Book Reviews: Why I Write Them

In academia, a book review accomplishes several things. It identifies an author’s main point, conveys a sense of the author’s style and approach, and makes an overall evaluation of the work. Most importantly, it assesses how a work contributes to the field. Additionally, a book review helps make people aware of the work and decide whether or not it is worth their time to read. Authoring a book review is also an opportunity for reviewers to meet editors and get their own names published in addition to staying current in their field.

However, deciding whether or not to write a book review can be tricky. Karen Kelsky at The Professor Is In rightly talks about the opportunity cost of writing book reviews for new scholars. She argues that ABDs and new PhDs need to focus their energy on publishing their own work, not reviewing others’ work, because their own work is what makes them competitive job candidates.

Keeping Kelsky’s advice in tension with my own position as an independent scholar, I have tried to keep a balance between reviewing others’ work and publishing my own work. I aim to publish one of my own articles for every two or three book reviews I write. As of this blog writing, I have published four of my own original research articles and written seven book reviews.

With those points in mind, here are some benefits I have found to writing book reviews.

I get a free copy of a recent monograph in my field: that is fantastic for someone who budgets on a shoestring and doesn’t always have access to newer works via a university library. In the rare case where I have received copies of books I already own, I have passed them on to the library of a music department in Nepal, which has even less access to new works than I do.

I am incentivized to keep up with recent works in my field: I have an excuse to deeply read said work and put my thoughts to paper for publication purposes, with a deadline to boot. Those conditions are good ones for thought-productive work. Additionally, engaging with a new work is good for my own work (I am aware of new works that I can put my own work in conversation with), good for my teaching work (I find new titles to assign as course materials), and good for networking at conferences or interacting with professionals in my field (because I am familiar with said work and can talk about it).

My thoughts get published, and my name gets out there: These aspects help me build an author platform—I familiarize people with my name and associate it with specific areas of expertise. Additionally, reviewing books gives me opportunities to interact with journal editors and review editors, allowing me to stay in touch with other professionals in my field.

I pay it forward: I hope to publish a book someday and receive good reviews of it too, so that others’ find my work and use it.

So, while I sometimes complain to friends that book reviews are free academic labor, when kept in check, these benefits do compensate for my time and effort. Like many things in academia, the long-term outcomes are often what count.

In my next blog post, I will talk about how to write a book review, based on my experience as writer who has authored book reviews as well as a writing coach who has guided others in writing book reviews.