I challenged myself to write a 600-word book review. I did it. Why am I so scared to post it? It's a good review, but it's not long. People are going to think it's Helpful. *Angst angst angst*

Sleeper? Carstairs? Anyone?

All I can offer is that a review being short doesn't necessarily make it less than VH. I don't think you were active when we had the monthly contest that required us to keep reviews short in order to enter. I think that many of us participating learned a lesson in the value of being economical with language.

I don't recall what the exact word limit was for that contest - 500 words, perhaps? - but many entries received VH ratings, so there's no reason why yours couldn't garner the same. Besides, if you challenged yourself to do it and you succeeded, why fret over a few Helpfuls? Oh, because this is Epinions . . .

Personally, it's the abundance of twelve million word reviews that prevents me from reading and rating as much as I used to.

Julie

I was surprised when I started writing here to find that short reviews were automatically given lower ratings. The best writers are those who express the most meaning in the fewest words.

Yes, I agree that a review that doesn't contain enough information isn't as helpful as one that does. The problem is when a long review with less information than other short reviews automatically receives a higher rating.

I haven't posted many reviews here over the years, but I use this site a lot to research my purchases. Often the highest-rated reviews aren't of much help and at times are so bloated I give up and look for the reviews further down the line.

Unfortunately, I've found that eliminating any "fluff" from a review is the surest way to guarantee a low rating.

There are some items which require a of lot words to give potential customers the information they need. Others don't. The problem arises when a reviewer of a simple item feels the need to elongate his review to get a higher rating.

Enter fluff.

I don't blame the reviewer, because without the fluff his review would get buried, but most customers don't want to hear the life story of Joe Stranger when deciding which brand of salt to buy.

Be confident and just do it! I write book reviews as a short stories editor and I started out just like you!

I've just started a website to share my writing successes with beginning writers. I tell them to just start as you can't learn from mistakes if you don't make any! You will learn to modify and hone your writing as you go.

I bet your review is really good. Share it! Build a fan base.

PS I'm still waiting for account verification before I can share my lovely review of 'Girl With a Pearl Earring.' It's still an unpublished draft sadly!