My latest rabbit hole excursion has been watching book reviews on YouTube. After spending a lifetime in close relationship with books (reading, education, libraries and publishing) and thoroughly embracing ebooks and audio-books, I’ve realized I’ve always wanted to consume the whole thing. So a brief video?

I’m aware a number of publishers use video to promote their books. Less review and more promo, and without a doubt my favourite being the Fifty Shades of Chicken.  Of course, book reviews are nothing new and we all have opinions before, during or after reading something. But taking the time and effort to organize and make a video review is no small thing, particularly when there is no guarantee of an audience. It’s fascinating to see whether a 10 minute video can capture the full breadth of what is contained in 200-500 pages.

The conclusion is…. A few do, but most don’t. Quality matters. This review of The Elephant in my Brain is good. Others – no sample – consist of people giving opinions of little value, the lack of curation being the major issue with all platforms.

The quality seems to come from the following:

• A host/commentator that is smart, concise, engaging and speaking in a conversational tone. The kind of person you want to talk to at a dinner party.
• A book that has something to say, an interesting premise, and a strong story line.
• Critique and opinion that are limited, focused, and relevant. Brief comparisons that place the book relative to others in the genre are fine. Ongoing “the author should have…..”, not fine.
• Since it’s a video, interesting graphics that are actually related to the topic(s) being discussed.  Filming a talking head, unless it is a beautiful person, is not particularly interesting. This cannot be over emphasized!

As I’m writing this, I realize this is good guidance for any video making of the brief, informational sort.

A few of the better book reviews make me want to buy the book. A few others made me feel there wasn’t enough content in it to bother. Several reviews I didn’t get through, so the book is still unknown. All this just to say, video reviews can be awesome, except when they aren’t. Tread carefully, both as a creator and a viewer.

Yours in book reading

Linda