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Book Club

Review Guidelines

The Williamsburg Adobe User Group has a very active book club. In order to maintain our relationship with our affiliated publishers, the following are offered as suggestions to consider while writing your review.

Reviews are a great way to discover good books on any subject. Because of the diverse skill sets in our User Group, helping turn those who are new (and more advanced) toward good resources is an important part of our sharing with one another.

You do not have to write a detailed review like that which is found in the New York Times. However, we would like some meat to your review. Reviews should be at the very minimum two paragraphs and convey to the reader what the book is about; detail the strengths and weaknesses of the book and give a recommendation for whom your book is written (what could be improved; what is missing; etc). You may find that reading comments on sites like Amazon or Barnes and Noble are helpful in getting your creative juices flowing.

Writing reviews is at times difficult. Perhaps you are afraid of offending our gracious publishers...perhaps you know the author. Publishing companies value your feedback, both negative and positive. Publishers use this feedback to help evaluate the level of sophistication the author and editor bring to the table. Writing as a profession is difficult...writing about computer technology is compounded by the speed in which the technology changes. To stay in business, publishers need to build a reputation for publishing timely materials that are significant for a wide audience. Your comments help make their job easier as the various skill-levels of our user group cover a wide gamete of abilities that they are targeting.

With that said, please do not hold back, but be polite. There is a difference between saying that the author does not fully explain a given topic and stating that the author is an idiot who does not know what they are talking about.

Here are some brain-joggers to consider when writing your review:

1. What is the book about?
2. Who is the target audience?
3. How is the book laid out?
4. Did you find the book layout conducive to the subject matter?
5. Did you expect the book to cover topics it did not?
6. Did the book cover topics that were irrelevant to the overall theme of the book?
7. Did you find the examples in the book useful?
8. Was the tone of the book easy to read?
9. Would anyone else benefit from the book?
10. Are there any applications for the technology that are not covered in the book?