Pick Your Thon Mini Challenge

This is not a new idea. Pieces are from experience, others from Bloggiesta.

Getting Your Review Post Ready

Book reviewing is fun but the "paperwork" can be a real drag. I started off with a notebook and a sheet for each book received. That was nice for a while, put it's hard to put an electronic note in a physical notebook.

I'm on the computer....most of the information is on the computer....how do I take advantage of this?

Most of the books have been organized (which would be a whole post, or two, by itself) but there was still the pesky stuff needed before a review could be posted. Things like, publisher, ISBN, number of pages.... Stuff that could be gathered ahead of time, stuff I was writing in my notebook, stuff that could be looked up once AND ENTERED INTO A DRAFT POSTING!

I have blogger and am able to schedule posts years in advance. My post is saved as a draft with a far off date so it always shows up at the top. Waiting for me to fill in my thoughts and hit publish.

I wanted a more uniform look to my reviews. I played around with what information I'd like to tell you and how I wanted things to look and started typing.

The post "Thoughts on...title by author" is saved as a draft to be copied and then pasted into a new post for each review. There is a generic picture where the cover goes. A listing of possible labels. The general layout is ready for whatever info I have. I put "Title", formatted how I wanted the title to look with size and color, where I wanted it to go. Don't forget the FTC declaration. It's all ready to go, including reminders to myself.

It is wonderful to be able to fill in my thoughts on a book and hit publish without having to look up publishing details.

The Mini Challenge is this.....

Complete three drafts of books you'll be reviewing
AND
write a post about the experience
(if you already do something similar, tell us what you do to keep on top of your reviews)

Reward? You mean besides the satisfaction of a job well done? ;-) You'll get an extra name in the pot for Book of Choice at The Book Monsters!



I guess it should start off with....Do you have a uniform format for your book reviews? Even if your reviews look different, do you often include the same information? Seeing the draft at the top of my listings is also a great reminder that I haven't gotten the review posted yet.

Now, back to why we do this...

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