My Experience With The Blogchatter Book Review Program
I have been in love with books since the time I was in sixth grade. Over the years my passion for reading only grew and even now when I am fifty-three, this love for books is not showing any signs of diminishing. But I had never thought of reviewing books myself till I became a member of the Blogchatter community. The first time I reviewed a book was in 2018 as part of the ebook carnival campaign conducted by Blogchatter.
That was when I realized that reviewing a book is a complicated art. After writing several reviews in 2018 I started reviewing every book I read in right earnest. Imagine my joy when Blogchatter, the community which binds a large number of bloggers together, officially started their own book review program this year. As soon as I heard about this program, I immediately applied for membership and Blogchatter graciously accepted me as one of their reviewers.
Soon I was informed that in addition to reviewing books, I could also join the program as an author and I sent the three eBooks I have written till now to be reviewed. A number of people reviewed my eBooks and I got a very good insight into my strengths and weaknesses as a writer.
Here are links to some reviews of my books written by reviewers of the Blogchatter Book Review Program.
As far as reviewing books myself, I have written quite a few reviews as part of the Blogchatter book review program and I have enjoyed the process immensely.
Here are a couple of reviews written by me as part of the program.
What I Learnt After Quitting My Tenth Job
I found that reviewing a book is an art that requires a lot of reflection and also the ability to appreciate the written word without prejudice. It involves both subjective and objective analysis of another person’s writing skills. On the one hand, a reviewer has to take an impartial stance and be objective and not allow personal prejudices to interfere with his or her analysis of the book. At the same time, we have to be subjective enough in our appreciation to let the world know what we personally feel about a book. A review has to be a judicious mixture of both subjective and objective analysis.
For example, one of the books that Blogchatter submitted to me for reviewing riled me quite a bit for certain reasons. The book belonged to the genre thriller fiction. But the author, by using a clever play of words, was relentlessly exhibiting his sycophancy to people in real life. The book was really well written and I liked the three chapters I managed to read. But I did not like the fact that in a book that was purportedly fictional the author was taking a pro-establishment stance in every chapter of the book. After reading part of the book I realized that I was not able to set aside my prejudices and objectively assess the book.
That being the case I did not want to review the book as my opinion of the book would probably be biased. I recused myself from the task of reviewing the book and Blogchatter was gracious enough to allow me to withdraw myself. Thanks to Blogchatter, I have learnt a lot about writing reviews. Before I started reviewing books I used to frown upon reviewers. I used to feel that reviewers were people who themselves don’t take the trouble to write any books, but were eager to poke holes in other people’s work.
But after becoming a reviewer myself I understand how difficult a job it is to reflect on the true quality of the written word. I would advise people to join Blogchatter’s book review program as it would hone your skills in an art that is really very interesting. It would sharpen your ability to appreciate the written word in a better way. In addition, if you are an author do join the program as an author and get your books reviewed by experts. It will give you a really good insight into your strengths and weaknesses as a writer.