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Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier
This book aims to provide inspiration to encourage people to write more book reviews. It is written for authors, though any reader can benefit.
- GenresNonfiction
141 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2019
29 people want to read
About the author
J. Lenni Dorner
6 books1,145 followersAuthor of the Existence Series.
Fractions of Existence and Proof of Existence are now available.
#atozchallenge
Former Operation Awesome team member who ran the Debut Author Spotlight.
The Creative Writing Institute held writing contests that resulted in J Lenni Dorner being published in "WRONG!: A themed anthology 2014" and LOST!: A themed anthology 2017. J self-published "Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters," in 2015. Winner of the Write Edit Publish Now (WEP) flash fiction "Youthful Frights versus Adult Fears" Halloween challenge 2015 and "Antique Vase" April 2020 challenge. Signum University's Mythgard Institute held a creative writing contest in the autumn of 2015 called "Almost an Inkling" in which J Lenni Dorner was the Popular Vote Winner of week 6, resulting in publication in The Soul of Wit. The Operation Awesome Flash Fiction Contest 12 win in April 2016 went to J Lenni Dorner. The reference book Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier was published in 2019. J published a short story, Lumber Of The Kuweakunks, in 2020. Novella Jewels of Darterra was published in 2025.
A to Z Challenge co-host as of 2017.
When not reading or writing, J enjoys video games, laughing at funny cat videos, finding drawings of dragons on Pinterest, and watching movies.
Fractions of Existence and Proof of Existence are now available.
#atozchallenge
Former Operation Awesome team member who ran the Debut Author Spotlight.
The Creative Writing Institute held writing contests that resulted in J Lenni Dorner being published in "WRONG!: A themed anthology 2014" and LOST!: A themed anthology 2017. J self-published "Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters," in 2015. Winner of the Write Edit Publish Now (WEP) flash fiction "Youthful Frights versus Adult Fears" Halloween challenge 2015 and "Antique Vase" April 2020 challenge. Signum University's Mythgard Institute held a creative writing contest in the autumn of 2015 called "Almost an Inkling" in which J Lenni Dorner was the Popular Vote Winner of week 6, resulting in publication in The Soul of Wit. The Operation Awesome Flash Fiction Contest 12 win in April 2016 went to J Lenni Dorner. The reference book Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier was published in 2019. J published a short story, Lumber Of The Kuweakunks, in 2020. Novella Jewels of Darterra was published in 2025.
A to Z Challenge co-host as of 2017.
When not reading or writing, J enjoys video games, laughing at funny cat videos, finding drawings of dragons on Pinterest, and watching movies.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 22, 2019
“Therefore, even a negative review might turn out to be not so bad. Just keep it respectful.” That is an important line from the Introduction IMO. I regularly do negative reviews about books that others wouldn’t do for fear of insulting an author, but you know what: if something doesn’t resonate with you, say so. Respectfully. That flows nicely with:
“Not every author is going to be grateful for every review. Write the reviews anyway. Write your review knowing you meant each word. Be courteous and honest, because your integrity matters. Remember that a real human wrote what you read and had hoped it would impact you. Authors work hard and pour their souls onto the pages. No one knows that better than a fellow writer. Not everyone will share the opinions in your reviews, but if you mention how you arrived at your conclusion, and present it with respect, your reviews will hold more weight for others.”
If nothing else, this made me feel good about the how’s and why’s of my own review process.
The different approaches to reviewing has helped me to clear up my own process: sometimes I do the simple approach, sometimes I do the more “yes, this is great and you should read it for the following reasons” and sometimes I go a little crazy and tell you exactly what bothered me about the book – and that you can read about the good stuff in raving 5 star reviews. Maybe I’ll take a bit more time to get things in order in my head before putting it on page with this author’s easy techniques for writing each type of review.
I’ve read fiction from this author on several occasions and loved it! (So go check that out, too, if you like speculative fiction that keeps you on the edge of your seat.)
This is a great resource to have and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to write reviews, has to write reviews and/or are curious about the basic framework of writing reviews.
Did I mention how much I like the cover? Well, now I have.
*Note, I got an ARC from the author and this is my honest opinion.
“Not every author is going to be grateful for every review. Write the reviews anyway. Write your review knowing you meant each word. Be courteous and honest, because your integrity matters. Remember that a real human wrote what you read and had hoped it would impact you. Authors work hard and pour their souls onto the pages. No one knows that better than a fellow writer. Not everyone will share the opinions in your reviews, but if you mention how you arrived at your conclusion, and present it with respect, your reviews will hold more weight for others.”
If nothing else, this made me feel good about the how’s and why’s of my own review process.
The different approaches to reviewing has helped me to clear up my own process: sometimes I do the simple approach, sometimes I do the more “yes, this is great and you should read it for the following reasons” and sometimes I go a little crazy and tell you exactly what bothered me about the book – and that you can read about the good stuff in raving 5 star reviews. Maybe I’ll take a bit more time to get things in order in my head before putting it on page with this author’s easy techniques for writing each type of review.
I’ve read fiction from this author on several occasions and loved it! (So go check that out, too, if you like speculative fiction that keeps you on the edge of your seat.)
This is a great resource to have and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to write reviews, has to write reviews and/or are curious about the basic framework of writing reviews.
Did I mention how much I like the cover? Well, now I have.
*Note, I got an ARC from the author and this is my honest opinion.
February 5, 2019
One of the areas as an author that I feel like I have failed in is writing reviews. I know how important they are to new authors and experienced authors alike, and yet I hardly ever write them. When I do write them, I tend to post them on my blog and maybe Goodreads, but that’s it. I was delighted to have the opportunity to get an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review of J Lenni Dorner’s upcoming book, “Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier” to be released March 26, 2019.
The first, and one of the most important things to me, is how easy to read the book is. I was happy to see that even though this was an ARC, it was well edited. It flowed seamlessly, was very informative, and explained things clearly. I would have read the whole thing in one sitting except it was after midnight, and I fell asleep. I was so close! I even read the author bio and the thank yous, which I often skip. (Bad author, bad. I know.) I read everything from cover to cover, starting with the excellent front cover image. It’s all books: a book floating in the center of more books. Awesome image!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who writes reviews, or who should be writing reviews, but isn’t - like me! I will absolutely be checking out more of his work now. As a typical romance and mystery reader, this was not the type of book I typically pick up, but anything that helps me hone my craft is welcome. It’s always awesome when an experienced writer shares expertise on writing reviews, as I know J Lenni Dorner writes a lot of them. It’s also great to support someone I’ve known digitally through the A to Z Challenge, but have never met. I feel like I got to know J a little more through this experience.
This book left me excited to start writing my first review and walked me through the process seamlessly. At the author’s request, I timed myself through each phase. I decided to work with an outline and then write the actual review. The outlines took me a total of 13 minutes. From there, it took me 15 minutes to write up the review, and I do think it will go faster now that I’ve done one. I have always felt like I needed questions to answer to gather my thoughts that wouldn’t contain spoilers when reviewing novels, and now I feel like that’s exactly what I have! And just in time, too, because I’ve started a book reviewing project…
5 stars for an excellent book on how to write reviews!
The first, and one of the most important things to me, is how easy to read the book is. I was happy to see that even though this was an ARC, it was well edited. It flowed seamlessly, was very informative, and explained things clearly. I would have read the whole thing in one sitting except it was after midnight, and I fell asleep. I was so close! I even read the author bio and the thank yous, which I often skip. (Bad author, bad. I know.) I read everything from cover to cover, starting with the excellent front cover image. It’s all books: a book floating in the center of more books. Awesome image!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who writes reviews, or who should be writing reviews, but isn’t - like me! I will absolutely be checking out more of his work now. As a typical romance and mystery reader, this was not the type of book I typically pick up, but anything that helps me hone my craft is welcome. It’s always awesome when an experienced writer shares expertise on writing reviews, as I know J Lenni Dorner writes a lot of them. It’s also great to support someone I’ve known digitally through the A to Z Challenge, but have never met. I feel like I got to know J a little more through this experience.
This book left me excited to start writing my first review and walked me through the process seamlessly. At the author’s request, I timed myself through each phase. I decided to work with an outline and then write the actual review. The outlines took me a total of 13 minutes. From there, it took me 15 minutes to write up the review, and I do think it will go faster now that I’ve done one. I have always felt like I needed questions to answer to gather my thoughts that wouldn’t contain spoilers when reviewing novels, and now I feel like that’s exactly what I have! And just in time, too, because I’ve started a book reviewing project…
5 stars for an excellent book on how to write reviews!
February 4, 2019
Naturally, I love it. I'm the author.
February 5, 2019
Writing Book Reviews as an Author is filled with useful information - and not just about writing reviews. Although it's geared towards author-reviewers, any reader who would like to craft better reviews will find a readable, informative text within.
Although a book written during or arising from the A to Z Challenge, J Lenni Dorner makes the letters into various mnemonics for writing different levels of review. How in depth do you want to go? There's something here for you to consider.
After I'd reflected on it a while, I decided that the most valuable lesson from this book for an author, is what to consider when reviewing your own book, at various stages of draft, perhaps.
A very worthwhile read that might not change the way I review, but may well improve the way I critique my own work before reviewers see it.
Although a book written during or arising from the A to Z Challenge, J Lenni Dorner makes the letters into various mnemonics for writing different levels of review. How in depth do you want to go? There's something here for you to consider.
After I'd reflected on it a while, I decided that the most valuable lesson from this book for an author, is what to consider when reviewing your own book, at various stages of draft, perhaps.
A very worthwhile read that might not change the way I review, but may well improve the way I critique my own work before reviewers see it.
August 15, 2020
Don’t let the pretentious title fool you, this book is a helpful guide to writing book reviews for non-authors as well.
The tips and tricks to crafting an extraordinary review aren’t just useful but also very inspiring. After finishing up I truly felt like re-writing some of my earlier reviews. Because many of the suggestions made me aware of what was lacking in my previous reviews.
The best thing about this book is that its only 84 pages (I read the kindle version). I assume that this is meant to be a reference book, but you’ll be compelled to read the whole thing because of its size.
Overall an informative read and hopefully the answer to upping the ante on writing book reviews.
The tips and tricks to crafting an extraordinary review aren’t just useful but also very inspiring. After finishing up I truly felt like re-writing some of my earlier reviews. Because many of the suggestions made me aware of what was lacking in my previous reviews.
The best thing about this book is that its only 84 pages (I read the kindle version). I assume that this is meant to be a reference book, but you’ll be compelled to read the whole thing because of its size.
Overall an informative read and hopefully the answer to upping the ante on writing book reviews.
July 9, 2019
WRITING BOOK REVIEWS AS AN AUTHOR is not only a great guide for authors, but it would also be fantastic for nonwriters interested in reviewing. It was very informative, easy to understand, and quick to read. One of the things I liked best was that the book was organized in a way that allowed me to skim over concepts I already was familiar with, and then slow down to take in new ideas in depth.
The book provided handy acronyms that make reviewing easier, as well as great suggestions and examples. I particularly liked how it mentioned things that shouldn’t be considered when rating a book, such as the book’s cover (which is most often out of the author’s control). It also covers a wide range of book categories, from reviewing nonfiction and adult fiction to children’s works.
Overall, a five-star must read for anyone interested in reviewing books.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews