Rhetorical Analysis Memorandum

To: Stephen Fonash, Professor

From: Riley Wian
Subject: Rhetorical Analysis of Three Book Review Websites
Date: 2 February 2023

The purpose of this memorandum is to rhetorically analyze the effectiveness of three book
review websites: GoodReads, Compass Book Ratings, and Reedsy Discovery. The purpose of
book review sites is to provide open and honest discourse on published works. These sites will
be analyzed based on the 6 characteristics of a successful technical document by Mike Markel
and Stuart A. Selber.

Addresses Audience
Goodreads indicates that the intended viewers of the website are book enthusiasts, authors, and
publishers. A portion of the website is dedicated to authors and publishers looking to connect
with their target audience readers through the website. However, there is no clear indication on
the first page of the website about the purpose of the website until the bottom of the page. Here,
you can find a tab labeled “About Us” where you can learn more about the purpose of the site.

Compass Book Ratings states that the book reviews on their website “are for parents, teachers,
librarians, readers, and anyone looking for a book that best fits their preferences for story and
content.” Book recommendations are catered to your preferred audience category, such as family
audiobooks.

Reedsy Discovery works with publishers and authors to promote new indie books. The platform
targets readers who are interested in newly published books and undiscovered stories from small
authors. This, however, is not mentioned until the bottom of the home page.

Solves Problems
Goodreads addresses the issue of book cataloguing through an online “bookshelf” that allows
you to rate, categorize, and “shelf” titles in an organized manner. Books are rated on a one- to
five-star system to determine how much a reader enjoys a particular book. Book
recommendations are made by the system according to the ratings and genres of the user. The
website also allows readers to track their book progress, which is displayed to their friends and
followers. This generates a personalized book reading experience for the user.

Compass Book Ratings creates standardized ratings based on profanity, violence, and sex on a
scale from 1 to 10. Mature themes and substance use is also noted for books. This addresses the
issue of warning labels for literature that is not posted on the book itself. However, not all
literature is present on the website, and ratings are limited only to those that are posted by a team
of reviewers.

Reedsy works with small-scale indie authors to promote their literature to a group of enthusiastic
readers. This solves two problems: new authors need to promote their work, and readers find
recently published novels in the literature category of their choosing. Reviewers for the website
provide a star-rating for each novel, as well as a brief synopsis of the book and the reasoning for
the rating. Members on the website can comment on reviews to discuss.

Reflects the Organization’s Goals and Culture

The goal of Goodreads is to categorize your library, rate literature, write reviews, and find new
books that the user would find interesting. However, not all users who write reviews and provide
ratings are educated on how to provide a useful book review; this leads to subpar information
sharing and book ratings that are often not indicative of the true quality of a piece of literature.

The goal of Compass Book Ratings is to provide a space where you can gauge the content level
of literature before adding it to your personal library. It also works to generate content ratings for
parents, teachers, and librarians for the adolescents in their life to monitor the literature content
they absorb in school and at home.

Reedsy Discovery balances the author-reader dynamic in a direct manner, working to promote
new authors to their target audience with efficiency. This goal, however, is not easy to decipher
until the user has clicked on a few tabs. Authors must pay to submit their work to the website.
This creates a disconnect in the general message of the organization when a reader visits the
page, making the interaction feel more like an advertisement rather than a discovery of literature.

Collaborative Production
Members of Goodreads are encouraged by friends, followers, and reviewers through
collaborative sharing of views on literature. Reviews and overall ratings for books are provided
by a network of users, which can be viewed publicly. Website users can determine their next
read by utilizing this information provided by collaborative work. All users must create an
account with GoodReads to create groups, rate a book, write a review, or catalogue their library.

Reviews for Compass Book Ratings are generated by a team of reviewers listed on their “Meet
the Reviewers” tab. Reviewers range from avid readers to those with English degrees or
doctorates. The public is not open to post reviews and ratings on the site to maintain a formal
review process.
Reedsy Discovery is a collaboration between authors and readers. Authors submit their work for
review to the website, and reviewers take these submissions, read them, and analyze them for
readers. Users must create an account to send a donation to the author, write a review, or create a
list of books to read. Authors can additionally reach out to publishers via the Reedsy website to
find new book deals and work.

Readability and Design

Goodreads has an easy-to-follow design with a search bar and concise category language.
However, the site is polluted with book covers, designs, and a few sponsor advertisements,
making an unattractive home page. Current book reads are displayed on the left-hand side of the
website with a progress report. The main feed is in the center of the page with a chronological
timeline of book updates from friends and followers. Current events and news regarding books,
publishers, authors, and events near you are listed on the right side of the website.

Compass Book Ratings features a basic website, with drop-down arrows for categories and links
to other pages on the right-hand side. The home page denotes the mission statement and the most
recent book reviews posted on the website. However, the search bar to find a book review on the
website is posted halfway down the home page instead of the top. The bottom half of the home
page consists of advertisements and a link to each of their social media accounts. However, with
every click of a tab, a new advertisement window pops up, making it extremely difficult to
navigate the website.

Reedsy Discovery provides a simple navigation bar at the top of the screen, as well as a search
bar. The featured review of the week is the first sight, as well as a list of blog posts on the right
relating to literature in general. There is a category on the home page to find book reviews
relating to a certain literature category. The website is compatible with a smaller window size
and adapts well to a mobile device.

Words and Images

The GoodReads website uses concise wording in the directory for a quicker user experience,
such as “My Books,” “Browse,” and “Community.” This makes it easy to find which category
the user wants: their library, a book recommendation or book list, or groups and discussions. All
literature titles are paired with their respective book cover images, as well as the option to
change your version or publication version of a book. However, book images are scattered all
over the website, and most book covers do not pair aesthetically with one another, creating a
distracting array of book covers across the page.

The home page of Compass Book Ratings is filled with scroll-windows of stock photos featuring
families and books. The only other images that appear on the website are the covers of the books
that are reviewed on the “Reviews” tab. Each book review contains a note from the publisher
regarding the book, an overall book review, and a content analysis section regarding profanity,
violence, and sex. The images are very underwhelming to the user.

Images of book covers and minimalistic graphics make Reedsy Discovery easy to read. The links
to different pages are easy to determine what information will be covered, and all descriptions
are clear and concise. Graphics and images do not overwhelm the website feed but work
significantly well with the text. Graphics, however, start to become redundant and a waste of
space on the “Submit” tab for authors.

Recommendations
Goodreads is a great website for those looking to categorize their book collection; however, a
few improvements can be made to the website to improve the user experience. The design of the
website is outdated, and a more modernized theme would curtail the overwhelming feeling the
user experiences on the home page. Additionally, creating content moderators for the website to
remove unnecessary and useless reviews could improve the user-generated book review process.

Compass Book Ratings is a useful website when looking for books based on content ratings
alone; however, the website is outdated and not aesthetically pleasing. A rebrand of the website
to improve design and functionality would immensely improve the user experience. The tab bar
should move to the top of the entire screen or the left-hand side of the page instead of the right.
To allow for a wider range of novels to be rated, it would benefit the website to generate user
profiles. This would allow for a broader range of books to be reviewed and engage more users
with the website.

Reedsy Discovery would benefit moving the goal of the organization to a more central location
on the website, so users do not have to search for it. The website should separate the author-
submission information behind a sign-up submission specifically for that audience. This would
reduce the “advertisement” feel a user feels after viewing the “submit” tab and amplify the
unique connection between author and reader.