Saturday, April 2, 2011

Book Review Survey Results

A few weeks ago, I asked everyone to fill out a short book review survey. The results were really interesting. So here they are:

1) I asked how long you usually like your reviews to be:

As you can see, most of you said you preferred them to be medium-sized so about 3 to 4 paragraphs. I have been adjusting my reviews accordingly lately and have noticed more people are commenting.

2) I asked if you care about spoilers:

This one surprised me because I don't care too much about spoilers but a lot of you did!

3) Next, I asked if you read the entire review or skimmed it:

This one was pretty even and went along the lines of what I though it would. The majority of people skim the reviews. I asked those the skimmed to tell me what parts they usually read. Most people saidL
  • The beginning and the ending
  • The writer's thoughts
  • If the reader would recommend the novel
  • The first couple lines of each paragraph
  • The author's favorite things
Likewise, I asked what types of things most people look for in reviews. The top three are:
  1. Reviewer's likes and dislikes
  2. Characters
  3. Plot
So most people want to know what you thought about the characters, the plot and the overall novel. The other two people liked where the character's relationships and the author's writing.

4) When do you prefer ARC reviews to come out?

As you can see, this is a close one. It seems the sweet spot is anywhere from 1 month to 1 week before the novel comes out.

5) How often do you comment on reviews?

This one also surprised me. It was pretty evenly divided. I followed this by asking what would make you comment on a review more often. The most common answer was to as ka question at the end of each review.

I've been using this format lately and have noticed a rise in my comments. Thanks so much for everyone that took this survey! You really helped me make my blog better and I hope the findings help you make your blog better too!

4 comments:

  1. Excellent criteria for your survey! I've also noticed that asking questions at the end of a review (the way you might a meme or special post) gets more comments and seems more interactive. Thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great info! I remember filling this in and really wanting to see the results so I'm so glad you posted them! Definitely will be taking this into account when I'm writing my reviews in the future!

    ReplyDelete

Thinking of writing something below? Well, that's why you are awesome! I always love feedback!

This blog is an award free zone. With the demand of a full time job, blogging time is becoming much more precious and I just don't have the time to meet the demands of awards. Thanks so much for thinking of me anyway!