A review is not a summary with adjectives attached. It is an argument about a book, made in public and backed by evidence. Editors on literary desks read hundreds of them, and most fail in one of two ways: they describe the plot and stop, or they announce a verdict and never show how they reached it. Both problems are fixable, and neither requires a different personality.
What an Editor Actually Needs
An editor needs three things from you: a claim, evidence, and respect for the reader's time. The claim should be specific enough that it could not be transferred to another book. 'Beautifully written and deeply moving' is not a claim; it is a shrug. Swap the title for any other novel on the shelf and the sentence still stands, which means it is doing no work.
Ask yourself early on: who is reading this? Someone deciding whether to spend money, or someone who has finished the book and wants company in thinking about it? Both are valid audiences, but they want different reviews. Decide, then write to that reader from the first sentence onward.
A Structure That Holds
Most reviews of between 800 and 1,200 words can be built from five moves. The shape below suits fiction, and adapts to poetry and essays, which need slightly different handling. Keep the proportions roughly as they are; they are doing a job.
- Open with something concrete (100–150 words). A detail, a line, a scene, a tension. 'The novel opens with a funeral and a missing will' tells the reader more than a paragraph of praise.
- Place the book (about 100 words). Where does it sit? What is it in conversation with? Comparisons are useful when they are precise, lazy when they are just name-dropping.
- Make two or three points (350–450 words). Each should be anchored in a quotation or a specific passage, with a page number. This is the heart of the review, and it is where plot summary belongs — briefly, and only in service of the argument.
- Say where it falters (100–150 words). One or two real weaknesses, named precisely.
- Close on what remains (about 100 words). Not a summary. What does the book leave behind, and for whom?
Break the shape if you have a reason. Do not break it because you have not thought about the ending.
Poetry and Essays Ask Different Questions
Poetry
Resist biography as explanation. A poet's life is not a key, and reaching for it usually means you have not looked closely enough at the line. Talk about line endings, register, syntax, the shape of a sequence. Quote briefly and exactly. Say whether the collection has a centre or is a gathering of poems that happen to share a cover.
Essays
A collection is not a single argument, so do not pretend otherwise. Find the thread that runs through it, and judge whether the ordering helps or hinders. If the pieces were previously published, consider whether reading them together adds anything. Uneven collections can still be essential; say which parts carry the weight, and why.
Balanced Criticism Without Fence-Sitting
Balance is not the same as neutrality. Editors want judgement, delivered fairly. The praise-criticism-praise sandwich reads as evasion when the criticism is the real story, and readers can smell it.
Be precise rather than loud. 'The middle drags' is a mood. 'The Vienna chapter repeats a conversation from chapter three without adding to it' is a review. Review the book, not the author's character, and do not speculate about motive. A review can conclude that a book fails and still be generous, careful and worth reading.
Where the Spoiler Line Sits
- Setup is fair game. If it happens in the first act, or the jacket copy mentions it, you can discuss it freely.
- Keep the ending of a plot-dependent novel out of the review. If structure is your subject, discuss the mechanism without the final revelation.
- In poetry, quotation is not spoiling — but avoid printing the closing line of a poem whose whole effect depends on landing.
- In essays and nonfiction, the argument is the point. State it. Do not hand over every turn of the reasoning.
- If a spoiler is unavoidable, warn the reader in a single line, briefly.
- Never in the headline, standfirst or opening paragraph.
House Style: The Small Things That Give You Away
Ask for the style guide before you file. If there isn't one, these are the usual defaults in UK literary publishing: -ise spellings; single quotation marks for quoted prose, with doubles inside; book titles in italics; dates as 3 March 2025; numbers one to nine spelt out; spaced en dashes for asides. Use 'practise' as the verb and 'practice' as the noun. Keep quotations short, accurate and page-referenced. Avoid exclamation marks, and use italics for emphasis at most once.
Send clean copy: correct word count, your name as you want it printed, a one-line bio if asked for, and a note of any quotations you have checked. Meet the deadline. It matters more than you think, and it is remembered.
Before You Send It
- Can you point to the sentence that states your argument?
- Does every quotation earn its place?
- Have you named one thing the book does well and one thing it does not?
- Would a reader who has not read the book know whether they want to?
- Is any spoiler flagged?
- Have you checked names, titles and dates?
- Have you read the first and last paragraphs aloud?
Read the whole thing once more for rhythm. If a sentence exists only to sound authoritative, cut it.
Editors are not looking for disciples or executioners. They want a reader who has paid attention and can say, clearly and specifically, why the book matters. That is the whole job, and it is enough.
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