s not that simple. Totally recommend the book. Also, thanks for the great suggestions!

Hi! I totally loved this guide. It was very helpful and I’m all ready to write my first book review!

I really enjoyed reading this post!

I am an absolute book nerd and am looking at writing some book reviews on my blog. Your post has helped me tremendously in knowing where to start. However, I do have a question. When you are using the images of the front cover of the book that you are reviewing, where do you take these from? How do you avoid copyright infringement?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Zeen is a next generation WordPress theme. It’s powerful, beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions.

Top Reviews

Movie review: free guy, tv review: normal people, lovecraft country recap: 1.05 ‘strange case’, lovecraft country recap: 1.06 ‘meet me in daegu’.

Advertisement

Supported by

Book Review

Did ronald reagan pave the way for donald trump.

In his new biography, Max Boot reckons with the president who was once his hero and another who led him away from the Republican Party.

  By Jennifer Burns

Is Don Lemon in His Prime?

In his new memoir, the CNN veteran opens up about faith, his midlife career upheaval and that time he got into homemade laundry detergent.

  By Elisabeth Egan

She’s Been to Hell and Back. Now Comes the Reckoning.

In his new novel, Roddy Doyle revisits his character Paula Spencer, a woman managing some fraught feelings. Our reviewer had some fraught feelings of her own.

  By Fiona Maazel

The Nicest Hostage Takers You’ll Ever Meet

In “The Siege,” Ben Macintyre gives a lesser-known Iranian hostage crisis its due.

  By Azadeh Moaveni

Elizabeth Strout Gets the Gang Back Together for a Murder Mystery

In “Tell Me Everything,” Bob Burgess deepens his emotional connection with Lucy Barton as he defends a local man accused of killing his mother.

  By Alexis Schaitkin

24 Works of Fiction and Poetry to Read This Fall

Check out new books by Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Richard Powers, and revisit familiar worlds from Karl Ove Knausgaard, Haruki Murakami and Jeff VanderMeer.

  By Wilson Wong

Read Your Way Through Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a literary city: Its residents like to boast about its many bookstores and independent publishers. Samanta Schweblin suggests which books and authors to start with.

  By Samanta Schweblin and Translated by Megan McDowell

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

As voted on by 503 book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

  By The New York Times Books Staff

Best-Seller Lists: Sept. 15, 2024

All the lists: print, e-books, fiction, nonfiction, children’s books and more.

Books of The Times

The Endless Drama, and Tedium, of a Medical Mystery

Garth Greenwell takes on pain and illness in his new novel, “Small Rain.”

  By Dwight Garner

In ‘Lovely One,’ Ketanji Brown Jackson Credits the Mentors Who Lifted Her Up

The Supreme Court justice’s memoir is deeply personal and full of hope, and highlights a fairy-tale marriage to her college boyfriend.

  By Alexandra Jacobs

A Smart, Sinuous Espionage Thriller Brimming With Heat

Already longlisted for the Booker Prize, Rachel Kushner’s “Creation Lake” — set in rural France — stars a ruthless American secret agent.

An Impressive Monument to Christopher Isherwood, Man of Letters (and Lovers)

Though it downplays unflattering details, Katherine Bucknell’s big biography hails the 20th-century writer as an early advocate for the “chosen family.”

Brooklyn? Bah. Manhattan? Meh. A New Book Calls the Bronx the City’s Best Borough.

Ian Frazier’s history roams far and wide, on foot and in the archives, celebrating (if not romanticizing) a perennially “in between” part of New York.

Pulling Back the Silicon Curtain

Yuval Noah Harari’s study of human communication may be anything but brief, but if you can make it to the second half, you’ll be both entertained and scared.

By Dennis Duncan

What Makes the Far Right Tick?

In “Stolen Pride,” Arlie Russell Hochschild explores the emotional lives of Americans who vote for Donald Trump.

By Doug Bock Clark

Liane Moriarty Has Sold 20 Million Books. She Would Rather Not Talk About It.

The author of “Big Little Lies” and several other best-sellers has a new novel, “Here One Moment.” Promoting it — doing any publicity — remains a challenge, she said.

By Elizabeth Harris

An Unlikely Pair’s Difficult Pilgrimage From Rural Alabama to the White House

In Jamie Quatro’s Southern Gothic novel “Two-Step Devil,” a dying “Prophet” and a former sex-trafficking victim make the same journey for two very different reasons.

By Melissa Broder

In Liane Moriarty’s Bustling New Novel, Fate Takes Flight

There are stakes on the plane in “Here One Moment,” the latest from the Australian fiction powerhouse.

By Leah Greenblatt

In ‘Still Life,’ a Trans Woman’s Homecoming Is Shaped by Grief

In Katherine Packert Burke’s debut novel, a woman is haunted by change while grappling with the death of a friend.

By Angela Lashbrook

Wander Lonely, Never Die and Other Things a Cloud Might Do

Whether as metaphors, decorations or (literal) forces of nature, clouds are everywhere in poetry.

By Elisa Gabbert

Do You Know These Sports Books That Became Movies?

Try this short quiz about screen adaptations and the source material that inspired them.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

She’s Rich, Beautiful and Lethal to Men

Inspired by the true story of the first woman condemned as a witch in medieval Ireland, “Bright I Burn,” by Molly Aitken, features a protagonist as dangerous as she is beguiling.

By Katherine J. Chen

Was Iraq an ‘Artificial Nation’ Created by the West? This History Says No.

A new book by the journalist Bartle Bull recounts 5,000 years of the country’s past, showing how long before colonial powers defined its borders, it was a place with a common history.

By Marc Van De Mieroop

Looking to publish? Meet your dream editor, designer and marketer on Reedsy.

Find the perfect marketer for your next book

1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.

Blog • Book Marketing

Last updated on Feb 07, 2023

How to Get Book Reviews in 5 Steps (2024 Update)

About ricardo fayet.

Reedsy co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Ricardo Fayet is one of the world's leading authorities in marketing indie books. He is a regular presenter at several prestigious writers' conferences, where his unique personal style has made him an instantly recognizable figure.

Imagine the day of your book launch. You’re sitting in front of your computer, blissfully imagining all the five-star book reviews that will soon be yours. Yet the days pass... and the reviews don't come.

Needless to say, you'll want people to buy and read your book ASAP so they can leave you some good reviews. But you may see the Catch-22 here: in order to make your first sales, you’ll need to display positive book reviews. So how do you get the chicken before you’ve got the egg (or vice versa)?

Enter book bloggers , who are your new best friends! For this post, we asked our top Reedsy publicists to share their best tips on how to get book reviews from book bloggers — and we've condensed their advice into these five essential steps, plus a few bonus tips at the end.

You can also check out this Reedsy Live on how to get your first book reviews, with advice from author and book marketer Debbie Drum.

Those who prefer their tips in written form, let's dive right in with the very first step of the review acquisition process!

1. Identify your audience

A quick preliminary note: you want to start the review-gathering as early as possible. If you can, plan your book review campaign 4-6 months in advance of your publication date. Because if you want your reviews to be in place by then, you’ll need to give people time to actually write them!

Now, using the "5 W’s of Storytelling," let's talk about the first thing you should be asking yourself: who? Who will be reading your book, and who is best positioned to promote it to that audience? The following tips will help you answer these questions.

Build a questionnaire

Here are a few more specific queries to help you clarify your "who":

• Who reads in my genre?
• What magazines, websites, forums, or blogs do they frequent?
• Where might they find reviews of my book that will entice them to buy it?

Indeed, publicist Jessica Glenn recommends building a full-length questionnaire to identify your audience and where you might find them on the Web (or in real life!).

“Most, if not all, publicists and publishers send authors a very long questionnaire to fill out when they start their marketing plan ,” she says. “That's so we can dig into any useful piece of bio, community, or regional info to figure out who and why people will be interested in your book.”

Your questionnaire will direct you to your target audience and help you create a  proto-persona.  This is the "ideal reader" of your book, so to speak — a perfect blend of the traits you'd expect them to have. (For example, if you've written a YA paranormal romance novel, your proto-persona might be a 14-year-old girl who's obsessed with Twilight .) And whoever they are, you'll keep them in mind every time you make a marketing decision.

Think about comp titles

Another great way to get a handle on your target audience is to figure out your comparative titles — books that are a) similar to yours and b) share the same general readership. When pitching to book reviewers, these are the titles you'll use to sell your own  book . For instance, "My book is  Normal People meets The Incendiaries ."

According to Jessica, you should have at least 15 potential comp titles for your book, ideally a mix of bestsellers and well-reviewed indie titles. “Many first-time authors balk at this," says Jessica, "as they believe there is no true comp for their book — but dig deep and you'll find them!”

Comp titles are critical because they act as a compass, pointing you towards a ready-made audience that enjoys works in the same mold as yours. This is a huge help in determining your target readers, as well as which reviewers will cater to them. Speaking of which...

2. Find relevant book blogs

Now that you’ve got a strong sense of your audience, you're ready to find blogs that will provide the best exposure to that audience. We recommend starting with our directory of 200+ book review blogs , but feel free to do your own research as well!

As you dig into book review blogs, check on these two things first:

• Is the site active? Has the blogger published a post within the last month or so?
• Are they currently accepting queries? If they're closed at the moment, it could be months before your book gets a review — if at all.

And if you want to confirm your book marketing strategy when it comes to book review blogs, we recommend first taking this quick quiz below!

Which book review site is right for you?

Find out here! Takes one minute.

Once you've confirmed that a book review blog is both active and open to queries, think about whether it's right for your  book. Here are some important factors to consider:

• Genre . Don't waste your time on blogs that don't review books in your genre. "Be very mindful of a publication’s particular audience and target market when pitching for review. If their readership is science-fiction, do not pitch a commercial crime novel!” says publicist Hannah Cooper .
• Traffic . High-traffic book blogs might seem like your highest priorities, but this isn’t necessarily true. “Don't shy away from the smaller blogs,” says publicist Beverly Bambury . “They can sometimes foster a real sense of community and starting off small is just fine."
• Posting frequency.  Another consideration is how often the blogger in question actually publishes reviews. Too often, and your book will get lost in the shuffle; too seldom, and they're likely to lose readers. Try to strike a balance with about 1-2 reviews per week — no decent reviewer can turn them out faster than that, anyway!

Track down your comp titles' reviewers

Remember those comp titles you came up with earlier? You can use them not only to pitch your book, but also to find potential reviewers , as they will correspond perfectly with your genre and target audience.

“Once you have your 15-or-so comps, you can research where each book has been reviewed,” says Jessica. “With luck, you will find at least a couple of book reviews per title, which will give you many more outlets to investigate further.”

Now, as an author, you might be wondering: “How can I begin to find all the places where a given book was reviewed?” Don’t forget the power of Google! Try searching the following terms to find reviews for a given title:

• [Title] + book review
• [Title] + review
• [Title] + Q&A

And here's one last tip to give you a boost — sign up for a "Mention" account and/or set up Google alerts to get a notification every time these titles appear online.

Once you’re armed with a bundle of suitable book review blogs, you've arrived at the third (and perhaps most crucial) step in this process. This is, of course, creating the pitches you'll send to reviewers.

Free course: How to get book reviews

Learn how to get the book reviews you need to turn browsers into buyers. Get started now.

3. Write pitches for them

Pitching a reviewer is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is a) keep it short, and and b) personalize it as much as possible. However, before we get to our publicists’ actionable tips on pitching, there’s one more thing that you absolutely HAVE to do. And that thing is...

Read the review policy!

Before you pitch any blog, make sure you read the blogger’s review policy. Some blogs will have a form to fill out; others might ask you to email them directly. Still others might not welcome any queries from self-published authors . Whatever they say, make sure that you follow it to a T.

“There are two main benefits to reading and following the review policies closely,” says Beverly. “First, you show the reviewer that you respect and appreciate them when you follow their instructions. This is important when asking someone to do you a favor.

"Second, you may find that even if the site is closed for review queries, it's open to publicity queries — where you might be able to place an excerpt or do a Q&A or occasional blog post. You'll never know if you don't take the time to read the review policy first.”

More tips for pitching reviewers

Now that you’re clear on what the blogger wants, you can start pitching them with confidence. Here are three more key tips for pitching book reviewers:

1. Never send out bulk pitches. "When you pitch each outlet individually, specifically write that you read their positive book review of your comp and what that comp title was,” says Jessica Glenn. Or if you didn't find them through a comp title, mention other  aspects of their blog and why you think they would be great to review your book!

2. Be concise and direct. “Include your title, publisher, date of release, and genre in the first paragraph,” notes Beverly Bambury. “Then you might want to include the cover copy or a brief description of the book. Finally, be direct and ask for what you want. If you want a review, ask for it! If you want an excerpt placed, ask for that.”

3. Appeal to their commercial side. “All reviewers want the opportunity to discover the next 'big thing’ — particularly with fiction — so make them feel as though they have the opportunity to get the word out first," says Hannah Cooper. Indeed, if you can convince a reviewer that you are doing them  a favor, you're practically guaranteed to get a review.

Basically, try to get reviewers to think, “Oh, if I enjoyed [comp title], I’ll enjoy this person's book too,” or “They've done the research to know that I’m a good fit for their book.” If you can do that, you’re already much closer than everyone else to obtaining high-quality book reviews !

FREE COURSE

Book Marketing 101

Learn seven tried-and-true strategies for boosting book sales.

4. Send out your book

This is the step before the moment of truth (the review itself), so it's extremely important to get everything right. To ensure you're complying with each reviewer's guidelines, review their policy again before you send them your book. Some bloggers might prefer digital copies of manuscripts, while others might want a physical ARC — be prepared to accommodate.

Also, as you begin sending your book to various outlets, you should track your progress in a spreadsheet. Record which blogs you’ve submitted to so far, which blogs have responded, and which blogs you plan to submit to, so you don't accidentally double-submit or skip over anyone.

Formatting your book

Other than double-checking the review policy, the most important thing to do here is to format your book in a professional manner . After all, you want the presentation of your content to match the quality! Even though it shouldn't technically matter, reviewers will definitely judge your book by how it looks, inside and out.

The good news for self-formatters that you probably won't need to send physical proofs, and ebooks are much easier to format than hard copies. Digital copies also cost next-to-nothing to produce, so you can easily send multiple copies of your book out to different reviewers. You may want to check out apps like Instafreebie and Bookfunnel , which make it easy to generate individual ARC download links that you can send to the reviewers.

Pro tip : If you’re searching for a good book production tool,  Reedsy Studio can format and convert your manuscript into professional EPUB and print-ready files in a matter of seconds!

5. Follow up after a week

A week or more has passed since you queried a book blog, and so far… crickets. What do you do now? Why, follow up,  of course!

When it comes to this stage, keep calm and follow Hannah Hargrave’s advice: “Don't bother reviewers for an answer daily. I will usually chase again after a week has passed.

"If you receive a decline response, or no one responds to your third chase-up, assume this means they are not interested. Any further follow-ups, or aggressive requests as to why your work's not being reviewed, will not be viewed kindly. Above all, be polite and friendly at all times.”

That said, someone rejecting your book for review is a worst-case scenario. Best-case scenario, the blogger responds favorably and you’ve bagged yourself a review!

What comes next, you ask?

The reviewer will post their review of your book on their blog — and on Amazon, Goodreads, and any other platforms that they’ll name in their review policy. This is yet another reason why it's vital to read that policy carefully, so you know exactly where  the review will be seen.

If all goes well, the reviewer will publish a positive review that you can use to further promote your book. Maybe you'll even get a decent pull-quote for your book description ! Not to mention that if you ever write a sequel, you can almost certainly count on them for a follow-up review.

Pro-tip: Want to write a book description that sells? Download this free book description template to get a headstart. 

FREE RESOURCE

Book Description Template

Learn to write a book description that will make readers click “buy.”

But what if you don't get any bites from book bloggers, or — horror of horrors — one of them gives you a negative review? Fortunately, the next two sections should help you deal with each of these possible dilemmas.

Bonus ways to get book reviews

Though book bloggers are the most reliable and professional source of reviews for independent authors, you may want to try other avenues to maximize your chances! Here are three more ways to get book reviews  for your work, so you can bolster your Amazon profile and start making some serious sales.

1. Tell your followers about your book

Though Amazon prohibits reviews from close friends and family , you're free to tell your random social media followers about your book and hope they leave good reviews. It obviously helps if you have a large following on Twitter or Instagram, even more so if some of those followers are fellow authors who appreciate the significance of reviews.

That said, NEVER offer "review swaps" or any kind of promotional enticement for customers to leave reviews, as this would also be against Amazon's terms. Simply let your followers know you've got a book out and that you'd love for them to read it; the rest is in their hands. However, when it comes to reviews, any amount of awareness is better than none.

2. Submit to Reedsy Discovery

Finally, for a professional review option that's a bit less time-and-effort-consuming on your part, you can submit your book right here on Reedsy Discovery! The platform allows authors to share their books with readers who are right up their alley, plus get the chance to be reviewed by one of our Discovery writers. If they leave a good review, you'll be featured in our newsletter, which goes out to thousands of subscribers every week.

Sounds pretty sweet, right? And it only takes a few minutes to submit .

Is your book ready for Discovery?

Take our quiz to find out! Takes only 1 minute.

How to deal with negative reviews

Once your work is out there in the world, you can’t control other people’s reactions to it. “Remember, by submitting your book for review, you're accepting that some people might not enjoy it,” says Hannah Hargrave. “It can be very tough after you’ve spent months or years crafting your novel, only for some reviewer to tear it apart. But you need to be prepared."

In that vein, here are some final tips on how to deal with bad reviews:

1. Have someone else read them first . This might be your agent, your friend, or your mom — anyone you trust to pre-screen your reviews. They can inform you whether each negative review is a worthwhile (if humbling) read, or just too nasty to stomach.

2. Ignore unreasonably hateful reviews . Easier said than done, yes, but really try to tune out these people! For example, if they're clearly not your target audience, but insist on pretending like they are. Or people who pick apart your sentences word-by-word, just for the "fun" of it. There's no sense in agonizing over readers who are determined to hate you, so block them on every platform and refuse to read anything else they write.

3. Address valid criticisms . You're only human, and your book won't be perfect. If someone points this out in a constructive way , acknowledge it and do what you can to fix it. This may be as simple as editing a misleading blurb, or as complex as restructuring your entire series. But if you're the author we know you are, you'll be up to the task.

Every author's book is different, but the process for getting book reviews is reassuringly universal. To recap: identify your audience, find relevant blogs, pitch them, send out your book, and don't forget to follow up! On top of that, feel free to try alternative strategies, and remember not to take the bad reviews too personally.

Yes, marketing a book may be madness, but the process of getting reviews lends method to that madness. So go forth and get your reviews — you deserve them! 🙌

Special thanks to book publicists Jessica Glenn , Hannah Hargrave , Hannah Cooper , and Beverly Bambury for their input and suggestions throughout this article. If you have any more questions about how to get book reviews, let us know in the comments!

2 responses

Elena Smith says:

25/09/2018 – 22:33

Excellent Write up. I have thoroughly gone through the article and according to my personal observations you have done a great job writing this Article.Being associated with writing profession, I must mention that AcademicWritingPro are quite helpful nowadays.Furthermore, quality is also an important aspect.

Team Golfwell says:

11/12/2018 – 05:38

We do free book reviews if your book interests us. We are a group of retired people in New Zealand who play golf, read books, write books, and do free book reviews if we like your book. We write books too, so we like to see what other authors are currently doing and it is amazing to see what writers are creating. We try to post our reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes &amp; Noble and our social media. See our book review page for more info &gt; &gt; https://www.teamgolfwell.com/free-book-reviews.html #bookreviews #kindlebookreviews #amazonbookreviews #indiebookreviews https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ad92dde2f70456000bf5c44af3489ee638dae511be91f7b8cb1545acb388cdb.jpg

Comments are currently closed.

Continue reading

Recommended posts from the Reedsy Blog

How to Make a Cinematic Book Trailer (with Examples)

Book trailers can be a fun and effective way to promote your book. Learn how to craft one from scratch by following these 7 steps.

The Differences Between Book Marketing and Publicity: Credibility Versus Control

Book marketing and book publicity comprise two main pillars of book promotion. Check out this post by Kellie Rendina to understand their differences.

Developing Your Author Brand: 6 Ways to Showcase Your Unique Writing Identity

An "author brand" can be a pretty vague concept. Learn how to successfully develop yours in this post by Harry Bingham.

How to Make Your Book Newsworthy: 5 Tips from a Publicist

How can you earn media coverage for your book? Book publicity takes some preparation and watchfulness, but it can help your book become news.

Affect vs. Effect: How To Always Pick the Right Word

Affect is usually a verb that means “to create a change” in something, while effect is usually a noun that describes “a change that is caused” by something. In other words, an affect produces an effect.

Amazon Editorial Reviews: An Indie Author’s Secret Weapon

In this post, we’ll explain why Amazon editorial reviews matter, how to secure them, and how to use them to impact your launch.

Join a community of over 1 million authors

Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book.

Should you become a book reviewer?

Find out if you're well-suited for reviewing with our one-minute quiz.

1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.

Enter your email or get started with a social account: