Want to Write Book Reviews? Some Helpful Questions to Get You Started 

Want to Write Book Reviews? Some Helpful Questions to Get You Started 

Erin Flanagan

I first started writing book reviews seriously in 2015 when I was burned out from writing fiction and looking to get back to my original love of reading. For me, book reviews were a way to support other writers, champion their work, and feel like I could make a difference. For this article, I want to focus less on the nuts and bolts of writing the reviews and more on figuring out why you might want to write reviews, as well as what kind of reviews you might like to write (if you’re interested in the how-to, I recommend the book The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards). With that in mind, here are some questions to get you started: 

Why do I want to review books? 

For me, it was a way of staying engaged with writing, reading, and the literary community. I didn’t “need” to review books for my job or for publication credit at my university, and I wasn’t hoping to gain a following as a critic. I saw reviewing as a side gig to my more public gig of fiction writer, and as another way to engage with writers I admired. If you’re hoping to make book reviews more of your focus, you may want to be more systematic about what kind of books you review and where you place reviews (more on this soon), and if you’re in it for the cash, you may want to really hone in on places to send your work (or honestly, find another line of work). Why you want to write reviews will help you focus on the next question. 

What kinds of books do I want to review? 

My first love has always been short stories, so when I started reviewing, I knew I wanted to put my energy there. I mainly read books by women so that was an obvious focus. I also wanted to support BIPOC writers and those publishing with small presses, figuring a book at a small press needs my review more than one at a larger house. So ask yourself: what kinds of books do you love to read? What kinds of books do you want to read more of? What kind of books or presses do you want to champion?  What books do you feel most confident sharing an opinion on? All reviews are just that—opinions—but not all opinions are created equal. Where do you have the most expertise, and what backs that up?

What kind of reviews do I want to write? 

There’s a whole subculture on the internet that’s devoted to hatchet pieces and snark. This is not my favorite part of the internet. I knew what I started reviewing I only wanted to write positive reviews. This didn’t mean they couldn’t be critical, but overall, I wanted to spend my time reading and discussing work I loved. Going by the motto “all press is good press,” I questioned why I’d want to bring attention to something I didn’t enjoy or want to recommend.

A downside to this is I probably won’t ever be taken too seriously as a critic, but that’s okay with me. If you’re interested in publishing in The New York Times or the Los Angeles Review of Books, you may want to take a more critical approach. If you want to be known as the caustic writer who writes scathing reviews of terrible books, there’s definitely a marketplace for that as well. I personally didn’t want to make enemies, and my hope was to grow my literary circle not shrink it. 

How much time do I have to devote to this and what am I hoping for in terms of payback? 

I admit, when I first started writing book reviews, I was gobsmacked by how much time they took between reading the book (usually twice), note taking, and the final crafting of the review. The longer I’ve written them, the quicker I’ve gotten, but I’d say most reviews still average ten hours (6-8 for reading and 2-4 for writing). To date, the most I’ve been paid is $25 and a free book. Bigger venues will of course pay more, but be aware, it may take time to build up to those. 

How do I find venues? 

There are tons of venues that take book reviews, and generous writers like Trish Hopkinson have made such lists public. Another great resource is Poets & Writers online, which has a list of book review outlets. You can also look at books you love and see where they’ve been reviewed (this works especially well for smaller press books) or google book review venues + literary magazines (or newspapers, etc.) and go from there. The venue will determine the length and to some extent the tone of the review, so it’s a good idea to have the place in mind before you draft the review.

How do I get the books, especially those that haven’t come out yet? 

Some venues will have a list of books available on their website and can send them to you, but for the most part, I you can decide what book you want to review and then either contacted the press directly about sending a copy, or ordered it from netgalley.com. 

I hope this has been helpful! And if you write a review, please contact me on Twitter @erinlflanagan so I can promote both your review and the book you’re discussing!

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Erin Flanagan’s next novel, the thriller Blackout, is forthcoming in fall 2022 with Thomas & Mercer. She is also the author of the novel Deer Season and two short story collections–The Usual Mistakes and It’s Not Going to Kill You and Other Stories–all published by The University of Nebraska Press in their Flyover Fiction series. She’s held fellowships to Yaddo, MacDowell, The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, UCross, and The Vermont Studio Center. She contributes regular book reviews to Publishers Weekly and other venues.

She is an English professor at Wright State University and likes all of her colleagues except one. Erin lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, daughter, two cats and two dogs, and her friendly, caustic thoughts.

Find out more about Erin on her website https://erinflanagan.net/

DEER SEASON, Erin Flanagan

It’s the opening weekend of deer season in Gunthrum, Nebraska, in 1985, and Alma Costagan’s intellectually disabled farmhand, Hal Bullard, has gone hunting with some of the locals, leaving her in a huff. That same weekend, a teenage girl goes missing, and Hal returns with a flimsy story about the blood in his truck and a dent near the headlight. When the situation escalates from that of a missing girl to something more sinister, Alma and her husband are forced to confront what Hal might be capable of, as rumors fly and townspeople see Hal’s violent past in a new light.

A drama about the complicated relationships connecting the residents of a small town farming community, Deer Season explores troubling questions about how far people will go to safeguard the ones they love and what it means to be a family.

“With incisive prose and finely wrought tension, Deer Season is an absorbing tale of a small town that is both severed and knitted together by tragedy. This book does not just return us to a forgotten place and time; it recreates it for us. This is fiction at its finest.”—Melissa Fraterrigo, author of Glory Days

“Flanagan takes clear-eyed aim at the foibles and strengths of the human heart, ultimately plumbing its tenderness through characters whose lives in Middle America are deftly rendered through a riveting plot. . . . Nuanced with unsentimental empa thy, Deer Season delivers a literary mystery that will leave readers thinking about these characters and their story long after turning the last page.”—Jess Montgomery, author of the Kinship series of historical mysteries

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