how to write a book review blog post

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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 .

Example review: Ursa's review of The Starless Sea , Bianca's review of Dark and Shallow Lies

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.

For example, check out Julia's review of The Guinevere Deception .

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 ➔

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99 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!

Thanks for the article. It was great. I'm thinking of translating it into Persian and publishing it on my blog ( https://365book.ir/ ). Is it okay with you?

Hi. I'm glad you liked the post. I do not consent to my content being posted elsewhere, translated or not. Apologies.

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Writing a book review: how to do it (+ 5 mistakes to avoid).

Well-written book reviews are essential for building an audience for a book blog. Here are 5 steps that cover how to write a good book review.

Published on Dec 18, 2022

By Dave Rogenmoser

Book reviews are reflections on a book that ultimately make an argument. The argument should persuade a potential reader to pick up the book or leave it behind, based on the reviewer’s opinions. 

Book reviews typically aren’t longer than 1000 words, but some can be much longer or shorter in certain situations. For example, the New York Times features book reviews of over 2,000 words, while book reviews in your local newspaper might be limited to under 500 words.

In this article, we’ll show you how to write a book review that grabs readers’ attention, while providing useful information. We’ll also share some common mistakes to avoid while writing book reviews and some A+ book reviews worth emulating.

Why book reviews are important for writers and readers

Book reviews are valuable for writers:

• To develop a better understanding of what they learned
• To hone their own writing skills
• To develop a critical eye in literature

Book reviews are also valuable for readers:

• To learn about potential reading material
• To gain an understanding of what the material covers
• To decide whether or not to purchase or read something

The best way to think about writing a review is imagining you’re writing for one person. You’ll have to answer the most important questions they have and help them decide whether to take the book home or not. 

5 essential steps to writing a great book review

To make the most out of your book review, follow these 5 simple steps.

1. Share the most important details

Set the stage for the rest of your review by starting with the most important details of the book. Make sure to include:

• Genre/type of book
• Main character description
• Context of the setting

This is also a good spot to mention any content warnings readers may appreciate. These warnings mention any potential triggering or sensitive topics discussed in the book or your book review. Providing content warnings can help readers choose safe and healthy books for their own needs.

For non-fiction reviews, describe the book’s main theme. Academic journals can include short book reviews that include what special topic the book covers, what questions it answers, or how it approaches the topic. Finally, be sure to mention the author’s name and what relevant expertise they have.

2. Summarize the plot in a few sentences

After explaining the most important details, give readers a brief synopsis . Your summary or synopsis should provide a general idea of what happens in the book . 

Ideally, mention the premise, the inciting event, and the protagonist’s dilemma. Summarizing is important, but don’t go overboard — you don’t want your review to include spoilers or reveal the ending ! The typical rule for summarizing in book review writing is not to mention things in the plot past the midpoint.

3. Write your praise

A book review differs from a book report in that your review should mainly focus on your evaluation of the book itself . This includes both praise and critiques. There should also be a balance of your subjective and objective opinions.

Your evaluation should answer these questions:

• What did you enjoy about the book?
• Did the characters and setting feel real to you?
• Did the story grip you and hold your attention where it should?
• What were the main themes in the book?
• Does the writing style fit the storyline?
• What did you like about the writing style?
• Did the writer use any unique formats? For example, was it a novel-in-verse or written in epistolary format?

An evaluation of a non-fiction book should focus on whether the author was able to convincingly share their perspective. Did you learn anything new? Were the arguments clear and concise? Did you feel persuaded by the conclusion? Share it with readers in concise sentences.

4. Write your critiques

Critiques are easy for some and difficult for others to write. Regardless of how you feel, it’s important to express your discontent constructively , instead of simply ranting about what you didn’t like. 

Some reviewers make a pros and cons list to simplify their points and then justify their list of cons with detailed explanations or quotes highlighting problematic sections of the book.  

It’s also vital to be specific about what did not work for you . “It just didn’t work for me” or “I just couldn’t relate to the main character” may be valid, but unhelpful for your readers. Remember, many critiques are entirely subjective, and what one reader dislikes could be the thing that makes the same book another reader’s favorite. So, if you want to write a good book review, mention why exactly you did not relate to the main character or why the story didn’t work for you.

One of the best ways to remember what you like or don’t like about a book is to take notes as you read . Save your thoughts online in a Google Doc or another writer’s tool you like. You can then transform those notes into thoughtful sentences later as you write your review.

5. Offer your recommendation and star rating

The last part of a book review is your recommendation. Think about the key takeaways for potential readers from your review. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Share who you think would like the book but also who might NOT like the book. Readers will appreciate this information if they fall into one of the two categories. 

Lastly, how many stars out of 5 or 10 would you give it? Don’t forget to offer your logic behind this star rating as well. Having a book rating system may be useful, so you don’t waste too much time deciding. Many readers include the following metrics in their ratings:

• Overall enjoyment
• Writing quality
• Characterization
• Plot development
• Ending satisfaction

Some readers now decline to offer a star rating — and that’s fine too. The key thing is to tell readers your verdict at the end .

5 common mistakes people make when book reviewing

There are a few common mistakes people make while writing book reviews. Double-check your review for any of these mistakes before publishing or submitting them.

1. Over-the-top claims 

Going too far in one direction or another can make your review sound biased. To maintain a professional tone, avoid superlative claims (for example, “this is the best book of all time”). Before you publish, go over your book review or report and ensure you’ve rationalized your claims and that they are appropriate .

2. Repetitiveness

Once you’ve made a point and argued it, there’s no need to keep repeating it throughout the piece. Maybe you liked or didn’t like something, but after reading something once or twice, the reader already gets the point. Driving your argument home so hard only takes away valuable space for more critical points in the review. Make your point once and leave it at that.

3. Making it about you

A book review should let readers see your personal opinion but hear objective points as well. Don’t flatter yourself with references that only you would understand as you’ll turn off readers who want a review that focuses on the book at hand. Remember that the review should serve readers, not you . 

Also, while you should share a few personal criticisms, don’t turn it into “I would do it better” because if you could, then you’d be writing your book instead of a review.

4. Sharing the whole plot

Avoid giving the entire story away. While you should mention the story’s focus — such as whether it’s a romance or a murder mystery — beware of sharing spoilers . Spoilers are any important plot developments meant to keep suspense or not mentioned in the publisher’s summary. Besides, if you spend too much of the review on the summary, you won’t get around to reviewing the characters, language, structure, or cultural context.

5. Writing too much

A review shouldn’t be an accompanying novel. And while a review is meant to share a little more than a testimonial, the key here is the word “little.” You can’t share every single thought you had while reading — that isn’t helpful for readers deciding if they’re going to read it themselves or not. So, limit your book review to the main points you want to make in about 500-1000 words. 

5 good book review examples from around the internet

If you’re still not sure how to write a helpful book review, you might want to check out these examples that we’ve pulled from some popular book review sites. 

Goodreads and Kirkus are some of the most common places for people to write and share book reviews. If you’re looking for inspiration for how to write a book review, these two sites are a good place to start. 

1. Kirkus’s review of Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams  

This short, but telling book review certainly gives readers a clear sense of the main character’s world. But the reasons this book review is especially helpful are the star ratings, the verdict shared, and the age recommendation found at the end of the review. 

2. Roxane Gay’s Goodreads review of The Mothers by Brit Bennett

Roxane Gay’s review immediately mentions the main characters and the theme of The Mothers , followed by her evaluation of what she did and didn't like about the novel . Her criticism is followed by her understanding and reasoning and ends with a positive recommendation . Notice how concisely Gay fits in all aspects of a good review into limited sentences that get her points across quickly.

3. Book of Cinz’s Goodreads review of No Land to Light on by Yara Zgheib  

This review shares a powerful initial reaction in bold — offering enticing expectations and pulling readers in. The summary followed by the emotional impact the novel will make on readers gives a clear sense of what to expect from No Land to Light On. It also mentions the perspective the story is told in , so readers know what to expect.

4. TheBibliophile’s review of The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

This review is unique because it is a bit longer, but it’s also conveniently broken up into sections that readers can click on from the top of the page. The personal review can be found between the plot summary and the recommendation where the reviewer describes her experience reading the book . What’s valuable for some is that she compares the book with the author’s previous survival-focused novel , so potential readers can choose between them.

5. Reading Middle Grade’s review of No Place Like Here

Reading Middle Grade’s review of No Place Like Here conveniently separates sections of the review so readers can quickly find what they’re looking for. It begins with the most important aspects — the main character and plotline and follows with positive feedback and negative feedback under their subheaders. The final section also mentions content that potential readers should be aware of , like parental mental illness and incarceration, and concludes with a recommendation as a summer read. 

How Jasper Can Help Write Book Reviews

Ready to write your book review? If you want a guiding hand, consider letting Jasper help you write a review that converts. 

Jasper is an AI copywriting tool that has been trained to write several kinds of copy and content. With over 50+ templates , it caters to all your writing needs, including outlining ( Blog Post Outline template), blog post writing ( Long Form Assistant template), and headline-crafting ( Perfect Headline template).

Because it’s been trained by real expert copywriters and has learned up to 10% of the internet, Jasper knows how to write sentences and paragraphs that flow seamlessly while connecting with your intended audience.

We asked Jasper to help us review Yaa Gyasi’s best-selling novel, Homegoing . Here’s some of what the Long-Form Assistant template generated.

Ever considered starting your own book review blog? Now you can with the help of AI marketing platform, Jasper.  Sign up for Jasper now and start publishing book reviews instantly.

Meet The Author:

Dave Rogenmoser

Dave is the Co-Founder Jasper , a Y Combinator-backed tech company based in Austin, Texas. He is also a husband and father of 3 boys.

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How to Write a Book Review: A Comprehensive Tutorial With Examples

You don’t need to be a literary expert to craft captivating book reviews. With one in every three readers selecting books based on insightful reviews, your opinions can guide fellow bibliophiles toward their next literary adventure.

Learning how to write a book review will not only help you excel at your assigned tasks, but you’ll also contribute valuable insights to the book-loving community and turn your passion into a professional pursuit.

In this comprehensive guide,  PaperPerk  will walk you through a few simple steps to master the art of writing book reviews so you can confidently embark on this rewarding journey.

What is a Book Review?

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book, offering insights into its content, quality, and impact. It helps readers make informed decisions about whether to read the book.

Writing a book review as an assignment benefits students in multiple ways. Firstly, it teaches them how to write a book review by developing their analytical skills as they evaluate the content, themes, and writing style .

Secondly, it enhances their ability to express opinions and provide constructive criticism. Additionally, book review assignments expose students to various publications and genres, broadening their knowledge.

Furthermore, these tasks foster essential skills for academic success, like critical thinking and the ability to synthesize information. By now, we’re sure you want to learn how to write a book review, so let’s look at the book review template first.

Table of Contents

Book Review Template

How to write a book review- a step by step guide.

Check out these 5 straightforward steps for composing the best book review.

Step 1: Planning Your Book Review – The Art of Getting Started

You’ve decided to take the plunge and share your thoughts on a book that has captivated (or perhaps disappointed) you. Before you start book reviewing, let’s take a step back and plan your approach. Since knowing how to write a book review that’s both informative and engaging is an art in itself.

Choosing Your Literature

First things first, pick the book you want to review. This might seem like a no-brainer, but selecting a book that genuinely interests you will make the review process more enjoyable and your insights more authentic.

Crafting the Master Plan

Next, create an  outline  that covers all the essential points you want to discuss in your review. This will serve as the roadmap for your writing journey.

The Devil is in the Details

As you read, note any information that stands out, whether it overwhelms, underwhelms, or simply intrigues you. Pay attention to:

• The characters and their development
• The plot and its intricacies
• Any themes, symbols, or motifs you find noteworthy

Remember to reserve a body paragraph for each point you want to discuss.

The Key Questions to Ponder

When planning your book review, consider the following questions:

• What’s the plot (if any)? Understanding the driving force behind the book will help you craft a more effective review.
• Is the plot interesting? Did the book hold your attention and keep you turning the pages?
• Are the writing techniques effective? Does the author’s style captivate you, making you want to read (or reread) the text?
• Are the characters or the information believable? Do the characters/plot/information feel real, and can you relate to them?
• Would you recommend the book to anyone? Consider if the book is worthy of being recommended, whether to impress someone or to support a point in a literature class.
• What could improve? Always keep an eye out for areas that could be improved. Providing constructive criticism can enhance the quality of literature.

Step 2 – Crafting the Perfect Introduction to Write a Book Review

In this second step of “how to write a book review,” we’re focusing on the art of creating a powerful opening that will hook your audience and set the stage for your analysis.

Identify Your Book and Author

Begin by mentioning the book you’ve chosen, including its  title  and the author’s name. This informs your readers and establishes the subject of your review.

Ponder the Title

Next, discuss the mental images or emotions the book’s title evokes in your mind . This helps your readers understand your initial feelings and expectations before diving into the book.

Judge the Book by Its Cover (Just a Little)

Take a moment to talk about the book’s cover. Did it intrigue you? Did it hint at what to expect from the story or the author’s writing style? Sharing your thoughts on the cover can offer a unique perspective on how the book presents itself to potential readers.

Present Your Thesis

Now it’s time to introduce your thesis. This statement should be a concise and insightful summary of your opinion of the book. For example:

“Normal People” by Sally Rooney is a captivating portrayal of the complexities of human relationships, exploring themes of love, class, and self-discovery with exceptional depth and authenticity.

Ensure that your thesis is relevant to the points or quotes you plan to discuss throughout your review.

Incorporating these elements into your introduction will create a strong foundation for your book review. Your readers will be eager to learn more about your thoughts and insights on the book, setting the stage for a compelling and thought-provoking analysis.

How to Write a Book Review: Step 3 – Building Brilliant Body Paragraphs

You’ve planned your review and written an attention-grabbing introduction. Now it’s time for the main event: crafting the body paragraphs of your book review. In this step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of constructing engaging and insightful body paragraphs that will keep your readers hooked.

Summarize Without Spoilers

Begin by summarizing a specific section of the book, not revealing any major plot twists or spoilers. Your goal is to give your readers a taste of the story without ruining surprises.

Support Your Viewpoint with Quotes

Next, choose three quotes from the book that support your viewpoint or opinion. These quotes should be relevant to the section you’re summarizing and help illustrate your thoughts on the book.

Analyze the Quotes

Write a summary of each quote in your own words, explaining how it made you feel or what it led you to think about the book or the author’s writing. This analysis should provide insight into your perspective and demonstrate your understanding of the text.

Structure Your Body Paragraphs

Dedicate one body paragraph to each quote, ensuring your writing is well-connected, coherent, and easy to understand.

For example:

• In  Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë writes, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.” This powerful statement highlights Jane’s fierce independence and refusal to be trapped by societal expectations.
• In  Normal People , Sally Rooney explores the complexities of love and friendship when she writes, “It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys.” This quote reveals the author’s astute observations on the role of culture and class in shaping personal relationships.
• In  Wuthering Heights , Emily Brontë captures the tumultuous nature of love with the quote, “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This poignant line emphasizes the deep, unbreakable bond between the story’s central characters.

By following these guidelines, you’ll create body paragraphs that are both captivating and insightful, enhancing your book review and providing your readers with a deeper understanding of the literary work. 

How to Write a Book Review: Step 4 – Crafting a Captivating Conclusion

You’ve navigated through planning, introductions, and body paragraphs with finesse. Now it’s time to wrap up your book review with a  conclusion that leaves a lasting impression . In this final step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of writing a memorable and persuasive conclusion.

Summarize Your Analysis

Begin by summarizing the key points you’ve presented in the body paragraphs. This helps to remind your readers of the insights and arguments you’ve shared throughout your review.

Offer Your Final Conclusion

Next, provide a conclusion that reflects your overall feelings about the book. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression and persuade your readers to consider your perspective.

Address the Book’s Appeal

Now, answer the question: Is this book worth reading? Be clear about who would enjoy the book and who might not. Discuss the taste preferences and circumstances that make the book more appealing to some readers than others.

For example:  The Alchemist is a book that can enchant a young teen, but those who are already well-versed in classic literature might find it less engaging.

Be Subtle and Balanced

Avoid simply stating whether you “liked” or “disliked” the book. Instead, use nuanced language to convey your message. Highlight the pros and cons of reading the type of literature you’ve reviewed, offering a balanced perspective.

Bringing It All Together

By following these guidelines, you’ll craft a conclusion that leaves your readers with a clear understanding of your thoughts and opinions on the book. Your review will be a valuable resource for those considering whether to pick up the book, and your witty and insightful analysis will make your review a pleasure to read. So conquer the world of book reviews, one captivating conclusion at a time!

How to Write a Book Review: Step 5 – Rating the Book (Optional)

You’ve masterfully crafted your book review, from the introduction to the conclusion. But wait, there’s one more step you might consider before calling it a day: rating the book. In this optional step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the benefits and methods of assigning a rating to the book you’ve reviewed.

Why Rate the Book?

Sometimes, when writing a professional book review, it may not be appropriate to state whether you liked or disliked the book. In such cases, assigning a rating can be an effective way to get your message across without explicitly sharing your personal opinion.

How to Rate the Book

There are various rating systems you can use to evaluate the book, such as:

• A star rating (e.g., 1 to 5 stars)
• A numerical score (e.g., 1 to 10)
• A letter grade (e.g., A+ to F)

Choose a rating system that best suits your style and the format of your review. Be consistent in your rating criteria, considering writing quality, character development, plot, and overall enjoyment.

Tips for Rating the Book

Here are some tips for rating the book effectively:

• Be honest: Your rating should reflect your true feelings about the book. Don’t inflate or deflate your rating based on external factors, such as the book’s popularity or the author’s reputation.
• Be fair:Consider the book’s merits and shortcomings when rating. Even if you didn’t enjoy the book, recognize its strengths and acknowledge them in your rating.
• Be clear: Explain the rationale behind your rating so your readers understand the factors that influenced your evaluation.

Wrapping Up

By including a rating in your book review, you provide your readers with an additional insight into your thoughts on the book. While this step is optional, it can be a valuable tool for conveying your message subtly yet effectively. So, rate those books confidently, adding a touch of wit and wisdom to your book reviews.

Additional Tips on How to Write a Book Review: A Guide

In this segment, we’ll explore additional tips on how to write a book review. Get ready to captivate your readers and make your review a memorable one!

Hook ’em with an Intriguing Introduction

Keep your introduction precise and to the point. Readers have the attention span of a goldfish these days, so don’t let them swim away in boredom. Start with a bang and keep them hooked!

Embrace the World of Fiction

When learning how to write a book review, remember that reviewing fiction is often more engaging and effective. If your professor hasn’t assigned you a specific book, dive into the realm of fiction and select a novel that piques your interest.

Opinionated with Gusto

Don’t shy away from adding your own opinion to your review. A good book review always features the writer’s viewpoint and constructive criticism. After all, your readers want to know what  you  think!

Express Your Love (or Lack Thereof)

If you adored the book, let your readers know! Use phrases like “I’ll definitely return to this book again” to convey your enthusiasm. Conversely, be honest but respectful even if the book wasn’t your cup of tea.

Templates and Examples and Expert Help: Your Trusty Sidekicks

Feeling lost? You can always get help from formats, book review examples or online  college paper writing service  platforms. These trusty sidekicks will help you navigate the world of book reviews with ease. 

Be a Champion for New Writers and Literature

Remember to uplift new writers and pieces of literature. If you want to suggest improvements, do so kindly and constructively. There’s no need to be mean about anyone’s books – we’re all in this literary adventure together!

Criticize with Clarity, Not Cruelty

When adding criticism to your review, be clear but not mean. Remember, there’s a fine line between constructive criticism and cruelty. Tread lightly and keep your reader’s feelings in mind.

Avoid the Comparison Trap

Resist the urge to compare one writer’s book with another. Every book holds its worth, and comparing them will only confuse your reader. Stick to discussing the book at hand, and let it shine in its own light.

Top 7 Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Writing a book review can be a delightful and rewarding experience, especially when you balance analysis, wit, and personal insights. However, some common mistakes can kill the brilliance of your review. 

In this section of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the top 7 blunders writers commit and how to steer clear of them, with a dash of  modernist literature  examples and tips for students writing book reviews as assignments.

Succumbing to the Lure of Plot Summaries

Mistake: Diving headfirst into a plot summary instead of dissecting the book’s themes, characters, and writing style.

Example: “The Bell Jar chronicles the life of a young woman who experiences a mental breakdown.”

How to Avoid: Delve into the book’s deeper aspects, such as its portrayal of mental health, societal expectations, and the author’s distinctive narrative voice. Offer thoughtful insights and reflections, making your review a treasure trove of analysis.

Unleashing the Spoiler Kraken

Mistake: Spilling major plot twists or the ending without providing a spoiler warning, effectively ruining the reading experience for potential readers.

Example: “In Metamorphosis, the protagonist’s transformation into a monstrous insect leads to…”

How to Avoid: Tread carefully when discussing significant plot developments, and consider using spoiler warnings. Focus on the impact of these plot points on the overall narrative, character growth, or thematic resonance.

Riding the Personal Bias Express

Mistake: Allowing personal bias to hijack the review without providing sufficient evidence or reasoning to support opinions.

Example: “I detest books about existential crises, so The Sun Also Rises was a snoozefest.”

How to Avoid: While personal opinions are valid, it’s crucial to back them up with specific examples from the book. Discuss aspects like writing style, character development, or pacing to support your evaluation and provide a more balanced perspective.

Wielding the Vague Language Saber

Mistake: Resorting to generic, vague language that fails to capture the nuances of the book and can come across as clichéd.

Example: “This book was mind-blowing. It’s a must-read for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Use precise and descriptive language to express your thoughts. Employ specific examples and quotations to highlight memorable scenes, the author’s unique writing style, or the impact of the book’s themes on readers.

Ignoring the Contextualization Compass

Mistake: Neglecting to provide context about the author, genre, or cultural relevance of the book, leaving readers without a proper frame of reference.

Example: “This book is dull and unoriginal.”

How to Avoid: Offer readers a broader understanding by discussing the author’s background, the genre conventions the book adheres to or subverts, and any societal or historical contexts that inform the narrative. This helps readers appreciate the book’s uniqueness and relevance.

Overindulging in Personal Preferences

Mistake: Letting personal preferences overshadow an objective assessment of the book’s merits.

Example: “I don’t like stream-of-consciousness writing, so this book is automatically bad.”

How to Avoid: Acknowledge personal preferences but strive to evaluate the book objectively. Focus on the book’s strengths and weaknesses, considering how well it achieves its goals within its genre or intended audience.

Forgetting the Target Audience Telescope

Mistake: Failing to mention the book’s target audience or who might enjoy it, leading to confusion for potential readers.

Example: “This book is great for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Contemplate the book’s intended audience, genre, and themes. Mention who might particularly enjoy the book based on these factors, whether it’s fans of a specific genre, readers interested in character-driven stories, or those seeking thought-provoking narratives.

By dodging these common pitfalls, writers can craft insightful, balanced, and engaging book reviews that help readers make informed decisions about their reading choices.

These tips are particularly beneficial for students writing book reviews as assignments, as they ensure a well-rounded and thoughtful analysis.!

Many students requested us to cover how to write a book review. This thorough guide is sure to help you. At Paperperk, professionals are dedicated to helping students find their balance. We understand the importance of good grades, so we offer the finest writing service , ensuring students stay ahead of the curve. So seek expert help because only Paperperk is your perfect solution!

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Home » Writing » How to Write a Good Book Review

Tips for Writing a Good Book Review 

Now that you’ve prepped what you want to say, how you want to say it, and who you want to say it to, it’s time to start writing. Below we’ve gathered our favorite tips to help you write a good book review. Wait… make that a GREAT book review.

1. Include general information

Make sure to include all the relevant book information for your audience , including the title, author, genre, and publisher in your review. While not necessary, it is also helpful to include the number of pages, list price, and ISBN number.

2. Provide a brief plot summary

After the hook, you can then move on to the brief plot summary. This summary shouldn’t be too long, but it can be a paragraph that explains the basic plot so that the reader better understands if it’s a topic of interest. One pitfall to avoid is to give away spoilers in the plot summary. Don’t give away any plot twists, and err on the side of caution if you feel that the information is too much. For example, tell the reader that the plot has unexpected twists rather than explain any surprises in the summary.

3. Focus on the book, not the author

Keep in mind that your main job as a reviewer is to share your opinion on the book, not to critique the author. Keep the focus on the story. Avoid referencing pitfalls in any of the author’s past books or what you about them as a writer. You can provide a brief introduction to the story mentioning the author and past books, but don’t spend too much time focused on the author. The review should focus on the content of the book and its characters.

4. Be clear and specific

It is not enough to just say that you did or didn’t like the book. Let your readers know why. Make your thoughts clear as early as possible and explain the reasons why you liked or disliked specific storyline components and characters. Be specific about what you loved about the writing, what drew you to the characters, or what left you feeling lukewarm about the plot. You don’t need to explain every aspect of the book, but the reader should walk away with a sense that they understand the basic plot and determine from the review if they want to read the book for themselves.

5. Remain subjective

Not all book reviews have to be glowing, but they should be subjective. Rather than just saying you didn’t like something, support it by letting your readers know why. We all gravitate towards different things, so what may not appeal to you may appeal to someone else. If you remain subjective, then you can explain to the reader the basic story and let them decide for themselves. The review can include your likes and dislikes, but they should focus on what you felt the story did well and what parts of the story you didn’t like. However, the main focus of the review should be to explain the story so that readers can determine if they want to read the book further.

6. Avoid spoilers

We know it can be tempting, but do your best not to let any spoilers slip in your book review. Have you ever been excited to see the latest blockbuster hit (or watch the season cliffhanger to your favorite TV show) and then someone spoils the end before you even have time to watch? That is exactly what you don’t want to do to your reader. As you explain the book in your summary, ask yourself if what you are explaining ruins any surprises or twists. As you write the review, keep it vague. For example, explain that there is a major plot twist but don’t go into the specifics.

7. Be transparent

Always share if you received an incentive to review the book, got an advance copy, or have any connection to the author. Your readers will appreciate your honesty. Plus, it helps you avoid the negative impact on your credibility if they find out later. Getting paid for a review is a perfectly reasonable excuse to read a book, but it does allow readers to determine if you’re being unbiased. By specifying if you have any relationship with the author, the reader can better trust your opinion, even if they feel you’re being more biased.

8. Keep it short

While book reviews can be any length, it is always best to keep it short and succinct. Pull in your reader with a strong first sentence that sets the tone of the review and end with your recommendation. Remember, most people start to scan when something gets too long. A book review is a short summary, so writing a novel-length review loses reader interests. Keeping it short will ensure that your readers will dive into your likes and dislikes and use your reviews to determine if they have an interest in the books.

9. Proofread before posting

The quickest way to lose credibility is to post a review filled with typos. Make sure to give your final book review a thorough read before posting it and double check the spelling of any character names or places that you mention. Even better, ask someone else to read it over. It is always good to have a fresh pair of eyes proof to catch any typos. If you don’t have a family or friend who will help with proofreader, you can join a writing community where members offer test reads and proofreading. Make sure that you don’t post the review publicly, because search engines will index it and the review will no longer be unique content.

Also, keep in mind that you will want to write different book reviews for different sites. Don’t just copy and paste the same review. Google search engines scan for duplicate content and if flagged, your review won’t appear.

10. Add a hook

The hook is one or two sentences that grab the reader and convince them to keep going. It should be interesting, but it should also stick with the topic without misleading readers. The hook could be a simple statement that explains the main character of the book, or it could ask a question that resonates with the reader. Don’t make the hook too sensational to avoid sounding like a sales pitch. It should simply provide an introduction that grabs reader interests.

11. Explain what you liked about the book

Writing your own book review is a way to explain what you liked about it, and what you liked could be of interest to another reader. This section allows you to personalize the review. You can explain what you liked about the characters, who was your favorite character, what part of the book was your favorite, and if the book invoked any personal feelings (e.g., you laughed or cried).

12. Explain what you disliked about the book

You likely have something that you disliked about the book, and this section explains what you wish would have been different about the storyline or the characters. Just like the other sections, make sure that you do not reveal too much and give away important plot lines that could be considered spoilers for the rest of the story.

13. Include brief quotes as examples

Brief quotes provide readers with better insight into characters. Using quotes from characters will help the reader follow the plot summary and determine if the characters are people they can relate to. Avoid using excessively long quotes. Since the reader hasn’t read the book, a long quote could ruin plot twists or overpower the review.

14. Reference similar books

A great way to introduce readers to a specific book is to compare your book review with other books. For example, you can explain to the reader that they will like the current book you’re reviewing if they like another similar book. Alternatively, you can also compare characters between books to provide better insight into the story’s characters and the dynamic between individual characters.

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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!

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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! 🤗

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

Reading is a magical, enriching hobby. If you’re an avid reader, and you also like to write, blogging about books may be a relaxing yet lucrative way to express your thoughts.

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.

Before you make your first attempt, look at successful book review blogs. Try to analyze what and figure out the features that these book blogs have in common. What makes them juicy and irresistible? Then, find a couple that you like the most. What are the features that stand out and make their blogs interesting? What draws you to their content? And what would you change to make them even better? Write your findings down so you can refer to them once you’re building your blog.

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:

• How does blogging success look to you?
• How many blog readers would you like to attract in a given of time?
• How many reviews and other types of posts would you like to publish every month?
• How much money (if any) would you like to earn with your blog?

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

Most successful blogs (in any writing-related niche ) out there have fairly strict rules regarding the tone of voice and formatting of their posts. Your style guide doesn’t have to be super intricate. However establishing basic formatting rules will help make your blog seem polished and unified, which is very important in building your brand .

• Think about the general formatting you want your blog to have – basic guidelines regarding headings, numbering, bullet points, bold text, and so on.
• Consider SEO – you don’t have to be a techie to understand the significance of SEO , or its basic principles.
• Don’t forget to establish your tone of voice, which is strongly felt in the way you address the reader, the vocabulary you use , and the attitude you want to express.
• Last but not least, consider your particular book-reviewing format – do you want to have a star rating system, and are there any repeating parameters you’ll want to use to review books?

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

It’s finally the time to get down to work and get your hands dirty creating your blog. I went through all the steps here , so I’ll only outline your options in this article. I believe anybody can make their website from scratch because it’s not that complicated with a good guide to help you through. However, if you’re a tech wizard, or you simply don’t want to spend your time mastering website-building skills, you may seek professionals on job boards like Upwork or networks like Linkedin.

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:

Unless you have experience writing CSS code or working in a program like Adobe Dreamweaver, you have two options at your disposal when it comes to the design of your website. Those are using a preset theme or hiring a professional to make your blog look super outstanding. WordPress, Blogger, Wix, and many other website platforms offer you a plethora of choices when it comes to design themes. You simply need to pick one that you feel looks nice and doesn’t affect text readability, make small tweaks, and you’re good to go.

Web Hosting:

When you start setting up your blog, you’ll realize that WordPress and Blogger give you the option to host your blog for free. If you’re a hobby writer or a product or services reviewer , this is not a big issue. But if you want to earn from your blog , the free options are very limiting. Luckily, you only need to pay a few dollars per month for your own, unrestricted blog hosting. There’s a wide variety of hosting companies that sell web space. I opted for Siteground , because it’s affordable, very easy to use, and installing WordPress is a breeze.

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

Hurray – if you got this far, you’re a proud owner of a brand-new website! It’s time to say hi to the world! That’s right, now you need to create your About and Contact pages. Almost every reader enjoys knowing who the person behind the blog is. You don’t have to reveal your private information, but it’s nice to introduce yourself and share your motivation for blogging with your audience. This way, you can start on the right foot with your readers, and let them know what to expect from your blog in the future.

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

This is a basic overview of the process, but it should get you started on the right path. Please never give up on your dream of becoming a successful blogger. It takes persistence and determination, but I’m sure that you can do it. Just prepare for a few months of silence before you get some feedback from your readers. This is the most difficult point, but once you cross that line, everything becomes more exciting. Next up, you may want to check the list of the top traditional book publishers who may be interested in your manuscript.

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How to Write a Book Review: The Complete Guide

by Sue Weems | 23 comments

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If you've ever loved (or hated) a book, you may have been tempted to review it. Here's a complete guide to how to write a book review, so you can share your literary adventures with other readers more often! 

You finally reach the last page of a book that kept you up all night and close it with the afterglow of satisfaction and a tinge of regret that it’s over. If you enjoyed the book enough to stay up reading it way past your bedtime, consider writing a review. It is one of the best gifts you can give an author.

Regardless of how much you know about how to write a book review, the author will appreciate hearing how their words touched you.

But as you face the five shaded stars and empty box, a blank mind strikes. What do I say? I mean, is this a book really deserving of five stars? How did it compare to Dostoevsky or Angelou or Dickens?

Maybe there’s an easier way to write a book review.

Want to learn how to write a book from start to finish? Check out How to Write a Book: The Complete Guide .

The Fallacy of Book Reviews

Once you’ve decided to give a review, you are faced with the task of deciding how many stars to give a book.

When I first started writing book reviews, I made the mistake of trying to compare a book to ALL BOOKS OF ALL TIME. (Sorry for the all caps, but that’s how it felt, like a James Earl Jones voice was asking me where to put this book in the queue of all books.)

Other readers find themselves comparing new titles to their favorite books. It's a natural comparison. But is it fair?

This is honestly why I didn’t give reviews of books for a long time. How can I compare a modern romance or historical fiction war novel with Dostoevsky? I can’t, and I shouldn’t.

I realized my mistake one day as I was watching (of all things) a dog show. In the final round, they trotted out dogs of all shapes, colors, and sizes. I thought, “How can a Yorkshire Terrier compete with a Basset Hound?” As if he'd read my mind, the announcer explained that each is judged by the standards for its breed.

This was my “Aha!” moment. I have to take a book on its own terms. The question is not, “How does this book compare to all books I’ve read?” but “How well did this book deliver what it promised for the intended audience?”

A review is going to reflect my personal experience with the book, but I can help potential readers by taking a minute to consider what the author intended. Let me explain what I mean. 

How to Write a Book Review: Consider a Book’s Promise

A book makes a promise with its cover, blurb, and first pages. It begins to set expectations the minute a reader views the thumbnail or cover. Those things indicate the genre, tone, and likely the major themes.

If a book cover includes a lip-locked couple in flowing linen on a beach, and I open to the first page to read about a pimpled vampire in a trench coat speaking like Mr. Knightly about his plan for revenge on the entire human race, there’s been a breach of contract before I even get to page two. These are the books we put down immediately (unless a mixed-message beachy cover combined with an Austen vampire story is your thing).

But what if the cover, blurb, and first pages are cohesive and perk our interest enough to keep reading? Then we have to think about what the book has promised us, which revolves around one key idea: What is the core story question and how well is it resolved?

Sometimes genre expectations help us answer this question: a romance will end with a couple who finds their way, a murder mystery ends with a solved case, a thriller’s protagonist beats the clock and saves the country or planet.

The stories we love most do those expected things in a fresh or surprising way with characters we root for from the first page. Even (and especially!) when a book doesn’t fit neatly in a genre category, we need to consider what the book promises on those first pages and decide how well it succeeds on the terms it sets for itself.

When I Don’t Know What to Write

About a month ago, I realized I was overthinking how to write a book review. Here at the Write Practice we have a longstanding tradition of giving critiques using the Oreo method : point out something that was a strength, then something we wondered about or that confused us, followed by another positive.

We can use this same structure to write a simple review when we finish books. Consider this book review format: 

[Book Title] by [book author] is about ___[plot summary in a sentence—no spoilers!]___. I chose this book based on ________. I really enjoyed ________. I wondered how ___________. Anyone who likes ____ will love this book.

Following this basic template can help you write an honest review about most any book, and it will give the author or publisher good information about what worked (and possibly what didn’t). You might write about the characters, the conflict, the setting, or anything else that captured you and kept you reading.

As an added bonus, you will be a stronger reader when you are able to express why you enjoyed parts of a book (just like when you critique!). After you complete a few, you’ll find it gets easier, and you won’t need the template anymore.

What if I Didn’t Like It?

Like professional book reviewers, you will have to make the call about when to leave a negative review. If I can’t give a book at least three stars, I usually don’t review it. Why? If I don’t like a book after a couple chapters, I put it down. I don’t review anything that I haven’t read the entire book.

Also, it may be that I’m not the target audience. The book might be well-written and well-reviewed with a great cover, and it just doesn’t capture me. Or maybe it's a book that just isn't hitting me right now for reasons that have nothing to do with the book and everything to do with my own reading life and needs. Every book is not meant for every reader.

If a book kept me reading all the way to the end and I didn’t like the ending? I would probably still review it, since there had to be enough good things going on to keep me reading to the end. I might mention in my review that the ending was less satisfying than I hoped, but I would still end with a positive.

How to Write a Book Review: Your Turn

As writers, we know how difficult it is to put down the words day after day. We are typically voracious readers. Let’s send some love back out to our fellow writers this week and review the most recent title we enjoyed.

What was the last book you read or reviewed? Do you ever find it hard to review a book? Share in the comments .

Now it's your turn. Think of the last book you read. Then, take fifteen minutes to write a review of it based on the template above. When you're done, share your review in the Pro Practice Workshop . For bonus points, post it on the book's page on Amazon and Goodreads, too!

Don't forget to leave feedback for your fellow writers! What new reads will you discover in the comments?

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Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

23 Comments

The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin is about a girl that shows no emotion befriending a ice dragon.

I chose this book based on the cover that had a little girl riding a ice dragon, and wondered what is about.

I really enjoyed the interaction the little girl had with the dragon.

I wondered how how the girl’s bond with the dragon.

Anyone who likes a coming of age story set in a fantasy will love this book.

Thanks for sharing your practice, Azure!

You’re welcome.

A interesting, at times perplexing, subject! And one on my mind lately,as I’ve agreed to do a few. I do enjoy giving reviews and am delighted when I can say, “This was a great book!” Or even, “I enjoyed this book.” It gets perplexing when I agree to review a book — and simply don’t like it. Then what to say? I hate to disappoint the writer but I’ve promised to give my honest opinion.

I’ve found some books mediocre and yet I see a dozen other reviewers saying “A great story!” Tastes do vary. But when there are obvious flaws I tend to skip all the best-friend-and-cousin reviewers and find the first person who says, “This writer has a problem with…” Usually there’ll be a number of reviewers who spot the same problems I do.

I like upbeat main characters, but not aggressive, belligerent, and/or self-centered ones. I like to meet in a story the kind of people I’d like to meet in real life— not people I’d avoid if possible. I recently read a book where the main character came across as insipid and the story only mildly interesting. Other reviewers said it was great and I know for this specific audience — readers who want a certain slant to a story — it was quite suitable. So I tried to cut the book some slack. Everyone has their limit as to how much blood and gore, smooching and snuggling, they are willing to read about.

Once I agreed to review a book and would have tossed it after the first chapter — for several reasons. A lot of “writer inserting facts for reader’s benefit”; teach/preach paragraphs; excess of description; attitudes of MCs. Once it’s live on seller’s sites like Amazon, what can you say? The one thing good it had going for it was the story line or theme. With a pro editor’s help it could have been a great story.

As for a review, one book I read lately was “A Clue for the Puzzle Lady” by Parnell Hall. It’s one of those “Stayed up half the night to finish it” books; I think anyone who likes a compelling cozy mystery would probably like it. Downside: I didn’t care for the “Puzzle Lady.” She’s a lush, hangs out at the bar getting sloshed. The upside: her sensible niece has a starring role —trying to keep her aunt on the straight-and-narrow and the mystery keeps you guessing until the end.

Christine, Thanks for sharing your insight! It sounds like you are approached often to review new books. It does make it tricky if it’s a request, especially outside your own preferences. Thanks for chiming in about your process, as I’m sure others will appreciate the perspective too. I’ll have to take a look at the Puzzle Lady– I do enjoy cozy mysteries. Sue

Here’s another cozy mystery book review in case you’re interested. I’m not approached by writers that often, but there are the Story Cartel, Book Bub and Goodreads, all sites where authors ask for review volunteers.

Reel Estate Ripoff by Renee Pawlish

The detective Reed Ferguson is a fan of Humphry Bogart, movie memorabilia of that era, and fancies himself a bit of a Sam Slade. Though not your super-sleuth, rather inept at times, he’s a likeable character. Told in first person, the story has a Philip Marlowe tone to it, but much tamer. Dialogue and story line are well done, the story well plotted and believable. I’d gladly read more stories about this particular gumshoe.

If you like cozy mystery books, I’ll send you a list later, Sue. Love them too and I’ve met many authors who write in this genre. Back on topic– you inspire me again to add some reviews to my Blog. I have been reading and writing many middle grade mysteries for a project! My latest favorite: “The World’s Greatest Detective” by Caroline Carson (who I hope to meet tomorrow in Arlington, VA!) My 12 year old grandson borrowed it and finished it before I could. “It’s the best mystery I ever read, Grandma! You’ ll never guess the ending with unpredictable twists!” What better review could we read. The target audience and I both highly recommend this 2017 mystery.

Adding it to my stack, Beth. Thanks!

Not wanting to sound life an idiot, but willing to risk it here among friends: What exactly is a cozy mystery?

Glad you asked! It’s a subgenre of mystery. The best examples of cozy mysteries are those by Agatha Christie. They usually avoid profanity, excessive gore/ violence, and sex. They focus more on the puzzle, sleuth, and their smaller world. Hope that helps!

Thanks, Sue.

Wonderful article. The first I have read by you. It especially gets those of us who don’t feel we have the formula down for review writing to be introduced to a form we can build upon with experience. You’ve kept it simple but you have given us the main ingredients needed for a good review. I printed this one off to look at the next few times I write reviews. Thank you.

Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for reading and commenting!

I haven’t gone into all this. It’s a matter of time, Joe. I gad about all over the place, not knowing where I am or where I’m going. Within weeks, I’ll be 87. I’ve books of my own that I’d like to see reviewed. Even sorting them out, however, even finding where any of them are, would be a time burden. You see the fix?

Hi Dave, You aren’t alone in feeling the press of time for getting your stories out into the world. May I gently offer this: start with finding and sorting one. If you can’t find it, write it anew. You’ve probably grown in time and perspective since you wrote the first draft, which will make for a stronger story. Good luck. I’m cheering you on!

This is an article for me, because I am happy to receive a rating. I haven’t sold many books. But, at least some thinks that it was worth the time to read. That was refreshing. And, I think I wrote two reviews, so far. It was on Amazon.com. Thank you.

You’re welcome!

Hi, Sue. Thanks for the helpful advice. I did a review on Amazon for the first of a 7-part thriller titled ‘Mosh Pit (The Rose Garden Incident)’ by Michael Hiebert. [Here it is.]

“5.0 out of 5 stars Advance copy review. By A fellow author on September 18, 2016 Format: Kindle Edition I Recommend This Book Strongly

I enjoyed reading this first part of the thriller. The author’s opening chapter/prologue was fast paced, and set me in the middle of the inciting incident along with two of the main characters. After that thrilling opening, I felt the ensuing chapters moved at a more leisurely pace, and was about to grade them as less praiseworthy when I watched a lecture by Brandon Sanderson on YouTube about building three dimensional characters and realised Michael Hiebert had done exactly that by introducing the reader to the minutiae of other characters who had parts to play in the development of the story. So, instead of cardboard cutouts of bland stock characters, the author shows us real people with real concerns that the reader can relate to.and actually care about. I look forward to reading the rest of this intriguing thriller, and highly recommend it to all lovers of well-written, and well-crafted thrillers.”

I also reviewed Part 2 of the series, but that review is too long to post here.

Footnote: The author, Michael Hiebert, was so pleased with my reviews, he recently asked me to beta-read a short story collection he plans to publish in November.

Great review, John! I like how you shared a bit of your process as a reader too, in recognizing what the writer was doing with their characterization. Thanks!

Thank you, Sue.

Five out of five stars When I picked up a copy of “The Girl with All the Gifts,” by M R Carey, at the used book store, I somehow had it in my head that it was a YA dystopian novel along the lines of “Divergent” or “The Hunger Games.” While I would definitely say that I was not right about that, I wouldn’t say that I was completely wrong. I was, however, completely unprepared for a zombie novel–which is a good thing, cause I wouldn’t have read it, and I’m glad I did. Think “The Walking Dead” meets (why do I want to say ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night”?) “Peter Pan.” I really enjoyed seeing things from, the main character, Melanie’s point of view. Her limited knowledge of her own situation was intriguing, to say the least (and probably why I thought of “The Curious Incident”). I was a bit disappointed when the POV changed to another character’s, but, as the novel progressed, I found myself sympathizing with nearly all the characters–with one exception, and I’ll leave that for you to ponder when you read it. I wondered how much of the science was real, but not enough for me to research it myself. Although, based on other reviews, I guess most of the science about the fungus is real. I also wondered about the fate of the remaining ‘lost boys’ of the cities. If you liked…. well, I don’t know. I’m not typically a fan of things zombie, so I don’t have a comparison, but the book was somewhat similar to “Divergent” and “The Hunger Games” in that the main character goes through a hellluva time and comes out the other side with a plan for her future.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom is a true story about how one man found meaning in life when his doctors gave him a death sentence. Morrie was a college professor who passed on his new found wisdom in the last year of his life to a favorite student, the author, who chronicled his professor’s perspectives on death and dying.

I chose this book because of its philosophical topic, and because it is so well written that the words just jump off the page.

Knowing we are all mortal beings, I especially liked the insights, the tidbits of wisdom imparted by the dying man. Death is a subject that few, if any of us, ever talk about seriously with friends and family. The subject of death is verboten. We deny its existence. And, if we are religious, we pretend we will not really die, but we deceive ourselves and think we will live on in some afterlife existence for all eternity. But the professor, Morrie, learns some valuable life lessons from his impending death, and Mitch Albom was gracious enough to capture them in this short but eminently readable book.

I really liked the book because it is timeless. This true story will impart serious life lessons for all future generations, and will help us gain perspectives on our lives and the relationships with those we love the most.

R. Allan Worrell

Sue, I’ve been meaning to come back since this was first posted to tell you thanks for a great article. I seldom review books for alllllll the reasons you listed. This is a perfect tool and I’ll surely use it. Cathy

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How to Write a Great Book Review: 6 Templates and Ideas

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Whether you’ve loved or hated your recent reads, writing book reviews can be a fun and satisfying process. It’s a great way to unpack messages and information from a story, and it also helps you remember key elements of a book for much longer than you usually would. Plus, book reviews open up some interesting and exciting debates between readers with different opinions, and they also help others decide which books to read next .

Table of Contents

Where Can You Post Book Reviews?

Back in the old days, book reviews were reserved for leading publications and journals, but now, anyone can create their own book reviews, and they’re popping up almost everywhere.

Social Media

Bookworms have taken over social media, with hashtags like # bookstagram drawing in millions of readers from around the internet to share thoughts, ideas, inspiration, and of course, reviews.

Book blogs are also blowing up right now, and plenty of avid readers are making a solid income by writing and sharing their book reviews this way. You can either create your own from scratch or write guest posts and reviews for already established blogs.

Goodreads is the undisputed online home of books. It’s a great place to find inspiration for your next reads, browse other people’s book reviews, and of course, add your own reviews, too.

If you post a review of a popular book on Goodreads, it’s bound to be seen by a huge audience. Plus, it’s a great way to advertise your blog if you have one, as the Goodreads guidelines allow you to insert a link within the body of your review.

The world’s largest bookstore gets an incredible amount of traffic, so it’s one of the best places to get your reviews seen by the masses. But bear in mind that there are more rules and regulations for Amazon book reviews than on some of the other platforms listed here. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the guidelines first, or your submission could be rejected.

Booktube is a Youtube community dedicated to reviewing, discussing, and recommending books. If you’re comfortable in front of a camera, vlogging your book reviews on Booktube is an excellent alternative to the more traditional written book reviews above. It’s also a great way to get noticed by viewers around the world.

Some Booktube reviewers make their entire income from their channel, so if you’re passionate about reviewing and want to turn it into a living, this is a great avenue to explore.

Get Paid for Your Book Reviews

Some of the platforms I’ve listed above, like Booktube, Instagram, and blogging , allow you to get paid for your book reviews if you generate enough traffic, but getting to that level takes a lot of dedication, time, and patience.

Thankfully, there are plenty of websites that pay reviewers on a freelance basis. Here are three of the most popular:

Remember, each site has strict submission guidelines and requirements that you’ll need to check carefully before writing and submitting a review.

Kirkus Reviews

The Kirkus Reviews magazine, founded in 1933, is one of America’s oldest, most respected book reviewing companies.

They accept reviews around 350 words in length, and once you’re assigned the gig, you have a two-week submission deadline.

Kirkus is always on the lookout for new book reviewers, but you’ll need to prove you have experience and talent before they’ll accept your submissions. The best way to do this is to create a professional-looking portfolio that showcases your previous reviews, both paid and unpaid.

Booklist is a subgroup of the American Library Association. They feature all kinds of book reviews, both fiction and non-fiction, and publish them online and in print.

They pay their reviewers on a freelance, book-by-book basis. Their rates aren’t going to make you rich (around $12- $15 per review), but it’s a great way to gain some professional experience and build your book review portfolio without having to work for free.

Booklist has various publication outlets, such as their quarterly in-print magazine, a reader’s blog, and top book lists. Plus, they also accept pitches for book-related news and author interviews.

Online Book Club

This free-to-access community of bibliophiles has been going for over ten years, with a million active members and counting.

To join their professional freelance team, you’ll first have to submit an unpaid review to help them to determine if you’re worth hiring. If your review makes the cut, then your next submission is paid at a rate varying between $5 and $60, depending on the book’s length, the quality of the review, etc.

One of the major stipulations of Online Book Club is that your reviews are in-depth and honest. If you don’t like the book, never put a positive spin on it for the sake of it. ( The same goes for any book review platform you post on. )

It’s also worth noting that with Online Book Club, you’ll never pay for the books you review. So even if they reject your submission, you’ll still get a free book out of it.

How to Write a Book Review?

Book reviews can range from a simple tweet to a full-length essay or long-form blog post and anything in between.

As I mentioned above, some book review sites and platforms have strict guidelines and parameters to follow. But if you’re writing a book review for social media, your own blog, or any other purpose that lets you take the reins, then the following ideas will give you some help and inspiration to get started.

But before we dive in, let’s take a look at four key elements that a comprehensive book review should contain.

1. Information about the author and the name of the book

You might want to include any accolades that the author has received in the past and mention some of their previous notable works.

Also, consider the publication date; is the book a brand-new release, a few years old, or a classic from another century?

2. A summary of the plot

Writing about the plot takes skill and consideration; if your description is too thorough, you risk ruining the book for your audience with spoilers. But on the other hand, if you’re too vague on the details, your review can lack depth.

Consider your audience carefully, and if you feel like your book review contains even the slightest hint of spoilers, always add a warning at the beginning so people can decide for themselves whether to read on.

3. Your evaluation

This is the part where you get to describe what you feel about the book as a whole and give your opinion on the different elements within it. But, again, don’t be tempted to fall into the trap of positively evaluating books you didn’t actually like; no one wants to read a false review, so if you didn’t like it, explain why.

4. Your reader recommendation

Who might the book appeal to? Is it suitable for all audiences? In your opinion, is it a universal must-read, or should people avoid it?

Keep in mind that the purpose of most book reviews is to help the reader decide whether or not they would like to read it themselves. What works for you might not work for others, so consider this when writing your recommendations.

6 Book Review Templates and Ideas

1. the traditional approach.

Most traditional fiction reviews, like the ones found in newspapers and other popular publications, are based on the following format…

Introduction

The introduction is a paragraph or two which includes:

• Key information that the reader needs to know. For example, the book’s title, the author’s name, the publication date, and any relevant background information about the author and their work.
• A brief one-sentence summary of the plot. This sets the general scene of what the book is about.
• Your overall opinion of the book. Again, keep it brief. (you can delve deeper into what you liked and disliked later in the review).

This is the main body of your book review, where you break down and analyze the work. Some of the key elements you might want to examine are listed below. Approach each element one at a time to help your analysis flow.

• The characters
• The setting
• The structure of the story
• The quality of the writing

What did you notice about each one, what did you enjoy, and what did you dislike? Why?

The conclusion is usually the shortest part of a traditional book review, which usually contains:

• A summary of your thoughts about the book as a whole
• Your reader recommendation

Remember that unless you’re writing a book review for a pre-existing publication, there are no rules that you need to follow. This traditional format can be adapted to suit your own style, the book you are reviewing, and your audience.

Also Read : BEST FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

2. Social Media Book Reviews

Book reviews posted on social media tend to have a more relaxed tone than a traditional book review. Again, there are no set rules, but here are a few guidelines and suggestions for posting reviews on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

• Include an eye-catching image

This is essential on Instagram, but whatever social media platform you’re posting on, including a great photo will draw people in to read your review.

In the Instagram world, photos of books taken directly from above are called ‘flat lays.’ You can keep it simple and just snap the front cover, or you can get creative and shoot your book flat lay against an interesting backdrop or include items related to the story.

• Break up your review into short, bite-sized paragraphs

This rule applies to most web content, but it’s even more important on social media, where everyone competes for your reader’s attention.

Big blocks of text are much harder to follow and a sure-fire way to lose your reader’s attention before they even get started. Instead, stick to short paragraphs of one, two, or three sentences, and include spaces between each one.

• Know your character limit

At just 280 characters, Twitter is by far the stingiest of the major social media platforms when it comes to the length of posts. That’s why most people choose platforms like Instagram or Facebook for book reviews. That being said, you can still use Twitter as a way of linking to them once they go live.

Instagram is considerably more generous with its 2,200-character limit, but if you have a lot to say about the book you’re reviewing, it can still be limiting.

If you want to post a more comprehensive review on social media, Facebook is your best bet; they have an upper limit of 63,206 characters.

Whichever platform you post on, remember to factor any hashtags into your character limit too.

• Keep it succinct

Book reviews on social media perform better when sentences are concise. This helps to combat the character limit issue I mentioned above and gets your point across quickly, without the fluff.

Readers on platforms like Instagram and Facebook flit from post to post, so if you don’t say what you mean in as few words as possible, you’ll risk losing your audience altogether.

• Don’t be afraid of emojis.

Love them or hate them, emojis convey mood and emotion where words can sometimes fail us. They also add an extra visual element to a post, help to break up blocks of text and keep the tone informal.

Of course, there’s no rule that you have to include emojis in your social media book reviews, but if you’re already comfortable using them elsewhere, consider incorporating them here too.

• Add a star rating

Star ratings instantly tell your audience whether you loved the book or not before they read a single word of your post. It’s also another visual element to help draw your audience in to find out more.

• Avoid spoilers

I’ve already touched on spoilers above, but it’s essential to avoid them on social media book reviews. That’s because unsuspecting users are scrolling from post to post on these platforms with no way of knowing what’s coming next. As a result, it’s very easy to read something you can’t unread.

• Consider tagging the author and publisher.

But ONLY do this if you enjoyed the book and your review is favorable. It’s not good online etiquette to tag in the creators if you’re posting a scathing critique; it’s mean-spirited, and it could lead to a social media squabble, which the internet has enough of already.

3. Goodreads and Amazon Book Reviews

Both Goodreads and Amazon allow anyone to upload a review of any book, so they’re great places to get started if you’re new to the reviewing world. Plus, you can post more in-depth and lengthy reviews than you can on social media platforms.

There are endless ways to write reviews for sites like these, but if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, here’s a good template that will help you to flesh out your ideas.

• Star Rating

Sites like Goodreads and Amazon usually ask for a 1-5 star rating before writing your review. 3 is your baseline which translates to “pretty good.” It can be tempting to rush straight in for a 5 star if you loved a book, but where possible, try to reserve this rating for books that really blow you away.

• A Brief Synopsis

Reviews on these sites appear directly under the book listing, so generally, there’s no need to mention the author, title, or publishing details. Instead, you can dive straight into a quick overview of the plot, using the official publisher’s summary to help you if needed.

Avoid revealing any significant details or spoilers, but include enough to outline the story and give context to the rest of your review.

Talking about how the book made you feel is a good place to start. Did you learn something you didn’t know before? Was it a page-turner or a hard slog? Were there any twists you did or didn’t see coming? Mentioning the existence of a plot twist is usually deemed ok, as long as you don’t reveal what it is.

Next, examine the book’s various elements, including the characters, setting, and plot, using examples. You might even want to include some direct quotes from the book, as long as they don’t give too much away.

Just like the traditional book review format, conclude it with a summary. Are you glad you read it? Who might enjoy this book, and who should avoid it?

4. Listicle Book Reviews

Listicles are articles and blog posts structured like a numbered list. An example from the book review world is “10 reasons why you need to read X by X”.

These types of reviews are particularly well suited to blog posts, as they’re an excellent way to encourage people to click on your link compared with a less attention-grabbing traditional format.

That being said, listicle book reviews tend only to work if your feedback is positive. Using this format to review a book you hated risks alienating your audience and coming across as harsh and judgemental. Less favorable reviews are better presented in a more traditional format that explores a book’s different aspects one by one.

5. An Essay Style Analysis

An essay-style review isn’t technically a review, as it delves much deeper into the work and examines it from multiple angles.

If you’re not limited to a word count and want to dissect an author’s work, then an in-depth essay-style analysis can be a great addition to your blog. Plus, they’re generally written for people who have already read the book, so there’s no need to worry about spoilers.

But when you’re writing more than 500 words about a book, it can be easy to ramble or go off on a tangent. Here’s an example format to keep you on track:

• Include the author’s name, the title of the book, and the date of publication.
• Is the book a standalone novel or part of a series?
• What made you choose this book in the first place? Have you read any of the author’s previous work?
• Describe the cover. Does it draw you in? Is it an appropriate representation of the book as a whole?

Set the Scene

• Include an overview of the plot.
• Did you have any expectations or preconceived ideas about the book before you read it?

Your Review

Discuss the following elements one at a time. Use quotes or direct examples when talking about each one.

• Describe the geographical location, the period in time, and the environment.
• Is the setting based on reality or imagination?
• How does the setting help to add mood and tone to the story?
• Give an overview of the main characters and their backgrounds.
• Discuss the significant plot points in the story in chronological order.
• What are the conflicts, the climaxes, and the resolutions?
• How does the author use literary devices to bring meaning and life to book?
• For example, discuss any elements of foreshadowing, metaphors, symbolism, irony, or imagery.
• What are the overall themes and big ideas in the story? For example, love, death, friendship , war, and coming of age.
• What, if any, are the morals within the story?
• Are there any underlying or less prominent themes that the author is trying to portray?

Your Opinion

• Which elements were successful, and which weren’t?
• Were the characters believable? Did you want them to succeed?
• In the case of plot twists, did you see them coming?
• Are there any memorable scenes or quotes that particularly stood out to you? If so, why?
• How did the book make you feel? Did it evoke any strong emotions?
• Did the book meet your preconceived expectations?
• Were you satisfied by the ending, or did you find it frustrating?
• Summarise the plot and theme in a couple of sentences.
• Give your overall opinion. Was the book a success, a failure, or something in between?
• Include a reader recommendation, for example, “this book is a must-read for anyone with a love of dystopian science fiction.”
• Include a star rating if you wish.

6. Create Your Own Book Review Template

If you plan on becoming a regular book reviewer, it’s a good idea to create your own unique template that you can use for every book you review, whether you’re posting on a blog, website, or social media account.

You can mix and match the various elements of the review styles above to suit your preferences and the types of books you’ll be reviewing.

Creating a template unique to you helps build your authority as an independent reviewer and makes writing future reviews a lot easier.

Writing book reviews is a great way to get even more out of your reading journey. Whether you loved or hated a title, reviewing it will help you remember and process the story, and you’ll also be helping others to decide whether or not it’s worth their time, too.

And who knows, you might fall in love with writing book reviews and decide to pursue it as an additional source of income or even a new career!

Whatever your book reviewing plans and goals are, I hope the templates, tips, and ideas above will help you get started.

Do you have any advice for writing a great book review? Let me know in the comments below!

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36 Easy Book Blog Post Ideas for Book Bloggers

By: Author Laura

Posted on Published: 24th July 2021  - Last updated: 12th January 2024

Categories Book Blogging , Books

Stumped for what to write on your book block? Here are 36 great book blog post ideas and book blogging prompts for anyone facing a spot of writer’s block.

I’ve been book blogging for over 10 years now so I’m no stranger to writer’s block and creativity ruts. Sometimes all you need is a little prompt from someone to get you going again so I share 36 fab book blog post ideas to get you going again.

The best part is that most of these posts require very little research and should come straight off the top of your head as they build off existing book knowledge and personal favourites.

I’ve grouped these blog prompts by theme and tried to keep the ideas fairly broad so you can interpret them how you will and put your own spin on them.

You can definitely find inspiration from other book bloggers and put your own spin on posts you’ve enjoyed but copying is absolutely not ok.

New to book blogging?

First, you may enjoy these book blogging guides:

How to Start a Book Blog 24 Book Review Writing Prompts How to Write a Negative Book Review A Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Book Bloggers

And if you’re interested in bookstagram posts too then check out these:

How to Start a Bookstagram How to Use Book Hashtags 24 Bookstagram Props to Use How to Declare Sponsored Posts 20 Beautiful Bookstagrams to Follow

Book Blog Post Idea #1 – Book Reviews

Book blog post idea #2 – personal posts & favourites, book blog post idea #3 – discussion posts, book blog post idea #4 – listicles, book blog post idea #5 – book accessories.

Book Reviews

The most obvious type of post for a book blogger to produce is, of course, a book review. This is where most book bloggers start and sharing reviews of what you’re reading is an easy way to keep track of your reading.

READ MORE: The Fault in Our Stars Book Review

Series Reviews

A slightly less common post, but one I am always interested in, is whole series reviews. I don’t want to dive into thousands of pages of Game of Thrones if the series is going to turn into an absolute car crash in book 4. I want to know that the series I’m about to invest my time in is worth that time and a series review can be a great way for readers to find that out.

Review of a book to film adaptation

Most film content being produced is a sequel or an adaptation so there’s always something to talk about here. Why not share your thoughts on a recent book to film adaptation and whether you think it was well interpreted by the film producers?

Author interview

If you’ve got particular author favourites and have reviewed a lot of their work, why not drop them an email to see if they’d be willing to do a little author interview on your blog? Whilst you’re unlikely to get the likes of Stephen King on your blog, lots of smaller or new authors are happy to speak to you.

READ MORE: Interview with Susan Dennard

Your favourite books of all time

A great introductory post on any book blog is simply a list of your very favourite books. It can help your readers get to know more about you and what type of books to expect to see on your blog in the future.

Your auto-buy authors

There are some authors whose names we see on a cover and instantly know that we want to read that book. Without even having read the blurb, we sense this book is going to be great. These are known as “auto-buy” authors. For me, it’s Sally Rooney, Sarah J Maas and Kevin Kwan. Which authors will you always buy?

Your favourite characters

People often talk about their favourite books – but what about your favourite characters? There are some book characters that we just really wish we could meet in real life or even befriend. Have a little think and see who you come up with.

READ MORE: 20 Famous Fictional Bookworms

Your favourite book quotes

If you’re the kind of person who notes down your favourite book quotes (or even underlines them in the book itself!) then you’ve probably got a bank of your favourite book quotes that you always come back. Share these with your readers!

READ MORE: Best Normal People Quotes

Your favourite genre and why

Often we’ll gravitate towards books in the same genre time and time again. I consider myself to be a pretty diverse reader in that I will pick up literally any book as long as it sounds interesting to me but I still have my favourites: young adult fantasy, fluffy romance, and personal development books.

Your childhood favourites

Most book bloggers have been avid readers from a young age so why not share the books that turned you into the voracious reader you are today?

Your favourite book bloggers

The book community is one of the loveliest there is on the internet and generally, people are very supportive of other people’s posts and work. Make your favourite book bloggers’ days by giving them a shout out in a blog post all about your favourite fellow book bloggers.

Your favourite bookstagrammers/booktokers/booktubers

As above, your favourite bookish people on social media will also be very grateful for any spotlights on their accounts!

READ MORE: 20 Beautiful Bookstagram Accounts to Follow

Your favourite book podcasts

I love listening to podcasts when exercising and travelling and there are so many amazing literary podcasts out there.

Your favourite reading spots

Whether it’s curled up in bed or in a quiet cafe, we’ve all got our preferences for where we feel most comfortable reading. I personally prefer to stay at home but if I’m out and about and have some time to kill then I also enjoy sitting in an aesthetic cafe – even better if it’s a book cafe!

READ MORE: How to Create a Cosy Reading Nook

Prettiest book covers of all time

Whoever said never judge a book by its cover clearly had never encountered bookstagram. Bookstagram is the word for the book community on Instagram where people often share their most aesthetic covers and reads. Share some of the prettiest covers in your own collection or perhaps books that you bought entirely for the cover!

Reading challenge updates

If you’re the kind of person who sets themselves a reading goal each year or likes to participate in specific book challenges and readathons then this is a great way for you to keep track and share your reading updates with your followers.

Take us on a bookshelf tour

If you’re anything like me then you love nosing around other people’s bookshelves to see what books they’ve decided are worthy of being kept and how they organise them. Show us your bookshelves!

Share your reading routine

A lot of book bloggers have reading habits that they’ve developed over time. If you’ve got a particular reading routine or tips for how you read the amount you do then share it with your curious readers.

READ MORE: How I Read 75 Books a Year

How your reading tastes have changed and developed over time

As we grow and develop, so do our reading tastes. What you read as a teenager may differ totally from what you read as a young adult and differ still from what you read in your late 20s, 30s, 40s etc. Explain how your reading tastes have changed over time and how those changes may be linked to changes in your life or what’s trending.

Book vs film/TV discussion

Books vs films is an age-old argument but one that’s still worth sharing your own opinion on. I find most film adaptations of books I’ve already read and loved to fall short but there are definitely some films and TV shows that manage to trump the original work. You could have a generic disucssion about this or compare a specific book to film adaptation you’ve seen.

READ MORE: Books vs films

Book vs audiobook discussion

Another heated debate amongst bookworms is books vs audiobooks. Do audiobooks count as “reading”? Some would say no but I fervently believe the opposite. Share your own opinion and have a discussion about it with your readers!

RELATED: Scribd vs Audible

What you think of a particular book trope

There’s very little truly original content being produced these days and you’ll see the same book tropes popping up time and time again. For example, romance book tropes include things like insta love, love triangles, rich man poor woman etc. Do you have any favourite book tropes or ones that you absolutely loathe?

What you think about a particular publishing trend

Beyond book tropes there are also trends in book publishing so you’ll see a wave of similar titles hit shelves in the same period. For example, we’ve recently seen a wave of feminist retellings of Greek myths. Have you spotted a recent trend? What do you think of it?

Monthly TBR lists

If you’re the kind of person that plans what book they’re going to read each month then an easy book blog post idea is an article all about your monthly TBR pile.

Monthly/Yearly wrap up posts

Likewise, at the end of each month (and year) you can share how you got on with your TBR list and share your thoughts on the best and worst of the books you’ve read that month.

Recent book haul

Everyone loves a good book haul. If you’ve recently been on a book buying spree, share your latest book haul with your readers.

Books you’ve bought but not read yet

If your book buying addiction has gotten out of hand (like mine) then you may have loads of unread books on your shelves. You could write a post sharing all the books you’ve bought but haven’t read yet on your shelves. For me, this would be an incredibly long post as I’ve got about 400…

Upcoming book releases you’re looking forward to

If you’re the kind of person who is on top of all the latest releases and when they’re coming out then share a list of your most anticipated reads with your readers so they can be in the know too!

Best books by a certain author

If you’re a superfan of a certain author and have read loads of their books, you can share a list of your favourites and recommend which ones readers should start with.

Best books in a certain genre

Likewise, if you’re an avid reader in one particular genre, you can share what you think are the very best books in that genre.

READ MORE: 17 Best YA Dystopian Novels

Books set in a certain country

I’m an avid literary traveller and love to read books set in the country I’m travelling to next. I’ll always look up book recommendations from native authors too. If you’ve got an obsession with a particular destination and have read lots of books set in that location then you’ll have plenty of fodder for a post like this.

READ MORE: 28 Books Set in Paris

Book recommendations based on books you’ve enjoyed

Often when readers finish a book that you absolutely loved, they go looking for similar books so they can replicate those same feelings. Why not take a book you’ve loved and share some recommendations for what to read next.

READ MORE: Books Like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Seasonal recommendations

Some readers choose their books depending on the season i.e. beach reads int he summer, spooky reads at Halloween and Christmas books in the winter. A seasonal book list always goes down well if you publish just as people are looking for those kinds of reads.

READ MORE: Spooky Halloween Reads

Your reading essentials

Bookworms need little more than the actual book to absorb themselves for a few hours but there are definitely a lot of fun reading accessories out there that can help improve the experience. Got a favourite bookmark, book sleeve, book mug or book light? Share your favourites with your readers.

READ MORE: Essential Reading Accessories

Your favourite book subscription boxes

Book subscription boxes are all the rage and lots of book bloggers and bookstagrammers subscribe to them for monthly surprises. If you’re subscribed to any, share a review of it. Or, if you’re subscribed to lots of them, share a list of your favourites!

Gift ideas for book lovers

It’s easy to know what to buy a book lover. More books! But there are also lots of other things to gift a bookworm such as book sleeves, posters, figurines, special editions etc. Write a list of some ideas for gifts that you’ve had (which, let’s be honest, will basically be your own wishlist).

READ MORE: Gifts for Book Lovers

I hope this list of easy book blog post ideas has helped inspire your next post. If it has, drop a link to your post in the comments down below so I can see it!

If you liked this post, check out these: How to Start a Book Blog 24 Book Review Writing Prompts How to Write a Negative Book Review A Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Book Bloggers How to Start a Bookstagram How to Use Book Hashtags 24 Bookstagram Props to Use How to Declare Sponsored Posts 20 Beautiful Bookstagrams to Follow

Editor of What’s Hot?

school Books online

Monday 27th of February 2023

Kudos on the "Book Blog Post Ideas" post! It's a great resource for book bloggers, offering creative and diverse ideas to keep their content fresh and engaging. Well done!

Daniel Chidera

Saturday 16th of July 2022

i'm building a book blog and also searching for ideas, then ending up in this Webpage and i'll say that my stay here has not been a waste of time and data.

You've inspired me and also given me Ways and Ideas(A lot of ideas) on Starting a book Blog. I really do appreciate i hope to see more of your ideas

Love, Daniel.

Saturday 19th of March 2022

Awesome ideas and information in this. Thank you so much!

Monday 10th of January 2022

I am new to the book/blogging community and your post really helped with content ideas. Thank you so much!

WEBSITE ESSENTIALS

How to start a book blog: A comprehensive guide

• Lena Sernoff
• Nov 2, 2023
• 16 min read

In the last decade, the book industry has reinvented itself. Books have become much more accessible to a broader public, especially in their newer digital formats. This shift is also visible in how traditional book clubs have naturally evolved into book blogs.

If you’re an avid reader, creating a blog will give you the perfect platform to apply your passion for literature by writing book reviews, sharing novel recommendations, and most importantly, connecting with the online bookish community.

We know you’re pretty booked , which is why we’ve broken down how to start a book blog into just 10 easy steps. From how to make a website , choosing a website template and blog name to learning which types of book blog posts to write, here’s what you need to do to be ready to publish .

What is a book blog?

A book blog is a website or online journal where someone writes about books. This can include anything from book reviews and recommendations to author interviews, book-related news and discussions about literature. Book blogs can be written by anyone, from professional book reviewers and literary critics to bookworms who are simply passionate about reading and want to share their thoughts and opinions with others.

Book blogs are a great way to discover new books, get recommendations from other readers and learn more about literature. They can also be a lot of fun to read, as book bloggers often have a unique voice and style.

Why should you start a book blog?

Here are some reasons why you should start a book blog:

To share your love of reading with others. If you're a passionate reader, starting a book blog is a great way to share your love of books with others. You can write about your favorite books, authors and genres, and share your thoughts and opinions on what you're reading.

To connect with other book lovers. Starting a book blog is a great way to connect with other book lovers from all over the world. You can comment on other blogs, participate in online book clubs and make new friends who share your passion for reading.

To improve your writing skills. Blogging is a great way to improve your writing skills. You'll learn how to write concisely and clearly, and you'll also learn how to express your thoughts and ideas in a way that is engaging and interesting to read.

To promote authors and books. If you're a fan of a particular author or book, you can use your blog to promote them. You can write reviews, interview authors and share news about upcoming releases.

To make money. While most book bloggers don't make a lot of money, there are a few ways to monetize a book blog. You can sell advertising space, partner with authors and publishers on sponsored posts or write and sell eBooks.

Of course, the most important reason to start a book blog is because you enjoy it. If you're passionate about reading and writing, then starting a book blog is a great way to share your love of books with others and make new friends.

Ready to start a book blog? Do it with Wix .

How to start a book blog

Select a blogging platform

Pick a blog name and secure your domain

Design your book blog

Choose your type of book blog

Brainstorm ideas and write your first blog posts

Optimize your book blog for SEO

Promote your blog

Make money blogging

Immerse into the book blog community

01. Select a blogging platform

The first step in starting a blog , or any type of website , is choosing where you want to host and publish your content. There are several blogging platforms to choose from depending on your blogging goals and needs. Some important factors to consider when making this choice are storage space, page security, uptime, and customer support.

In addition to top-level service in the above areas, Wix’s blogging platform offers professional web design features, opportunities to monetize your blog, rich website analytics and many built-in marketing tools to help you reach more readers. You can get access to all these tools at no cost and upgrade your free plan whenever you’d want.

Reliable, scalable and free web hosting means you can rest assured your book blog is always live and accessible - allowing you to focus on what really matters, growing your site. With Wix this means 99.9% uptime, enterprise-grade reliability and automatic setup. It's there when you build your blog and as you scale.

Website security is also important to consider when choosing a blogging platform. Keep your content, and your users information safe from cyber security threats. With a Wix site your blog is protected by around the clock monitoring and built-in security features.

Don't forget to consider website performance when choosing where to build your book blog. How fast your content loads can have a direct impact on your user's experience on your blog. Poor page and load speeds, might cause readers to bounce. Keep them on the page instead with a platform that prioritizes performance.

02. Pick a blog name and secure your domain

Book Blogging: How To Start A Book In 7 Easy Steps

This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

Blogging about books is the absolute best. Learn how to start a book blog as a hobby or one that makes money with TUL’s book blogging for beginners tutorial.

We’ll teach you how to create your own book blog website from scratch. Plus, learn about the importance of branding, and see how to receive free books. Work with book affiliates and high-paying ad networks like Mediavine. 

Lastly, discover how to write a book review and market your book blog on social media — all from a full-time, professional book blogger.

With this Book Blogging 101 Guide, we hope you’ll leave knowing how to start a thriving book blog that people actually read and come back to over and over again. Let’s get started!

If you are looking for a quick glimpse of the book blogging tools we suggest, don’t miss our Master Blogging Resources Guide .

Are you considering starting a book review blog for fun, as an extra side hustle, or for your career?

Did you know that you can receive free books from authors and publishers in exchange for honest reviews posted on your book blog?   Authors talk to you and work with you, too.

Have you wanted to create a kind and bookish community to discuss your favorite reads?

Do you just want everyone to know your bookish opinions and convert them to steampunk YA lovers?

Keep reading!

If you answered yes to any of these you should know that…

Book Blogging Affords You:

• The opportunity to connect with like-minded people
• READ TONS OF NEW BOOKS and even receive coveted advanced reading copies (ARCs)
• Earn a little bit (or a lot) of extra side income, if that’s your jam

As an original hobby book blogger, in 2018 I decided to convert my book blog and website into a full-blown LLC.  While this may not be your personal book blogging goal, this article will tell you how to start a book blog as a hobby or business.

Non-book bloggers may find relevant blogging tips and tricks, too.

Table of Contents

How To Start A Book Blog: 7 Steps You Will Find In This Book Blogging Guide

• Choose Your Blog Name And Domain (Wordpress Book Blogs, specifically)
• Pick Your Blog Theme & Set Up Your Website
• Build Your Book Blogging Pages Such As “About Me” and “Book Review Policy”
• Start Reading Books And Requesting Free Titles From Professional Reviewing Databases
• Write Your First Book Review Posts
• Begin To Think About Social Media And Where You Want To Share Your Posts
• Monetize Your Book Blog With Tasteful Affiliate Links

P.S. Special Book Blogging Discounts From Us To You:

As a full-fledged member of the blogging community, I work with many amazing and successful bloggers, website developers, and blogging teachers. I use only the best services. These are a few special book blogging discounts just for you to get you started:

• Want to enroll in a complete and affordable Blogging 101 course? Use the code UNCORKED40 for 40% off this comprehensive blog training guide→
• Looking to make beautiful graphics for your book blog, Pinterest, and Instagram? I love Canva and swear by it for my Pinterest pins and blog post covers. I used Canva to create the graphics in this post. Try Canva Pro for free here→
• Every blog requires traditional legal pages such as a Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, and Terms & Conditions. Grab these lawyer-written pages here and use the code UncorkedSpecial for $40-$60 off→
• If you want to start a newsletter like mine, grab 50% off of Flodesk here→
• Looking to up your SEO game and have more people read your book blog by finding you in Google searches? I use Keysearch for SEO research. Use the code KSDISC for 20% off Keysearch here→

Let’s get onto learning how to make a book review blog.

Book Blogging For Beginners: How To Start A Book Blog In 7 Easy Steps

Step 1: choose your blog name and domain, how to pick your book blogging identity: brand time.

You want everyone to know who you are and what you are about.  Your book blog title is essentially your brand.

As you consider a blog name and domain (meaning your www. address), you want a title that is catchy, descriptive, and unique.

Before you claim a brand, you want to make sure that no one else is using the name, has trademarked any part of the words or phrase, or snatched up all of its social media handles. 

For example, I am The Uncorked Librarian, which tells you that I love books and booze.  Everything I write about is related to books, booze, and travel.  In addition, I have my MLIS and worked in public libraries for 5 years.

I own all of the social media handles like instagram.com/theuncorkedlibrarian and facebook.com/theuncorkedlibrarian. I made sure that no one had a similar name to cause confusion, too.

Pro Book Blogging Tip: I also registered my book blog as an LLC .

Once you make over $400+ dollars a year, you are no longer a ‘hobby blog’ in the eyes of the government. When you register as an LLC, you also have to check for trademarks, copyright, and if others in your state are operating under the same business name.

You can read more about why you would want to register your blog as a business and single-member LLC here (along with how to pay self-employment taxes)→

You want to stand out. Don’t mimic another brand. Be unequivocally YOU.

You also don’t want to use someone else’s established name or add numbers to your handles — that just looks spammy and is poor book blogging etiquette. Your readers and audience will struggle to find you or tell you apart from another book blogger. 

Copyright is another issue that you can run into, says this uncorked lady that consistently has to send Cease and Desist letters for stolen content. It’s illegal and comes with hefty fines. Don’t copy, don’t rewrite someone else’s articles as your own, and don’t plain out steal their content. Find inspiration and do your own thing.

What Else To Consider When Looking At Book Blog Names:

• What is your book blog reviewing niche? – Will you focus on just young adult books or all adult fiction? Do you want a book club blog?  Will you discuss what new books to read? Will you write about books on blogging? Do you want to write romance book reviews?  Are you solely a book review blog?  Are you hoping to add other topics besides books?  For example, I am a book and travel blogger.  My blogging friends have food paired with their book summary blogs.  You get the idea…
• Who is your book blog audience? – Who are you hoping will read your posts?  Mature readers? Teachers? Librarians? Readers that travel?  Readers that cook? Aspiring writers? Teens?  Families?  Homeschool moms? Fitness fanatics?

Where To Start A Blog: How To Create A Domain/Web Address For Your Book Review Blog

This step is where people freak out.   Don’t freak out .

There are a ton of free platforms to choose from like WP .com, Wix, or Blogger.    Those sites are free, especially if you use a domain that ends in wordpress . com .  

This is completely acceptable if you are a hobby blogger , never want to make money from your blog, never want to add book affiliate programs , or don’t have or want to spend the extra $50 this year to dedicate to a book blogging website.  This part will not tell you how to start a book blog on tumblr.  Sorry.

However , if you want to be a more serious book blogger–even as a hobby blogger–I highly recommend using SiteGround to buy a cheap domain using your selected blog name. 

You don’t want to be tispybooksandcake.wordpress .com.   That domain looks long and somewhat amateur these days. There are a ton of book bloggers out there.  

You want your domain to be tispsybooksandcake .com. Clean. Professional. Serious. Easy to find.

Authors, publishers, and search engines like Google will see you as a professional book blogger with your own customized domain. 

I also always recommend using .com versus .blog or .org.  Studies show that people prefer and trust .com.  This tip is more personal opinion/preference, though.

The Basic Steps To Claim Your Book Blogging Domain

If you decide to take the leap to self-hosting and invest in your book blog: Head over to SiteGround .  They have 24/7 chat support and are my favorite techs  alive.   I’m not kidding.  I run two websites through them (Uncorked Asheville is my second one), and I have used them for years.

I love to play around with my site and sometimes things go wonky.  I am amazing at crashing my site when I edit my code.    These people save my blog for free every time.    Their tech support staff consists of magical faeries.  

A domain name with SiteGround will cost you around $15.95 a year.

I also self-host with SiteGround, starting at $6.99 a month for beginners. Currently, I am on their largest plan since I have high blog traffic.  Because their long-term plans are cheaper, I also have a 3-year contract with them.

P.S. Even as a hobby book blogger, you can earn these investments back with basic affiliate links.

With SiteGround, you also need a FREE web-hosting platform — they will walk you through all of this.  I use Wordpress .org .  WP .org looks exactly like .com, but you have the freedom to include ads, download plugins, and pick any theme with customizations that you want (fonts, colors, styles). 

TUL Blogging Resources page mentions helpful, free plugins that you will love.

*Uncorked Extra* Blogging About Books Self-Hosting Tip:

Don’t forget that if you self-host with SiteGround, you can also create your own free and professional email address.  For example, my email is [email protected] .  Doesn’t that look more serious versus a gmail account?

Book Blogs Wordpress Favs

These are a few of my favorite Wordpress .org book blogs that I follow:

Reader Voracious 

Lost Between The Pages

The Books Across

Literary Dates

Step 2: How Do You Start A Book Blog That Looks Great? Pick Your Blog Theme

Once you have your book blog name and domain secured, you have to design your new blog site. 

Before you start blogging about books, you have to ask yourself:  How do you want your posts to look?  Do you want a sidebar (as you get bigger the answer might be ‘yes’ for ad networks like Mediavine and popular posts)?  What colors do you want to be associated with your brand?

This book blogging step is incredibly easy.  Platforms like Wordpress, Blogger, and Wix offer free themes.  Pick a theme that:

• Is visually appealing and you like
• Is desktop and mobile-friendly
• Boasts of working well with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — basically tools that help search engines like Google index your site so others can find your reviews

You can also invest in a book blogging theme:

• TUL — as well as my other site — for years used a Restored 316 design. Their themes are beautiful. Because I wanted a speedier site, though, I recently switched to Mediavine’s Trellis framework and themes.
• Many of my travel and book blogging friends use themes found in StudioPress that equally look great. Many people also rave about GeneratePress .

Step 3: Build Your Book Blogging Pages

Domain secured; check.  Attractive blog in place; check.  Now let’s get started blogging about books.

Before you create book review posts, you need essential book blogging pages.  Pages are static posts that don’t go into your blog roll. Your essential book blogging pages will describe who you are and your book review policies.

A few pages you want as a book blogger:

About Me/About My Site/Meet Me

Use this About Me page to tell people who you are in a professional but fun and personal way.

How did you start this book review blog? Why book blogging?  What is your book blog specifically about (your niche)?  How are you qualified to review books? What value will they get from your book blog? Why follow you out of the thousands of book bloggers out there?

You want your audience to be able to connect and relate to you.  Tell them fun facts: Do you binge-watch Netflix ?  What is your favorite book?  What else do you do besides read?  I drink wine.

See my About Me page→

BOOK BLOG REVIEW POLICY

Your Book Review Policy is an essential book blogging page if you want to work directly with publishers and authors.  Once you become well known in the book community, authors and publishers will swarm you with requests to review books. 

You are now blogging for books–and oftentimes free and gifted ones. You have an obligation to be honest as well as try to review what you accept. 

HOWEVER: You cannot possibly review every book, even if you want to.   At times, you will have to turn authors away. Sometimes you might DNF a book and not want to review. Authors may get mad at you and even call you out. This is why a strong book review policy is so important.

Your Book Review Policy Should Include :

• What genre you accept for review:  Do you solely read YA?  Is nonfiction your favorite?  What won’t you review?
• What types of posts will you write: Single book reviews? Book lists?  Will you interview authors or accept guest posts?
• Where will you showcase reviews: Goodreads?  Amazon? Twitter and Facebook?  Will you pin the review to Pinterest?
• What will you do if the book is awful or boring: Do you retain the right to decline a review after receiving a free book?  Will you write a negative review or choose not to review at all?
• Will you have a book rating system: Do you use stars? What do they mean?  P.S. I do not use a star-rating system on my blog.
• How do authors and publishers contact you: Should they email you or use a contact form? What information do you need from them?
• What book formats do you accept: ePUB, physical copies only, or PDFs?
• How will you communicate with the author or publisher once the review is posted?

This my Book Review Policy→

NECESSARY LEGAL PAGES ON YOUR SITE FOR BOOK BLOGGING

Disclaimer, Terms & Conditions, and Privacy Policy

Know that whenever you accept free items as gifts or make money blogging, if you earn over a particular threshold, you have to pay taxes either as self-employed or as a business.

Although I am an LLC, as a single-member LLC, I must pay quarterly self-employment taxes.

Plus, as soon as you start writing your opinion, you have to think about book blogging legally and ethically.  There is Copyright Law to worry about, and you must disclose when you received free items. 

Once you start monetizing, especially in the U.S., you want to read FTC regulations .

I am not a lawyer, but a blogger in my community is. Amira from A Self-Guru is a lawyer and blogger who helps bloggers protect themselves, even if you only make a few hundred dollars a year from your blog.

Many bloggers starting a book blog make the mistake of forgetting essential legal pages.  Nope, the free ones online won’t cover you; trust me, I used to use them, which was bad.    Plus, ad programs like Adsense and Mediavine won’t accept you without a solid privacy policy.

So where can get you get Privacy and Terms and Condition policies that are legit, will protect you, and are fairly priced?

I highly recommend checking out Amira’s legal bundle with templates for a Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Terms and Conditions . Both of my sites use these with her Starter Plan. Use the code UncorkedSpecial for a surprise discount, too.

Step 4: Start Book Blogging! Read Books To Review And Request Free Titles

Free book source one- your local library.

As a newbie and if you want to get started book blogging right away, you can head to your local library and peruse the latest titles to review.

By already having books reviewed, your book blog will have samples of your work for authors and publishers to see in order to decide if your blog is worthy. 

Trust me, publishers screen your content, quality, engagement, and social media numbers.  Why give a free book to a blogger who writes poor reviews and has endless typos?

Booking Blogging Pro-Tip : I started creating more book lists with mini book reviews instead of writing full reviews. If receiving higher book blogging traffic is one of your goals, book lists are king.

ARC Source Two- Professional Book Reviewing Databases

These are two free databases where book bloggers can apply for Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of books:

• NetGalley – Personally, I love NetGalley as they have great new releases, publishers can auto-approve you, and once you are established, publishers rarely deny you for a title that you want (at least in my experience). 
• Edelweiss About The Treeline – Full disclosure: I have yet to use Edelweiss because I have way too many books sent to me directly from authors and publishers.  I can barely keep up with my NetGalley queue.  My librarian friends love Edelweiss, though.

ARC/Galley Source Three- Publishers’ Websites/Forms

You can also directly request books from publishers. Publishers obviously love blogs about books.   Many have forms to fill out vs accepting email requests because they receive thousands of offers.  For example, this is Penguin Teen’s Book Blogger Request Form .

Source Four For Free Books For Book Review Bloggers- If You Write, They Will Find You

Not even 3 months into starting my book blog as a beginner, I received author and publisher requests to review directly through my site and work email.  I rarely request books these days as they find themselves on my desk directly from the source.  Sadly, I turn down many authors.

Step 5: Write Your First Book Review Posts

I am not going to share advanced tips since this is the book blogging for beginners’ guide.  After trying to learn all of the blogging tricks, I know from experience that too much information is overwhelming and stressful. 

Starting a book blog is hard work.  I will tell you some of the basics of having a solid blog post.

Once you have read your first book, you are ready to write a book review. So, now onto how to blog about the actual book… Everyone chooses to format their reviews differently. There is no one right way.

A Book Review Should Include:

• A disclosure noting that you received the book for free as an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review (unless you grabbed it at the library or purchased it)
• An affiliate disclosure at the top of the post if you use Amazon or affiliate links
• An engaging and original summary of the book in your own words
• Points that you liked and disliked about the book without sounding like a third grader
• Information about the book: publisher, publication date, author, pages, genre
• Information about the author and a link to his/her site is always nice
• If you star-rate, go for it
• A cover of the book, optional bookstagram picture, and Pinterest pin cover
• Basically, tell people why they should care or why this book would interest them.  Provide value.

Other fun ideas to include in your book review: read alikes, links to purchase, links to Goodreads, and quotes from others’ book reviews.

Don’t miss these engaging book blogging post ideas to keep your readers coming back for more.

How to publish your first book review post:.

Check for typos.  A few will sneak past you — it’s OK not to be perfect.  I use a free version of Grammarly to proofread my work.

Keep your paragraphs short.  Many people read The Uncorked Librarian on their devices.  Shorter paragraphs are easier to scan. Think two to three sentences, tops. Also, readers and Google prefer shorter sentences.

Think about SEO.  Although this is a blogging about books beginners’ post, you want to have searchable keywords. 

Place keywords in your blog post title, URL, headers, and image alt tags.  A keyword might be the book title and author.  I love Keysearch for SEO research and don’t write without it. Pssp…use the code KSDISC for 20% off .

Write a meaty post.  Publishers will judge your work based on past posts.  Make each book review long, worthwhile, and well-written.  Google likes longer posts too, and you want your audience hanging around on your page. Aim for at least 500-700 words.

I recommend reading others’ book review blogs to get ideas.  Do not copy them, though.

A Few Of The Best Book Blogs That I Love & Blogs For Book Lovers:

Booklist Queen

Books & Bao

Modern Mrs. Darcy

Mind Joggle

Beyond The Bookends

Never Enough Novels

Tea & Ink Society

Romance Book Blogs

Lovely Audiobooks

She Reads Romance

Book Blogs UK

What’s Hot?

Jenniely (awesome graphic designer too–she designed TUL’s logo)

Step 6: Thinking Past Book Blogging – Social Media Accounts & A Newsletter For Your Brand

You spent time on that book review: No one wants a book blog post to go unread.   Let’s briefly discuss using emails/newsletters and social media to market and share your book blog. And no, newsletters are not dead. That is a book blogging myth.

Newsletters For Book Blogging 101

Over time, you will slowly build a list of book blog subscribers through an RSS feed, WP reader, or a newsletter. I vote newsletter (emails)! These are slightly more advanced book blogging tips that you can learn more about later in your book blogging career, too.

However, it never hurts to start collecting emails and sending out blog updates to your readers. I highly recommend using an emailing service like Mailerlite or Flodesk .

You can try Flodesk for free, create a sign-up form like you see below, and send out updates whenever you like to your subscribers. P.S. You can grab 50% off Flodesk here→

For The Uncorked Librarian, I send out bi-weekly emails to my mailing list of a few thousand people. My newsletter helps me connect with readers and share updates — bringing them back to my website. Emails are honestly my favorite part of book blogging. I can be more personal and real in them.

Below is one way readers can join my mailing list via an opt-in with a freebie:

Take The Uncorked Reading Challenge!

Travel around the world with our Uncorked Reading Challenge. Never be late to the party with unique new book releases. Get the latest movie and book lists straight to your inbox.

You will find forms like the above on the top and bottom of my book blogging website, in book-related articles, and in the sidebar. Unlike social media platforms — which we will get to next — you ‘own’ your website and mailing list. You have more control without any algorithms to ruin your day.

And speaking of algorithms, let’s talk about social media for book blogging…

Starting A Book Blog: Social Media 101

First off, you want to add a sharing button to the side and top of your blog if your theme doesn’t have one you like.  I use and recommend Grow (formerly Social Pug), which is a free plugin. This allows readers to share your content for you. Many might want to save a post for later on a platform like Pinterest.

Then, you want to be active on social media. For beginning book bloggers, I recommend working on one or two platforms that you enjoy or where your readers are first. You don’t want to burn out trying to do it all. Later, you can grow all handles.

My biggest tip for starting a book blog and using social media is being consistent. Try to show up on your channels and don’t disappear for large amounts of time. If you need to be away, schedule your posts in advance. I try to post at least once a day in some capacity on all of my channels.

A few social media platforms that I love for book blogging:

• Facebook & Facebook Group: Uncorked Readers

Social Media Accounts For Blogging About Books: An Extra Note On Pinterest 

Along with search traffic (mostly Google), Pinterest is my next highest blog traffic source these days. I consider Pinterest to be more like a search engine than a social media platform.

Each book review that you create should have a pinnable image so that readers can pin that review to Pinterest. 

This image might be a book cover or a pin you create in Canva or Adobe Spark. I love Canva and subscribe to the Pro version. You can save book covers into folders by book list and create tons of fresh Pinterest pins in seconds. For book blogging, their stock photos are great too — and you get more in the paid version. Try Canva Pro for free here→

Marketing on Pinterest is slightly advanced Book Blogging 101, but I highly recommend making Pinterest a priority.  I’ve had to up 6.9 million users view my pins MONTHLY.  

Imagine how many of those users see my book review pins and come to my site.  It’s A Lot.  You can see The Uncorked Librarian Pinterest account to get a better idea of how the platform works.

I did not go at Pinterest alone, though.  In order to have 3,500+ daily blog page views , I took this Pinterest marketing course by Boss Girl Blogger, Ell Duclos. 

She’s a Pinterest goddess.  In that link, you will also find a FREE traffic-driving for your blog course. You keep the course for ‘life’ and get all of her updates.

One Advanced Tip: How To Make Money Blogging About Books

Step 7: how to make money book blogging with ads & affiliate links.

Since I recommended a few book blogging tips and tools that cost money, you probably want to make that money back.  Right?  

I will not go into advanced marketing, sponsorships, ads, etc, but one way to make a few dollars per book review or book list is through affiliate marketing for book bloggers .

So how do you get paid by blogging about books?

Affiliate marketing involves applying for affiliate programs like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, IndieBound, and Book Depository. 

At the end or beginning of your book review, you use these links for readers to purchase the books.   If someone clicks your link and buys the book, you make a commission.  You also earn a commission if that person buys other items through that link within a certain timeframe on Amazon.

Since this isn’t an affiliate marketing how-to guide, do know that are rules about affiliate marketing.  I learned a lot from this affiliate marketing course .  Be sure to read up on disclosures and nofollow/sponsored links.

Easy Affiliate Programs For Starting Book Bloggers To Apply For:

• Amazon –  Amazon takes seconds to sign up for and is easy to understand and use.  They have a lot of rules that you should read first. You must make three initial sales within a certain timeframe to become fully approved. Don’t list prices, and don’t change their links. They have specific disclosures that need to go on your book blogging website.
• Barnes and Noble – Barnes and Noble has an affiliate program through CJ Junction.  This one is slightly trickier to learn.
• Book Depository – You can apply through Book Depository directly or use Awin.  I prefer Awin  because not only do they include Barnes and Noble, but they have great vendors like Etsy.  As you gain book blogging skills, think about all the fun links to Harry Potter wine glasses that you can add to your book reviews. 

Read all about Book Affiliate Programs that TUL uses here→

Ad Networks For Book Bloggers

I also make money book blogging with ads. I use Mediavine , a high-paying ad network that you can apply to once your blog has reached 50,000 monthly sessions.

Google Adsense, Ezoic, SHE Media, and Monumetric are a few more ad networks that have less pageview requirements.

How To Start A Book Blog In 7 Steps

Book Blogging 101 Guide: Learn how to start a successful and money-making book blog from a full-time, professional book blogger.

• This Book Blogging Guide
• Laptop or Computer
• Hosting Platform

Instructions

• Choose Your Book Blog Name And Domain (www.) . Pick a unique blog name and consider self-hosting on WP .org through SiteGround. Make sure all social media handles are available for that name. Check for any trademarks. Don't forget to have a strong niche.  Be the expert in your field and provide value. It helps to have your brand name reflect your niche.  Make your niche book-related from the start. Know your audience.
• Select Your Book Blog Theme & Design. Use a free Wordpress theme to start or make an investment in one like Restored316 using Genesis Framework. Make sure your site works well on mobile and desktop. Pick a theme that keeps your book blog speedy.
• Build Your Book Blogging Pages . You need a solid Book Review Policy, About Me, and Legal Pages. Create strong book blogging categories for readers to more easily navigate your site. Don't use category headings like "Musings." Be specific.
• Start Reading Books And Requesting ARCs . Head to the library or request books through professional reviewing databases like NetGalley. Make sure to use Goodreads, too.  Publishers appreciate it.
• Write Your First Book Review Posts . Use keywords, be engaging, and include book information.  The goal of any book blogger is to provide value. Start learning about SEO.  Headers, post title, a few images, and paragraphs should include your main keyword.
• Share Your Posts On Social Media . Share your newly published book review posts and book lists on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Start building your online presence by being consistent and showing up.
• Monetize Your Book Blog . Apply for affiliate programs. Don't forget to properly disclose and follow all program directions.  Amazon is the easiest to start with affiliate marketing for book bloggers.  Once your traffic increases, add an ad network. And, HAVE FUN!

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Was this book blogging guide helpful?

Let us know in the comments, and be sure to save this post on Pinterest to return to it when you need to.

Book Blogging Discounts From Us To You :

Don’t forget these special book blogging discounts to help get you started:

• Take our recommended Blogging 101 Course and use the code UNCORKED40 for 40% off this comprehensive blog training guide→
• Make gorgeous book blog, Pinterest, and Instagram graphics with Canva. Try Canva Pro for free here→
• Grab your lawyer-written Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, and Terms & Conditions pages here and use the code UncorkedSpecial for $40-$60 off→
• If you want to start a newsletter like we have, grab 50% off of Flodesk here→
• Improve how people find you in Internet searches with Keysearch for SEO research. Use the code KSDISC for 20% off here→
• Need some help setting up or speeding up your site? I use Aamir and his team from WPGeared . Tell him Christine, The Uncorked Librarian, sent you, and he’ll give you 5% off and priority. Email Aamir directly at [email protected] .

Do You Feel Like You Know How To Start A Book Review Blog Now?

These are the basics of book blogging for beginners.  Once you start playing around with all of the tools mentioned, you will slowly learn more about starting a book review blog.

You can also check out The Uncorked Librarian’s Blogging Resources in order to learn more about the topics discussed or visit this specific Book Blogging Tips page.

Never hesitate to ask me any questions in the comments below or drop me an email at hello [at] theuncorkedlibrarian [dot] com.

If you are still unsure about blogging, check here for fun reasons why you should book blog .  Remember, creating a book blog should also be fun.

We originally posted this Book Blogging 101 Guide in January 2019 and the article has been updated for 2021.

Other Book Blogging Posts You May Enjoy:

How To Start A Bookstagram 70 Book Blogging Post Ideas Photoshop for Book Bloggers Affiliate Marketing Programs For Book Bloggers

More Helpful Blogging Tips:

How To Increase Your Blog Traffic How To Register Your Blog As An LLC Stealing Blog Content Is Not Flattery Blogging Courses We Recommend Blogging Tips & Tricks From All-Niche Bloggers

Christine Frascarelli

44 Comments

Thank you for this post! I’ve been book blogging consistently only for a few months. I love the creative outlet. I’m currently a paid Wix user and am wondering how difficult it truly is to blog on a platform that requires coding? I have minimal knowledge in coding. I’ve taken some free courses through codeacademy and have a a basic understanding but am worried that switching to another provider, like WP, would be more daunting than I care to conquer at the moment.

Thanks again! Amy

Thank you! I use WP, and I don’t think I’ve actually coded much for years now. My blog theme at the moment is through Mediavine with their Trellis structure (anyone can purchase it). I know that if I wanted to customize my homepage, I could code it better, but everything else is built via my theme and WP. Personally, I think WP is pretty easy to use (and I have very little coding background). I hope that helps!

Thanks for highlighting my book blog, She Reads Romance Books, Christine! I so love your blog and this post is FULL of incredibly helpful tips. I completely agree that once you start blogging, authors and publishers find YOU. I only take a few requests for romance book reviews now because I’m so inundated but that’s a good problem to have!

Your romance book blog has grown so much and looks fabulous. You are welcome.

I definitely have a surplus of ARCS to be read. Such a wonderful problem to have.

Thanks for this helpful post. I’ve struggling with my book blog for a year now. Hopefully, I can apply some of the ideas here.

Thank you! I did check out your website. Your book lists look great.

If you want a little unsolicited advice, maybe make your homepage a little cleaner and your tagline much clearer. As a reader, I am not sure what “Book recommendations, self-help, and everything in between” really means… (I started that way, too — I totally get it.) What type of books… People want to very specifically know what makes your site unique and what they will get. Every book blogger offers “book recommendations.” What is your niche? What value will you provide to them, specifically? Why will they come back, and how will your site enhance their reading and lives? Just a thought. Check out Donald Miller’s StoryBranding if you get a chance. Best of luck!

oh my golly gee! thank you so very much for the helpful info! I’m currently a high schooler looking to create my very own blog, so this is all quite new (but very fun) for me! have a fabulous rest of your day!

That’s awesome! Best of luck. I love blogging, and I hope you do, too.

Thank you Christine! I just started my own book blog (finally!) and this was so handy in clearing my doubts and giving me ideas. ❤

Congrats on the new book blog! I’m so glad this book blogging post helped. Thanks for letting me know, and good luck!

Really needed something like this. Thanks a lot for such a helpful article.

Thank you! I am so glad that this book blogging article helped!

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Best Book Review Blogs in 2024

Showing 240 blogs that match your search.

By The Letter Book Reviews

http://www.bytheletterbookreviews.com/

Please be aware that I get a lot of requests and will only reply to people on the books that I can commit myself to. If you have not had a reply within 2 days of sending me an email it will more than likely be that I am unable to take on more books at the present time.

Blogger : Sarah

Genres : YA, Crime, Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction, Paranormal, New Adult, Children's, LGBT, Humor, Horror, and Urban Fantasy

🌐 Domain authority: 36

👀 Average monthly visits: 3,000 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Website contact form

⭐️ Accepts indie books? No

Avalinah's Books

http://avalinahsbooks.space

As for reviews, my preferred genres are general fiction, fantasy and scifi, as well as nonfiction on important topics like equality, disability, fair treatment of individuals. I also love middle grade reads.

Blogger : Evelina

Genres : Children's, Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Non-Fiction, and Science Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 31

⭐️ Accepts indie books? Yes

Fanna for Books

https://fannaforbooks.com/

Fanna for Books is a place for those looking to read diversely, for those who appreciate books by authors of colour, for those who want more honest recommendations, and some unfiltered discussions along with frequent updates about a fantasy writer's journey!

Blogger : Fanna

Genres : Fantasy

🌐 Domain authority: 14

👀 Average monthly visits: 3,500 p/mo

The Book Club Girl

https://www.bookclubgirl.com/

Book Club Girl is a promotional service of HarperCollins Publishers offering reviews and resources for book clubs. I review fiction and nonfiction that is appropriate for book clubs. This includes literary and some women's commercial fiction as well as memoir and narrative nonfiction. I do not review self-help, thrillers, mysteries, horror, or fantasy.

Blogger : HarperCollins

Genres : YA, Contemporary Fiction, and Non-Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 82

💌 Preferred contact method: Email

The PBS Blog

http://www.thepbsblog.com/

I will pretty much read any genre but my favorites are Black Literature, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction and General Fiction. I do not currently review the following genres. It is not intended to be discriminatory in All way. Thank you for understanding:

Blogger : EC

Genres : Contemporary Fiction and Historical Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 24

Books and Beyond Reviews

https://booksandbeyondreviews.com/

For the most part, I am avid book reader. I will try a wide range of books, with one exception: romance. I have never been able to engage with books of this genre, so please keep this in mind when requesting a review.

Blogger : The BB Team

Genres : YA, Crime, Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Non-Fiction, Humor, Horror, Urban Fantasy, and Sports

🌐 Domain authority: 17

👀 Average monthly visits: 5,000 p/mo

Shelly's Book Corner

https://shellysbookcorner.com/

The blog consists of Shelly (me) and my two reviewers, Beth and Lourdes. We accept review requests based on our schedules. Our calendars fill up pretty quickly, so if you are looking for a review we need at least 8 to 12 weeks prior notice before its released or 8 to 12 weeks to read and review after release.

Blogger : Shelly, Beth & Lourdes

Genres : YA, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, and Erotica

🌐 Domain authority: 19

💌 Preferred contact method: Mail

The Lesbrary

http://lesbrary.com/

The Lesbrary is a book blog all about les/bi/etc books. Yes, this often means lesbian books (hence the name), but includes anything in the broad ‰ÛÏdoesn't identify as a man and is at least some of the time attracted romantically and/or sexually to others who do not identify as a man‰Û category. Lesbrary books don't have to be written by a queer author, though it helps.

Blogger : The Lesbrarians

Genres : Contemporary Fiction and LGBT

🌐 Domain authority: 37

👀 Average monthly visits: 7,000 p/mo

From Cover To Cover

https://katelynpdickinson.wordpress.com

Hi! First, thanks so much for checking out my blog! My name is Katelyn. I am 22 years old. I am obsessed with books, so that is why I am here.

Blogger : Katelyn

Genres : YA, Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and Science Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 8

Thoughts on Papyrus

https://thoughtsonpapyrus.com/category/book-reviews/

A book review site with a difference, providing in-depth book reviews, while focusing on character analyses and exposure to different cultures and countries.

Blogger : Diana

Genres : Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Non-Fiction, and Science Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 7

👀 Average monthly visits: 3,700 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Social media

Author Anthony Avina's Blog

http://www.authoranthonyavinablog.com

The only genres I don't accept are erotica and religious books. I accept eBook, Paperback and Audiobook copies. I also offer author email interviews, guest blog posts and more promotional opportunities for free.

Blogger : Anthony Avina

Genres : Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction, Horror, Humor, LGBT, Mystery/Thriller, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, and YA

🌐 Domain authority: 30

👀 Average monthly visits: 800 p/mo

Books In Brogan

http://booksinbrogan.com/

I enjoy reading somewhat eclectic range of book, but I especially enjoy reading paranormal, science fiction, fantasy and contemporary romance in both adult and YA books. I'm not a huge fan of horror I also don't read much erotica or anything overly graphic, abusive or with a blatant amount of excessive violence.

Blogger : Brogan

🌐 Domain authority: 11

Elena Linville Dot Com

http://elenalinville.com/

I love reading sci-fi, fantasy, dystopia, urban fantasy and post -apocalyptic books. I have been known to pick up a romance or two from time to time, but NEVER in the contemporary or historical genres. I don't read YA, children books or nonfiction.

Blogger : Elena Linville

Genres : Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Paranormal, and Urban Fantasy

🌐 Domain authority: 20

Literary Sofa

https://literarysofa.com/

Literary fiction, writing and travel blog, featuring regular selections of recommended new releases plus guest authors.

Blogger : Isabel Costello

Genres : Contemporary Fiction and Non-Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 23

Caffeinated Book Reviewer

http://www.caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/

I cannot guarantee a favorable review, but I will be honest, respectful and fair. My reviews generally take seven days from start to finish. I read books in order of release date, and try to accommodate your requests.

Blogger : Kimberly

Genres : YA, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Paranormal, and Children's

So you want to find a book blog?

If you’re a voracious reader, you might think of a book blog as an oasis in the middle of the desert: a place on the Internet that brims with talk about books, books, and more books.

Well, good news — we built this directory of the 200 of the best book blogs  to satiate your thirst. Take a walk around, use the filters to narrow down your search to blogs in your preferred genre, and feel free to bookmark this page and come back, as we do update it regularly with more of the best book blogs out there. 

If you’re an aspiring author, you might see a book blog more as a book review blog: a place where you can get your yet-to-be published book reviewed. In that case, you’ll be glad to know that most of the book blogs in our directory are open to review requests and accept indie books! We expressly designed this page (and our book marketing platform, Reedsy Discovery ) to be useful to indie book authors who need book reviews. If you’re wondering how to approach a book blog for a review request, please read on. 

You’ve found a book blog. Now what? 

Let’s say that you’re an author, and you’ve found a couple of book blogs that would be perfect fits to review your book. What now? Here are some tips as you go about getting your book reviews:

• Be sure to read the review policy. First, check that the book blog you’re querying is open to review requests. If that’s the fortunate case, carefully read the blog’s review policy and make sure that you follow the directions to a T.  
• Individualize your pitches. Book bloggers will be able to immediately tell apart the bulk pitches, which simply come across as thoughtless and indifferent. If you didn’t take the time to craft a good pitch, why should the blogger take the time to read your book? Personalize each pitch to up your chances of getting a response. 
• Format your book in a professional manner before sending it out. Ensure that your manuscript isn’t presented sloppily. If the book blogger asks for a digital ARC, you might want to check out apps such as Instafreebie or Bookfunnel. 
• Create a spreadsheet to track your progress. Wading through so many book blogs can be troublesome — not to mention trying to remember which ones you’ve already contacted. To save yourself the time and trouble, use a simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your progress (and results). 

Looking to learn even more about the process? Awesome 👍 For a detailed guide, check out this post that’s all about getting book reviews . 

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How to Start a Profitable Book Blog (as told by a Book Blog)

Starting a book blog is one of the best side gigs you can have. With blogs, you work at your own pace, learn profitable career skills, can make money and even sell them!

That being said, blogs do require some initial effort to get off the ground. Your first 1,000 monthly visitors will be the hardest, but it gets easier after that.

Blogs are long term projects, and this guide contains step-by-step instructions to help insure your book blog will be fast, flexible when it comes to design and features, and also get good support from specialists when you’ll have technical issues.

The last 3 sections of this blog cover important subjects such as how to generate traffic , finding subjects and books to write about and also how to monetize your new blog.   Blogging can require a lot of time, and those 3 sections will help you not waste yours by writing articles people won’t get a chance to read.

Starting and setting up your book review blog

Choose your domain name.

The first step to any blog or site is to find an available name and domain (.com, .co, .net etc.) that can also provide a unique identity.

To see whether a domain name is available, you can check it out on Namecheap.com .

When choosing a domain name, you have to balance 4 things:

How specific a domain name is. As an example, dailystoicism.com is a blog about stoicism (duh). In search results related to stoicism, their domain name is a competitive advantage that draws more clicks because it seems like an authority on the subject.

How general a domain name is. General and vague domain names are great if you don’t want to be boxed into niche, and want to write about a wider variety of topics.

Lifehack.com is a great example of a more generalist domain name. At first glance, it gives the impression of a site that help you find shortcuts in life, but it’s also compatible with self-help articles, book suggestions, do-it-yourself tips etc.

How catchy you want your domain name to be. Some domain names are simply more brandable than others. FourHourWorkWeek.com is a very catchy name for a site. It has a good cadence, rolls nicely off the tongue and has that irresistible value proposition of working less but making the same.

WaitButWhy.com is another catchy name, that can turn your attention on a dime and do a double take.

Whether the social media handles are available or not. This one is always a great bonus, but ultimately domain name is more important than the social media handles. If you’ve found an amazing domain name, but no social media handles, take it nonetheless.

In terms of cost, a domain costs around $10-$12 per year. Namecheap is usually pretty aggressive in its discounts so you’re likely get prices as low as $8-9 per first year. 

It will cost you around $14, so a bit more than Namecheap, but it will also reduce the amount of work and time you need to set up a website.

If you do decide on Namecheap, this guide has an optional section to help you integrate Namecheap with the hosting company for free.

Choosing a host

Hosting providers are the real workhorses for running the technical side of your site. They’re the ones that contain (“host”) the files and information of your website in a dedicated datacenter or server. Once there, they are accessible to be displayed on the Internet.

A good host is incredibly important in running a blog , for multiple reasons:

• Good hosts ensure will keep your site up 100% of the time.
• They offer technologies to make your site more secure and harder to hack (https vs http).
• They have solid data centers and servers across the world to maximize site speed.
• They have fast and responsive support to help you if you have technical problems.

The hosting company that I suggest is the one this blog uses: SiteGround.

The reason I like them is because they have a solid technical infrastructure to run a website, but most importantly, their support is amazing.

As a solo blogger that isn’t technically oriented, I’ve heavily relied on SiteGround’s support team over the years to properly set up services such as Cloudflare, custom email servers, DNS records, security certificates, etc.

Knowing there’s a dedicated support team you can live chat with 24/7 in case of issues is a huge source of confidence and comfort. You know that even if you mess up your site pretty badly, you’ll still be able to recover it and fix any issues.

If you’ve decided on buying the domain name on SiteGround, the process of setting up is very straightforward.

• Go to SiteGround’s Web Hosting page .

The Start Up plan should be more than enough for what you need, at least in the first few months, maybe even a year.

• Register your domain with SiteGround

• Fill in your details and choose data center

The next step requires you complete the payment details. After doing so, scroll down the page at the Purchase Information section and change the data center your site will be hosted on to the one closest to your target audience.

Slower site loading="lazy" speeds often translate into lower traffic since many people are impatient and would rather press the “Back” button instead of waiting a bit more for a page to load.

• Extra Services (not required)

These extra services are nice to haves, but not necessary. I myself use neither.

You have now registered your site, but it’s now empty. The only thing left for you to do now is to add a WordPress installation and figure out how you want your site to look.

Creating site and installing WordPress

• After you’ve processed payment, your account should now be created. To continue building your site just press “Proceed to Customer Area”

• Next, click on “Set Up Site”.

In the next menu, choose “ Start a New Website ” and click on WordPress. WooCommerce is a plugin designed for eCommerce stores, so it’s not something you really need right now. Plus, you can install it at any time once you’ve finished setting up your site.

• Next, create your WordPress admin account. You’ll use it later a bit later on.

You’ll be prompted again if you would like to install SiteGround’s site scanner functionality. I don’t personally believe it to be necessary so my suggestion is to just press finish.

(OPTIONAL) Point your nameservers from Namecheap (or other registrar) to SiteGround

! If you’ve registered your domain name through SiteGround, skip this step. If you’ve registered it through Namecheap or another registrar, follow the instructions!

If you haven’t registered your domain name with SiteGround, you will have to point your name servers away from the registrar and unto your host.

This basically tells the Internet that all of the files and information that make up your site are hosted on SiteGround’s server, and that’s where the Internet should go to display the information on your site.

Fortunately, it’s very easy to change your name servers.

In the next screen after setting up your WordPress account, you will be given two name server addresses.

• Copy these, and then login to your Namecheap account.

Go back to your Namecheap.com account, navigate to Domain List, select your Site and click the “Manage” button on the right side of the domain name.

Then scroll down to the “Name Server” section and simply copy the Name Server addresses you have in your SiteGround dashboard.

After you’ve completed this step, continue with the setup process as described below.

Securing your site with an SSL certificate

Next, you’ll need to install an SSL certificate on your site. This basically means your site will be configured to appear as https:// yoursite.com instead of http:// yoursite.com.

This is important, because browsers will often block http websites behind a “Warning, site not secure” pop-up. This can be devastating to your traffic since most people refuse to go any further.

Fortunately, this doesn’t cost anything, is completely free and takes only a few seconds to set-up permanently.

• After you’ve created your site, press the “Manage Site” button .

• On your SiteGround Dashboard, simply navigate to the “Security” tab on the left hand menu, expand it, and choose “SSL Manager” and on the “Select SSL” choose the “Let’s Encrypt” option. 

After you’ve selected “Let’s Encrypt”, simply click the “GET” button below your domain name and wait for the certificate to be installed.

The SSL certificate is only valid for 3 months. However, it will renew itself automatically so it’s something you don’t ever have to worry about again.

• Next, click on HTTPS Enforce on the right hand menu, and activate “HTTPS Enforce” for your domain.

 This will redirect all traffic going to insecure http links over to the secure https versions.

Congrats! Your site setup is complete and now is the time to customize its appearance!

Customizing your WordPress

Your site is now live, but empty. If you want to see how it look, simply go to yoursite.com and check it out.

It will probably be something like this:

Currently, you are running the default WordPress theme, which is most likely Twenty Twenty or Twenty Nineteen.

Themes are essentially different “skins” for a website that can be turned on or off whenever you want, at the click of a button.  The best part is that there are thousands of themes , and most are free .

• To install a new theme, first go to yoursite.com/wp-admin

 To do so, simply navigate to yoursite.com/wp-admin , which will take you to a login screen. There, you will have to introduce the WordPress login details you filled out at step 7.

• Choose whether to skip or follow the WordPress tutorial offered by SiteGround.

WordPress is pretty easy to learn, plus there will be a few links attached below to help figure out what each options does so it’s safe to press “Exit” and continue with this guide.

• To install a new theme, go to Appearance -> Themes -> Add New

To test them out, all you have to do is go to your WordPress dashboard ( yoursite.com/wp-admin ), log in, then go to Appearance -> Themes -> Add New.

You’ll then be taken to the “Featured” themes screen, which contains curated lists of themes.  Right next to the “Featured” tab is the tab for “Popular” themes.

My personal recommendation is to settle on a theme from the “Popular” list. The themes in this section are popular because they are exceptionally good, are very customizable, are lightweight and receive constant updates.

Just to give you an idea, Hestia theme is 12 years old and still receives constant updates, improvements and adaptations to the newest technologies available.

This blog uses a theme called Lovecraft . Back when I first started this blog I knew very little about WordPress. Instead of looking for a beautiful and flexible theme, I chose the one that I thought looked the most pleasing to the eye.

It’s been more than 5 years since then, and I wish I could turn back time and pick a different theme.  While this theme has served this blog well, it does have some severe limitations in terms of customization.

For instance, I cannot change the font for this blog or the size without plugins or code . I also cannot adjust the width of the content box without code .

Why don’t I change the theme? Mostly because this blog now has a fair bit of technical debt and code changes in the background. If I were to change themes, I’m afraid it would impact my SEO and how much traffic I receive from Google.

So which theme would I use today if I could? In all honesty it would be either one of the following:

• Hello Elementor

At first glance, they all look the same. However, these themes are extremely powerful and customizable. If you’re the tinkering type, it’s easily possible to make 1 Neve site completely unrecognizable from another Neve site.

If you’re not the tinkering type, I still suggest you install one of these themes and work with their standard, out-of-the-box settings.

You may not want to design your site right now, but as the years will pass you’ll see that there will come a time when you will want to modify a font size here, add a clickable button there, adjust the position of an element, add a header image etc.

Ultimately, themes such as these offer you a very strong foundation for a long-term book blog that will last you years or decades.

And as promised, below are a few guides that can help you learn the ins and outs of WordPress.

• What is the WordPress Dashboard? (Quick Guide)
• What Is the WordPress Admin Dashboard?

How to write blog posts, setting up pages

After you’ve decided on a theme (maybe even customized it a bit), you can start adding pages and posts.

Posts are the regular articles you write to gain traffic. Pages are navigational posts that are fixed to your menus and offer visitors useful information (About Me / Contact Us / Privacy Policy).

• To write your information pages, just go to the WordPress Dashboard -> Pages -> Add New.

Once you’ve finished writing the pages, you’ll need to add them to your navigation menu.

• Go to Appearance -> Menus and choose which pages to appear in the navigation menu.

Once you’re done, press “Save Menu” and refresh your site. You should now see the updated navigational menu.

• To write blog articles, simply go to Posts in the dashboard and start writing!

How to generate traffic

Social media traffic is great, but it’s not self-sustaining.

So you’ve setup your brand new book review blog and you now want to start writing, build traffic and gain a readership. How exactly do you do that?

If you’ve never blogged before or have 0 experience with generating traffic for websites, then chances your first instinct is to write a few articles, share them with friends, acquaintances, specialized places such as forums and groups, popular media sources etc.

This kind of traffic can be classified as “Social” traffic. There’s nothing wrong with it, except that Social traffic disappears in a few days and almost never comes back – even for the wildly viral popular articles.

Focus on search traffic

What you really want is constant, sustainable traffic for which you have to do (almost) nothing to maintain.

As an example of this, here are the stats for an article on this blog and how much traffic it has generated over the years.

In the case of this article (as with all of the other article on this blog) the vast majority of traffic has been generated by Google search.

The only work I did for the article was to 1) write it 2) get a few links from some bloggers and 3) do a rewrite when it started to slide in the rankings. Total work? 30-40 hours in 2 years.

The advantage of Google search traffic is that once you reach the top of a page for a certain keyword, you’re likely to stay there for a very long time with near 0 effort. This is guaranteed to bring you traffic day in and day out.

How to rank in the first page of Google is the main subject of SEO. It is a gigantic topic so there’s no point in trying to cover it in depth-here.

So how long does it take to generate meaningful SEO traffic?

In the case of this blog, it took ~42 months to reach 10,000 monthly sessions . After that however, things accelerated rapidly and 9 months later it reached 50,000 monthly sessions .

Will it also take you this long? Probably not. In my case, I wasted at least 2 ½ years by not doing even the most basic forms of SEO.

Also, I wrote extremely few articles . Two years after I started this book blog, I had published only 6-7 blog posts. That’s simply too little to generate any meaningful traffic.

If you avoid my mistakes and write 20-40 articles, while also targeting easy keywords you will absolutely crush the 10,000 session mark well within the first year.

That being said, first time bloggers should focus on two major aspects of SEO :

• Write articles that target certain keywords

People search for stuff on Google with keywords. In order to get search traffic, you have to signal to search engines that the subject of your article is that particular keyword.

Take this article for example. It was optimized to answer the query “how to start a book review blog”. As a result, I included that keyword right in the headline, and also in the link of the article itself: hastyreader.com/ how-to-start-a-book-review-blog .

Other similar articles I’ve written is this one about the best philosophy books or one about dark disturbing books.

Some people consider SEO to be unethical, since it seems like “gaming the system”. However, that’s mostly not true. The vast majority of SEO is really benign stuff where you tell search engines what a particular article is about, so it can then appear in search results.

Also, Google is really sophisticated and organizes results on a page depending on how good each article is. So how does Google know the quality of an article?

The Big G almost certainly measures how users interact with search results: when they enter, exit or reenter certain search results, or even retype a keyword so it’s a better fit.

If a particular article is the “end point” of a user’s search, this means it answers a user’s question. As a result, that article is probably the best result for that particular keyword. Thus, over time it gets placed higher up the search results.

In other words, quality articles go up the search rankings.

• Whenever possible, get links

Certain keywords are extremely competitive , to the point where hundreds of articles are written on that particular subject every week.

As an example, consider the keyword “philosophy of mind”.  Google can’t possibly rank every single one of these articles based on the content alone, so they use another metric to sort them out: how many other sites link to that article.

In SEO terms, links to articles are viewed as positive reviews of the article’s quality.

For instance, if article A has been linked to from 10 other sites, it will tend to rank higher than article B that has 0 outside links pointing to it.

The number of links an article has received (or backlinks, in SEO language) isn’t visible for regular users of search engines. Instead, one must use specialized SEO tools such as SEMRush to figure this out.

These SEO tools also neatly show how rankings tend to increase with the number of sites linking to an article.

In fact, one backlink from Forbes can often be enough to catapult an article from the 10 th page of search results, right up to the first 2-3 spots on the first page.

Because of this, there is a huge, underground economy of people approaching (and paying) writers / bloggers in order to get a backlink to a particular article.

Depending on how big your blog becomes, the sums involved can be quite handsome and a good source of revenue.

More about this in the “How to make money with a book blog” section.

Pinterest can also generate sustainable, organic traffic

Believe it or not, but Pinterest is actually an extremely good source of sustainable, constant traffic. Many, many successful blogs have actually been built on majority Pinterest traffic.

This is because Pinterest primarily functions as an image based search / suggestion engine. Its users type in keywords similar to how they do on Google, browse through pins, click on the ones that are interesting and end up on your blog.

Plus, they can also repin (share) Pins, which can make them go viral.

Below are the traffic stats from Nikki’s Plate , a food blog that generates more than 90% of its traffic through Pinterest.

The traffic is designated as “Social” but that’s just because Google Analytics considers Pinterest to be a social network, rather than a search engine.

What to write about

The cool thing about book blogging is that new books are constantly published, meaning there’s always something to write about.

Not only that, but millions of books have already been published these past few millennia and most of them haven’t been reviewed by a book blogger.

The only problem however is that it’s difficult to find a book that can both generate traffic, and also be an enjoyable read. Trying to power through 10 books you just don’t connect with is absolutely not fun!

Fortunately, there are quick fixes for both these issues.

Read summaries of books before reviewing

To prevent wasting time and effort with books you don’t like, consider using book summary services such as Blinkist and getAbstract .

These companies basically read thousands of books and then condense them into 10-15 minute articles that contain only the major talking points.

This can seriously cut down on a lot of wasted time and frustration with books you don’t like and can’t connect with on a personal level.

Use SEO tools to see traffic potentials

Let’s say you’ve found 10-15 books that are interesting enough for you to review. How do you know which can generate you traffic and readers, and which are dead ends?

One free option is to use Google Trends :

With this tool, you can quickly allow you to compare the search traffic between two keywords.

The more professional option is to use an SEO tool such as SEMRush .

These SEO tools give you a lot of information when choosing what to write about , such as:

• How difficult a keyword is, meaning how many backlinks you may need to rank for it.
• Related keywords.
• See what other book blogs have written about.
• See a rough approximation of monthly searches for a given keyword.
• See the backlink profiles of other articles.

That being said, these SEO tools can be pretty expensive. SEMRush has a 1 week free trial, after which it costs $100 per month, so certainly not cheap. You can however use a 1 month subscription, gather up enough ideas to last you 4-5-6 months, and then cancel it.

How to make money with a book blog

The hard truth about blogging is that you need to put in a lot of upfront work before you start to make any real money, especially as a beginner that’s never done this before.

This up-front work is all about generating traffic. Without traffic there is no monetization.

Fortunately however, SEO and Pinterest traffic is usually very stable when generated which allows you to then focus on building an income stream.

This section below explains the very basics of blog monetization as well as what traffic goals you should have in order to generate some meaningful revenue.

When you mention putting ads on a website, most people immediately think of Google Adsense. 10-15 years ago, AdSense was pretty much the only ad network available to monetize a website.

Things have changed a lot since then. Nowadays, most high traffic blogs have moved away from Adsense and instead migrated to other ad networks that pay 15x-30x as much : AdThrive, Monumetric or Mediavine.

Just to give you a comparison, Mediavine can provide around ~$20 per 1,000 sessions. Thus, a blog with 50,000 sessions can earn roughly $1,000 per month.

This screenshot is from a review of Mediavine from thisonlineworld.com .

So what’s the catch? Well, you have to meet certain conditions to join these high paying ad networks:

First, your site must have majority US/UK/Canada/Australia traffic (~65% or more).

Secondly, your blog must generate significant amounts of traffic per month. For instance, Monumetric asks for 10,000 pageviews, Mediavine requires 50,000 monthly sessions and AdThrive demands 100,000 monthly pageviews.

Sponsored Articles

As mentioned previously, there is currently a huge underground industry of people paying to get links from other sites. Google absolutely hates this and tries its best to crackdown on the practice, but not even they can consistently differentiate between a bought link and a natural one.

These links usually point to “money articles”, meaning posts that generate traffic from people who want to spend money. A few examples of such posts would be “Best Mattresses to Buy in 2020”, “Best Flashlights for Engineers” etc.

Sponsored articles are generally priced at around $1 per 100 pageviews. Thus, a blog with 10,000 monthly pageviews can ask for around $100, while one with 50,000 can demand a minimum of $500.

This blog doesn’t do sponsored articles, but it does receive offers on a weekly basis:

There are multiple reasons why I don’t accept sponsored posts:

• The buyers are extremely obvious in their demands, meaning you risk a severe Google penalty.
• They propose subjects that don’t align with your niche.
• The articles they provide are so poor quality, you’ll have to practically rewrite them from scratch to make any sense.

That being said, bloggers that are willing to work with these limitations can create a good revenue stream from sponsored articles.

Affiliate marketing

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing means you promote a product and get a commission in case one of your visitors purchases it.

As an example, on this blog I promote CuriosityStream documentaries on relevant articles and books from Amazon as well as Audiobooks.com.

The nice part about affiliate marketing is that there are tons of advertisers across a wide variety of niches. This means it’s quite easy to find products that align with your values, and you can safely promote on your blog without feeling like a sellout.

To get into affiliate marketing, you’ll need to sign up to affiliate marketplaces. These are big sites that act as middlemen between advertisers and publishers as yourself:

• Commision Junction
• Amazon Affiliates

Some of these affiliate marketplaces have a vetting process. It’s pretty relaxed, so it’s not that hard to enter but I do suggest you first reach at least 1,000 monthly visitors before applying.

This way you’ll have some traffic and can generate some sales, which is important since inactive accounts or ones that can’t generate sales are often deactivated after a few months.

Monetizing a website through Patreon is now a viable option. The only downside to Patreon is that it requires you put in a lot of work into building and nurturing a core audience of readers that will visit your site again and again.

Traditional blogs usually monetize with affiliate links, ads and email newsletters. These can all be automated so that you don’t really have to interact a lot with your readers. This frees up the blogger, allowing them to focus on writing and promoting their articles.

Patreon bloggers on the other hand have to put effort into interacting with their audience. This can mean answering their emails, asking them what to write about, creating offers to entice donations etc.

How do I write, edit or delete a book review on Goodreads?

Mar 26, 2024 • knowledge, information.

You must be a Goodreads member to write, edit or delete a review. From desktop and mobile web, all reviews are automatically saved as a draft until you choose to publish them on a book’s page. Please note, though, you cannot save a draft for updates to reviews that are already published. Instructions for:

• Android app

From desktop : 1.  Navigate to the page of the book you'd like to review. You can also search using the search bar in the header. 2.  Underneath the book's cover image, hover over the stars until the desired number of stars is highlighted, and then click on them to rate the book. 3.  From the pop-up menu, click Write a review . 4.  Enter your review on the following page, and click Save to submit your review. To edit or delete your review, locate your review on the book’s page, click Edit at the far right of My Activity, edit or remove your review text and click Save at the bottom of the page.  

From Mobile web : 1. Navigate to the page of the book you'd like to review. You can also search using the search bar in the header. 2. Next to the book’s cover image, tap Write a review. 3. Enter your review on the following page, and tap Post . You cannot edit or remove reviews from mobile web.

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How to Write a Blog Post: A Step-by-Step Guide [+ Free Blog Post Templates]

Review a step-by-step guide plus useful templates to learn how to write an effective blog post for your target audience and customers.

6 FREE BLOG POST TEMPLATES

Save time creating blog posts with these free templates.

Updated: 04/03/24

Published: 04/03/24

Anyone can connect with their audience through blogging and enjoy the myriad benefits that blogging provides: organic traffic from search engines, promotional content for social media, and recognition from a new audience you haven’t tapped into yet.

If you’ve heard about blogging but are a beginner and don’t know where to start, the time for excuses is over. Not only can you create an SEO-friendly blog , but I’ll cover how to write and manage your business's blog as well as provide helpful templates to simplify your blogging efforts.

What is a blog post?

How to start a blog, writing your first blog post, what makes a good blog post, blog post examples, how to write a blog post.

Let's get started with an important question.

Blogging may mean different things depending on your niche — so let’s begin with this definition.

A blog post is any article, news piece, or guide that's published in the blog section of a website. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational in nature, ranges from 600 to 2,000+ words, and contains other media types such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive charts.

Blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can help you drive traffic to your website.

But in order to begin making posts for a blog — you have to learn how to start one, first. Let’s dive in.

• Understand your audience.
• Check out your competition.
• Determine what topics you'll cover.
• Identify your unique angle.
• Name your blog.
• Create your blog domain.
• Choose a CMS and set up your blog.
• Customize the look of your blog.
• Write your first blog post.

1. Understand your audience.

Before you start writing your blog post, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience. To do so, take the following steps.

Ask yourself exploratory questions.

To discover your audience, ask questions like: Who are they? Are they like me, or do I know someone like them? What do they want to know about? What will resonate with them?

Jot down your notes in a notepad or a document. This is the time to brainstorm audience attributes from scratch, no matter how out of left field they may feel. You should also think about your audience's age, background, goals, and challenges at this stage.

6 Free Blog Post Templates

• "How-to" Post
• "What is" Post
• Listicle Post

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Carry out market research.

Doing market research sounds like a big task, but in truth, it can be as simple as accessing a social media platform and browsing user and blog profiles that match with your potential audience.

Use market research tools to begin uncovering more specific information about your audience — or to confirm a hunch or a piece of information you already knew. For instance, if you wanted to create a blog about work-from-home hacks, you can make the reasonable assumption that your audience will be mostly Gen Zers and Millennials. But it’s important to confirm this information through research.

Create formal buyer personas.

Once you’ve brainstormed and carried out market research, it’s time to create formal buyer personas . It’s important because what you know about your buyer personas and their interests will inform the brainstorming process for blog posts.

"Buyer personas aren’t just for direct marketing. They can be a handy way to keep a human in mind while you’re writing. If you’ve got other marketing or sales teams handy, coordinate your personas," says Curtis del Principe, user acquisition manager at HubSpot. "Chances are that your existing customers are exactly the kind of people you want to attract with your writing in the first place. Your sales and service teams can also have great insight into these people’s needs and pain points."

For instance, if your readers are Millennials looking to start a business, you probably don't need to provide them with information about getting started on social media — most of them already have that down.

You might, however, want to give them information about how to adjust their social media approach (for example — from what may be a casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-focused approach). That kind of tweak is what helps you publish content about the topics your audience really wants and needs.

Don't have buyer personas in place for your business? Here are a few resources to help you get started:

• Create Buyer Personas for Your Business [Free Template]
• Guide: How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business
• [Free Tool] Make My Persona: Buyer Persona Generator

2. Check out your competition.

What better way to draw inspiration than to look at your well-established competition?

It’s worth taking a look at popular, highly reviewed blogs because their strategy and execution is what got them to grow in credibility. The purpose of doing this isn’t to copy these elements, but to gain better insight into what readers appreciate in a quality blog.

When you find a competitor’s blog, take the following steps:

Determine whether they’re actually a direct competitor.

A blog’s audience, niche, and specific slant determine whether they're actually your competitor. But the most important of these is their audience. If they serve a completely different public than you, then they’re likely not a competitor. That is why it’s important to define your buyer personas before taking other steps in the blog creation process.

Look at the blog’s branding, color palette, and theme.

Once you determine that they’re your competitor, it’s time to take note of their techniques so that you can capture a similar readership. Colors and themes play a huge role in whether you seem like part of a niche — for instance, a blog about eco-friendly products should likely use earthy tones instead of bright, unnatural colors such as neon yellow or pink.

Analyze the tone and writing style of the competition.

Take note of your competition’s copywriting. Is it something you feel like you can successfully emulate? Does it ring true to the type of blog you’d like to create? What do readers most respond to? For most, creating a tech blog might be an excellent idea, but if journalistic, review-based writing doesn’t work for you, then that might not be a good fit. Be aware of what you can feasibly execute or hire freelance writers.

3. Determine what topics you’ll cover.

Before you write anything, pick a topic you’d like to write about. The topic can be pretty general to start as you find your desired niche in blogging .

Here are some ways to choose topics to cover.

Find out which topics your competitors often cover.

One easy way to choose topics for your blog is to simply learn what other blogs are writing about. After you determine your competitors, go through their archive and category pages, and try to find out which topics they most often publish content about. From there, you can create a tentative list to explore further. You might find, for instance, that a competitor only covers surface-level information about a subject. In your blog, you can dive more deeply and offer more value to readers.

Choose topics you understand well.

No matter what type of blog you start, you want to ensure you know the topic well enough to write authoritatively about it. Rather than choosing a topic you’ll need to research as you write, think about those that come most naturally to you. What has your professional experience been like so far? What are your hobbies? What did you study in college? These can all give rise to potential topics you can cover in depth.

Ensure the topics are relevant to your readership.

You may find that you hold deep expertise in various topics, but how relevant are they to the audience you understood back in step one?

Del Principe suggests checking in with sales and service teams as well. "What kinds of things do they wish customers already knew? What kinds of questions do they get asked a thousand times? What kind of objections come up from potential customers, and how do they address them?"

If you’re not serving their needs, then you’d be shouting into a void — or, worse, attracting the wrong readership. For that reason, after identifying the topics you can feasibly write about, ask yourself whether those are subjects your audience would like to explore.

Do preliminary keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of searching for topics using a keyword research tool , then determining whether there is demand by looking at each topic’s (or keyword’s) search volume. If you found the perfect topics that are the perfect cross between your expertise and your reader’s needs, you’ve struck gold — but the gold will have no value unless people are searching for those terms. Only then can you capture the audience that is waiting out there.

4. Identify your unique angle.

What perspective do you bring that makes you stand out from the crowd? This is key to determining the trajectory of your blog’s future, and there are many avenues to choose in the process.

Here’s how you can find your unique selling proposition in crowded blogging niches:

Write a professional and personal bio.

Knowing your own history and experience is essential to determine your unique slant. To get started, write a professional bio that explains, at length, who you are and which experiences most inform your blogging efforts. While I could write a lengthy exposition about my childhood, that history isn’t essential unless I’m launching a blog about raising children.

What unique experience makes you a trusted expert or thought leader on the topic? You can use your answers to that question to find your angle. Use this information to populate your “About me” page on your blog and share more about yourself.

Determine the special problem you will solve for readers.

Your readers won’t trust you or return to you unless you actively help them solve a problem. As you try to find your angle, think about ways you can help your audience surmount challenges typically associated with the topics you’ve chosen for your blog. For instance, if you’re creating a blog about sustainability, then you might help readers learn how they can compost organic materials in their home.

Choose an editorial approach.

Will you share your opinions on trending debates? Teach your readers how to do something? Compare or share original research? The editorial approach you choose will in part be informed by the topics you cover on your blog and the problems you’re helping your readers solve. If your blog is about marketing trends and your goal is to keep marketers up-to-date on the latest changes, then your editorial approach should be journalistic in nature. This is only one example of how to choose a technique.

5. Name your blog.

This is your opportunity to get creative and make a name that gives readers an idea of what to expect from your blog. Some tips on how to choose your blog name include:

Keep your blog name easy to say and spell.

No need to get complicated at all with your name, though it might be tempting, since there are so many blogs out there. While choosing a unique name is essential, it’s also important to choose one that is easy to memorize for readers. It should also be simple to remember as an URL (which will come into play in the next step).

Link your blog name to your brand message.

The more related your blog’s name is to the topics you cover, the better. For instance, DIY MFA is all about writers doing their own Master of Fine Arts in writing at home. The brand’s message is all about delving deep into one’s writing practice without needing a formal degree. Try to do something similar for your own blog name: Alluding to your blog’s message, value proposition, and covered topics in one sweep.

Consider what your target audience is looking for.

Your blog name should tie directly into what your readers want to achieve, learn, or solve. DIY MFA is about writers who don’t have the money for graduate school, but who still want to develop their writing skills. The HubSpot Marketing blog is — you guessed it — about marketing trends and tips.

It’s okay if your blog name feels “too straightforward.” Straightforward names accurately communicate what you’re about and effectively attract the right audience.

If you still need more assistance, try using a blog name generator . One last tip: Make sure the name you come up with isn’t already taken, as it could lessen your visibility and confuse readers looking for your content.

6. Create your blog domain.

A domain is a part of the web address nomenclature someone would use to find your website or a page of your website online.

Your blog‘s domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. The name between the two periods is up to you, as long as this domain name doesn’t yet exist on the internet.

Want to create a subdomain for your blog? If you already own a cooking business at www.yourcompany.com, you might create a blog that looks like this: blog.yourcompany.com. In other words, your blog's subdomain will live in its own section of yourcompany.com.

Some CMS platforms offer subdomains as a free service, where your blog lives on the CMS, rather than your business's website. For example, it might look like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However, to create a subdomain that belongs to your company website, register the subdomain with a website host .

Most website hosting services charge very little to host an original domain — in fact, website costs can be as inexpensive as $3 per month when you commit to a 36-month term.

Pro Tip: You can connect your custom domain to free hosting with HubSpot’s free CMS or in premium editions of Content Hub. This includes access to built-in security features and a content delivery network.

Here are five other popular web hosting services to choose from:

7. Choose a CMS and set up your blog.

A CMS (content management system) is a software application that allows users to build and maintain a website without having to code it from scratch. CMS platforms can manage domains (where you create your website) and subdomains (where you create a webpage that connects to an existing website).

HubSpot customers host web content via Content Hub . Another popular option is a self-hosted WordPress website on a hosting site such as WP Engine . Whether you create a domain or a subdomain to start your blog , you'll need to choose a web hosting service after you pick a CMS.

Pro Tip: You can get started for free with HubSpot’s free blog maker . Our free CMS offers everything you need to get started– including hosting, a visual editor, and hundreds of free and paid themes to choose from.

Start using HubSpot's Free Blog Making tool to publish blog posts.  

8. customize the look of your blog..

Once you have your domain name set up, customize the appearance of your blog to reflect the theme of the content you plan on creating and your brand.

For example, if you're writing about sustainability and the environment, green might be a color to keep in mind while designing your blog.

Image Source

If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for that existing website, ensure the article is consistent with the website in appearance and subject matter. Two ways to do this are including your:

• Logo : This can be your business‘s name and logo — it will remind blog readers of who’s publishing the content. (How heavily you want to brand your blog, however, is up to you.)
• “About” Page : You might already have an “About” blurb describing yourself or your business. Your blog‘s "About" section is an extension of this higher-level statement. Think of it as your blog’s mission statement, which serves to support your company's goals.

9. Write your first blog post.

Once you have your blog set up, the only thing missing is the content. While the design and layout are fun and functionally necessary, it's the content that will draw your readers in and keep them coming back. So how do you actually go about writing one of these engaging and informational pieces?

You’ve got the technical and practical tidbits down — now it’s time to write your very first blog post. And nope, this isn’t the space to introduce yourself and your new blog (i.e. “Welcome to my blog! This is the topic I’ll be covering. Here are my social media handles. Will you please follow?”).

Start with “low-hanging fruit,” writing about a highly specific topic that serves a small segment of your target audience.

That seems unintuitive, right? If more people are searching for a term or a topic, that should mean more readers for you.

But that’s not true. If you choose a general and highly searched topic that’s been covered by major competitors or more established brands, it’s unlikely that your post will rank on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). Give your newly born blog a chance by choosing a topic that few bloggers have written about.

If you need help, you can also use AI to help you create a blog post quickly. 

1. Choose a topic you’re passionate and knowledgeable about.

Before you write anything, pick a topic for your blog post. The topic can be pretty general to start. For example, if you're a company that sells a CRM for small-to-enterprise businesses , your post might be about the importance of using a single software to keep your marketing, sales, and service teams aligned.

Pro tip : You may not want to jump into a “how-to” article for your first blog post.

Your credibility hasn’t been established yet. Before teaching others how to do something, you’ll first want to show that you’re a leader in your field and an authoritative source.

For instance, if you‘re a plumber writing your first post, you won’t yet write a post titled “How to Replace the Piping System in your Bathroom.” First, you’d write about modern faucet setups, or tell a particular success story you had rescuing a faucet before it flooded a customer's house.

Here are four other types of blog posts you could start with:

• List (“Listicle”) : 5 ways to fix a leaky faucet
• Curated Collection : 10 faucet and sink brands to consider today
• SlideShare Presentation : 5 types of faucets to replace your old one (with pictures)
• News Piece : New study shows X% of people don't replace their faucet frequently enough

If you're having trouble coming up with topic ideas, a good topic brainstorming session should help. In the post I’ve linked, my colleague walks you through a helpful process for turning one idea into many. Similar to the “leaky faucet” examples above, you would “iterate off old topics to come up with unique and compelling new topics.”

This can be done by:

• Changing the topic scope
• Adjusting your time frame
• Choosing a new audience
• Taking a positive/negative approach
• Introducing a new format

And if you’re still stuck, let’s take a look at some first blog post idea examples.

First Blog Post Ideas

The difference between [niche topic] and [niche topic], explained by a [niche expert].

• The Difference Between SEM and SEO, Explained by a Marketing Expert
• The Difference Between Sedans and Coupes, Explained by a Car Mechanic
• The Difference Between Baking and Broiling, Explained by a Professional Baker

The 10 Best and Worst [Niche Tools] for [Niche Activity]

• The 10 Best and Worst Writing Software for Fiction Writing
• The 10 Best and Worst CRMs for Nurturing Prospects
• The 10 Best and Worst Family Cars for Cross-Country Roadtrips

8 [Niche Activity] Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)

• 8 Non-Fiction Writing Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)
• 8 Salmon Broiling Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)
• 8 Car Maintenance Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)

9 Proven Tips for [Niche Activity]

• 9 Proven Tips for Checking Plumbing Problems under Your Kitchen Sink
• 9 Proven Tips for Writing a Non-Fiction Bestseller
• 9 Proven Tips for Doing DIY Car Maintenance

Why We/I Switched from [Niche Tool] to [Niche Tool] (Comparison)

• Why We Switched from Pipedrive to HubSpot (Comparison)
• Why I Switched from Microsoft Word to Scrivener (Comparison)
• Why We Switched from iMacs to Surface Studio (Comparison)

[Niche Tool] vs [Niche Tool]: Which [Tool] is Best for You?

• Zendesk vs Freshcaller: Which Call Software is Best for You?
• Air Fryer vs Convection Oven: Which One is Best for You?
• Mazda Miata vs Toyota Supra: Which Sports Car is Best for You?

The Ultimate Roundup of [Niche Activity] Tips and Tricks

• The Ultimate Roundup of Novel Writing Tips and Tricks
• The Ultimate Roundup of Macaroon Baking Tips and Tricks
• The Ultimate Roundup of Solo Traveling Tips and Tricks

Want some real examples of blog posts? See what your first blog post can look like based on the topic you choose and the audience you're targeting.

2. Target a low-volume keyword to optimize around.

Finding a keyword with low searches in Google (I recommend sticking to about 10 to 150 monthly searches). These topics offer less competition and should therefore allow your new blog post to rank more easily.

To choose a topic, you can either do a traditional brainstorming session or carry out keyword research. I suggest the latter because you can actually see how many people are looking for that topic.

Now, don’t be intimidated by the term “ keyword research .” It’s not just for marketers, but for new bloggers, too. And it’s really easy to do.

To jumpstart your keyword research, first begin by identifying the general topic of your blog.

Say you’re a plumber. Your general, high-level topic might be “plumbing” (67K monthly searches).

Next, put this term into a keyword research tool such as:

• Ubersuggest
• Wordtracker

When you run this term through the tool, a list of related keywords will appear. Scan the list and choose one with a lower search volume. For this example, we’ll use “under sink plumbing” (1.4K monthly searches).

Run that keyword in the keyword research tool again. Look at the related keywords. Find one with a lower search volume. Do that again.

For this example, we’ll settle on “plumbing problems under kitchen sink” (10 monthly searches). That’s the topic for our first post.

TLDR ; Choose a low-volume, low-competition keyword that will ensure your first post ranks.

For more help on keyword research, here are more resources you can use:

• How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner's Guide
• How to Perform Keyword Research and Rank
• Top Tools For Finding Long-Tail Keywords

3. Google the term to understand your audience’s search intent.

You’ve got your topic — now, you need to check that the user’s search intent would be fulfilled by a blog post.

What does that mean?

If someone is looking for “plumbing problems under a kitchen sink,” they might be looking for a tutorial, a diagram, an article, or a product that can fix the issue. If they’re looking for the first three, you’re good — that can be covered in a blog post. A product, however, is different, and your blog post won’t rank.

How do you double-check search intent?

Google the term and look at the results. If other articles and blog posts rank for that term, you’re good to go. If you only find product pages or listicles from major publications, then find a new topic to cover in your first post.

Consider the term “under sink plumbing bathroom” (30 monthly searches). It seemed like a perfect fit because it had low monthly searches.

Upon Googling the term, I found product carousels, product pages from Home Depot and Lowes, and guides written by major publications. (You’ll also want to avoid topics that have been covered by major publications, at least for now.)

TLDR ; Before writing your first blog post about a low-volume topic, double-check the user intent by Googling the keyword. Also, don’t forget to take a look at who’s written about that topic so far. If you see a major brand, consider writing about another topic.

4. Find questions and terms related to that topic.

You’ve got a highly unique topic that’s been covered by just a few people so far. It’s time to flesh it out by covering related or adjacent topics.

Use the following tools:

• Answer the Public : When you place your keyword into this tool, it will give you a list of questions related to that term.
• Google : Google is your best friend. Search for the term and look under “People also ask” and “People also search for.” Be sure to touch upon those topics in the post.

You can also use these keyword research tools we mentioned above in step one.

5. Come up with a working title.

You might come up with a few different working titles — in other words, iterations of approaching that topic to help you focus your writing.

For example, you may decide to narrow your topic to “Tools for Fixing Leaky Faucets” or “Common Causes of Leaky Faucets.” A working title is specific and will guide your post so you can start writing.

Let's take a real post as an example: " How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post ."

Appropriate, right? The topic, in this case, was probably “blogging.” Then the working title may have been something like, “The Process for Selecting a Blog Post Topic.” And the final title ended up being “How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post.”

See that evolution from topic, to working title, to final title? Even though the working title may not end up being the final title (more on that in a moment), it still provides enough information so you can focus your blog post on something more specific than a generic, overwhelming topic.

6. Create an outline.

Sometimes, blog posts can have an overwhelming amount of information — for the reader and the writer. The trick is to organize the info in a way so readers aren‘t intimidated by length or amount of content. This organization can take multiple forms — sections, lists, tips — whatever’s most appropriate. But it must be organized!

Featured Resource: 6 Free Blog Post Templates

Download These Templates for Free

Let's take a look at the post, " How to Use Snapchat: A Detailed Look Into HubSpot’s Snapchat Strategy. " There‘s a lot of content in the piece, so it’s broken up into a few sections using descriptive headers. The major sections are separated into subsections that go into more detail, making the content easier to read.

To complete this step, all you really need to do is outline your post. This way, before you start writing, you'll know which points you want to cover and the best order to do so. And to make things even easier, you can download and use our free blog post templates , which are pre-organized for six of the most common blogs. Just fill in the blanks!

7. Write an intro (and make it captivating).

We've written more specifically about writing captivating introductions in the post " How to Write an Introduction ," but let's review, shall we?

First, grab the reader‘s attention. If you lose the reader in the first few paragraphs — or even sentences — of the introduction, they’ll stop reading (even before they've given your post a fair shake). You can do this in a number of ways: tell a story or a joke, be empathetic, or grip the reader with an interesting fact or statistic.

Then, describe the purpose of your post and explain how it will address a problem the reader may be experiencing. This will give the reader a reason to continue reading and show them how the post will help them improve their work or lives.

Here‘s an example of an intro I think does a good job of attracting a reader’s attention right away:

“Blink. Blink. Blink. It's the dreaded cursor-on-a-blank-screen experience that all writers — amateur or professional, aspiring or experienced — know and dread. And of all times for it to occur, it seems to plague us the most when trying to write an introduction.”

8. Build out each section of your outline.

The next step — but not the last — is actually writing the content. We can't forget about that, of course.

Now that you have your outline or template, you're ready to fill in the blanks. Use your outline as a guide and expand on all points as needed. Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while providing proper attribution when incorporating external sources. When you do, always try to find accurate and compelling data to use in your post.

If you‘re having trouble stringing sentences together, you’re not alone. Finding your “flow” can be challenging for a lot of folks. Luckily, there are a ton of tools you can lean on to help you improve your writing. Here are a few to get you started:

• HubSpot's AI Blog Writer : Tools like HubSpot's AI Blog Writer can be a valuable asset for beginners and seasoned bloggers alike. It simplifies the process of creating SEO-friendly and engaging blog content, which is crucial for connecting with your audience and enjoying the benefits of blogging.
• Power Thesaurus : Stuck on a word? Power Thesaurus is a crowdsourced tool that provides users with a number of alternative word choices from a community of writers.
• ZenPen : If you're having trouble staying focused, check out this distraction-free writing tool. ZenPen creates a minimalist “writing zone” designed to help you get words down without having to fuss with formatting right away.
• Cliché Finder : Feeling like your writing might be coming off a little cheesy? Identify instances where you can be more specific using this handy cliché tool.

You can also refer to our complete list of tools for improving your writing skills . And if you're looking for more direction, the following resources are chock-full of valuable writing advice:

• Copywriting 101: 6 Traits of Excellent Copy Readers Will Remember
• How to Write Compelling Copy: 7 Tips for Writing Content That Converts
• How to Write With Clarity: 9 Tips for Simplifying Your Message
• The Kurt Vonnegut Guide to Great Copywriting: 8 Rules That Apply to Anyone
• Your Blog Posts Are Boring: 9 Tips for Making Your Writing More Interesting

9. Publish and promote your first post any way you can.

As a new blogger, you likely don’t have a social media following yet. Thankfully, you don’t need a huge following before you can create a promotion strategy.

A promotion strategy is your master plan for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content. It helps you take advantage of social and digital technologies to share your business, or in this case, your content. Having a solid promotional strategy offers your audience from different marketing channels more ways to find your blog posts.

Here are more blog post promotion resources:

• 12 Tried-and-True Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts
• 10 Sites You Can Use for Free Blog Promotion
• 9 Link Building Email Outreach Templates That Actually Work
• Inbound Link Building 101: 34 Ways to Build Backlinks for SEO
• 11 Creative (But 100% White Hat!) Ways to Earn Backlinks

Before you write a blog, make sure you know the answers to questions like, “Why would someone keep reading this entire blog post?” and “What makes our audience come back for more?”

To start, a good blog post is interesting and educational. Blogs should answer questions and help readers resolve a challenge they're experiencing — and you have to do so in an interesting way.

It‘s not enough just to answer someone’s questions — you also have to provide actionable steps while being engaging. For instance, your introduction should hook the reader and make them want to continue reading your post. Then, use examples to keep your readers interested in what you have to say.

Remember, a good blog post is interesting to read and provides educational content to audience members.

Want to learn how to apply blogging and other forms of content marketing to your business?

Check out HubSpot Academy's free content marketing course .

Now, let's dive into some formatting guidelines to use before you publish your blog posts.

Blog Format Guidelines

• Include H2s to arrange ideas.
• Center your Images.
• Add alt text.
• Keep your sentences clear and concise.
• Use media with purpose.

1. Include H2s to arrange ideas.

When you begin typing your blog content, it’s important that you divide paragraphs into sections that make it easier for the reader to find what they need.

If you’re just starting out, then focus on the overarching H2s you want to talk about, and you’ll be able to branch off into subheaders and more naturally as you continue.

2. Center your images.

This is a simple practice that can help your content look more professional with little effort. Centering your images keeps the reader’s attention drawn to the subject — not searching for elsewhere.

Centering also looks better when translating from PC to mobile devices. As formatting transitions to small screens or windows, a centered image will remain the focal point.

3. Add alt text.

So those images you centered earlier, make sure you have descriptive alt text for them, too.

Image alt text allows search engines, like Google, to crawl and rank your blog post better than pages lacking the element. It also leads readers to your blog post if the keywords included are what they searched for in the first place.

Besides SERP features, image alt text is beneficial to readers by providing more accessibility. Image alt text allows people to better visualize images when they can’t see them, and with assistive technology, can be auditorily read aloud for people to enjoy.

4. Keep your sentences short and concise.

When you begin working on the body of your blog post, make sure readers can clearly understand what you’re trying to accomplish.

You shouldn’t feel pressure to elongate your post with unnecessary details, and chances are that if you keep it concise, readers will derive more value from your work.

5. Use media with a purpose.

Break up the monotony of your blog post with some multimedia content where seen fit.

Your reader will enjoy visiting a blog page with images, videos, polls, audio or slideshows as opposed to a page of black and white text.

It also makes it more interactive and improves your on-page search engine optimization (SEO).

Now, do you want some real examples of blog posts? See what your first blog post can look like based on the topic you choose and the audience you're targeting.

• List-Based Post
• Thought Leadership Post
• Curated Collection Post
• SlideShare Presentation
• Newsjacking Post
• Infographic Post
• How-to Post

1. List-Based Blog Post

List-based post example: 17 blogging mistakes to avoid in 2021, according to hubspot bloggers.

List-based posts are sometimes called “listicles,” a mix of the words “list” and “article.” These are articles that deliver information in the form of a list. A listicle uses sub-headers to break down the blog post into individual pieces, helping readers skim and digest your content more easily.

As you can see in the example from our blog, listicles can offer various tips and methods for solving a problem.

2. Thought Leadership Post

Example: how hubspot's customers are shaping the next normal.

Thought leadership posts allow you to share your expertise on a particular subject matter and share firsthand knowledge with your readers.

These pieces — which can be written in the first person, like the post shown above — help you build trust with your audience so people take your blog seriously as you continue to write for it.

3. Curated Collection Post

Example: 8 examples of evolution in action.

Curated collections are a special type of listicle blog post. Rather than sharing tips or methods for doing something, this type of blog post shares a list of real examples that all have something in common in order to prove a larger point.

In the example post above, Listverse shares eight real examples of evolution in action among eight different animals — starting with the peppered moth.

4. Slide Presentation

Example: the hubspot culture code.

HubSpot Slides is a presentation tool that helps publishers package a lot of information into easily shareable slides. Think of it like a PowerPoint, but for the web. With this in mind, SlideShare blog posts help you promote your SlideShare so that it can generate a steady stream of visitors.

Unlike blogs, slide decks don't often rank well on search engines, so they need a platform for getting their message out there to the people who are looking for it. By embedding and summarizing your SlideShare on a blog post, you can share a great deal of information and give it a chance to rank on Google at the same time.

Need some slideshow ideas? In the example above, we turned our company's “Culture Code” into a slides presentation that anyone can look through and take lessons from, and then promoted it in a blog post.

5. Newsjacking Post

Example: ivy goes mobile with new app for designers.

“Newsjacking” is a nickname for “hijacking” your blog to break important news related to your industry. Therefore, the newsjack post is a type of article whose sole purpose is to garner consumers' attention and, while offering them timeless professional advice, prove your blog is a trusted resource for learning about the big things that happen in your industry.

The newsjack example above was published by Houzz, a home decor merchant and interior design resource, about a new mobile app that was launched just for interior designers. Houzz didn‘t launch the app, but the news of its launching is no less important to Houzz’s audience.

6. Infographic Post

Example: the key benefits of studying online [infographic].

For example, when you're looking to share a lot of statistical information (without boring or confusing your readers), building this data into a well-designed, even engaging infographic can keep your readers engaged with your content. It also helps readers remember the information long after they leave your website.

7. How-to Post

Example: how to write a blog post: a step-by-step guide.

For this example, you need not look any further than the blog post you‘re reading right now! How-to guides like this one help solve a problem for your readers. They’re like a cookbook for your industry, walking your audience through a project step by step to improve their literacy on the subject.

The more posts like this you create, the more equipped your readers will be to work with you and invest in the services you offer.

8. Guest Post

Example: your bookmarkable guide to social media image sizes in 2021 [infographic].

Additionally, these posts give your blog variety in topic and viewpoint. If your customer has a problem you can't solve, a guest post is a great solution.

If you begin accepting guest posts, set up editorial guidelines to ensure they're up to the same standards as your posts.

So we’ve gone through the different types of blog posts you can make, but how do you consistently make quality blog posts that your viewers will enjoy?

• Draw from your buyer personas and what you know about your audience.
• Pull from your content strategy and/or brainstormed topics.
• Identify what's missing from the existing discourse.
• Choose what type of blog post you're writing.
• Generate a few different titles and choose the best one.
• Create your outline and designate keyword-rich H2s and H3s.
• Write your blog post!
• Proofread your post.
• Add images and other media elements to support your ideas.
• Upload your post into your CMS.
• Determine a conversion path (what you want your audience to do next).
• Add calls to action to guide your audience to take action.
• Link to other relevant blog posts within your content.
• Optimize for on-page SEO.
• Publish and promote the blog post.
• Track the performance of the blog post over time.

1. Draw from your buyer personas and what you know about your audience.

Before you start writing your blog post, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience.

Ask questions like: What do they want to know about? What will resonate with them?

This is where the process of creating buyer personas comes in handy. Consider what you know about your buyer personas and their interests while you're coming up with a topic for your blog post.

For instance, if your readers are millennials looking to start a business, you probably don't need to provide them with information about getting started in social media — most of them already have that down.

If you haven’t developed buyer personas yet, I’ve found that it’s easiest to get started by gathering the information you already have about your audience and looking for trends. Sending out feedback surveys and interviewing followers can also be helpful.

Does your blog attract a specific age group? Does your audience live in a certain region? How do readers typically discover your content? Finding answers to these questions can help you get a better idea of who your buyer persona is.

2. Pull from your content strategy and/or brainstormed topics.

If you already have a pre-existing portfolio to look back on, it would benefit you to pull from those brainstormed post ideas or previous content strategy.

One thing that’s been helpful for me is specifically looking at content performance data when brainstorming ideas. In doing this, I’ve discovered which topics tend to resonate with my audience (and which ones don’t) and created content around them.

By focusing on your core blog topics, or clusters , you can establish yourself as a thought leader, gain the trust of your audience, rank better on search engines, and attract new readers.

3. Identify what’s missing from the existing discourse.

Fill in the gaps of the existing discourse in the topic of your choosing.

You want to meet a need that hasn’t already been met in your topic cluster. Otherwise, you run the risk of writing content for topics that are already over-saturated.

It’s hard to beat saturated search queries when you’re trying to rank against high authority publications — but not impossible if your content is answering the queries the competition hasn’t.

To discover what’s missing within a topic, I conduct a competitive analysis to see what my competitors offer in their content and how I can make my blog post better. Here are some things to look out for:

• Unanswered user queries
• Content depth
• Content freshness
• Media richness
• User experience

If your competitors are lacking in any of these areas, you can use that to your advantage and focus on them when writing your blog post.

Another way to differentiate your blog is by offering original data, quotes, or perspectives. Some of my best performing posts have come from getting a unique quote from an industry expert.

4. Choose what type of blog post you’re writing.

There are several types of blog posts you can create, and they each have different formats to follow.

Six of the most common formats include:

• The List-Based Post
• The “What Is” Post
• The Pillar Page Post (“Ultimate Guide”)
• The Newsjacking Post
• The Infographic Post
• The “How-To” Post

Save time and download six blog post templates for free.

5. Generate a few different titles and choose the best one.

Your blog title should tell readers what to expect, yet it should leave them wanting to know more — confusing, right?

This is why when you’re coming up with a blog post title that you should brainstorm multiple ones instead of just one. I find it helpful to share these titles with a couple coworkers to get their feedback and see which one is most engaging to them.

I’ve also enlisted the help of ChatGPT to generate sample blog post titles by inputting a prompt like, “Write a list of blog titles about [topic].” Even if it doesn’t give you exactly what you want, it can still get ideas flowing.

6. Create your outline and designate keyword-rich H2s and H3s.

When outlining, you need to center your main ideas with keyword-rich H2s and H3s. These are going to be your headers and subheaders that readers typically search for, and the information that Google crawls when indexing and ranking content.

I use keyword research tools, like Ahrefs and Semrush , to find the best words for my blog post. To find the right keywords, I focus on the following elements:

• Relevance to topic and search intent
• How authoritative my blog is on the topic
• The amount of search traffic my blog could gain

Remember, your outline should serve as a guide to make writing your blog post easier, so make sure you include all the important points you want to discuss and organize them in a logical flow.

7. Write your blog post!

I already told you how to build out your outline earlier in the post, so we'll quickly go over the main points once more.

You‘ve already outlined your main headings and subheadings, so now’s the time to add the body.

Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while providing proper attribution when incorporating external sources. When you do, always try to find accurate and compelling data to use in your post.

This is also your opportunity to show personality in your writing. Blog posts don‘t have to be strictly informational, they can be filled with interesting anecdotes and even humor if it serves a purpose in expressing your ideas. It also factors into creating and maintaining your blog’s brand voice .

Don‘t be discouraged if you’re having trouble stringing sentences together, you're not alone. Finding your “flow” can be challenging, but there are many tools to ease the process. Software such as HubSpot's Free AI Blog Writer can help you generate copy for your blog post. You can even use it to outline and generate title ideas.

8. Proofread your post.

The editing process is an important part of blogging — don't overlook it. I tend to self-edit while I write, but it’s essential to get a second pair of eyes on your post before publishing.

Consider enlisting the help of The Ultimate Editing Checklist and ask a grammar-conscious co-worker to copy edit and proofread your post. I also really enjoy free grammar checkers, like Grammarly , to help proofread while I’m writing.

If you're looking to brush up on your self-editing skills, turn to these helpful posts for some tips and tricks to get you started:

• How to Become a (Better) Editor: 13 Editorial Tips
• How to Become a More Efficient Editor: 12 Ways to Speed Up the Editorial Process
• 10 Simple Edits That'll Instantly Improve Any Piece of Writing

9. Add images and other media elements to support your ideas.

When you're finished checking for grammar, shift your focus to adding other elements to the blog post than text. There’s much more to making a good blog post than copy, here’s some following elements to add in support of your ideas:

Featured Image

Choose a visually appealing and relevant image for your post. As social networks treat content with images more prominently, visuals are more responsible than ever for the success of your blog content.

For help selecting an image for your post, read " How to Select the Perfect Image for Your Next Blog Post " and pay close attention to the section about copyright law.

Visual Appearance

No one likes an unattractive blog post. And it‘s not just pictures that make a post visually appealing — it’s the formatting and organization of the post, too.

In a well-formatted and visually-appealing blog post, you'll notice that header and sub-headers are used to break up large blocks of text — and those headers are styled consistently.

Here's an example of what that looks like:

Screenshots should always have a similar, defined border so they don‘t appear as if they’re floating in space — that style should stay consistent from post to post.

Maintaining this consistency makes your content look more professional and easier on the eyes.

Topics and Tags

Tags are specific, public-facing keywords that describe a post. They also allow readers to browse for more content in the same category on your blog. Refrain from adding a laundry list of tags to each post. Instead, put some thought into a blog tagging strategy.

Think of tags as “topics” or “categories,” and choose 10-20 tags that represent all the main topics you want to cover on your blog. Then stick to those.

10. Upload your post into your CMS.

You filled out your blog post with all the optimized content you can, now is the time to publish it in your content management system.

I also use this step as an opportunity to double check my post for any errors that were potentially missed during the proofreading process. It’s especially important to preview your post before publishing to make sure there aren’t any formatting issues.

You can opt to post your content immediately, save it as a draft, or schedule when you want it to be posted live in case you adhere to a posting schedule.

11. Determine a conversion path (what you want your audience to do next).

A conversion path is a process by which an anonymous website visitor becomes a known lead. It sounds simple enough, but creating an effective conversion path requires a clear understanding of your target audience and their needs.

Having a conversion path is important because when you share your content on the web, you should have an idea of what your audience should do next, or in other words, provide them with a path forward.

The HubSpot Flywheel model is a great example of this as it shows how our organization gains and maintains leads.

12. Add calls to action to guide your audience to take action.

Call to action (CTA) are a part of a webpage, advertisement, or piece of content that encourages the audience to do something. You can add them to your blog post to guide your reader with “next steps” or a conversion path.

Different types of call to actions include asking readers to:

• Subscribe to your newsletter to see when you publish more content.
• Join an online community in your blog domain.
• Learn more about a topic with downloadable content.
• Try something for free or discount to convert readers to customers.

To get a better idea of how to make a CTA that readers want to click, we have a whole list of effective call to action examples for you to check out.

13. Link to other relevant blog posts within your content.

When you’re completing your blog post, you should link relevant content throughout it. An effective way to do this is to link within the same content cluster.

One thing I do to make finding relevant links easier is going to my search browser and typing “site:website.com: keyword.” By doing this, you can find all the posts you have published on that topic.

Keeping relevant content throughout your post can provide your readers with more helpful information, and potentially boost search engine rankings with corresponding longtail keywords .

But we’ll talk more about how to improve your ranking in the next step.

14. Optimize for on-page SEO.

After you finish writing, go back and optimize the on-page elements of your post.

Don‘t obsess over how many keywords to include. If there are opportunities to incorporate keywords you’re targeting, and it won‘t impact reader experience, do it. If you can make your URL shorter and more keyword-friendly, go for it. But don’t cram keywords or shoot for some arbitrary keyword density — Google's smarter than that!

Here's a little blog SEO reminder about what you should review and optimize:

Write your meta description.

Meta descriptions are the descriptions below the post‘s page title on Google’s search results pages. They provide searchers with a short summary of the post before clicking into it. They are ideally between 150-160 characters and start with a verb, such as “Learn,” “Read,” or “Discover.”

While meta descriptions no longer factor into Google‘s keyword ranking algorithm, they give searchers a snapshot of what they’ll get from reading the post and help improve your clickthrough rate from search.

Optimize your page title and headers.

Most blogging software uses your post title as your page title, which is the most important on-page SEO element at your disposal. But if you've followed our formula so far, you should already have a working title that will naturally include keywords or phrases your target audience is interested in.

Don‘t over-complicate your title by trying to fit in keywords where they don’t naturally belong. With that said, if there are clear opportunities to add keywords you‘re targeting to your post title and headers, feel free to take them. Also, try to keep your headlines short — ideally, under 65 characters — so they don’t get truncated in the search engine results.

"The first component of a good title is that it needs to be scannable. People aren’t reading every word of your thoughtfully crafted headline. If you’re following a search-focused strategy, make sure to include the keyword at the beginning," Del Principe says.

Consider anchor text best practices as you interlink to other pages.

Anchor text is the word or words that link to another page — either on your website or on another website. Carefully select which keywords you want to link to other pages on your site because search engines take that into consideration when ranking your page for certain keywords.

It‘s also important to consider which pages you link to. Consider linking pages that you want to rank for a specific keyword. You could end up getting it to rank on Google’s first page of results instead of its second page — and that isn’t small potatoes!

Write alt text for all of your images.

Alt text conveys the “why” of an image as it relates to the content of your blog post to Google. By adding alt text correlating to the topic clusters and keywords of the post, Google can better direct users’ searches to you.

Check that all images are compressed for page speed.

When Google crawls different websites, a page’s load speed holds weight in page ranking. Make sure the images you include throughout the page aren’t unnecessarily large to shorten the duration it takes to load.

Use apps like Squoosh to minimize the size of your images without losing the quality.

Ensure that your blog post is mobile friendly.

More than 60% of organic visits are carried out on a mobile device. As such, having a website with a responsive design is critical. In addition to making sure your website‘s visitors (including your blog’s visitors) have the best experience possible, optimizing for mobile will score your website some SEO points.

15. Publish and promote the blog post.

Share your post across all the marketing channels in your repertoire. The further the reach, the more of a possibility that readers will find it.

Channels to expand your blog post promotion strategy include:

• Social Media Marketing : Sharing your content on the most popular social media networks like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
• Email Marketing : Sharing the newest post with your email subscribers to find.
• Boosted Posts or Paid Ads : Allocating budget toward advertisement on search engines inorganically.
• Word of Mouth Marketing : Actively influencing people to read your content organically.

16. Track the performance of the blog post over time.

Your post is published for the world to see, make sure you’re keeping an eye on its performance over time so you can see if your blog post strategy is working well enough for your goals.

Here are some blog KPIs I like to keep track of:

• Total traffic per post
• Average CTR
• Average SERP position
• Traffic source breakdown
• Number of search queries per post
• Average comments per post
• Social shares per post
• New blog leads
• Conversion rate

There’s a plethora of website traffic analysis tools that you can take advantage of to better understand your audience’s behavior on your blog posts.

Quick Blog Writing Tips

If you’re feeling stuck as a new writer, don’t give up. It gets easier with practice. Whether you’re struggling with writer's block or wanting some ways to add depth to your content, here are some quick tips I compiled to help take your blog writing to the next level:

If you don’t know where to start, start by telling a story.

When you’re facing writer’s block, start with what you know. Not only will sharing personal anecdotes help you get ideas flowing, but it can also keep your readers engaged with what you’re saying.

Stories can simplify complex concepts and make your content more relatable. Plus, they add a human touch and help set the tone for the rest of your blog post.

Include interesting quotes or facts for emphasis on the subject.

When you back up your ideas with unique, expert quotes or share facts from reliable sources, it shows that your blog post is well-researched and trustworthy.

If you don’t know where to start with finding quotes, think about the people you know and their expertise. For example, I’m lucky enough to have incredibly knowledgeable coworkers here at HubSpot that I can reach out to if I need a quote.

I’ve also reached out to connections on LinkedIn to see if they can provide a quote or know someone who can. HARO can also be a great resource if you need a quote in a pinch.

Make your content skimmable; break it into digestible chunks.

There’s nothing that turns readers off more than opening an article and seeing a large wall of text. Think about it: most internet users have a short attention span and tend to skim through content rather than reading every word.

That’s why I recommend breaking up your blog post into smaller chunks to make it more digestible. You can do this by utilizing subheadings (H2s, H3s, H4s, etc.), bullet points, and short paragraphs.

Not only does breaking up your content make your blog post more visually appealing, it also helps readers quickly find the information they’re looking for without getting lost in a sea of text.

Paint a full picture with images, graphics or video.

Aside from aesthetic appeal, visuals can help convey complex ideas in an easier way and help readers remember the information you share.

I recommend reading through your blog post and putting yourself in your reader’s shoes. Is there anything you wrote about that would be better explained with the support of an image or graphic?

For instance, whenever I write about the pros and cons of something, I like to create a graphic that shows those pros and cons in a side-by-side comparison.

I also look at search engines results when determining what images to add to my post. Does the SERP for the keyword you’re targeting have an image pack? See if you can add in images and optimize them with alt text to increase the chances of appearing in those results.

Each sentence should convey a single idea.

Keep it simple, stupid. There’s no reason to write overly complex sentences that confuse your readers. Instead, opt to convey your message in a simple and accessible manner. At the end of the day, readers just want to find the answers they’re looking for, and writing in a straightforward manner can effectively meet this need.

I like to use the Hemingway App to make sure that my writing doesn’t get too dense.

Use active voice.

Although your writing should captivate the reader, you should avoid overwhelming them with fluff. Using active voice can help keep your writing clear, concise, and energetic while still getting your point across.

For example, instead of saying something like “the product was loved by customers,” write “customers loved the product.”

Ready to blog?

Blogging can help you build brand awareness, become a thought-leader and expert in your industry, attract qualified leads, and boost conversions. Follow the steps and tips we covered above to begin publishing and enhancing your blog today.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Money latest: Chocolate is a superfood - if you buy these bars

Read all today's personal finance and consumer news below - and leave a comment on any of the stories we're covering.

Friday 10 May 2024 22:26, UK

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• Best of the Money blog - an archive

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If you've missed any of the features we've been running in Money this year, or want to check back on something you've previously seen in the blog, this archive of our most popular articles may help...

Loaves of bread have been recalled from shelves in Japan after they were found to contain the remains of a rat.

Production of the bread in Tokyo has been halted after parts of a "small animal" were found by at least two people.

Pasco Shikishima Corp, which produces the bread, said 104,000 packages have been recalled as it apologised and promised compensation.

A company representative told Sky News's US partner network, NBC News, that a "small black rat" was found in the bread. No customers were reported to have fallen ill as a result of ingesting the contaminated bread.

"We deeply apologise for the serious inconvenience and trouble this has caused to our customers, suppliers, and other concerned parties," the spokesman said.

Pasco added in a separate statement that "we will do our utmost to strengthen our quality controls so that this will never happen again. We ask for your understanding and your co-operation."

Japanese media reports said at least two people who bought the bread in the Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo, complained to the company about finding a rodent in the bread.

Record levels of shoplifting appear to be declining as fewer shopkeepers reported thefts last year, new figures show. 

A survey by the Office for National Statistics shows 26% of retailers experienced customer theft in 2023, down from a record high of 28% in 2022.

This comes despite a number of reports suggesting shoplifting is becoming more frequent. 

A  separate ONS finding , which used police crime data, showed reports of shoplifting were at their highest level in 20 years in 2023, with law enforcements logging 430,000 instances of the crime.

Let's get you up to speed on the biggest business news of the past 24 hours. 

A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival, which is on the brink of administration.

Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo's marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.

The process to auction the used-car platform's constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.

The owner of British Airways has reported a sharp rise in profits amid soaring demand for trips and a fall in the cost of fuel.

International Airlines Group said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was €68m (£58.5m) - above expectations and up from €9m (£7.7m) during the same period in 2023.

The company, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said earnings had soared thanks to strong demand, particularly over the Easter holidays.

The prospect of a strike across Tata Steel's UK operations has gained further traction after a key union secured support for industrial action.

Community, which has more than 3,000 members, said 85% voted in favour of fighting the India-owned company's plans for up to 2,800 job losses, the majority of them at the country's biggest steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Tata confirmed last month it was to press ahead with the closure of the blast furnaces at the plant, replacing them with electric arc furnaces to reduce emissions and costs.

In doing so, the company rejected an alternative plan put forward by the Community, GMB and Unite unions that, they said, would raise productivity and protect jobs across the supply chain.

Rishi Sunak has told Sky News that the UK exiting recession shows the economy has "turned a corner". 

He told our economics editor Ed Conway : "I am pleased that while there's more work to do, today's figures show that the economy now has real momentum, and I'm confident that with time, people will start to feel the benefits of that.

"We've had multiple months now where wages are rising, energy bills have fallen, mortgage rates are down and taxes are being cut... I'm pleased with the progress that we're making."

Mr Sunak added: "I am confident the economy is getting healthier every week."

Lidl will increase staff wages for the third time in 12 months, the supermarket has announced. 

Shop workers in London will get £13.65, up from £13.55, while staff elsewhere will get a rise from a minimum £12 to £12.40 - at a cost of £2.5m to Lidl.

The supermarket invested £37m in pay increases in March, on top of £8m in September - a total of more than £50m in the past 12 months. 

The increase comes into effect from 1 June. 

Lidl GB chief executive Ryan McDonnell said: "As we continue to expand, we are welcoming more customers and attracting more colleagues into the business every day.

"It's absolutely right, therefore, that we continue to offer industry-leading pay."

Tech giant Apple has apologised after an advert for its new iPad model prompted outrage.  

The ad promoting the thinnest-ever iPad shows creative tools including cameras, books, paint cans and musical instruments being crushed in an industrial press.

But many, including celebrities like Hugh Grant, decried the crushing of artistic objects.

In a statement released to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing communications, said: "Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world.

"Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

The FTSE 100 has been propelled to another record high this morning after official figures showed that the UK is now out of recession.

The index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, is up more than 0.5% and hit an intraday (during the day) high of 8,433 points earlier.

The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

It comes after officials revealed that gross domestic product (GDP) in the UK grew by a better-than-expected 0.6% during the first three months of the year. 

However, commentators said investors had been buoyed more by the rising cost of metals, along with suggestions from the Bank of England yesterday that interest rates could be cut soon . 

Russ Mould, from investment platform AJ Bell, said: "Given its international horizons, this has little to do with the UK's better-than-expected GDP growth and is largely being driven by strength in the resources space where higher metals prices and the promise of M&A [mergers and acquisitions] are helping to stoke share prices.

"The next key test of the index's new-found vim and vigour will likely come next week in the form of US inflation figures. Investors have broadly accepted rate cuts won't be as deep or come as soon as would have been anticipated at the start of the year. However, any signs inflation is proving much more stubborn than predicted would still represent a shock to the system for financial markets."

Among the movers on Friday is UK-based mining firm Anglo American. 

Its shares are up almost 2% after reports that industry giant Rio Tinto has been considering a multibillion-pound takeover of the firm. It comes after Anglo American rejected a bid from rival BHP.  

Meanwhile, shares in Vodafone are up more than 2% after the government conditionally approved its plans to merge with fellow mobile operator Three. However, an investigation into the deal by the UK's competition watchdog is still ongoing, meaning it’s not a done deal yet. 

On the flip side, property listings website Rightmove is down nearly 6% this morning. It comes after the company cut its advertising revenue growth estimates in a trading update.

Rightmove said higher mortgage rates and lengthier completion times for sales were likely to weigh on buyer sentiment in the coming months, but it also forecast a better year for the UK residential market as a whole.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16.

Sainsbury's is running a scheme that allows some shoppers to earn easy Nectar card points. 

To earn extra points, shoppers just need to spend £1 across multiple transactions at Sainsbury's this month. 

The supermarket says the scheme is available to "millions" of customers, though all it would say about the eligibility criteria is that it's "based on a range of factors".

Check if you're eligible

Log into your nectar card app and check to see if you have this message...   

Make sure you opt in once you see the message. 

From there, you simply need to spend £1 or more five times - earning extra points each time. 

The number of bonus points on offer varies for each customer.

The offer runs until 4 June. 

Britain is not just out of recession. 

It is out of recession with a bang.

The economic growth reported this morning by the Office for National Statistics is not just faster than most economists expected, it's also the fastest growth we've seen since the tailend of the pandemic, when the UK was bouncing back from lockdown.

But, more than that, there are three other facts that the prime minister and chancellor will be gleeful about (and you can expect them to be talking about this number for a long time).

First, it's not just that the economy is now growing again after two quarters of contraction - that was the recession. 

An economic growth rate of 0.6% is near enough to what economists used to call "trend growth", back before the crisis - in other words, it's the kind of number that signifies the economy growing at more or less "normal" rates. 

And normality is precisely the thing the government wants us to believe we've returned to.

Second, that 0.6% means the UK is, alongside Canada, the fastest-growing economy in the G7 (we've yet to hear from Japan, but economists expect its economy to contract in the first quarter).

Third, it's not just gross domestic product that's up. So too is gross domestic product per head - the number you get when you divide our national income by every person in the country. After seven years without any growth, GDP per head rose by 0.4% in the first quarter. 

And since GDP per head is a better yardstick for the "feelgood factor", perhaps this means people will finally start to feel better off.

But this is where the problems come in. 

Because while this latest set of GDP figures is undoubtedly positive, the numbers that came before are undoubtedly grim.

GDP per head is still considerably lower, in real terms, than it was in 2022, before Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget, or for that matter lower than in early 2019.

Raising another question: when people think about the state of the economy ahead of the election (and obviously these new figures are likely to increase the speculation about the date of the election), do they put more weight on the years of economic disappointment or the bounce back after them?

Do they focus on the fact that we're now growing at decent whack or on the fact that their income per head is, in real terms, no higher today than it was five years ago?

These are the questions we will all be mulling in the coming months - as the next election approaches. One thing is for sure: this won't be the last time you hear about these GDP numbers.

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