Today, I read a lot of books and review them. With a Booktube channel with over 9k subscribers and a blog with thousands of views coming just from organic search, I am kickstarting my journey to becoming more transparent about book reviewing and my whole journey.
Why am I doing this? I am not sure yet.
But today’s post is all about how it all started. How did I start book reviewing?
To find out the answer, I check my first ever blog and see which was my first ever book review.
Now, at this time, it has been five years since I did my first ever book review. I totally didn’t remember what was my first book review. Not a bit.
I had thought it would be some Paulo Coelho book, as you will continue reading my ‘Book Reviewing’ series, you will find out how that plays a major part in my life as a book reviewer. But right now? Let’s answer the question.
The first ever book I reviewed was Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.
Do You Need A Formal Degree to Do Book Reviews?
With no idea about quoting, I can’t believe that I actually started my first ever book review with a quote. I had two of them in the review. Of course, I didn’t quote in the way professional reviewers do, but I’m thrilled that I had even noticed that then.
Clearly, I never got a degree to do book reviews. I still haven’t got one. Do you need one? Well, I think if you want to be a book reviewer in something like New York Times or Times of India, maybe.
But there’s no degree that would teach you to be a good book reviewer. The English literature degree helps you analyse things better, make better opinions and actually, read and grasp the books in depth. Would that make you a good book reviewer? Maybe, yes.
Would you be a bad one if you haven’t got a degree, NO. You can learn, without enrolling yourself in a degree course.
In 2018, we have lots of popular book bloggers and booktubers. Not all of them have degrees in English literature.
How did I decide to do Book Reviews?
I didn’t. I had just read a book, a really big and intimidating book, and I wanted to talk about it. By then, I was already blogging. I wanted to talk about my life experiences. So, when I finished reading this book that I loved so much, I was excited. I was thrilled because I had read a 780 pages long book. I had never done that before.
I feel lucky that at that time, I had no idea that this could make me money or there’s a possibility of converting it into my profession. Mind you! Book Reviewing is still not my profession, not entirely.
But I feel lucky there was nothing to corrupt my mind then. You see, 99 out of the every 100 people reading this post, are actually thinking about book reviewing because they like the idea of free books.
You know that some people even make good money from this. Why can’t you?
This is why. Being a journalist who does book reviews is a different thing but being a blogger or booktuber is an entirely different ball game. You’re basically becoming an entrepreneur, a business man. Your life is going to be full of risks and disappointments, requiring you to put in your best, work your hardest and then do that a little more, all the time.
After putting in all that, your returns would be a couple of free books, most of which would be a nightmare to read, and you having a long list of to-dos which wouldn’t involve reading. Just wanted you to know that just in case you love reading.
That kind of effort cannot be driven by money. You’ll burn out. You will quit even before you get there. That’s why you need to be really passionate about it or natural about it.
At the time I wrote my first book review, I don’t think I was passionate about book reviewing. I think it was blogging and putting my voice on the internet that excited me. I didn’t journal my thoughts then, so I can’t really say.
Maybe, I’ll recall as we keep meeting to discuss my ‘book reviewing’ journey more and more.
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Tell me which is the first book you ever reviewed, if you’re a book reviewer. I want to know.
