Monday, August 20, 2012

What do you look for in a Review?

Hosted by Reading Romances...

If you want to post in on the conversation, link up HERE!!
review
Back in May I threw up a Survey asking Colorimetry readers to vote on "What makes a Good Review?" I never got around to posting the results, so this is a great time for the reveal!!

.
Drum roll, please!!


The biggest winners are Book Cover Pic & Rating!!

Book Cover Pic
  66 (85%)
Giveaway
  52 (67%)
Book Premise
  40 (51%)
Book Trailer
  12 (15%)
Goodreads Link
  34 (44%)
Short -n- Sweet
  26 (33%)
Skimmablilty
  17 (22%)
Recommendation
  34 (44%)
Rating
  57 (74%)
Summary in own words
  20 (25%)
Character Breakdown
  11 (14%)
Publisher & Stats (when pub)
  19 (24%)
Plot Breakdown
  7 (9%)
Author Links (FB, Twitter, etc)
  25 (32%)
Buy-it-now links
  19 (24%)
Romantic Breakdown
  9 (11%)
Content Alerts
  18 (23%)
Deep Thoughts
  16 (20%)
Quotes
  30 (38%)
Like this, Like that examples
  18 (23%)
Reason read
  14 (18%)
Where you rec'd book from
  7 (9%)
Cover Commentary
  18 (23%)
Book spoofs
  0 (0%)
Reviewer personality
  26 (33%)
Spoiler Disclosure Alert
  38 (49%)
Genre Classification
  39 (50%)



Votes so far: 77
Poll closed 


It's fascinating to see other reader's & blogger's opinions. I'm looking forward to checking out all the opinions on this hop, too!!  I agree with this survey mostly.....

Rate Yourself ChartHere are my priorities:

1. Book Cover Pic - I gotta see the cover!!!

2. Rating - Positive or negative, I wanna know what you think in a glance!

3. Premise - I like to see a blip copied from somewhere, vs. a summary "in my own words".

4. LINKS!!  I like the Goodreads link & I also like links to the author's website and any social sites. I'm nosey!!
A Girl Writing


5. For the review... I love readability. If the font is hard to read or very big, I don't read it. If the paragraphs are long, I don't read it. If something doesn't jump out at me screaming "You want to read this!!!" I don't read it. Pathetic, I admit.

I skim before I read... I read the first sentence of each paragraph and move on UNLESS that first sentence grabs my attention. OR - if there are bold words or sentences that allow me to skip to an interesting part of the review.

I don't like short reviews because they're missing all the juicy bits of WHY?! Those little paragraphs that announce that someone read a book and liked it? Bleh.

For me... give me details, give me lots of opinion and make the review easy to read!!

I am grateful for other things - like spoiler or content alerts. Some reviewers have cool lookin' content buttons. I like 'em. Book stats are handy, too. It's nice to get as much info as possible all at once.

If I could add one thing to my own reviews, I would break down my ratings so different elements in the book had their own rating resulting in the overall rating. 'Cause... two books may both be a "4" to me, but for totally different reasons which make sense in my head. You know? And seeing the same rating sitting on both of 'em just doesn't seem right when they're so different.

But that's 'cause I have so much trouble with classifications. Which also explains why I puzzle over genres.

What do you like best in a review?