A little about reviews

Have you ever wondered why authors ask readers to leave a review on Amazon, or other online stores, after you finished reading their book? The intent of this blog post is to explain it a little better to you.

 

Picture this… Remember what it was like before the internet came along and buying books was a complete different experience. We went into a store, a real store that we can touch the walls with, and selected the books we wanted to read. A customer had an idea of what kind of book they wanted to read, and went to that aisle. (Hence, on Amazon you search Sci-fi, romance, nonfiction, ect- you did it years ago too.) There in the aisle was shelves full of books to choice from. The customer picked a book up, maybe judged it from its cover, and read the back of the book, the inside flap, any editorial reviews that were printed inside, and possibly started reading the first chapter. We put the ones we didn’t find interesting back, and we bought the ones that liked. You were able to hold it in your hands, feel it, skim through it, and check its price to see if you thought it was worth the price. Then the book was bought.

This happened at new and used book stores, by the way. I’m not saying that people can’t do this anymore, but bookstores in general are losing their appeals with all the online bookstores and ebooks available.

Now bring your mind back to the present day. You want a book, you go on Amazon, there are millions of books. Many of which are self-published so you have no idea who the author is. Now you really are clicking on the ones that your eyes are attracted to, or the title interests you. But is it good? You can’t tell, you can’t hold it, you can’t flip through the pages. Yes, you can download a sample, or what Amazon calls “Look inside the book,” but that only gets you so far. You must sample read what they allow you to sample, not like in the book stores days where you could read anywhere you wanted in the book. How do you know if you’d like it?

Reviews! When others read a book and then go back to the site in which they purchased it and leaves a review- it’s like telling someone else whether they should buy the book or not. Reviews tell us things like, the book was a page turner, the reader couldn’t put it down, the ending was perfect. Or, the review could be just the opposite, the reviewer might say that there were too many spelling errors in the book, or the characters weren’t strong enough. It’s valued information for you and makes your decision process easier. So after you read the book, you do the same and help another reader decide if they like it.

Sad fact- many good books go unsold because there are no reviews left. My historical fiction book, Amelia’s Story, was downloaded over 350 times when it was priced free during a promotional period after its release. I personally sold about 50 of them myself. Many people have told me that they loved the book. It made them happy, sad, angry. It made them cry, but they all told me it was good and they looked forward to my new books. Unfortunately, there are only a few reviews left on it, and when new readers discover it- there aren’t enough reviews to convince them that it’s worth the price. Tragic but happens to so many independent authors.

What do we do about that? We should read books and then leave a few sentences about them online. They don’t have to be professionally written, you don’t have to be a writer. Just tell others what you thought. My newest novella, St. Matthew’s House, is being released tomorrow and I sure hope that I can get reviews posted. I realize that I’m still new in the industry and I’m not going to be a household name anytime soon. That’s ok with me, right now I’m building up a following. That starts with what reviews.

Hope that give you a better understanding. Happy reading!