How I approached the review guidelines.

[P Davids]

Hey there,

I thought I'd share my experience with writing the first few reviews and how I approached the guidelines, with the hopes of encouraging others who are just starting.
I initially read the review guidelines and had to refer back to them to ensure I was complying. But I am definitely with the majority who missed a few things the first time around.
As I reread the guidelines, I realized that a certain format and structure would work best for me. I function well with a simple checklist (mom skills).
So I copied the original guidelines into a spreadsheet and changed the statements to simple questions. Including the Yes/No formula and conditional formatting (I’m not kidding ). I don’t have to refer to it that often anymore, but in the beginning, it was a great crutch.

The list looked something like this:
• Did I give an honest review? (YES)
• Did I give an honest review, i.e., positive or negative? (YES)
• Did I check if the review is free of spelling and grammar errors? (YES)
• Is the review more than 300 words? (YES)
• Did I include spoilers in the review? (NO)
• Did I include a rating of the book? (YES)
• Did I explain why I gave this rating? (YES)
• Did I give my opinion regarding any weaknesses/negatives (dislikes) of the book? (YES)
• If there were no weaknesses/negatives (dislikes), did I explain why? (YES)
• Did I give a perfect score, and were there errors? (YES/NO)
• If so, did I explain the exceptional editing after finding no errors? (YES)
• Did I mention the typos in the review? (NO)
• Did I mention a page count? (NO)
• Did I use gender-neutral terms? For example, the author, the writer (YES)
• Did I write objectively false statements in the review? (NO)

After each review, I would subject it to the checklist, and yes, I even had a check.

• Did I go through everything on the checklist? (YES)

Maybe an automatic prompt like this for first-time reviewers before they post a review would also benefit the editors. It could possibly ensure there are fewer No: ( and more Yes: ) to the question, “Did the reviewer follow the guidelines?”

[Catherine Sweet]

I'm a more experienced reviewer, but I think your checklist is excellent and would really help newer reviewers. Good stuff!

[P Davids]

I'm a more experienced reviewer, but I think your checklist is excellent and would really help newer reviewers. Good stuff!

Thank you for the kind encouraging comment Catherine.

[Author K]

I am a fresher and this seems like it would help me a great deal, thank you.

[Diana Lowery]

The list looked something like this:
• Did I give an honest review? (YES)
• Did I give an honest review, i.e., positive or negative? (YES)
• Did I check if the review is free of spelling and grammar errors? (YES)
• Is the review more than 300 words? (YES)
• Did I include spoilers in the review? (NO)
• Did I include a rating of the book? (YES)
• Did I explain why I gave this rating? (YES)
• Did I give my opinion regarding any weaknesses/negatives (dislikes) of the book? (YES)
• If there were no weaknesses/negatives (dislikes), did I explain why? (YES)
• Did I give a perfect score, and were there errors? (YES/NO)
• If so, did I explain the exceptional editing after finding no errors? (YES)
• Did I mention the typos in the review? (NO)
• Did I mention a page count? (NO)
• Did I use gender-neutral terms? For example, the author, the writer (YES)
• Did I write objectively false statements in the review? (NO)

This is wonderful. I also use a checklist when writing my reviews. Here are a few things you might consider adding.
[*] Is the rating in the review only in the five-out-of-five format?
[*] Did I include page numbers and complete sentences in the PRQ for errors?
[*] If there was profanity, did I include the profane word and the page number in the PRQ?