Hello loves! Happy Friday! I hope you’re all hanging in there. It has been an interesting few days for me, personally. And honestly? I’m so ready for the weekend. But, first, I wanted to talk about something I’ve been thinking about recently. A little conundrum in the book blogging word. Namely, the level of engagement with book reviews, why it seems to be so low and why that might be?
So, let’s discuss!
Engagement With Book Reviews
So, confession time. This post is actually inspired by another blogger’s post! Dini @ Dini Panda Reads was sharing her end of the year stats when she began discussing posts that she wished got a little more love. Unsurprisingly in the context of this post, it’s book reviews. In her words:
There isn’t one in particular that I’m really thinking of but generally, the least liked/commented-on posts on my blog are my reviews. This often makes me question my reviews but I’ve heard a few other bloggers mention that it’s the same for them, so I try not to let it get to me (too much)!
Dini @ Dini Panda Reads
Dini, I can promise you: it’s not your reviews at all. 😘
In fact, it got me thinking and looking at my own stats. If you look at my stat reflections from 2022, you’ll notice a similar trend. Out of roughly 112 posts, about 18% of my posts were book reviews (so, roughly 20ish posts). Out of those 20 reviews, I had 27 total comments, roughly 175 likes and 450 views.
Which could seem like a lot! And I’m happy for it! But, when you compare it to my top two categories, you’ll see the differences are not small. (Discussion posts had almost 200 comments, 250 likes and almost 750 views. Whereas personal posts had roughly 115 comments, 225 lies and almost 900 views). Practically double, compared to my reviews.
Yet I label myself a book blogger. One of the main things we’re known for is to review books. So, why is the level of engagement with book reviews so low?
Theorizing Why
I have a few ideas. These are based completely off no scientific evidence or any attempt at data gathering on my part. Instead, it’s based on a confession.
You see, I don’t traditionally read book reviews by other bloggers. In fact, I almost never do. Which might feel like a betrayal as a book blogger! But, below is why I don’t and, purely guessing, but maybe that’s why others might not, either?
- No desire to be influenced: Personally, I know myself. It’s really easy for a thought that wasn’t mine to get stuck in my head and marinate for a while, as I parse whether to believe it or not. So, when I stumble across a review of a book that I’m excited to read and it critiques X, guess what? The entire time I’m reading the book, I’m thinking about X. Even if it was something I normally wouldn’t notice. Knowing that chance of impressionability, I don’t like to risk it, especially for books I’m stoked about reading. I want the chance to form my own opinion first.
- Avoiding spoilers: Most bloggers are great at denoting when they include spoilers! But for those that don’t!! WHY.
- Gauging interest levels: Honestly, I have pretty specific tastes in what I read. And, surprisingly, a lot of bloggers I follow don’t actually review books I’m interested in! *shrugs* Yet, because I love their other content, I like to follow them and read those posts. I have a feeling this is the same for many who follow me.
I’m sure there are more reasons why someone might not read a review. Especially since reviews range so widely in styles and content, surprisingly enough. I just can’t help the irony that, as a book blogger, I feel obligated to review books. Yet they are always my least favorite posts to read. And write. 💀
Impacts
Yet, is this a bad thing, this lower level of engagement with book reviews? Honestly, I’m not sure. Personally, I write reviews and cross-post them to other review sites to help author numbers. (Yet I am in the camp that the reviews themselves are for other readers, not authors. But that’s an entirely different discussion for another day.) Though I wish that all of my post did better than they do, I think I’m least bothered when a review does poorly. Perhaps because I don’t always enjoy writing them? Or because I feel guilty because I don’t think I do a great job with them?
Who’s to say? 😅
I do think there can be a negative in terms of trying to connect with publishing, however. Especially if you’re trying to get ARCs or other promotional opportunities. Your numbers sometimes gotta look good for those opportunities to happen. And, when comparing the often skewed numbers of other social bookish platforms, having engagement with book reviews be low for book bloggers can be…not great.
In Sum
So, in sum: I think there are many reasons why we don’t read book reviews with the same vigor as we might, say, a discussion post. Or even a topical list! I just don’t have any concrete proof. All opinions over here today!
I’m curious: if you write book reviews, what is your engagement level with them? Do you get a lot of traffic or content with them? Or are they the “lower” stat type in your blogging repertoire, like mine? Do you enjoy writing book reviews or do you drag your feet like I do?
I’d really love to know your thoughts! And, if you’re looking for some bloggers who write such quality reviews, it convinces a non-review-reader like me to read them, look no further than these gems:
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So this month a review is my second best article for hits (off the top by 1). The next highest is 14th.
Last year my best article was a book review. There were only two others in the top 20 (one of which was a round up).
The conclusion is reviews can do as well as anything but very rarely do.
The secret sauce behind the two big unicorns? The authors shared them as a quote tweet saying nice words and that got a ton of people to come see it. The next biggest, the author is long dead but it’s sufficiently well know that lots of people were tweeting replies at me.
So I think that’s the answer as much as anything. Exposure. Of course you’ve then got to ask why don’t people push book reviews for other people like they push lists and thoughts. At which point I think those three things are the big things. Particularly taste. People rarely push reviews just to be supportive, they do it because they love the book, which can be an issue.
I would add that personally I generally avoid reviews of things I want to read to avoid contamination, and often only look at reviews afterwards to get a feeling for how people feel about stuff.
Oh nice! Mine never do that well. 😂 But you are right: if I ever have an author or publisher share it, the engagement absolutely goes up! Which makes sense. I think your thoughts on exposure are spot on.
I think you nailed this on the head. Honestly, the biggest reason I don’t read book reviews is because I don’t want to be influenced beforehand. If there’s a book I’ll likely read, I don’t read anyone’s book review before I’ve read it. However, if I’m casually interested (or not interested) in a book, I’ll happily read someone’s review, especially if I’m on the fence about reading it. I’ve experienced both outcomes of reading book reviews beforehand: I’ve been disappointed with a book after reading glowing reviews; conversely, I was really pleased with The Atlas Six after reading middling reviews.
Exactly, that’s my biggest reason, too! But I do agree, too, that’s a good point. Sometimes for books I’m not remotely interested in, but I’m curious about the reception, I’ll check out a blogger’s review!
Oh heck yes, reviews definitely rank low on the engagement-o-meter for me too. I have been tracking across about ten types of content (I’m giving this up, it’s a lot of work and I don’t really use it) and reviews were third from bottom for views, likes and comments last year, which is possibly an improvement on the year before. But when they get engagement it’s good engagement (vs ‘here’s my TTT’) and in the end, I didn’t start this journey to review for other people so I think I’m okay with that? Besides, I’m the same as a reader – I rarely read more than the intro of a review for a book I haven’t read as I don’t want to be spoiled or influenced. So it’s a hazard of the category I guess.
OOF, just reading “tracking across ten types of content” sounds exhausting, so I don’t blame you for giving it up! But I absolutely agree.
Actually… my home page gets tons more traffic than anything else on my blog! Go figure!
SAME. It always has.
Many of my review posts are in top post lists but yes when it comes to comments they have less comments than list, discussion or personal posts. I don’t think it’s bad or good but I think that shouldn’t discourage blogger from posting book reviews.
Oh no, absolutely! Even though my book review books personally don’t do well, traction wise, I still post them! And I think anyone who wants to write a book review should, traction levels or not.
From what I’ve seen over the years, it is common for bloggers to get fewer views on book reviews. But I think there are various valid reasons. Like you said, people might not want to be spoiled or might want to wait until they’ve written their own review so they aren’t spoiled. That tends to be me, and also I like to have read the book in question so I can hopefully offer a comment that’s more detailed and not just, “Nice review!” But I don’t think that means reviews in general aren’t worth writing or aren’t valued.
Book reviews actually can, in my experience, get views, just not always from other book bloggers. They might not do so well the same day posted, but will get views from search engines. It helps, too, if you review a book not many others have, or if the book suddenly gets picked up for a TV adaptation and there aren’t a lot of other reviews out there yet.
I also find that reviews can do well if they’re popular books other people have already read or at least heard of. Classics get more discussion in my experience, because it’s more likely more people have read them, perhaps from school assignments and such. Or reviews of popular books, not on release day, but a bit after once more people have read it.
Interestingly, though, I have found that discussion-esque reviews can get more views and engagement than flat-out reviews. I wrote a reflection on reading my first Hardy Boys mystery that I remember getting a lot of views. I am positive that if I had simply written it as a standard review, the interest would have been much less. The same goes for my reflection on reading all 56 original Nancy Drew Mysteries, and my co-blogger’s reflections on re-reading Narnia. People will click on a review if it reads less like a review?
That’s a good point about search engines and how book reviews can last a bit longer than some other content! And you’re right: some book reviews definitely are just “set up” for getting more engagement naturally!
Honestly, I’m not surprised that discussion-eqsue reviews do well!!
I can completely agree with your theories, at least with the first two. That’s why I most likely look for reviews of books I already reviewed. It is very interesting to read other bloggers thoughts of the same book.
And spoilers are killers. I actually have a list of bloggers to avoid because of that issue. At least I avoid their reviews.
Cheerio
RoXXie
Same. I usually only read book reviews if I’ve already read the book or have no intention of ever doing so.
Ooof, that sucks. At least put a spoiler tag in, c’mon! At least you know who to avoid!
I enjoy reading reviews after I’ve read the book, so I think I’m less likely to engage with reviews of new books. But even when I do read them, I don’t always have anything to say. The most commenting I do is on Top Ten Tuesday lists because I can just be, ooh that’s on my list too. I appreciate blogs that have a like button at least.
Oh very true, I didn’t even dive into how it’s often difficult to write more than just, “Nice review!” sometimes on a review. Great point, Ellie!
I haven’t looked at my stats in as much detail but I do think you are right – reviews tend to get lower engagement wrt to comments. But I think that’s also the nature of book reviews, as a blog reader, there’s not much I can say about a review/book if I’ve not read it (a lot of the times, it’s “sounds like something I’ll read” or something about the cover!). So in a way, meaningful engagement with book reviews is harder, while coming up with something more thoughtful for a discussion post isn’t.
100% Eustacia. This is a great point!!
For me, it depends on the blog as to whether I read the reviews. Over the years I’ve come to “know” some bloggers who I have noticed review many of the same books I do and generally like the ones I like. I read their reviews of books I haven’t read to decide if I want to add them to my tbr. On the other hand, looking at your blog and the books you read, your reviews are of little interest to me (no offense meant, I just mean it is pretty clear we read different types of books and look for different things in the books we do read). On the other hand, the title of your discussion post got me to click through from the link-up and the content made me comment.
That’s a good point! There are definitely reviewers who I will make an attempt to read most of their reviews and others who I follow for other content, so reviews aren’t even on my radar, because our tastes are different!
I’m guilty of this, and I think the fact that I often scroll past reviews myself is part of why I haven’t been writing as many of my own dedicated reviews this past year (that and I just haven’t had the time). On the other hand, monthly wrap-ups are some of my favorite posts to read, especially from bloggers who include mini-reviews in addition to their star ratings.
For me, I think the main reason I avoid dedicated reviews is when I want to read the book but haven’t yet and I don’t want to be influenced by other peoples’ opinions (whether they’re good or bad). And then inevitably, I forget to go back and read the reviews after I’ve read the book because by that time the post has disappeared from my blog reader feed. I also tend to scroll past reviews if it’s a for super popular book I’ve seen reviewed a ton in a short span of time.
When it’s a book that I haven’t heard of, or don’t have a huge interest in reading, I’ll read it if it’s from a blogger whose writing style I enjoy, whether or not they have the same taste in books as I do. Sometimes I’ll end up adding it to my TBR list, but other times I’ll just enjoy reading what the blogger has to say.
The few times I have written dedicated reviews in the past year, I’ve tried putting a witty subheading or some kind of intro that gives a preview of my overall opinion of the book. I have no idea if it makes people more likely to read it, but I appreciate when others do something similar. I like knowing if I’m going into a rant or a rave review so I can prepare myself accordingly 😆
Ooh yeah, I can absolutely see that! Especially your point about forgetting to go back and read a review after you read the book, because it’s no longer on your blog reader. I am SO with you on that regard!!
I do like how you title your reviews based on mood. That’s really fun!
My book review blog is pretty much all book reviews with the occasional random thought about the literary world provoked by reading a news report or opinion piece. I don’t have many followers, don’t have high levels of traffic, but that’s not what it’s about for me. My reviews are more like essays recording how a book has made me think. I share them on my blog in case there’s another person out there who might appreciate my thoughts. Sometimes I have had author and publisher interaction, particularly among the independent press community, where a blog review can be as helpful to sales as mainstream coverage. And it’s good to know when my appreciation of a book is appreciated by its author or publisher. There’s a handful of people who comment regularly and who I now consider friends of an online kind. As with real life, we dip in and out of each other’s blogs.
I am up and down with reading book reviews. Similarly to you, I don’t want to be influenced if the book is something I know I’m going to read. However, I like to read reviews about books I haven’t heard of and see if the reviewer can convince me it’s something I should read. I’ve expanded my reading that way. When I feel like I have too many books waiting to be read, as is currently the case, I shy away from reading other reviews because I don’t want to be tempted to buy more books. Often, though, I go back through past reviews and pick out the posts that jump out at me.
Having typed all that, I think I treat the blogosphere in the same way I treat print media – I don’t have to read everything, and there isn’t enough time to do so in any case. I don’t expect my online content to be read or commented on frequently. I’m in my 50s, which might make a difference to how I engage online.
Interesting post, thank you for writing it. Mary Daniels Brown at Notes in the Margin shared it.
Not wanting to be influenced by a review definitely seems to be a popular trend on the topic! I feel you.
And thanks for reading the post and writing such an awesome comment, Jan! Especially telling me how you found it, that’s really awesome (and really kind of Mary for sharing it). 🙂
Loved this discussion! I’ve also shared in a previous post that reviews get less engagement and I second your confession: I also rarely read book reviews. Mainly because I’m trying to not be influenced too but also because I want to go into books without knowing what they’re about and without having someone else’s criticisms in my mind.
I think there’s a reason wrap-ups do really well even though they’re basically mini reviews. We don’t criticise the book much or go in-depth. We talk just a bit about the vibes and overall opinion. It is the right amount of information about books that most people want. My wrap-ups get quite a bit of engagement and I know that posting individual reviews of the same books won’t garner the same response.
Lastly, being a book blogger is much more than writing book reviews and I do think it is widely accepted now. I also notice way less reviews being posted nowadays compared to when I started blogging. A lot of us write what we want to read and tbh reviews aren’t it unfortunately.
Your first paragraph of your response summed up my thoughts *exactly*. And I like your thought about why wrap-ups do so well. I do admit, I tend to read those smaller, bite-sized thoughts about a book usually featured in those, without worrying about the book getting spoiled for me.
Good point (and luckily for me, at least, as I’ve never been good at being “just” a book blogger or book review based book blogger).
Those three points are spot on! The reasons why I choose to read or not read a book review pretty well fall into those three camps. It can really vary depending on the book. Sometimes I know I want to read a book no matter what, and I’ll avoid the reviews til I’ve read it. Sometimes I’m not super interested in reading a book myself, so I’ll choose to read the review or, for that same reason, I’ll choose to skip the review! But mostly, I enjoy reading reviews of books that are already on my radar or sound like something I would like. I also have specific tastes so that can mean I skip a lot of reviews. As for engaging with review posts, I find it difficult sometimes to comment on a review of a book I haven’t read yet – which is most books, haha. So then maybe I just leave a like or don’t engage at all.
I agree with it varying on the book. There are books where my heart would break if anything was spoiled–even the most minute details. Whereas others…eh? I’d live.
True, true! Thank goodness for the like button for just a smidge of engagement.
Coming late to this post after reading your review audience post and following the link.
I read reviews when I have a strong positive or negative feeling about a book I’ve read and want to see what others thought – in this case I may comment. If I’m searching for books (e.g. books by NZ authors on a site solely reviewing such books), I’ll read reviews in the same way as I would be reading the blurb of a book in a bookshop and chatting to the staff about whether it was worth reading. I’ve discovered some great books that way. Otherwise, I tend to only read reviews of books that I am thinking I probably won’t read (who knows, the review might change my mind), or random books I’ve never heard of in that everlasting search we bookworms don’t need, of more books to add to the to buy/borrow list.
I write reviews because I have friends who like the thoughts and summaries I used to share about books on FB, and it often introduced them to new books that they then wanted to read. So when I started blogging again, I decided to start doing more long-form reviews there. I get a decent amount of views on them, and don’t care if there is no direct engagement.
I also do bookshelf spotlights, where I share a book/series I own, some thoughts if I have read it and the blurb. It’s a fun way to introduce people to older books/series. While slowly showing people just what is hidden away on my shelves. Or in boxes 🙂
But generally, I’m just as happy with views as with people liking/commenting. And even if a post doesn’t get that many views, I don’t mind. After all, just one person finding a post useful, even if they don’t overtly engage, makes it worthwhile – well, extra worthwhile on top of the enjoyment we get from writing out our thoughts.
Aww, thanks for reading multiple posts, Nic! That means the world. And never late at all.
I totally feel you on the way you engage with book reviews!! That connects with me a lot!