How much is too much when it comes to posts?
*ahem*
This is a topic I'm genuinely curious about and it's something that Amanda and I were discussing via email the other day. As a reader, what is the optimal length for posts and/or reviews that you're comfortable with? At what point do you give up and resort to skimming? Do you end up skipping the longer posts all together?
For me, I follow all my bloggy peeps in Google Reader. It's convenient, it keeps track of new posts for me and it keeps me in the loop. The downside is that the longer posts - and I'm talking about posts that include full chapter excerpts and give me a raging case of carpal tunnel to scroll through - have a tendency to get skipped over when I have 200+ new posts and a limited amount of time.
What about reviews?
As a blogger, I try to keep my reviews short and sweet. Generally speaking they're 3 to 4 paragraphs, although there are times when that guideline gets thrown completely out the window. What? Sometimes I ramble. It happens. Right. Anything less than 3 paragraphs and I feel like I'm shorting both the book and the author. Anything substantially over and I start wondering if I'm making the slightest amount of sense*.
*for the record, I'm probably not.
I know that when I'm reading reviews, I go a little blurry when they start to get overly long. This goes back to that pesky time issue. While I can appreciate the time someone takes to write an incredibly detailed review, I tend to skim them because I have 2 dogs, a loud (occasionally obnoxious) kid, a nieceling who doesn't stop talking and a TBR pile that has officially intimidated me with its fierce scowl.
But that's just me.
I want to know how all you feel about this. Do you skim? Do you love chapter excerpts? Do you read everything regardless of length?
Inquiring minds (which mostly means ME) want to know!
I think by now you pretty much know my thoughts on this. So I'll just say this instead (which I don't think I said yet because I'm about 75% positive I just thought of it now): the length of posts are similar to the length of books. Most of the time, we don't want something that goes on FOREVER. But a well-written longish book - or post - can seem short depending on how it's written. For the most part, though, I tend to scroll through long posts if the first few lines or paragraphs don't grab me right away.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. It's the dynamic factor - if we're engaged in what we're reading, we're going to read it regardless of length. It all comes down to how the writer conveys their message.
DeleteI also have a tendency to try to break up my longish posts into sections or include bullet points. One long post of text with no breaks for anything makes my brain explode a little. And like with my audiobook post, for example, I also included tables that summarized my points (so in theory, you could read those and know most of what my thoughts were).
DeleteAnother good point. Visually, if we're hit with a review that's a solid wall of text, we're going to be taken out of the experience from the start. I personally think that's true regardless of length. I've seen shorter reviews that need a little paragraphical TLC, as well as longer ones.
DeleteI like the idea of summarizing and bullet points. But, then, I love bullet points. I also love your "in six words" section, btw. It's such a fun way of encapsulating your reading experience. And when I say fun, I mean for both the writer (agonizing over the six perfect words to use) and the reader (Oh! Amanda says that this Kate Daniels book is "More hung than a hunky #NakedWerewolf". Niiiiiice.).
I also give a "final verdict" before I launch into my actual review, one that will never EVER have spoilers because it's usually like, "This book was awesome. Will continue with the series." or "It was okay. Not sure if I want to continue with the series." That way, if you're the kind of person who doesn't read reviews of books you want to read (but haven't) you can still get my opinion without reading about anything related to what happens in the book.
DeleteThis might be shocking, but I've given my review format a lot of thought. And I spend a lot of time focusing on layout and format of my posts in addition to the content. It's because I'm overly organized and like things in a neat and specific way.
I'm not shocked in the least that you put so much thought into your review format. *thumbs up*
DeleteAll this discussion is actually making me think of some things I could do differently on my reviews. And that's a good thing.
GREAT TOPIC! I'm curious about the responses you'll get. I too use Google Reader and it seems like there are close to 200 posts there a day. I read some of the posts in GR, but seldom visit actual blogs (thus bloggers are not getting a visit count from me.) I also seldom comment. There is a time factor and honestly I'd rather spend the time reading a book.
ReplyDeleteI notice I skip almost all giveaway posts. I can't enter most (rafflecoptor) anyways. I will read a review of a book that I think I would be interested in reading. I also read character interviews religiously. I love them. I've purchased books based upon character interviews.
I try to keep my review lengths to 3-4 paragraphs. I assume most people are like me, limited with time to spent visiting blogs everyday.
I never read chapter excerpts in their entirety. Those I will skim if the title/author/cover seem like something I would read. If I skim & it catches my attention I'll go back and read all of it. I'll also stalk down reviews on the book via goodreads.
Thank you, Vanessa!
DeleteI tend to skip giveaway posts, as well, unless it's a book I'm DYING to read. I'm not a huge fan of chapter excerpts as a whole (which is why I asked about it specifically) but I have read excerpts before (on sites like All Romance Ebooks) that convinced me to buy a book. So, I'm really torn on those. Lengthwise, I think most excerpts that bloggers (or authors) post are just too long. I have one author I follow who will excerpt an entire chapter and I very very very rarely read them because I just.don't.have.time.
In an interesting twist, I ended up posting two chapter excerpts this week. One, I think is a little too long (for Soul Protector) and one is an intriguing snippet that whetted my appetite *because* of the shorter length (for Unspent Time). Which tells me that a little mystery goes a long way.
I like my reviews short and sweet. If it's a long review, I will usually just skip to the end to see the reviewer's final thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI have a tendency to do that as well unless, like Amanda said, the first couple of lines grab me and suck me in. I'm also always a little leery of being spoiled on longer reviews, so I'll often read the first paragraph (or synopsis) to see if the book appeals to me and then skip down to the final thoughts.
DeleteI'm with you on length. The longer the post without some sort of pictures or bullet point lists or subheadings to break it up into manageable segments, the less likely I'm going to bother. I skim a lot of posts. I have been trying to keep discussion posts shorter to encourage more people to read and respond. I have a lot of blogs to keep up with on a daily basis too, so I try to make my posts easy to read through quickly.
ReplyDeleteAs far as chapter excerpts go, it's a toss up. If the book sounds interesting, I'll read it; if it doesn't, I just skip it.
With reviews, I try to do about 3-5 paragraphs. I want to say enough to show why I did/didn't enjoy the book. If I really loved the book and found myself attached to characters, I may go on a little longer, but I try to keep it from getting too long. :)
I like that I'm seeing that everyone seems to be leaning toward liking the shorter reviews. It *is* a matter of time (both on the reading and the blogging end of it) and it's good to have a mental guideline to align myself to.
DeleteI occasionally write up "Quickie reviews" that are shorter than my average reviews (maybe a short paragraph or two). Generally speaking those are for short stories or novellas but I still feel a little bad about not going all out and giving it the full treatment.
I think it really depends for me. I sort through my posts very carefully before reading - if the title and the little bit I get in the reader don't sound interesting, I don't go for it (it's a little different for my RSS delivered ones, but I'll only subscribe to RSS if it's someone I know I read pretty much everything). The ones I do bring up, if I find myself getting distracted then I close out, and it doesn't matter how long it is for that to happen. I think somebody said it earlier - if it's a well written post, it doesn't matter how long it is.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I like this. You're looking strictly at content and whether the writing/subject material grabs you. Which makes sense. Bottom line, length isn't an issue as long as it's well written and dynamic.
DeleteExcellent. Thank you!
I have a standard review format of four paragraphs. Typically they run between 500-650 words, and I like to stay in that range because it keeps the paragraphs at a manageable reading size. Sometimes the word count will be longer, but I try to only do that when there is something "real" to say. If I'm rambling, it's time to cut it short.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I think I'm seeing is that some bloggers/authors aren't editing themselves down or they're not aware they're rambling. Which is what leads to those mondo-sized posts.
DeleteIt sounds like you stick to a pretty rigid format. I mean that in a good way. You're aware of what you're writing and you use the space you've allotted yourself to get your point across. That's pretty similar to what I try to do.
Thank you for your thoughts!
This is something that was bugging me the other day when I thought I was being too wordy, I try to keep my reviews to the point and not ramble but I always have so much to say! It's good to know the 3-4 paragraph length reviews seem to be about right, i do like to know why bloggers have formed their opinions and a well written review will always keep me reading.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a review last night that was A LOT longer than normal for me but it was on a book I had a few issues with and I felt like I needed to address those issues to effectively establish why the book didn't work for me. So, obviously, there are going to be exceptions to every rule, right? The trick is to be able to look at what your writing with a critical eye to make sure you're not going off on unrelated tangents (which is kinda what I feel like I'm doing right now, Lol!).
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
I am so glad you decided to do this post! It is something we bloggers worry about I think. I don't like full book reports because it takes too long to read and I don't have time. When I'm blogging; however, I feel like if I don't give a nice long review I'm cheating potential readers.
ReplyDeleteI recently switched to shorter reviews and to be honest I think it is for the best. 3 to 4 paragraphs seems to be the general consensus.
Another question: As a review reader do you prefer to see a summary like a book blurb, or a summary in the reviewers words or do we even need summaries?
Personally, I prefer the official synopsis (unless the synopsis doesn't do the book justice or is wildly misleading... which I have had happen to me before) over the reviewer rehashing the synopsis in their own words. I'd rather know how the reviewer feels than read something that's so easily accessible via Goodreads or the author's site.
DeleteI may be alone in that, though. I just know that the reason I read a review is to get someone's opinion.
I prefer the official synopsis as well. Summaries can be and are very often skewed by the reader's feelings. I don't really care about summaries, either, I just want to know the book is about.
Delete(the thing is that I don't think summaries and synopses are the same thing, but they're used as synonyms)
I love getting justification for not having to put the story in my own words! I'm not sure where I ever got the idea that I needed to. When I try to write my own book summary/synopsis, (not sure which word I should be using!) my review grows in length because I'm afraid I'll forget an important aspect. :)
DeleteI'll continue to use the GoodReads summary and it'll all be okay.
Personally, I strive to keep my reviews short & to the point. I simply want to communicate my feeling about whether I liked the book or not, and 1 or 2 major things that might have bothered me. And I don't read book reviews unless I've already read the book, and can leave a comment.
ReplyDeleteI read book reviews to get a feel for a book, but I'm very careful about the reviews I do read due to a very unfortunate spoiler I read once on a book I was looking forward to like crazy.
DeleteI think for most of us, the shorter reviews are the what we're looking for. I'm so glad, since I tend to go the shorter route. Lol!
I am glad I stopped here after everyone had commented!
ReplyDeleteI read book reviews of books that I have either read, want to read but are not on the immediate horizon, OR I am not interested in. I tend to zone out if the review is to long but I do enjoy getting the reviewers POV.
As far as other posts--that depends on the topic! Seriously I could read a mini-novel if the discussion post is good enough. Book Blurbs and giveaways---not so much. If you can't catch me in two paragraphs I am pretty much out. However, since I know most of the time that is emailed to us and we have no control on size--I don't think that is a blogger thing.
Interesting discussion!
This seems to be a theme with many people (both reviewers and readers)... if the post is dynamic and well written, we're going to read it regardless of length.
DeleteI understand what you're saying about the book blurbs and how bloggers have very little say in what is sent to us in that regard. I posted an excerpt this last week that I felt was too long but... well, it's what was given to me.
Thanks for stopping by, Felicia!
I don't really enjoy long, but some bloggers can do it well. Their style keeps me reading. I really would like to keep it short & sweet, but sometimes feel like I'm letting the reader down. It really depends on the book. I don't want to rehash & I don't want to spoil anything if possible. I wish I had a system or rhyme or reason played into anything I do.
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you're saying. It can be hard to find the balance between giving enough info so that the reader sees where your coming from on your opinions without crossing into spoiler country.
DeleteMy reviews are generally short because I give my thoughts on the book, not a recap of the book itself (I already post the summaries, so why rehash it in the review?).
ReplyDeleteWhen I read reviews, I do tend to skim - mostly because I don't want to read any spoilers. If it's a book I've already read, I'll still tend to skim it unless their opinion was polar opposite of my own.
I have spoiler-phobia too. I'm always worried that the longer reviews are going to contain them. Always. Which is silly because a short review can have spoilers just as easily as a long one.
DeleteI agree with you about summarizing. I post the synopsis specifically so that I don't have to try to put the plot into my own words. It gives me more room to talk about the things I think worked or didn't work with the book.