Whoa, it has been a very, very long time since I last participated in The Book Blogger hop! When looking back, my last post in this meme was on March 29, 2024. That’s too long ago, isn’t it? But this week’s topic seems pretty interesting, as I struggle with this myself. This week’s question is: Do you prefer writing long, detailed reviews or quick, punchy ones? This question is again submitted by the host of the hop, Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Billy @ Ramblings Of A Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
Well, the struggle. I’ve been writing reviews for nearly 10 years now, both official and unofficial. I I have a set review format for a a good three years (or maybe more when reading very old reviews), but I don’t know whether this suits me anymore. On one hand it provides me structure in my reviews, whereas it limits me on the other hand. I sometimes have the feeling that my reviews are not flowing that greatly. Furthermore, I know how to write official ones and they give me more freedom to format, but are also a bit more formal. And that’s not suitable on a blog in my opinion. I mean, it is suitable because it’s a clear streamlined review with all the opinions and analysis, but it’s not inviting people that much to read them. They do on official platforms, but not on a hobby blog. However, they contain all elements I consider important for a review. Sometimes I just don’t know where to place elements as world building, setting, romance et cetera though. Under charactetrs? Plot? A completely different and newly created section?
And then there’s the fact that people prefer bite-sized everything nowadays. This means that reviews are read les and less, or even blogs in general. People want video content now, short video content to be exact. Or one-lined reviews. That’s why the book communities on both Tiktok and Instagram are thriving. However, quick, punchy reviews like these, barely leave any room for depth and therefore analysis and opinions. They mostly concentrate on vibes and phrases such as “I loved this book” or “I didn’t enjoy this book”, but that doesn’t mean they are always effective. Of course readers should form their own opinion on a book, but longer, more detailed reviews bring more depth and might help more in the decision making process on whether a book would be suitable for you or not. I don’t want to come of as a snob, but I often don’t like rreading eviews on blogs now as they a) are to punchy and b) are too messy. But, I do understand the need for shorter reviews. On the other hand, wouldn’t it be better to encourage people to read more by writing longer, more detailed reviews containing depth? I mean, I saw comments on Instagram saying that reading a book is o problem at all, but reviews or a longer email, they are dreading.
Well, back to the key point of this post. Do I prefer writing longer, more detailed reviews or quick, punchy ones? I’m quite on the fence about this. I’m a yapper through and through, and want to put as many details into my reviews as possible. Of course without spoilers. However, I do understand the need for shorter ones, but I would rather write the reviews I would enjoy reading myself. So, in conclusion, I have no specific answer to this question. And my continuation with this struggle leaves me behind on reviews, I still have about 15-20 of them to write. Yes, on 2 blogs, I also have a Dutch one!
What about you? What kind of reviews do you prefer to write? And to read?
