On Book Reviews

Well, here it is, finally! My dream project – to review a book on book reviewing!

To be fair to the author, one must admit that that the experience was not as terrible as it may sound. Deborah Bouziden has kept the book compact and simple to read, and considering her target audience, there seems to be adequate justification behind her "no frills, please" attitude. Even with the title Ms Bouziden does not resort to gimmicks, and keeps it simple with “How to get paid and get free books as a book reviewer”.

 Deborah Bouziden has been a writer and reviewer for over two decades, and during the period she has written reviews and articles numbering into hundreds for magazines such as “Woman’s Day”, “Writer’s Digest” and the “Sunday Oklahoman”, to name a few. She has also been a ghost writer on several projects, and is the president of the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation. Currently she is a nonfiction columnist for a local magazine and an editor of two webzines. Enough qualifications, one assumes, to write a book on reviews.

 And Bouziden does not fail the reader. As already stated, the book is neatly written – the attempt to write for a novice reviewer is not lost on the reader. The chapters are concise and to the point, and are designed to help, and not push, the reader into book reviewing. The book contains some extremely useful links for the amateur reviewer on the prowl for assignments, along with separate chapters on “The Best Ways to Break In”, “Your Game Plan” and “Tips from the Pros”. Also featuring interviews with some professional book reviewers, the book does cover all aspects that a fresh reviewer could possibly hope for. In all, a fairly handy guide to have around if you are seriously considering taking up reviewing as a profession - or even a hobby.

 And in passing, one wonders what Deborah would think of this review!