The question this time is the Book Blogger Hop topic for November 18th – 24th submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer, is:
As a reviewer, do you prefer to write short or long reviews?
Disclaimer:
These are my personal opinions. I do not expect anyone to agree with anything here, and in fact, I’m certain that many will disagree and/or even hate many of the things I’ve written below. Sorry about that, but you are always welcome to express your own opinions – be they contrary or comparable – in the comments section. So, with that out of the way… let the controversy begin!
What made me think about this topic?
As noted above, this is a Book Blogger Hop topic, and I had this window in my blogging schedule, so I decided this would be a good filler.
My Thoughts…
The answer is really very simple. I am a very talkative person, so I will always write longer reviews when given the platform! That’s probably why I started this blog, actually, so I could ramble on about my thoughts without anyone telling me to shut up.
You see, really short reviews are great, if they get across the essence of your feelings about a book. I, however, have a hard time distilling my opinions into less than 500 words. I always want to talk about as many aspects of a book as I can in my reviews – both the good and the bad (and sometimes, the ugly). I can also tell you that many a time I’ve written and published a review and thought… oh, why didn’t I mention this or that.
Mind you, I’ve read that blog posts that are less than 1000 words don’t get as much SEO traffic as longer ones. Not that I’ve ever been good at SEO – I just write what I want to write, and don’t care if it is optimized for your search engine.
In short, I prefer long!
There you have it!
So… what about you?
What length Reviews do you prefer to write – long ones or short ones?
This post is my 11th time participating in the Book Blogger Hop and my 17th entry in the 2022 Discussion Challenge & Giveaway, hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
Finally, a woman after my own heart. This is my first time here at Blogger Hop and I wrote several paragraphs (even deleted a couple when I was done) and then as I’ve wandered the other blogs I see many have given one or two sentence responses. But you, you are as talkative as me – wonder what our in-person conversations would be? ha.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/book-blogger-hop-1
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My best friend is also talkative, so… probably lots of talk and talking over each other and not a whole lot of listening!
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For me it depends on the length and depth of the book. A book that short and deep is Chronical of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Márquez is a short book that has an interesting concept. that needs to be talk about in a longer review. I recent review a short book title The Halloween Tree. It not really deep in any way but it a fun read, so my review would be short and to the point. As a rule of thumb my reviews has to be longer then the summary. If that can’t happen then the summary needs to be shorten.
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Short to medium is my preference ~ give the reader a taste but not a whole meal. Of course, if I end up rambling on about a side topic, all bets are off!
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For me, it varies. I tend to write long reviews, just because once I start, I find that I have more to say (and like you, I often think of something after the fact that I wish I’d included!). When I write shorter reviews, it’s usually because I don’t have much of substance to say, but might just want to give a shout-out to the book anyway. Interesting post!
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I didn’t know that about SEO. I don’t look at my word count but I will now!
I have a set format and aim to write just under a page, over half a page. I like it when I really get into the flow and can write lots about a book!
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/11/18/book-blogger-hop-do-you-like-writing-short-or-long-reviews/
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Mine are fairly short. Heres my BBH: https://bonniereadsandwrites.com/2022/11/18/bookbloggerhop-do-you-write-long-or-short-reviews/
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I think it’s so important to just write what you want to write and you’ll attract the audience that is meant for you. Have a great weekend! 🙂
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Some of my reviews are much longer than others, depending on the book. I find that sometimes I have a lot to say, particularly about books I’ve loved or books that have a lot of layers, but other times I struggle to write more than a few paragraphs.
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I shall sit in the middle! I prefer 3 -4 shortish paragraphs which dangle enough information about the book to help me make a choice about reading it myself.
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I like medium to long reviews. I definitely think it’s possible to get across the essence of your thoughts in a short review (not necessarily a talent I personally have), but I like reading longer ones because they tend to be more detailed and give me something to respond to.
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I think I prefer long as well. I love your deep dive and thoughtful reviews! Although I’ve been known to write bullet point reviews when I can’t muster the effort for all the coherent sentences!
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Hello, I am not a professional book reviewer; I am a blogger who at times reviews the books I read by regurgitating what I have read and if it was a good read, this can be felt in my retelling of the story. I think at times this tactic shows that I did not understand what I was reading or I did not pay attention; similarly my responses as they show that I did not read clearly what was being presented before me. I am told often that I don’t listen and that I walk by the beat of a different drummer. And I do go on with no understanding of where I am going with it.
I think reviews should be as the blogger feels it or not. If it is a long review then perhaps they are amping up the wattage of the book to make it more than it was, but not necessarily so if they demonstrate by giving examples from the book to prove a given point. Otherwise, this is a conundrum for some of us.
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Yes… a kind of… you’re dammed if you do and your dammed if you don’t.
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It depends on the book, I think.
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