Allegra expanded its portfolio in May 2014 with a regular section on “reviews”. We so far have had two themed review lists, the first on “Islam”, the second on “Economy”. All featured books were gone within only a couple of days. Since the demand was so much higher than the initial supply, I decided to curate special review sections where several authors will write reviews about the same book and ideally engage in a discussion with one another. The first upcoming special review section will be on Charles Hirschkind’s “Ethical Soundscapes”, so keep an eye out! Others will follow. So far, we have published a number of individual reviews, among them How to Accept German Reparations, Sustainability in the Age of Austerity, and The Other Shore, all reviewed by Fiona Murphy – Allegra’s “top reviewer” so far!
For anyone interested in writing reviews for Allegra (or in general), there are people out there who have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge (and reviews). Ali Julia, for example, is one of those people. She is currently Amazon’s number one “top reviewer” with 2509 published reviews as of August 22, 2014. She also has her own product review blog; the latest entry is a review on a “deshedding tool for pets” (which would make a great AvMoFA in itself!). Ali Julia must do something right and there are several guides available online to help us find out what it is. Some of them are directed at academic reviews: like this one here from the University of North Carolina. Less lengthy, yet still very helpful are tips coming from a blog containing marketplace updates for consumers and businesses in the US. My point is: it is worth looking at these instructions aimed at e-commerce in addition to the academic ones. The tips for “top reviewers” are:
- Never write anything while upset
- Be realistic
- Talk about the entire experience
- Leave out names
- Highlight your credentials
- Address the other side of the story
- Check your spelling
Now if Julia Ali manages to stick to these points when reviewing a deshedding tool for pets, you might as well give it a try for your next academic review! How about taking a book from our upcoming themed list on “food”, coming to you on September 18th? The list will be curated by our new reviews assistant, Sophie Allies Curtis, welcome Sophie!
