how to write a book review non fiction

Lesley Ann McDaniel

Real Life~Pure Fiction

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review

May 13, 2013

Do you love reading nonfiction books? Why not try your hand at reviewing them.

What is a nonfiction book review?

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book. It isn’t just a summary, but gives commentary that will be uniquely yours as the writer of the review. The difference between a review of fiction versus nonfiction is that with the latter, the reviewer will evaluate the piece not so much on its entertainment value as on whether it fulfills its promise to solve a particular problem or deliver certain information.

Why write book reviews?

Reviews help books get noticed and gain credibility. Writers want to receive reviews to show readers that their book is widely-read and well-received.

Where are reviews posted?

These days, the answer is ‘lots of places.’ Many reviewers post book reviews on their own blogs. You can also post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, library websites, or submit them to other people’s review blogs. If you really want to get serious, there are a lot of literary journals that accept freelance reviews.

How long should a review be?

That will depend largely on where you are planning to submit your review. Check for guidelines, and assume that you will write anywhere from 100 to 1500 words. Be succinct, but give enough to serve the purpose of the review.

Points to Consider:

●What if you really don’t like the book? Always write your reviews with integrity. If you honestly don’t like a book, write your review as if you are in a critique session with the author. Use positive words and avoid sarcasm.

●Take time to read reviews written by other readers, but keep in mind that many of them are not trained reviewers.

●Review the book that has been written, not the book you think the author should have written. It isn’t fair to criticize an author for failing to achieve something he or she never intended to achieve.

Nonfiction Book Review Template:

Opening statement: Include title and author.

What does the book promise to deliver to the reader? Another way to look at it is, what problem does this book promise to solve?

Does it accomplish what it sets out to accomplish?

If so, how?

If not, what could the author have done differently?

What makes this author uniquely qualified to write on this topic?

What is the tone of the book? Is it humorous and easy to relate to, or is it more dry and academic?

Overall impression: This is where you give your personal take on the book.

Suggested points to include:

Was the book written in a way that you as a reader could easily relate to?

What was your favorite part of the book?

Do you have a least favorite part of the book?

If you could change something, what would it be?

Are there photos or illustrations? If so, are they effective in enhancing the book’s message?

Would you recommend this book?

What type of reader would enjoy this book?

There are so many wonderful nonfiction books out there. Have a great time reading and reviewing!

Have you written any nonfiction book reviews?

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy How to Write a Fiction Book Review .

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She Seeks Nonfiction

A skeptic's quest for books, science, & humanism

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review

Next week, I will be writing my 50th nonfiction book review on this blog. Learning brings me great joy, and when I learn fascinating things in my books, I can’t help but share them with you!

With Nonfiction November coming up, I know that many fiction book bloggers will try their hand at reading and reviewing nonfiction, and that many people aren’t used to it. There is often no character development, plot, setting, or allegory to critique, so what is left? Well, there is actually a lot to talk about, and I think reviewing nonfiction books is a lot of fun! I hope that through this post, my passion for writing nonfiction book reviews can inspire the unsure to give it a try.

There is not one correct way to write a book review. I write mine for fun, as a way to make blog posts that entertain me and hopefully my audience. Reviews make reading more fun and they help me to better engage as I read. They can even make it more bearable to finish a book I hate, because I know that my review will be interesting ! Regardless, here are some tips that help me write book reviews that I am proud of.

Mark up your book

I’ll start off with the obvious: I think that underlining and taking notes in nonfiction books is a great way to remember what you read and get ideas for your review as you go. My husband is adamant that my constant marking up of brand new books makes me a crazy person, and I can’t blame him for that. Some people can’t stand it.

If this is you— or if you read library books —then don’t worry! You can still use sticky notes or keep a separate notebook handy. I actually do this when I read books that are so old I would not dare deface them. Of course, e-readers make this easy; you can highlight and add notes without vandalizing anything. Finally, I know that a lot of people like to listen to nonfiction audiobooks, but I can’t imagine that you would absorb the information enough to make a review that way. But hey, if you can, more power to you!

Answer these three questions

I believe that each review will be as different as each book is, but there are a few questions that I attempt to answer no matter what.

Does it accomplish its goal?

First, I critique it according to its own criteria. Does the title promise that the book will deliver something specific? Is it meant to persuade you or inform you, and if so, how does it do? If a book’s title starts with “How to,” then you know exactly what the goal is. For example, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi did exactly that; Kendi repeatedly began sentences with, “To be an antiracist is to…” which is about as straightforward as it gets. On the other hand, How to Argue With a Racist by Adam Rutherford might sound like it gives responses to specific points you’d hear in an argument, but it doesn’t. (It was still a great book though!)

(Now that I’m on the topic, Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College by Jesse Wegman does give line-by-line responses for arguments, which I thought was a great approach.)

There are more ways that a book can express its goal. Maybe the introduction lays out why the book exists at all. This is one thing I really appreciate about Richard Dawkins’ books. My feelings about the book as a whole are mixed (and my feelings about Dawkins as a person are lacking), but in the preface of The God Delusion , Dawkins lists out exactly how he is going to make his case for atheism. He promises to meet different readers where they are. “Do you believe X? Well, I explain this exact thing in Chapter X.” The man knows how to make a promise. Obviously, a preface does not need to be this explicit to make a book good, but it definitely made my review easier. This was especially great for me, as The God Delusion was only the second book I ever reviewed.

Do I like it?

Even though Adam Rutherford’s How to Argue With a Racist did not teach me how to argue with a racist, I still gave it a rave review. That’s because the second question I set out to answer is a simple one: Did I like the book? I’m the one writing the review, so I decide whether it’s a positive or negative one. This is when book reviews get really subjective, and why I love when there are many of the same book. No two people will have the same exact opinions about it. Many times, I have admitted that a book was probably good , but that I don’t think I was the right audience for it.

Does it speak to a target audience?

This brings me to the third question: do you know the book’s target audience? If there is no clear audience, then there’s a good chance the whole book is moot. Take this post, for instance. My intended audience is primarily fiction book bloggers who are trying out nonfiction book reviews for November. Hopefully other people will find something useful or entertaining out of it, but if you don’t care about books or reviews or blogging at all, then this post probably isn’t for you.

Decide whether you want to stick to a formula

If you have never written a nonfiction book review before, it can be easier to follow a formula and always know what you want to include in your review. A great example of this is fellow nonfiction book blogger Paula Ghete ‘s book reviews such as this one of Cosmos by Carl Sagan ( which you can compare to mine to see how greatly our styles vary). Her book reviews are structured this way:

Title: Cosmos Author: Carl Sagan Category: Non-fiction, Science Rating: 5/5 10-Word Summary: We can understand the Universe only if we study it. About Cosmos [short summary] What I like about Cosmos [list with bullet points and descriptions] What I don’t like about Cosmos [list with bullet points and descriptions]

In other book reviews, such as this one , Paula also included the following sections:

Quotes from The Idiot Brain [lists eight relatively short quotes] Should You Read The Idiot Brain? [succinct, defined answer]

Admittedly, her reviews are clearly written with SEO and readability in mind. Search engines love to say, “The more headlines and the shorter the sections, the merrier,” so that they know what the post is about. This also helps the reader to get Paula’s big ideas even if they don’t wade through the – gasp – paragraphs !

On the other hand, my review of Cosmos described how it left me speechless, why it was virtually unreviewable, why it made me almost cry watching the launch of NASA’s Perseverance, and why Sagan is so beloved in the atheist community .

Something fun about me is that I pretty much write whatever I feel like writing, which might make you think that I would not be the most qualified to tell you how you should write your own book reviews, but there I go again, writing whatever I feel like which includes this review-tutorial. Look, I’m just here for a good time.

How my own book reviews take shape

As I said earlier, each review can be as different as each book. This is more true for someone like me than for someone who is a little more organized like Paula Ghete, because I don’t really abide by any restraints. I don’t write only book reviews, so if a review takes me to another topic that I care about anyways, I’ll just talk about that. I love when a book simply inspires me to share what I’ve learned from it, or gives me the opportunity to ponder something I wouldn’t have thought of if I hadn’t read it.

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels was a pretty informative book about—you guessed it—the Gnostic Gospels and Gnostic Christianity. I honestly didn’t have much to say about the book itself, but it caused me to compare early Gnostic Christianity to modern-day Progressive Christianity, list the similarities and differences, and pose the question to my Progressive Christian audience what they think of it.

My review of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism by Katherine Stewart had a similar fate. An actual review of the book was definitely present throughout my post on it, but it was a great chance for me to delve into my own experiences learning about Christian Nationalism , inside and outside of Stewart’s book. I also found myself comparing The Power Worshippers to Andrew Seidel’s The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American and explaining why the two books complement each other.

When I’ve read two or more books by the same author or on the same subject, I love to compare and contrast them or explain how they go together. I’ve done that with these, as well as books by Ibram X. Kendi , Ian Tattersall , Carl Sagan , and the two most famous works in the atheist community .

Final thoughts

As is the case with many of my book reviews, there is a lot more I could say. And like those, I often have to stop myself from rambling on ad nauseum . When this happens with a review , I have to just give the big idea, some fun facts, and then tell my audience that you really ought to read it for yourself. So I’ll do that here. I hope that my advice has helped you to see nonfiction reviews as a little less scary, and I encourage you to try writing them yourself! I’m so excited to read them!

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How to review non-fiction

Many of us learned how to write book reports in primary school. Given the rote nature of much of America's early education, the grade we received was largely based on demonstrating we had read and comprehended the book.

But these reports may have also been the first time we were asked our opinion about something we'd read. These books were often fiction, giving us plenty to respond to: the plot, the characters, the dialogue. Did they pull us in? Did we find them believable? How did they make us feel?

So much of what we consume as adults — not just books, but also movies and video games — is also fiction, and those early analytical skills we developed as students now help us to identify what we like and to recommend it to other people. But when confronted with non-fiction, we often resort to that rote education, summarizing the work as if our critical eye no longer applies.

In my job as editor of a retrocomputing magazine , I assign and receive reviews. Since there aren't many works of fiction about retrocomputing, the book reviews I publish are generally of non-fiction. The first draft of those reviews often read something like this:

In the first chapter, the author covers this period of retrocomputing. In the second chapter, she moves on to these other topics. The third chapter, which I found brief, is about this particular era…

That's not a review; that's a summary, able to be recited by almost anyone who read the book. A review , by contrast, is a personal, opinionated critique of the work. The challenge is what to critique when the work lacks the narrative thread and framework of fiction.

The wonderful 2006 book Rewriting: How To Do Things With Text by Joseph Harris offers a rigorous proposal for how to respond to factual texts works with your own. In addition, I recommend these popular prompts that apply to reviews of non-fiction:

What, if anything, makes this an important work?
What does the reader stand to gain by reading this book?
What surprised you? Did you ever have an ah-ha moment while reading the book?
What is the mood or tone of the book? Optimistic, critical, playful, promotional?
Who is the target audience for the book?
Was it easy or difficult to read? Fun and rewarding to read?
Does the book deliver on its promise?
How is the print quality? Is the book too small or too big? Do the pages feel flimsy?
Is the book a good value?
What is missing?

While describing the contents of a book is necessary, it should not constitute the majority of the review. By answering the above questions, your response to the original text will prove that you read it and will offer an informed recommendation to your reader.

MSL Book Review

Sample nonfiction book reviews.

Nonfiction Reviews

Bomb The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon is an engaging non-fiction book which had me from the first page. The book begins with a Prologue: May 22, 1950 the FBI arrives at Harry Gold’s door; Harry, still in pajamas, stares at two agents with a search warrant for his home as they are investigating his spying activities from the 30s and 40s. The jig was up and Harry declares “There is a great deal more to this story. It goes way back, and I would like to tell it all.” Thus begins the tale of the Manhattan Project from its inception. Even though we know the outcome of the race and understand the destruction, the excitement of the academics working on the bomb is felt.

This is an intriguing story of WWII, the atomic bomb, and the historical figures who played major roles in the development of atomic power. Many pictures and excellent source notes, quotes notes, and index make this a well documented book. Included in the Epilogue is the original letter from Albert Einstein written to F.D. Roosevelt, advising that a new energy form had been discovered by splitting the atom and that it needed to be monitored. This book is an excellent companion book to the fictional Green Glass Sea, which is set in Los Alamos and is the story of children and wives of the men working on the Manhattan Project.

Author Steve Sheinkin crafts a compelling thriller about the development of the atomic bomb in his book, Bomb: the Race to Build – and Steal- the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Sheinkin, using effective narrative techniques, introduces readers to the major personalities involved in the Manhattan Project as the Americans raced to construct an atomic bomb while keeping the knowledge from the Germans during World War II. The book takes us from the US to Great Britain, Norway, Germany, Russia, and Japan where scientists, politicians, and spies are all engaged in winning the war (and becoming a world power) through the creation of the “ultimate weapon.”

This volume will be especially useful for middle and high school students conducting research on World War II weapons and war strategy, as well as those looking for biographical information on the Manhattan Project scientists. Along with a detailed index, the author provides copious source and quotation notes. Black and white photographs of the important personalities and bomb testing site are sprinkled throughout. An essential purchase for American history and science collections.

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How to Write a Non-Fiction Book Review

by Pat Iyer

Someone asks you to write a non-fiction book review. This first question you need to answer is:

Is This a Good Subject for You?

Consider the subject matter. Do you know anything about it? Whether you do or not, does it interest you?

These really are separate questions. You might, for example, know a lot about a subject that bores you. You’re not going to enjoy reading about it, and you’ll do the author no favors by agreeing.

If the subject interests you, knowledge of it will obviously help you to point out how the strengths of the book. Even if you’re unfamiliar with it, you can have the valuable perspective of many potential readers in your position.

Whatever your knowledge level is, you can comment on the organization, pace, and general interest of the book.

Do You Feel Qualified to Write a Non-Fiction Book review?

By this I mean do you feel that you have the ability to critique the book? (Clearly many reviewers are free to offer their opinions, sometimes about topics that they are not knowledgeable about.)

You may think, “I’ve never done this before, and I wouldn’t want to let the author down.” That may or may not be a valid reason to turn down the request.

Lack of experience isn’t in itself a reason not to agree. “There’s a first time for everything” is a cliché, but it’s still true.

Ask yourself instead if, when you read books, you think of things that could make it better. You recognize what you find boring. You think of areas you’d like to know more about. In other words, you have a critical mind in the best possible sense. If you also have the ability to lucidly express your criticisms, you have another qualification.

However, if you rarely read books, this is the best possible reason to decline the request.

Do You Consider Yourself a Fair Person If You Write a Non-Fiction Book Review?

When you must be critical in other areas of life: in personal matters, in terms of a job review, or any area of life, do you think of the most effective way to state your criticisms?

Do you take into account how the other person will receive what you say?

Do you structure your review in a way that offers constructive points for improvement?

If you can answer yes to all of the above, you are a good candidate to critique a book.

Do You Have Time to Do This?

How you answer this question is very important. Look at your schedule carefully. Is it going to stress you to do this? Is there a possibility that you will end up feeling impatient and resentful?

If so, decline. Whatever negativity gets connected with this additional responsibility may affect the quality of your review. That’s not fair to the author, and taking on something too burdensome isn’t fair to you.

If you commit to writing the review, then follow through. There are a surprising number of people who make promises and never carry them out.

If You Decline

Give the author a thoughtful and honest response. Say you appreciate the honor of being considered to write a nonfiction book review, and explain why you have to give his or her project a pass. Wish the author the best of success in the project.

Pat Iyer loves it when she gets reviews of her books on Amazon. Just saying.

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How to Write A Book Review: Definition, Structure, Examples

July 2, 2023

Understanding the purpose of a book review, telling possible readers, providing constructive feedback, building a community of readers, increasing visibility, the structure of a book review, introduction, summary of the book, critical analysis, style of writing, plot and structure, messages and main ideas, difference and effect, examples and supporting evidence, examples of well-written book reviews, example 1: non-fiction book review, example 2: fiction book review, to kill a mockingbird by harper lee, essential elements, strategy and detailed insights.

Every writer must know to write a book review. It is an important skill for people who love to read and want to become writers. Not only does it help writers, but it also helps other users choose what to read.

It’s important to know why you write a book review before you get started on the actual process of doing so. A book review is important for many reasons, such as:

A well-written review summarizes the book, its main ideas, and what the reader should take from it. This helps potential readers decide if they want to read the book.

Reviews help writers figure out what worked and what didn’t in their book by telling them what worked and what didn’t. Helpful critiques can help writers improve their writing skills and improve their next works.

Book reviews help readers talk about what they’ve read, which builds a sense of community and shared experiences. American Author House help people talk about books and see them from different points of view.

Good reviews can greatly affect how well-known and sold a book is. They change how online sites work and help get the author’s work in front of more people.

Now that we know how important book reviews are, let’s look at how they are put together and what they should include.

The opening should immediately grab the reader’s attention and set the stage for your review. Most of the time, writing a book review has the following parts:

Information about the book: Give the title, author’s name, release date, and subject as your first information. This helps people know which book you are talking about.
Hook: Engage your readers with a catchy line that shows what the book is about or what makes it special. This could be a question that makes you think, an interesting quote, or a short story.
Thesis Statement: Give a short and convincing summary of your feelings about the book. This gives the rest of your review a sense of direction.

Give a summary of the book’s plot, major ideas, and main characters in this part. Don’t give away details that could ruin the story for the reader. Focus on giving people a general idea of the book and how it feels.

The critical analysis is the heart of your book review, where you provide your thoughts and opinions. Think about how to write a book review. Read some of the following tips:

Evaluate the author’s writing style, including how they use words, pace, and tell a story. Talk about how well it tells the story and keeps the reader interested.

Look at how the story goes and how the book is put together. Comment on how well the story makes sense, moves along, and flows. Talk about whether the story keeps readers interested and whether the framework makes it easier to follow.

Analyze the major characters, how they change, and how they are important to the story. Talk about their good points, bad points, and general trustworthiness. Talk about the connections between the characters and how they affect the story.

Check out the book’s core ideas, messages, or social comments. Talk about how well the author handles these topics and if they make sense to the reader.

Think about how original the book is and how it affects the reader. Talk about whether the story shows something new or gives you new ideas. Then write a book review. Discuss how the book made you feel, what it taught you, and how it changed your morals.

Give specific examples and quotes from the book to back up your reasoning. These examples should back your arguments and help readers understand your view. Choose parts that are especially moving, well-written, or show how good the book is.

You can write a book review and conclude by combining your general opinion and summarizing your main points. Give a final suggestion to the people based on what you’ve learned. Use this part to leave a strong impact and get people interested in reading the rest of the book.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg If you want to explore more examples of well-written book reviews and gain inspiration, you can check out our article on The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing on Amazon .

In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explores the science behind habits and their impact on our lives. Using real-life examples and engaging anecdotes, Duhigg provides a fascinating look into how habits are formed, how they can be changed, and their influence on personal and professional success.

Duhigg’s writing style is informative and engaging, making complex concepts accessible to many readers. His meticulous research is evident throughout the book, as he presents compelling case studies and scientific findings to support his claims. The book’s structure seamlessly guides readers through exploring habit formation, change, and its applications in various domains.

By dissecting the underlying psychology of habits, Duhigg sheds light on the power of routine and the potential for personal transformation. The book offers actionable insights and practical strategies to help readers harness the power of habits in their own lives.

The Power of Habit is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the influence of habits on personal and professional development. Duhigg’s compelling storytelling and evidence-based approach make this book a valuable resource for individuals seeking to make positive life changes.

Summary: To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel set in the racially-charged atmosphere of the 1930s Deep South. Harper Lee’s timeless masterpiece explores themes of racial inequality, justice, and the loss of innocence through the eyes of Scout Finch, a young girl growing up in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.

Lee’s evocative writing transports readers to a bygone era, vividly depicting the social complexities and prejudices of the time. Through Scout’s innocent perspective, the reader witnesses the profound impact of racism and intolerance on the community. The memorable characters, such as Atticus Finch and Boo Radley, are flawlessly developed, each contributing to the overarching narrative with depth and nuance.

The novel’s exploration of moral courage, empathy, and the pursuit of justice resonates as powerfully today as it did upon its publication. Lee’s ability to tackle sensitive subjects with sensitivity and authenticity sets To Kill a Mockingbird apart as a timeless work of literature.

Conclusion:

To Kill a Mockingbird is a literary masterpiece that confronts the complexities of racial injustice with grace and insight. Harper Lee’s remarkable storytelling and profound themes. If you’re interested in exploring more classic literature and book reviews, you can find valuable insights in our article about Fantastic Fiction: Discovering the Best Fantasy and Sci-Fi Books .

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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.

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!

Writing About Non-Fiction Books

TIP Sheet WRITING ABOUT NON-FICTION BOOKS

At some point in your college career you may be asked to review a non-fiction book to enable you to learn more about some aspect of your course work. The assignment is demanding because you are required to describe and evaluate an author's contribution to a subject that you may know little about. How should you proceed?

Your instructor will usually offer some guidance, such as a suggested list of books or some guidelines to follow in selecting a work. Generally, you should try to find a relatively recent work of about 200-350 pages on some aspect of the course that particularly interests you.

Describe and evaluate You are expected to describe the book, that is, to summarize some major points of interest, and to evaluate it, that is, to make judgments about it. The areas to address include the following:

Description

Information about the author
Background information about the book
Author's purpose-to inform? Entertain? Persuade?
Author's thesis
Organization
Other reviews
Scholarship
Strengths and weaknesses

Later you may decide to omit some of these points. Their order may be changed, with more important or striking matters appearing first. Usually the descriptive section appears first in non-fiction reviews, especially in scholarly journals. All these organizational decisions are subjective and can be revised as needed.

While reading the book, take notes of the passages and their page numbers that relate to how you can describe and evaluate the work. In particular, be on the lookout for thesis statements, chapter summaries, striking quotations, discussions of methodology, conclusions, and author's recommendations. If you question whether or not to take a particular note, remember that it would be wiser to err on the side of having too many, rather than too few. You can always eliminate notes that appear unnecessary.

Points of description Information about the author may appear on the book jacket or may be obtained or inferred from what is written in the preface. In order to determine to what extent the author is an authority on the subject, you should do some library research into the author's present position, background, experience, and qualifications. Biographical sources such as the Biography Center in the GaleNet database will help you find this information. It need not be much, perhaps just a sentence; at most, it might consist of a short paragraph.

Background information about a book consists of the historical, sociological, economic, scientific or other circumstances that may have influenced or contributed to its publication. This information may have some bearing on the book's importance or interest.

Often the author's purpose –to amuse, inform, persuade-will be apparent from the preface or introduction.

The thesis or central idea of the book will probably be stated in the introduction or the conclusion. To gain an overview of the book that will help you realize its purpose and main ideas, read the preface and the introductory and concluding chapters first.

The organization of non-fiction depends partly on what kind of non-fiction it is-philosophy? Biology?–and partly on the author's purpose. History, for example, might be organized either chronologically or around central issues. Or, if the author's purpose is to challenge a widely-held position, he may choose to refute ideas point-by-point. Look at the table of contents and, as you read, refer back to it.

Because so much depends on your audience, the summary may be one of the most difficult parts of the review to write. Are you writing only for your instructor who has probably already read, or is familiar with, the book? Are you writing for your classmates who have not read it? Or are you writing for other people who are not in the course and are therefore unfamiliar with the subject? Your instructor can tell you what audience the paper should address. Then you will be able to judge how thorough your summary should be and whether or not terms should be defined and points explained in detail.

Points of evaluation At the same time that you gather information to describe the work, you should be thinking about your evaluation of it. Read a few other reviews of this book to inform your own opinion–what points did other reviewers address? Were professional reviewers unanimous in their evaluations, or did their opinions differ? Of course, any ideas or quotations obtained from these reviews should be attributed to their owners in your paper. To consult published reviews of the book, ask the reference librarian to help you find an appropriate index, or check an online database. Following is a partial list of the databases available to Butte College students:

Proquest Direct–for general disciplines including health, humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, business, education, women's and multicultural issues.
SIRS Researcher–for topics including science, history, politics, and global issues.
Wilson Web–for biographies, obituaries, science, education, current events, and social science.
GaleNet–for biographies, authors, history, science, and literature.
Health Reference Center–for topics in health, medicine, and nursing.

Some online databases offer full text articles; others offer abstracts (summaries) and information on how to find the full text in other publications; you can quickly scan abstracts to determine which articles are most likely to be useful to you. Advanced search features allow you to search using Boolean operators (and, or, not) for either full texts or abstracts. You can also narrow your search to scholarly journals for better search results. (From the Butte College home page, http://www.butte.edu, use the library links-search For Articles and select a database from the alphabetical list.)

The print-version Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (in the Butte College Library, 1959 to the present) may also be helpful. This index also summarizes and tells you where to find the texts. The names and dates of the publications in which they appear are listed, and you should be able to refer to your selected reviews with little effort. The different indexes are usually organized by year, but keep in mind that a work published late in the year might not be reviewed until the following year.

You may find it difficult to judge the scholarship of a work or an author's expertise because of your limited understanding of the subject. But it does not require highly specialized knowledge to note what sources the author uses (look for the notes or bibliography sections), how much and what kind of evidence he provides, or how he analyzes data and justifies his conclusions. Read carefully to identify omissions, discernible bias, or unsupported generalizations. For example, someone reviewing a work entitled War in the Falklands would have little difficulty pointing out that this account of the 1982 war between Britain and Argentina is pro-British, containing little information about the Argentine politicians, participants, and purposes.

When considering a book's strengths and weaknesses , discuss the following points:

The tone and style of the writing
The importance of the book in its field
The value of the book for its intended audience
The effectiveness of the author's argument
The soundness of the author's conclusions
The practicality of the author's recommendations.

Your discussion the book's strengths and weaknesses may overlap with your discussion of scholarship. Plan to sort this out when revising your review so that your paper concludes with your general reaction. If your overall evaluation is favorable, admit the book's few weaknesses first and conclude with its many strong areas. If unfavorable, name the book's strengths first and conclude with its numerous weaknesses.

Mention any particularly interesting or memorable points or passages, and support your opinions with references to the book, but use quotations sparingly.

In your evaluation, you might reflect on how the book relates to your course. Consider what issues, ideas, or institutions the author criticizes or defends. Note the methodology and evaluate how it shapes or restricts the topic. Also, evaluate how well the author has added to your knowledge and understanding of the subject, particularly how it supplements the ideas in the textbook and the views of your instructor.

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Home » Planning & Creating » How to Write a Non-Fiction Book

2. Define “success” for this project

What do you plan to do with your non-fiction book when it’s done? This drastically shapes both the book and the writing process. If you’re writing it for profit, you’ll need more market considerations than artistic ones in your content. Alternatively, if you’re writing to establish authority for speaking engagements, you’ll need to decide which content is in the book and what stays in-person. If you’re writing your non-fiction book as a personal expression, decide who it’s for. Knowing why you’re doing the work is sometimes the only thing that will carry you through those tough times when you don’t feel like working on the project anymore—and those times will come .

3. Describe your audience

As with knowing your “why”, you’ll need to know who your project is for. Not only is it motivating to focus on the specific people you’ll be helping or reaching, but knowing your audience intimately changes your writing style. Create a profile of your ideal reader—almost down to the hair color. You have to have a picture of your ideal reader in mind. What do these specific people care about? How do they spend their time? Do they have unique struggles and problems? What annoys them? Are there words that are native to them and which words are foreign? No book appeals to everyone, and success comes from specificity. Knowing your target audience at the outset makes a big difference as you write and try to sell your book.

4. Choose a structure

All non-fiction books fall into a few basic structures . You need to decide what type of book yours will be. This will guide your research, your outlining, and maybe even narrowing your topic. Consider these possible non-fiction book structures:

How-to (with step-by-step chapters)
Thought Leadership—presenting a problem, your take on it, and a solution or action plan
A list book
A collection of essays
A book of inspirations along a theme
A book of interviews (that you synthesized around a theme)
A history of a place, person, or event
A biography
A guidebook to a place

Once you’ve selected the structure, part of your research will be consulting other major works in your genre with the same structure.

5. Decide on basic chapters

Break your topic into 5-10 parts. This can be done on a set of index cards, so you don’t have to put it in order yet. Write a sentence or two about each part. Consider your conclusion here, too—what are your main takeaways and where do readers go next?

6. Create an outline

This is where tools help. You need a good way to move your parts around and rearrange. Your non-fiction book likely won’t be written in order. You can use colored cards to group your notes by topic, or software like Scrivener that stacks your topics in trees that you can drag and drop into new sequences. The more detailed your outline the better. You’ll take each of your basic chapters and break it down further into Intro, 3-5 sub headings, and a conclusion.

7. Research your topic, your title, and your niche

At least half of the time it takes to write a non-fiction book is spent on research. If this is your first time writing a book, you’ll need to not only thoroughly research your topic—pulling together different details and opinions and combining them with your own—but also your genre, your structure, and other books like yours in your market. Next, research the niche of people who will read it. What else are they reading? Where do they “hang out”, either digitally or physically? Are there conferences you should attend? Blogs you should read? Twitter feeds to follow? This keeps your work relevant, and making it part of a larger conversation helps make it part of a larger market.

Next, research your title. You want to see what that audience is searching for, so that your book is discoverable. You also want your title to be on-topic and unique, so that your book is the one your audience finds. A good place to start with this is Amazon, where you can find your genre in its bestseller lists, then drill down to find the best sellers in the smallest niche where you might fit.

PHASE 2: WRITE YOUR BOOK

8. set a word count goal.

Most commercial non-fiction books are between 60,000-80,000 words . If this is your first time writing, books are measured in word-count because page formats differ. You’re shooting for a non-fiction book that’s industry standard size.

9. Set daily and weekly goals

Only you know how fast you write. If you can write 1,500 words in an hour, great! If you’re just starting, you might aim for something like 600-800 words in an hour. Now you can do the math. If you’re at the higher end of 1,500 words, you know this book’s first draft of straight writing time will be around 40 hours, not including research. Remember, the more detailed the outline, the faster the writing will go. The more general your outline, the more you’ll stop and start and get stuck in the gaps, and those hours will yield many fewer words.

10. Commit to a completion date

Once you know your words-per-hour, work backwards. Look at the time you can commit to writing—is it an hour a day? 3 hours a week? Estimate the time it will take to complete the project at your pace and mark the calendar. Tell someone to hold you accountable. Projects die without a drop-dead done-by date.

11. Schedule your writing time in uninterrupted blocks

Now schedule your hours to build out your outline into words and sentences. Commit to this time no matter what. Let friends and family know you’ll be unavailable during your writing blocks. Your book won’t write itself, so be prepared to step away from your non-book-writing life for a while to get your project done.

12. Use your own compelling voice

Forget most of what you learned about writing in school, unless you’re writing a non-fiction book for academics. Most people haven’t studied or practiced writing since they were in school, so you might be a little rusty finding your own voice. You might be tempted to use impersonal, “smart”-sounding sentences, words that don’t come naturally to you, or sentence patterns that aren’t native to how you speak. Writing in the formal way you might have learned in school can feel painful and awkward, and you’ll spook yourself and trigger too many insecurities if you try to be something other than yourself on the page. If your writing needs cleaning up or formalizing, you can do that in the editing.

13. Write for clarity and simplicity

The greater your expertise, the more you’ll be tempted to use jargon, references, and language that could alienate non-experts. Not only do you want to sound like yourself, but you want to sound approachable to a wide range of comprehension within your niche. Take the time to explain a little more than you think you should have to, define your terms, and use the most common language possible.

14. Get early feedback

As you’re writing your non-fiction book, share your outline with a trusted friend or fellow expert. Share completed chapters or excerpts as blog posts and get community feedback. You’re not giving away any secrets, you’re getting your audience’s help in ironing out wrinkles and filling in holes. Build a rapport with your readers such that they can be in conversation with you, helping you see what they see. Blogging and social media make this easier than ever.

Your finished book will likely evolve quite a bit beyond these early things you share, and that’s a good thing! What you don’t want is to get really far down the line and realize you’ve burdened yourself with something that doesn’t work and can’t be finished by following the path you’ve already traveled pretty far down. Enlist as much as you can, realizing that getting the time of other people will likely mean contributing to the community by helping those other writers out in the same way.

PHASE 3: CROSS THE FINISH LINE

15. edit your book yourself.

A finished first draft means all sections complete, no research holes, introductions and transitions in place. Now print a full copy of your manuscript. Give it a couple days, but then go through it, page by page, making your first round of edits. You’ll do this 2-5 times—making edits, printing a new copy, taking a break, coming back fresh to see new edits—until you’re satisfied that each and every page is as good as it can be.

16. Find first readers

Print copies of this manuscript—the one you’ve finished editing for yourself—and give it to 2-3 other trusted people. They might be looking for different things: one reader might know a lot about the subject, one reader might know a lot about book structure, still another might know you, your voice, and be able to help with your sentences. Ask your readers for particular kinds of feedback based on their skills. Include a checklist or questionnaire with feedback prompts to get them going, and set a deadline, if possible. When they are returned, decide which feedback you’ll incorporate and make your edits.

17. Get professional editing

Professional editing comes in 4 forms: structural editing, developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Structural editing takes a look at your book and makes changes that will make it make more sense or have a stronger impact on your reader. Developmental editing looks at your content and makes your argument or ideas as strong as they can be in their own right, accounting for holes in logic, rhetorical pitfalls, or glaring oversights. It will also help cut redundancies and call out parts that need expansion. Copy editing takes a look at the writing style, line by line. They look for sentence structure, pattern variation, tone, voice, diction, imagery, etc. Lastly, proofreading checks for consistency, grammar, spelling, typos, and punctuation.

Depending on your goals for the non-fiction book, your book may need one or all of these. Blurb partners with people like Reedsy to help authors get this professional assistance. For people who are self-publishing, other than printing, professional editing can be the most expensive part of the process, but it makes all the difference in the world.

18. Make all the new edits

Depending on the level of professional editing you’ve received, you’ll have edits to make. Make your changes, big and small, then print a clean copy and go through it again to make sure your changes didn’t cause any new errors or problems. Sometimes professional editing happens in rounds, so you may be making changes, re-submitting, and making changes again, depending on the agreement you have with your editor. Don’t be discouraged. It’s very normal for whole books to go through draft after draft, even after they’re done. Be encouraged that each round is making it stronger and more likely to resonate with your audience.

19. Get professional proofreading

Do this as the very last thing, so that you don’t have more changes to make that create opportunities for new proofreading issues.

20. Get your cover professionally designed

Unless you are a book designer, you’ll want this professionally done. A professional will be familiar with industry standards, typographic hierarchy, design trends and other practical things, like how your book looks viewed as a thumbnail as well as on a shelf. In spite of the age-old saying, books ARE judged by their covers, and you didn’t work this hard on your project to have it ignored because the first-impression made by the cover was uninspiring. This might take a couple of rounds with your designer, too, but that’s OK. You’ll strike a balance between what he or she knows about cover design and what you know about yourself and your content. Be prepared to push back a little to make it something you believe in.

21. Get your Second Readers

This is to solicit reviews that will appear in your promotional materials, and maybe on your cover or in your front matter. Circulate proof copies to generate early buzz and catch any final problems.

22. Write the Front and End Matter

Drafts of these might happen in earlier steps, (before editing and proofreading), but some can only be done after you’ve gathered feedback from your second readers. All nonfiction books have some form of these auxiliary sections:

Foreword (written by someone else, hopefully someone noteworthy)
Introduction (written by you, creating a context for why you wrote what you did and what readers need to consider about your point of view)
How to use this book (if it’s a guide or process of any kind)
Table of Contents
Afterword/ What’s next
Other titles by the Author
Resources page
Endnotes/Footnotes/Bibliography
Index (Don’t shy away from this. Modern desktop publishing software makes it easier to index than ever.)

23. Write the blurb for the back

Write an enticing description or blurb of your book that will inspire anyone that comes across it to dive in (and buy your book). This goes on the back of the book. Remember, this is just as much about getting someone to read the book as it is what’s in it. Don’t fall into the trap of description alone—really sell the experience of reading your non-fiction book in the blurb .

24. Get an author bio and headshots

If you didn’t have these already from the cover design, you’ll definitely need them as part of your promotional materials and package. You’ll need them for your social media and author website to promote your book.

25. Get your marketing materials together

Don’t forget to get mockups of your non-fiction book from your cover designer. You’ll want .jpg image mockups of your book facing forward, the spine, laying down, open, closed, etc. to use in your promotional materials, as well as an image of a big stack of your books. In addition, you’ll need your sales pitch, your description of what it’s about, and talking points for various segments of your audience. You’ll be much less intimidated by the marketing process if you’ve done this thinking and formatting in advance.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The only books that matter are the finished ones, not the ones that stalled out, that got stuck as undeveloped ideas, or got abandoned in a drawer. The process of writing a non-fiction book might be daunting, but it’s doable. Remember that millions of books are finished and published every year. Millions and millions of people throughout written history have finished their books and gotten them into the world. If they could do it, why not you? It’s time to get to work.

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Book Review Examples

Posted by Stephanie Chandler | Dec 5, 2019 | AMAZON OPTIMIZATION - MEMBERS ONLY , Blog , MARKETING - MEMBERS ONLY , Nonfiction Book Marketing | 0

We’ve rounded up some real-world examples that demonstrate well-written book reviews. Feel free to share this post with people from your own tribe who can benefit from studying how simple reviews should be written on Amazon and beyond.

Book Review Examples (From Amazon and edited/modified as needed)

Educated is a moving and powerful memoir. The author grew up in a survivalist family in Idaho, as the youngest child. She was not homeschooled—instead, she simply didn’t go to school at all, due to her father’s mistrust of public schools. In an effort to escape abuse, she decides to go to college, and by her force of will, does well enough on the ACT to get into Brigham Young University. This memoir is a story of her internal struggle—to believe her own version of her life and to have the strength to break away from her past. It gives a glimpse into a way of life that most of us will never know, and it’s an inspiring story of one woman’s ability to change her future. Read this book now!

Rising Strong by Brene Brown is a thorough and thought-provoking page-turner. This book takes a seeker on a journey to self-discovery; not only by providing helpful tools that encourage curiosity and introspection, but by also taking the reader’s hand and walking step-by-step through real life examples. The author’s willingness to be candid and vulnerable throughout allows for a beautifully relatable transformation. She shares knowledge, understanding and experience in a masterful book that can enrich readers’ lives in many ways. Don’t pass this book by; it’s well-worth your time.

Jim Collins’s Good to Great shows how American companies struggle to get out of the “B zone” of mediocracy and become the best. He compares and analyzes good companies against the great ones with data, charts, and graphs. He also shows how “Level 5” leaders respond to chaos when monopolies become exposed to competition, and gives readers practical tools for responding to a wide variety of challenging business situations. There are many lessons to be discovered here and I believe that everyone in business should read this book.

Jenny Lawson is the voice so many of us have been looking for years. In Furiously Happy, she is brutally and unflinchingly honest. You will cry with her, not only because the stories are heartbreaking, but because you see yourself or someone you love in her words. You will laugh with her to the point that you are cackling out loud and people think that you’re insane. But the most important message she teaches readers is that it’s okay to be broken. It’s okay to not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel because everything will eventually be okay. There is a whole tribe of people out there just like you, and she is their leader. Read it. Pass it on. Buy it for a friend. Seriously, you will love this book.

James Clear’s Atomic Habits is different because it covers an enormous amount of ground in the larger area of self-improvement while seamlessly tying all these ideas back into the central theme of habits.One of the core concepts in Atomic Habits is to focus on the small improvement. The impact a 1% improvement per day can make may appear negligible at first, but Clear makes a compelling argument that in the case of habits, thinking small produces the biggest results over time.

“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement,” explains Clear. Over the months and years, the accumulated effect of small habitual daily behaviors is staggering. Clear’s book is intensely practical, giving you a huge toolkit of organized and named strategies you can apply immediately to create and strengthen positive habits and stop the negative ones. The book is conversational, and includes many interesting stories, making it easy to read – and hard to put down (I read it cover to cover in one day). It’s possible this might become your most highlighted personal improvement book because every page is packed with memorable and quotable gems of advice. Highly recommended.

If you’re looking for a better understanding of how your mindset affects your opinions , self-worth, outlook on the world, personal limitations and the trajectory of your life, read Carol Decker’s Mindset now. There are many case studies in the book about celebrities, corporate leaders, and sports legends displaying the different mindsets, and these real-world examples make for a fascinating read. If you want to learn more about yourself and those around you, this book will be a great investment in your success.

Have you written a review for a book you’d like to share with us? We’d love to see more examples in the comments below!

About The Author

Stephanie Chandler

Stephanie Chandler is the founder of the Nonfiction Authors Association and Nonfiction Writers Conference , and author of several books including The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan . A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur, BusinessWeek, and Wired magazine. Visit StephanieChandler.com to learn more.

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Best Non Fiction Book Review Blogs in 2024

Showing 81 blogs that match your search.

Rather Fond Of Books

http://www.rathertoofondofbooks.com/

I am currently open to review requests but I'm being selective in what I accept due to running this book blog alongside dealing with medical stuff. I like to read most genres of book but my favourite genres are: contemporary fiction, literary fiction, women's fiction, thrillers, crime and mystery, young adult, chick lit/lad lit, and biographies.

Blogger : Hayley

Genres : Non-Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 29

👀 Average monthly visits: 3,000 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Email

⭐️ Accepts indie books? No

Avocado Diaries

https://www.avocadodiaries.com

Accomplished book critic and columnist reviewing a selection of fiction and nonfiction. The editor also enjoys interviewing authors, creative and art directors, and book cover designers.

Blogger : Sean Loughran

🌐 Domain authority: 10

👀 Average monthly visits: 5,000 p/mo

⭐️ Accepts indie books? Yes

Independent Book Review

https://independentbookreview.com/

Independent Book Review is a celebration of small press and self-published books.

Blogger : Joseph

🌐 Domain authority: 21

👀 Average monthly visits: 2,500 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Website contact form

What Jamie Read

https://whatjamieread.com/

What Jamie Read is a book review blog focused on uplifting the voices of diverse authors and stories.

Blogger : Jamie Schultz

🌐 Domain authority: 2

👀 Average monthly visits: 1,500 p/mo

One Book More

https://onebookmore.com/

One Book More is a blog for lovers of all things bookish and includes reviews, author interviews, memes and more. As a life-long bibliophile and ex-English teacher, I read a wide variety of literature including romance, fantasy, young adult, science fiction, women's fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, classics, poetry, and more.

Blogger : Julie Petitbon

🌐 Domain authority: 20

Reader Views Book Reviews

https://readerviewsarchives.wordpress.com/

Reader Views started in 2005 as a book review service. We quickly identified a need for indie author representation in the literary world and expanded into offering a variety of services to help capture the attention of potential readers.

Blogger : Reader Views Team

🌐 Domain authority: 40

👀 Average monthly visits: 100 p/mo

Heyit'sCarlyRae Book Club

http://www.heyitscarlyrae.com

I'm an Instafamous Book Blogger who loves all genres of novels. Reading is my passion!

Blogger : Carly-Rae London

🌐 Domain authority: 12

👀 Average monthly visits: 8,000 p/mo

Read. Eat. Repeat.

https://readeatrepeat.net/

Hi! I’m Jordan, wife to one husband and mom to two little girls. Blogging and writing are my side gig, and I love creating delicious recipes and reading lots of books to share with you guys! My favorite genre to review is historical fiction but I do read a bit of everything.

Blogger : Jordan

🌐 Domain authority: 26

Books Can Save A Life

https://bookscansavealife.com/

I emphasize nonfiction and especially love to feature nature and environmental writing, gardening, and books about social justice, sustainability, and our future. I write about books that can save lives on a personal level and collectively.

Blogger : Valorie Hanninan

🌐 Domain authority: 23

Beth Fish Reads

http://www.bethfishreads.com/

I am very open to getting unsolicited ARCs, early finished copies, unabridged audiobooks, and backlist books in my mailbox. There is no guarantee that these will be reviewed, but if they catch my interest, I will read and review them.

Blogger : Beth

🌐 Domain authority: 39

💌 Preferred contact method: Mail

Literary Sofa

https://literarysofa.com/

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

Blogger : Isabel Costello

The Literary Edit

https://thelitedit.com/start-here/

Welcome to The Literary Edit! I’m Lucy, founder and editor of The Literary Edit, and a long standing bookworm with a passion for brilliant books, independent bookstores and literary festivals. Based between London and Sydney, The Literary Edit will bring you the best in all things bookish – from weekly book reviews, to beautiful bookstore features, to literary city guides and beyond.

Blogger : Lucy

🌐 Domain authority: 31

👀 Average monthly visits: 10,000 p/mo

Snazzy Books

https://snazzybooks.com/about/

This blog is mainly to share books I’ve read, whether good or bad, along with other stuff I think is interesting or worth recommending. As well as reading lots I love crafty stuff, make up, fitness, shopping and delicious food. I decided to start this blog mainly because I noticed a lack of blogs about adult fiction in general, compared to many blogs focusing on Young Adult books. Now that I’ve got more deeply into the blogging world I see there are actually lots of amazing blogs focusing on adult fiction, but I didn’t realise that when I started this blog! Still, what’s one more eh? 🙂

Blogger : Laura Nazmdeh

🌐 Domain authority: 25

Book Nation by Jen

https://booknationbyjen.com/

Book Nation by Jen features book reviews, recommendations and author Q & A. Jen also hosts a Book Nation Book Club to meet authors and discuss their books live on Zoom.

Blogger : Jennifer Blankfein

🌐 Domain authority: 7

👀 Average monthly visits: 2,000 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Social media

Book Nerdection

https://booknerdection.com/

Book Nerdection is a place where we offer book reviews, recommendations and write about books because we love them. We are a group of people dedicated to deliver the best book content.

Blogger : Book Nerdection Team

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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The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2022

Featuring bob dylan, elena ferrante, kate beaton, jhumpa lahiri, kate beaton, and more.

We’ve come to the end of another bountiful literary year, and for all of us review rabbits here at Book Marks, that can mean only one thing: basic math, and lots of it.

Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the next two weeks we’ll be calculating and revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2022, in the categories of (deep breath): Fiction; Nonfiction; Memoir and Biography; Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror; Short Story Collections; Essay Collections; Poetry; Mystery and Crime; Graphic Literature; and Literature in Translation.

Today’s installment: Nonfiction .

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein (Europa)

12 Rave • 12 Positive • 4 Mixed

“The lucid, well-formed essays that make up In the Margins are written in an equally captivating voice … Although a slim collection, there is more than enough meat here to nourish both the common reader and the Ferrante aficionado … Every essay here is a blend of deep thought, rigorous analysis and graceful prose. We occasionally get the odd glimpse of the author…but mainly the focus is on the nuts and bolts of writing and Ferrante’s practice of her craft. The essays are at their most rewarding when Ferrante discusses the origins of her books, in particular the celebrated Neapolitan Novels, and the multifaceted heroines that power them … These essays might not bring us any closer to finding out who Ferrante really is. Instead, though, they provide valuable insight into how she developed as a writer and how she works her magic.”

–Malcolm Forbes ( The Star Tribune )

2. Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan (W. W. Norton)

14 Rave • 8 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from Index here

“The cleverly punctuated title of Dennis Duncan’s book, Index, A History of the, should signal that this isn’t a dry account of a small cogwheel in the publishing machine. Instead, it is an engaging tale of the long search for the quickest way to find what you need in those big, information-rich things called books. It is indeed an adventure, and ‘bookish’ in the most appealing sense … Duncan goes into fascinating detail about all this—page numbers get an entire chapter of their own—with digressions into curious byways of booklore and literature … From ancient Egypt to Silicon Valley, Duncan is an ideal tour guide: witty, engaging, knowledgeable and a fount of diverting anecdotes. The book skews toward the literary, but anyone interested in the 2,200-year journey to quickly find what one needs in a book will be enlightened, and will never again take an index for granted. The well-designed book also includes nearly 40 illustrations. As might be expected, the index—created not by the author but by Paula Clarke Bain—is magnificent.”

–Steven Moore ( The Washington Post )

3. We Don’t Know Ourselves by Fintan O’Toole (Liveright) 17 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan

“One of the many triumphs of Fintan O’Toole’s We Don’t Know Ourselves is that he manages to find a form that accommodates the spectacular changes that have occurred in Ireland over the past six decades, which happens to be his life span … it is not a memoir, nor is it an absolute history, nor is it entirely a personal reflection or a crepuscular credo. It is, in fact, all of these things helixed together: his life, his country, his thoughts, his misgivings, his anger, his pride, his doubt, all of them belonging, eventually, to us … O’Toole, an agile cultural commentator, considers himself to be a representative of the blank slate on which the experiment of change was undertaken, but it’s a tribute to him that he maintains his humility, his sharpness and his enlightened distrust …

O’Toole writes brilliantly and compellingly of the dark times, but he is graceful enough to know that there is humor and light in the cracks. There is a touch of Eduardo Galeano in the way he can settle on a telling phrase … But the real accomplishment of this book is that it achieves a conscious form of history-telling, a personal hybrid that feels distinctly honest and humble at the same time. O’Toole has not invented the form, but he comes close to perfecting it. He embraces the contradictions and the confusion. In the process, he weaves the flag rather than waving it.”

–Colum McCann ( The New York Times Book Review )

4. Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

14 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from Super-Infinite here

“Rundell is right that Donne…must never be forgotten, and she is the ideal person to evangelise him for our age. She shares his linguistic dexterity, his pleasure in what TS Eliot called ‘felt thought’, his ability to bestow physicality on the abstract … It’s a biography filled with gaps and Rundell brings a zest for imaginative speculation to these. We know so little about Donne’s wife, but Rundell brings her alive as never before … Rundell confronts the difficult issue of Donne’s misogyny head-on … This is a determinedly deft book, and I would have liked it to billow a little more, making room for more extensive readings of the poems and larger arguments about the Renaissance. But if there is an overarching argument, then it’s about Donne as an ‘infinity merchant’ … To read Donne is to grapple with a vision of the eternal that is startlingly reinvented in the here and now, and Rundell captures this vision alive in all its power, eloquence and strangeness”

–Laura Feigel ( The Guardian )

5. Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh (Milkweed) 12 Rave • 7 Positive • 2 Mixed

“Can the Irish border be described as a ‘thin place’? Never have I read such an eloquent description for the omnipresent border in our psyche … Readers will draw their own meaning from Ní Dochartaigh’s words, and she allows space for them to ponder … This debut is not a memoir in the traditional sense; nor is it simply a polemic about the sectarian violence that tore through the author’s childhood in Derry; instead, it combines both of these elements under the insistent gaze of the poet-writer who is always keen to draw our attention to nature … Readers may be surprised at the depths that Thin Places explores. Do not mistake its appreciation of the natural world for anything twee or solely comforting … This is not for the faint-hearted …

Ní Dochartaigh’s writing is generous and she leaves little for the reader to surmise in those dark days she describes in startling detail … The darkness in her subject matter lends itself to the light, however. The natural world at large is a balm for her … It might sound incongruous to write about the beauty of the whooper swan and the enduring effect of Troubles in the same paragraph, but Ní Dochartaigh’s manages it … This is a book full of hope found in dark places and it confronts some of the realities of the Irish border and the enduring effect it has on our lives.”

–Mia Colleran ( The Irish Independent )

6. Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri (Princeton University Press)

8 Rave • 14 Positive • 1 Mixed

“Lahiri mixes detailed explorations of craft with broader reflections on her own artistic life, as well as the ‘essential aesthetic and political mission’ of translation. She is excellent in all three modes—so excellent, in fact, that I, a translator myself, could barely read this book. I kept putting it aside, compelled by Lahiri’s writing to go sit at my desk and translate … One of Lahiri’s great gifts as an essayist is her ability to braid multiple ways of thinking together, often in startling ways … a reminder, no matter your relationship to translation, of how alive language itself can be. In her essays as in her fiction, Lahiri is a writer of great, quiet elegance; her sentences seem simple even when they’re complex. Their beauty and clarity alone would be enough to wake readers up. ‘Look,’ her essays seem to say: Look how much there is for us to wake up to.”

–Lily Meyer ( NPR )

7. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly)

14 Rave • 4 Positive Watch an interview with Kate Beaton here

“It could hardly be more different in tone from [Beaton’s] popular larky strip Hark! A Vagrant … Yes, it’s funny at moments; Beaton’s low-key wryness is present and correct, and her drawings of people are as charming and as expressive as ever. But its mood overall is deeply melancholic. Her story, which runs to more than 400 pages, encompasses not only such thorny matters as social class and environmental destruction; it may be the best book I have ever read about sexual harassment … There are some gorgeous drawings in Ducks of the snow and the starry sky at night. But the human terrain, in her hands, is never only black and white … And it’s this that gives her story not only its richness and depth, but also its astonishing grace. Life is complex, she tell us, quietly, and we are all in it together; each one of us is only trying to survive. What a difficult, gorgeous and abidingly humane book. It really does deserve to win all the prizes.”

–Rachel Cooke ( The Guardian )

8. The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster)

10 Rave • 15 Positive • 7 Mixed • 4 Pan

“It is filled with songs and hyperbole and views on love and lust even darker than Blood on the Tracks … There are 66 songs discussed here … Only four are by women, which is ridiculous, but he never asked us … Nothing is proved, but everything is experienced—one really weird and brilliant person’s experience, someone who changed the world many times … Part of the pleasure of the book, even exceeding the delectable Chronicles: Volume One , is that you feel liberated from Being Bob Dylan. He’s not telling you what you got wrong about him. The prose is so vivid and fecund, it was useless to underline, because I just would have underlined the whole book. Dylan’s pulpy, noir imagination is not always for the squeamish. If your idea of art is affirmation of acceptable values, Bob Dylan doesn’t need you … The writing here is at turns vivid, hilarious, and will awaken you to songs you thought you knew … The prose brims everywhere you turn. It is almost disturbing. Bob Dylan got his Nobel and all the other accolades, and now he’s doing my job, and he’s so damn good at it.”

–David Yaffe ( AirMail )

9. Stay True by Hua Hsu (Doubleday)

14 Rave • 3 Positive Listen to Hua Hsu read an excerpt from Stay True here

“… quietly wrenching … To say that this book is about grief or coming-of-age doesn’t quite do it justice; nor is it mainly about being Asian American, even though there are glimmers of that too. Hsu captures the past by conveying both its mood and specificity … This is a memoir that gathers power through accretion—all those moments and gestures that constitute experience, the bits and pieces that coalesce into a life … Hsu is a subtle writer, not a showy one; the joy of Stay True sneaks up on you, and the wry jokes are threaded seamlessly throughout.”

–Jennifer Szalai ( The New York Times )

10. Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos (Catapult)

13 Rave • 2 Positive • 2 Mixed Read an excerpt from Body Work here

“In her new book, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative , memoirist Melissa Febos handily recuperates the art of writing the self from some of the most common biases against it: that the memoir is a lesser form than the novel. That trauma narratives should somehow be over—we’ve had our fill … Febos rejects these belittlements with eloquence … In its hybridity, this book formalizes one of Febos’s central tenets within it: that there is no disentangling craft from the personal, just as there is no disentangling the personal from the political. It’s a memoir of a life indelibly changed by literary practice and the rigorous integrity demanded of it … Febos is an essayist of grace and terrific precision, her sentences meticulously sculpted, her paragraphs shapely and compressed … what’s fresh, of course, is Febos herself, remapping this terrain through her context, her life and writing, her unusual combinations of sources (William H. Gass meets Elissa Washuta, for example), her painstaking exactitude and unflappable sureness—and the new readers she will reach with all of this.”

–Megan Milks ( 4Columns )

Our System:

RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

How To Write Non-Fiction. Turn Your Knowledge Into Words By Joanna Penn

Do you want to write a non-fiction book but don't know where to start or perhaps you worry that you're not an expert or have enough authority in your niche to write a book on it.

Are you ready to help other people and change your own life with your words?

The first non-fiction book I wrote changed my life. Sure, it helped other people, but mostly it altered the course of my life – so much so that 10 years later, I make a living with my writing.

In this book, I'll share everything I've learned along the way and save you time, effort and frustration on your author journey.

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Write your answers into the print workbook edition.

You can buy a companion workbook, which contains all the questions asked in the book and has space for you to write the answers. Click here to buy in print only on Amazon.

Part 2. Before You Write: Business

Types of non-fiction books
Business models for non-fiction books
Who is your book for? Identify your target market
Decide on the topic for your book
Decide on your book title
Your author name and pseudonyms
How long does your book have to be?
How long will it take to write the book?
Your perspective on time
Writing a book proposal

Part 3. Writing and Editing

Gather and organize existing material
Research, interviews, surveys, and social listening
Structure and organize the book
How to write the first draft
How to dictate your book
Turn your blog/podcasts/videos/talks into a book
Speed, quality and perfectionism
Focus and shiny object syndrome
Writer's block
Co-writing a non-fiction book
How to turn a boring book into an engaging read
Elements of fiction in non-fiction
Does non-fiction have to be true?
Legal issues: Using real people, quotes, lyrics, images, and citing sources
Self-editing a book
How to find and work with professional editors

Part 4. Publishing and Product Creation

Your publishing options
Use different formats to create multiple streams of income
Non-fiction book covers
Book formatting for non-fiction
Pricing your book
Your book sales description
Categories and keywords
Turn your non-fiction book into a multimedia course
Updating your books over time

Part 5. Marketing Non-Fiction

Two models of marketing and the importance of mindset
Book-centered marketing
Paid advertising for non-fiction books
Author-centered marketing. The power of a personal brand
Build your author website
Build an email list
Integrate email marketing with your book
Content marketing for non-fiction books
My non-fiction marketing journey

Conclusion and your next steps.

It's time to (finally) write your non-fiction book!

Goodreads reviews for How To Write Non-Fiction

Reviews from happy readers.

“Packed with clear actionable strategies and additional resources for diving deeper. It is a valuable resource that makes what could be an overwhelming goal of writing a non-fiction book into an actionable and attainable one.” Linda, Amazon review

“Probably the BEST book on how to write nonfiction. I read it with a yellow hi-lighter so I can readily refer to info I consider important. The structure makes it an easy read and I appreciate how questions and resources are listed after each chapter.” Jessica, Amazon review

“Instantly helped shift my current non-fiction project into high gear while making me clarify my vision for the project.” Amy, Amazon review

“Packed full of actionable content, insightful questions, and the clear, straightforward structure makes it really easy to navigate. I'd say this is a really valuable resource for authors no matter where they are on their non-fiction writing journey.” Gytha, Amazon review

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International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

Sunjeev Sahota at home in Sheffield, April 2024

Sunjeev Sahota: ‘I’ve always been in labour movements – but I’m critical of identity politics’

The Booker shortlisted novelist on writing his first significant non-working-class character, the literary critics who inspired him and why he’s not on Facebook

S unjeev Sahota, 43, was born and raised in Derbyshire. Named one of Granta’s best young British novelists in 2013, he made the Booker shortlist two years later with his second novel, The Year of the Runaways , an “epic of immigration... that brings to mind the great realist chroniclers” (the New Yorker ). In 2021 he was longlisted for the same prize with his third novel, China Room , drawn on family history and set partly in 1920s Punjab. His new book, The Spoiled Heart , turns on a vicious leadership contest between two British Indian trade unionists divided by age, sex and class. Sahota, who teaches literature at Durham University, was speaking from his home in Sheffield. Where did this book begin? This is my first time writing a novel set entirely in the UK – for once the story doesn’t go back to India at all. It’s also my first novel properly set in my home town of Chesterfield, which my parents left between my writing China Room and The Spoiled Heart . I’ve now got no reason to go back, which freed me to write about it. I’d been thinking about my childhood in this deindustrialised former mining town and the childhood my kids are having in the middle-class suburb I’m in now. It made me want to explore how the left does or doesn’t talk about class. I’m on the left – I’ve been in a union for years and I’ve always been in labour movements – but I’m critical of identity politics and believe much more in solidarity and economic justice. Did that make it tricky to write both sides of the quarrel at the book’s core? While I do think people like Nayan who believe in class-first politics – arguments very much in line with mine – are being set aside in favour of identitarians like Megha, I had to leave my prejudices at the door: you have to try open-heartedly to give life to your characters in the most enthralling way possible. Megha is the first significant non-working-class character I’ve written and probably the hardest character I’ve ever had to write. But the novel came quickly. China Room took three or four years because I was riven with doubt about the narrator’s right to tell his ancestor’s story; with this, I wrote with an urge to put down on the page things I feel strongly about.

Were you influenced by other novels about class? Nonfiction helped more. The American literary theorist Walter Benn Michaels crystallised so much for me. I read The Trouble With Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality when it first came out [in 2006]. In my early 20s I’d been thinking about race and class. Everyone was telling me that race was the thing that was going to have the largest impact on my life. Inside, I didn’t feel that to be true. I think a lot about his essay Going Boom , which says publishing has been concerned with historical novels about colonialism and slavery because [the culture] wants to feel good for no longer discriminating against people in those ways – while at the same time the gap between rich and poor is now as wide as can be. Internet pile-ons are pivotal to the plot . Do you use social media? No, I’ve never had a Facebook account or anything. I find it depressing for people on the left to indulge the mechanisms of neoliberal tech-bro billionaires who make huge profits from algorithms that enable a bearpit mentality. One of the reasons this denunciation culture has arisen is that the left currently lacks the belief that a different way of organising the world can actually happen. It reminds me of my kids: when they don’t have a project – building a den, say - they start finding ways to fight among themselves. Working out how to create a more egalitarian world is hard. It’s easier to point to some white yoga woman saying namaste and demand that her arse gets handed to her. Which novels have been important to you as a reader? In hindsight, reading Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers in my early 20s, having grown up around friends whose dads were former miners, made clear to me the pain of the job they did and weren’t able to do any more. In my teens I was completely taken over by Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance , about destitute characters in India during the 1970s. I tried it again recently and couldn’t get through the first few pages: my idea of what I want a novel to do has changed. Did you write in your teens? No. I never kept a diary, I wasn’t scribbling stories, I just read. I didn’t have a formal education in the humanities [Sahota studied maths]: reading was my education. A big thing was discovering literary criticism: Lionel Trilling, Edmund Wilson, Virginia Woolf’s essays, James Wood . I really enjoyed reading critics trying to make sense of how novels worked or didn’t. That’s what made me want to have a go at writing one myself [his 2011 debut Ours Are the Streets ] when I was 24 or 25. What do you recall reading as a child? Mine wasn’t a bookish household. My parents had a shop and I mostly just read magazines and newspapers waiting to do the paper round. I didn’t read any fiction that I can remember, but I was always reading – even shampoo bottles. I remember intently looking at the backs of cereal boxes, wanting to read every single word, fascinated by their sounds. Where do you write? My kids are all at school, so Monday to Friday between half nine and half two at my dining table, where I’m sat now. Name an author whose work you teach. [Thomas] Pynchon. If we’re to use terms like “political writer”, he’s the kind I like. His narrative structures allow us to achieve an understanding of the systems that harm the lives of the poor, an understanding that might illuminate the problem and not simply request pity for what the problem causes.

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For Caleb Carr, Salvation Arrived on Little Cat’s Feet

As he struggled with writing and illness, the “Alienist” author found comfort in the feline companions he recalls in a new memoir, “My Beloved Monster.”

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An illustration shows a fluffy, tawny-colored cat sitting in a garden of brightly colored lavender, red and purple flowers.

By Alexandra Jacobs

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MY BELOVED MONSTER: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me, by Caleb Carr

J. Alfred Prufrock measured his life out in coffee spoons . Caleb Carr has done so in cats.

Carr is best known for his 1994 best-selling novel “ The Alienist ,” about the search for a serial killer of boy prostitutes, and his work as a military historian. You have to prod the old brain folds a little more to remember that he is the middle son of Lucien Carr , the Beat Generation figure convicted of manslaughter as a 19-year-old Columbia student after stabbing his infatuated former Boy Scout leader and rolling the body into the Hudson.

This crime is only fleetingly alluded to in “My Beloved Monster,” which tracks Carr’s intimate relationship with a blond Siberian feline he names Masha — but his father haunts the book, as fathers will, more sinisterly than most.

After a short prison term, Lucien went on to become a respectable longtime editor for United Press International. He was a drunk — no surprise there, with famous dissolute-author pals like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg hanging around the house. But that he regularly beat Caleb and threw him down flights of stairs, causing not just psychological but physical injuries that persist into adult life, adds further dark shadings to this particular chapter of literary history.

In a boyhood marred by abuse, neglect and the upheaval of his parents’ divorce, cats were there to comfort and commune with Caleb. Indeed, he long believed he was one in a previous life, “ imperfectly or incompletely reincarnated ” as human, he writes.

Before you summon Shirley MacLaine to convene 2024’s weirdest author panel, consider the new ground “My Beloved Monster” breaks just by existing. Even leaving aside the countless novels about them, dogs have long been thought valid subjects for book-length treatment, from Virginia Woolf’s “ Flush ,” about Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s cocker spaniel, to John Grogan’s “ Marley and Me .” Meow-moirs are thinner on the ground.

It’s taken a younger generation of feminists, and probably the boredom and anxiety of quarantine, to destigmatize (and in some cases monetize ) being owned by a cat. Male cat fanciers, however, have long been stereotyped as epicene or eccentric, though their number has included such national pillars of machismo as Ernest Hemingway and Marlon Brando . When one male lawyer accidentally showed up to a civil forfeiture hearing behind a kitten filter on Zoom in 2021, America went wild with the incongruity.

Carr, though he’s a big one for research, doesn’t waste much time, as I just have, throat-clearing about cats’ perch in the culture. He’s suffered from one painful illness after another — neuropathy, pancreatitis, peritonitis, Covid or something Covid-like, cancer; and endured multiple treatments and surgeries, some “botched” — and his writing has the forthrightness and gravity of someone who wants to maximize his remaining time on Earth.

He capitalizes not only Earth, but the Sun, the Moon and the roles played by various important anonymous humans in his life, which gives his story a sometimes ponderous mythic tone: there’s the Mentor, the Lady Vet (a homage to Preston Sturges’ “The Lady Eve”; Carr is a classic movie buff), the Spinal Guru and so forth.

Names are reserved for a succession of cats, who have seemingly been as important to Carr as lovers or human friends, if not more so. (At least one ex felt shortchanged by comparison.) Masha is his spirit animal, a feminine counterpart better than any you could find in the old New York Review of Books personals . She eats, he notes admiringly, “like a barbarian queen”; she enjoys the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff and Wagner (“nothing — and I’ll include catnip in this statement,” he writes, “made her as visibly overjoyed as the Prelude from ‘Das Rheingold’”); she has a really great set of whiskers.

Before Masha there was Suki, blond as well, but a bewitching emerald-eyed shorthair who chomped delicately around rodents’ organs and disappeared one night. Suki was preceded by Echo, a part-Abyssinian with an adorable-sounding penchant for sticking his head in Carr’s shirtfront pocket. Echo was preceded by Chimene, a tabby-splotched white tomcat the adolescent Caleb nurses miraculously through distemper. Chimene was preceded by Ching-ling, whose third litter of kittens suffer a deeply upsetting fate. And before Ching-ling there was Zorro, a white-socked “superlative mouser” who once stole an entire roast chicken from the top of the Carr family’s refrigerator.

To put it mildly, “My Beloved Monster” is no Fancy Feast commercial. All of the cats in it, city and country — Carr has lived in both, though the action is centered at his house on a foothill of Misery Mountain in Rensselaer County, N.Y— are semi-feral creatures themselves at constant risk of gruesome predation. Masha, rescued from a shelter, had also been likely abused, at the very least abandoned in a locked apartment, and Carr is immediately, keenly attuned to her need for wandering free.

This, of course, will put her at risk. The tension between keeping her safe and allowing her to roam, out there with bears, coyotes and fearsome-sounding creatures called fisher weasels, is the central vein of “My Beloved Monster,” and the foreboding is as thick as her triple-layered fur coat. More so when you learn Carr keeps a hunting rifle by one of his easy chairs.

But the book is also about Carr’s devotion to a line of work he likens to “professional gambling.” Despite his best sellers, Hollywood commissions and conscious decision not to have children to stop the “cycle of abuse,” Carr has faced money troubles. The I.R.S. comes to tape a placard to his door and he’s forced to sell vintage guitars to afford Masha’s medications, for she has begun in eerie parallel to develop ailments of her own.

“My Beloved Monster’ is a loving and lovely, lay-it-all-on-the-line explication of one man’s fierce attachment. If you love cats and feel slightly sheepish about it, it’s a sturdy defense weapon. If you hate them, well, there’s no hope for you.

MY BELOVED MONSTER : Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me | By Caleb Carr | Little, Brown | 352 pp. | $32

Alexandra Jacobs is a Times book critic and occasional features writer. She joined The Times in 2010. More about Alexandra Jacobs

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COMMENTS

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review
Be succinct, but give enough to serve the purpose of the review. Points to Consider: What if you really don't like the book? Always write your reviews with integrity. If you honestly don't like a book, write your review as if you are in a critique session with the author. Use positive words and avoid sarcasm.
How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review
A great example of this is fellow nonfiction book blogger Paula Ghete 's book reviews such as this one of Cosmos by Carl Sagan ( which you can compare to mine to see how greatly our styles vary). Her book reviews are structured this way: 10-Word Summary: We can understand the Universe only if we study it.
How to write a review of a non-fiction book
Since there aren't many works of fiction about retrocomputing, the book reviews I publish are generally of non-fiction. The first draft of those reviews often read something like this: In the first chapter, the author covers this period of retrocomputing. In the second chapter, she moves on to these other topics.
17 Book Review Examples to Help You Write the Perfect Review
Book review examples for non-fiction books Nonfiction books are generally written to inform readers about a certain topic. As such, the focus of a nonfiction book review will be on the clarity and effectiveness of this communication. In carrying this out, a book review may analyze the author's source materials and assess the thesis in order ...
How To Write a Book Review, With Examples
4 tips for writing a book review. 1. Avoid repetition. A book review is its own piece of writing. By that, we mean your book review shouldn't just repeat the book's plot. It should add a new perspective about the book. 2. Be concise. Don't ramble in your book review.
Sample Nonfiction Book Reviews
Nonfiction Reviews. Example #1. Bomb The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon is an engaging non-fiction book which had me from the first page. The book begins with a Prologue: May 22, 1950 the FBI arrives at Harry Gold's door; Harry, still in pajamas, stares at two agents with a search warrant for his home as they are investigating his spying activities from ...
The Only Book Review Templates You'll Ever Need
Blog - Posted on Thursday, Nov 11 The Only Book Review Templates You'll Ever Need Whether you're trying to become a book reviewer, writing a book report for school, or analyzing a book, it's nice to follow a book review template to make sure that your thoughts are clearly presented.. A quality template provides guidance to keep your mind sharp and your thoughts organized so that you can ...
How to Write a Non-Fiction Book Review
Give the author a thoughtful and honest response. Say you appreciate the honor of being considered to write a nonfiction book review, and explain why you have to give his or her project a pass. Wish the author the best of success in the project. Pat Iyer loves it when she gets reviews of her books on Amazon.
How to Write a Book Review in 3 Steps
Be sure to mention the authors of the title and what experience or expertise they bring to the title. Check Stefan Kløvning's review of Creativity Cycling for an example of a summary that establishes the framework of the book within the context of its field. Step 2. Present your evaluation.
How to Write A Book Review: Definition, Structure, Examples
The opening should immediately grab the reader's attention and set the stage for your review. Most of the time, writing a book review has the following parts: Information about the book: Give the title, author's name, release date, and subject as your first information. This helps people know which book you are talking about.
How to Write a Great Book Review: 6 Templates and Ideas
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.
How to Write a Nonfiction Book in 6 Steps
4. Blast through your messy first draft. 5. Revise your manuscript and check your facts. 6. Choose to publish traditionally or independently. 1. Determine what problem your book will solve. When you start out, your idea is likely to be nebulous or vague, e.g.
How to Write a Nonfiction Book in 8 Steps
Writing nonfiction is primarily an exercise in research, introspection, and observation. Here's how to do it: 1. Find your story. The first step to finding a great book idea is to follow what makes you curious. Listen to podcasts. Research a topic that calls to you. And be patient with those little sparks of ideas.
Writing About Non-Fiction Books
Writing About Non-Fiction Books. At some point in your college career you may be asked to review a non-fiction book to enable you to learn more about some aspect of your course work. The assignment is demanding because you are required to describe and evaluate an author's contribution to a subject that you may know little about.
The Best Books about Writing Nonfiction
Here are my top 5 best books about writing nonfiction. 1. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction—and Get It Publishedby Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato. (W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, 288 pages) "Distilled wisdom from two publishing pros for every serious nonfiction author in search of big commercial success. . . .
5 Steps to Writing a Captivating Nonfiction Book Synopsis
2. Take a Cue from the Tone of Your Book. Your summary should be an illustration of your writing prowess and style. You should be telling the reader about the book in a way that demonstrates what they can expect when they read the book itself. If your book is funny, your summary should make the reader smile.
How to Write a Non-Fiction Book
The more detailed your outline the better. You'll take each of your basic chapters and break it down further into Intro, 3-5 sub headings, and a conclusion. 7. Research your topic, your title, and your niche. At least half of the time it takes to write a non-fiction book is spent on research.
Book Review Examples
Rising Strong by Brene Brown is a thorough and thought-provoking page-turner. This book takes a seeker on a journey to self-discovery; not only by providing helpful tools that encourage curiosity and introspection, but by also taking the reader's hand and walking step-by-step through real life examples. The author's willingness to be candid ...
How To Write A Non-Fiction Book: A Step By Step Guide Through The Process
For non-fiction, it can help to focus on a chapter at a time during these timed writing sessions. If you write 2000 words per session and you're aiming for 60,000 words, it will take 30 writing sessions. Do the math and schedule the sessions. No excuses!
Best Non Fiction Book Review Blogs in 2024
Accomplished book critic and columnist reviewing a selection of fiction and nonfiction. The editor also enjoys interviewing authors, creative and art directors, and book cover designers. Blogger : Sean Loughran. Genres : Non-Fiction. 🌐 Domain authority: 10. 👀 Average monthly visits: 5,000 p/mo.
The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2022 ‹ Literary Hub
Featuring Bob Dylan, Elena Ferrante, Kate Beaton, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kate Beaton, and More. By Book Marks. December 8, 2022. We've come to the end of another bountiful literary year, and for all of us review rabbits here at Book Marks, that can mean only one thing: basic math, and lots of it. Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 ...
How To Write Non-Fiction. Turn Your Knowledge Into Words
Your book sales description. Categories and keywords. Turn your non-fiction book into a multimedia course. Updating your books over time. Part 5. Marketing Non-Fiction. Two models of marketing and the importance of mindset. Book-centered marketing. Paid advertising for non-fiction books.
In Depth How To Write a Non-Fiction Book Review
To write a book review using this In Depth Non-Fiction Book Review Writing Template, children will be asked to consider: plot. setting. character. cause and effect. how it made them feel. If you want to learn some fun ways to create book reviews with your children, watch the video below.
Elevate Your Writing: 11 AI Writing Tools for Author Success
AI Writing Tools for Non-Fiction Writing. Like fiction writers, non-fiction writers also build stories—within the realm of reality. AI tools can be just as powerful for a non-fiction writer as a novelist by helping them streamline their writing process and write more productively. The following tools can offer non-fiction writers the support ...
Sunjeev Sahota: 'I've always been in labour movements
Megha is the first significant non-working-class character I've written and probably the hardest character I've ever had to write. But the novel came quickly.
About the Best Sellers
The New York Times Best Sellers are up-to-date and authoritative lists of the most popular books in the United States, based on sales in the past week, including fiction, non-fiction, paperbacks ...
Book Review: 'My Beloved Monster' by Caleb Carr
To put it mildly, "My Beloved Monster" is no Fancy Feast commercial. All of the cats in it, city and country — Carr has lived in both, though the action is centered at his house on a ...
Ten Years to Save the West, review: Liz Truss's riotous romp of a memoir
Ten Years to Save the West portrays the former PM as so un-self-aware she's almost an innocent - and makes her job sound near-impossible. Tim Stanley 16 April 2024 • 5:28pm. 1 ...
Sky Warriors by Saul David, review: Britain's daring parachute heroes
It is very much the men's characters that form the beating heart of the book - eccentrics, mavericks, ridiculously brave but also very human too. "My darling boy," wrote one mother to her ...
Trina Robbins, Legendary Cartoonist and Wonder Woman Artist, Passes
Robbins' advocacy work included co-founding Friends of Lulu, a non-profit designed to educate and encourage women in the comic book industry. She also worked on multiple non-fiction books ...

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review

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She Seeks Nonfiction

How to Write a Nonfiction Book Review

Mark up your book

Answer these three questions

Does it accomplish its goal?

Do I like it?

Does it speak to a target audience?

Decide whether you want to stick to a formula

How my own book reviews take shape

Final thoughts

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Do You Consider Yourself a Fair Person If You Write a Non-Fiction Book Review?

Do You Have Time to Do This?

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How to get attention with your emails

Make the Most of Your Writing Time

Inner Critic or Inner Guide: Who is Talking

What’s Your Type?

Readers Make Better Writers

Why Do You Need a Good Vocabulary?

How to Write A Book Review: Definition, Structure, Examples

Table of Contents:

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Recommended Blogs

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

Where Can You Post Book Reviews?

Social Media

Get Paid for Your Book Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Online Book Club

How to Write a Book Review?

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

2. A summary of the plot

3. Your evaluation

4. Your reader recommendation

6 Book Review Templates and Ideas

2. Social Media Book Reviews

3. Goodreads and Amazon Book Reviews

4. Listicle Book Reviews

5. An Essay Style Analysis

6. Create Your Own Book Review Template

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Writing About Non-Fiction Books

2. Define “success” for this project

3. Describe your audience

4. Choose a structure

5. Decide on basic chapters

6. Create an outline

7. Research your topic, your title, and your niche

PHASE 2: WRITE YOUR BOOK

9. Set daily and weekly goals

10. Commit to a completion date

11. Schedule your writing time in uninterrupted blocks

12. Use your own compelling voice

13. Write for clarity and simplicity

14. Get early feedback

PHASE 3: CROSS THE FINISH LINE

16. Find first readers

17. Get professional editing

18. Make all the new edits

19. Get professional proofreading

20. Get your cover professionally designed

21. Get your Second Readers

22. Write the Front and End Matter

23. Write the blurb for the back

24. Get an author bio and headshots

25. Get your marketing materials together