by Greg Schwartz

Created on: April 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 18, 2009

So you want to start a book-reviewing blog, eh? Well, the first thing you need to do is get an account with a domain that hosts free blogs (unless you want to pay to have your blog, which I really don't think you do). I would personally recommend Blogspot for its ease of use and versatility in design. However, two other good hosting services are LiveJournal and

Wordpress. Any of the three will work just fine.

Once you have chosen a service and registered, you will need to set up your brand new blog. You will probably get to choose your own URL (web address) - for example myblog.livejournal.com. You will also need to pick a name for your blog. For simplicity's sake, make the name and the URL similar, so people will be able to find you easier.

Now comes the fun part: designing your page. Pick your template, fonts, and colors, but remember: Be professional. You also want to stay away from colors that are hard to read, such as yellow letters on a white background. And please - avoid blinking text at all costs.

Before you start posting reviews, provide your readers with a little information about yourself and your qualifications (either as a sidebar item or an introductory post). Are you an author? Editor? Have you reviewed books professionally? Let people know you're not just another schmoe with a website (unless, in fact, you are).

Once your blog is set up, it's time to answer some questions. What books are you going to review? Books you already have? Books people will send you? Books your friends have written?

If you'll be reviewing books you've already read or you already own, then skip ahead to the next paragraph. If you'll be trying to get review copies of books, it will be hard to break in as an independent reviewer. Post some sample reviews first, then solicit small press editors and authors for review copies, offering a fair and honest review, including ordering information and a link.

Avoid reviewing books containing anything you've written, be it short stories, columns, poetry, or anything else. Reviewing something you've contributed to is a conflict of interest, and will not gain you any points with your audience.

Now for the actual reviews. Always be professional - don't say a book "sucked" or you "hated" it. But certainly don't be afraid to be negative. If a book is bad, tell your audience what made it bad - poor character development, contrived plot twists, unrealistic dialogue, etc. Give your readers enough information to make an informed decision about

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