By all means stamp a bit of your personality and thoughts on the review, but stick to the subject matter; the reader shouldn’t really know the reviewer is there. A good rule of thumb is to try not to say “I” at all.
5. Ask yourself “what makes my review unique?”
Well-anticipated products like Hollywood movies or a new release from Apple (hurry up iPhone!) can generate thousands of reviews both across the blogosphere and the more traditional media. So why would anyone want to read yours?
That’s not meant to be a criticism of your writing – I’m sure it’s great. But it’s meant to make you think about having a “unique selling point” – something that your review can offer that people won’t be able to find elsewhere. Do you manage to bring a humorous slant to it? Do you have a specific or rare expertise (eg. wouldn’t it have been an interesting take on things if a priest posted his thoughts on the aforementioned Da Vinci Code)? Is your opinion vastly different to that of everyone else? Have you managed to be the first one to review something?
Whatever you decide your unique selling point is, make sure you emphasise it! There's some good advice along these lines in Matt Cutts' article on a blogging technique know as linkbait.
6. You don’t always need to be a smartarse – sometimes it’s better to write as if you’re chatting to your friends.
Writing like a smartarse is something I must admit to being (very!) guilty of at times. It can be very tempting to get wrapped up in metaphors and tie yourself in linguistic knots. While this may make you feel like Charles Dickens, often it can just confuse the reader. By all means write well and write interestingly, but don’t try to translate everything to purple prose – sometimes it really is better to just write exactly what you said as you walked out of the cinema, without looking up 27 different synonyms for “crappy chic-flick”.
7. Compare to other similar products – but not too much!
One of the advantages of being an expert in your field is that you can place a new release in context – is it better or worse than the author’s previous work, are there other better alternatives in a similar genre, and so on. This is something it’s definitely worth doing if you don’t already, as it can lend your writing an air of expertise and authority.
Article comments
1 - Heather Ames
Lots of good advice, Jonathan. I'd better take one last look at my latest review to see if I stepped into any of the pitfalls you listed.
2 - Matt Paprocki
"A good rule of thumb is to try not to say “I” at all."
Yes, thank you. Nothing irritates me more than when I see "In my opinion" or "I felt" when reading a review. Do we not know that these are your personal thoughts from the word "review" in the title?
3 - Ray Ellis
Agreed, Matt. I've said this before, but you should strike "in my opinion" from your vocabulary--and not just in reviews. The phrase is either apologetic, showing your own insecurities--or condescending, as if you're talking down to your audience. They already know it's your opinion!
On the other hand, I see nothing wrong with peppering a piece with personal experience when appropriate. It makes the review more personable, and makes the reader feel like the reviewer is an okay guy, rather than an elitist foaming at the mouth.
4 - Pico
so says Ray Ellis:
"On the other hand, I see nothing wrong with peppering a piece with personal experience when appropriate. It makes the review more personable, and makes the reader feel like the reviewer is an okay guy, rather than an elitist foaming at the mouth."
I agree with this statement. Go read Mark Saleski's reviews, he does this all the time. They make his articles more like reading a story, and judging from the comments he gets, readers respond positively to that.
His latest article, published yesterday, barely mentions the Rush record he reviewed but the conversation he instigated is lively and very much on topic.
In my opinion (I know, I know), #4 should be "don't write about yourself, *unless* you can effectively relate your personal experience to the subject matter."
Aside from that, I think the tips were quite useful. I'll keep these in mind for my own writings. Thanks.
5 - Mark Saleski
Don’t write about yourself; it’s about the band, book, movie or whatever you’re reviewing.
BLASPHEMY!!!
;-)
seriously though (and gees pico, thanks for the kind words), look at somebody like Lester Bangs. i mean, not only did he sometimes write about himself, he wrote about...well, at times i didn't know what the hell he was getting at!
this isn't to say that i write the way i do because of Bangs, it just feels natural to me. i'm sure there are people out there who don't like it. so be it. i can't please everybody.
6 - Miss Cordy
I like this a lot, Jonathan. I think you hit on all of the major aspects of writing a review. I know I have a problem with being a bit too flowery when writing reviews (I used to write movie and TV reviews for my local newspaper), so I'm trying really hard to get better. Your piece will help me with that, so thanks!
Of course, if you want to add a bunch of extra stuff, you'd probably prefer writing recaps rather than strict reviews, which is what I'm trying.