How to Review a Book (For Hants-LUG)

Version 1.0.1 © Adam Trickett, September-2009 Distributed under a creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence.

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Book ReviewingBook ReviewingFORFOR

DUMMIESDUMMIESAdam John TrickettAdam John Trickett

[email protected]

PGP Key: 0xAF0DB8C8


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The PublishersThe Publishers

• Apress & friends of ED

• O'Reilly Media


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The DealThe Deal

• They send us books for free

• We review them properly and post the review in public view

• We keep the book

• They sell lots of books


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What Books?What Books?

• New books, usually less than 12 months old

• Don't have many reviews already

• Smaller niche topics

• Expected to be a big seller

• Ones we ask for


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What is a review?What is a review?

• Describe the book

• Beginner level guide to foo

• Explain how it works

• Three sections

• Code examples and Q&A section

• Objective observations

• Has code errors

• Errata page is correct


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Subjective BitsSubjective Bits

• Do not just say it's good or bad

• Say why it's good or bad

• Your opinion is only valid if the reader of the review understands what you are saying and who you are!


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Do I have to be nice?Do I have to be nice?

NONO


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Do I have to be nice?Do I have to be nice?

You just need towrite a useful review


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In SummaryIn Summary

• Fred says “Begging Foo is good/bad do/don't buy it”

• Fred knows Foo well because he said so

• He showed several examples where the book is excellent/wrong

• He said key bits were included/missed

• It's a bargain/silly price


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The ReviewThe Review

• Belongs to you, you own the copyright

• The publisher needs it in the public eye

• The LUG web site

• Amazon.co.uk and other book sites

• Any community web site or podcast

• They do want permission to quote from it

• They need to know it's been done


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The ContractThe Contract

• You write a review

• We (the LUG) publish it

• You get to keep the book

• BUT

• If you don't write an acceptable review in a timely fashion, you return the book

• You are prepared to lend the book after you reviewed it


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LinksLinks

• http://www.hants.lug.org.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?BookReviews/FAQ

• http://apress.com/community/writeareview

• http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html


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ThankThank You You

Any Any Questions?Questions?

Education

How to Review a Book (For Hants-LUG)