This week – episode 34 – we talked about reviews – what they are, why you need them, and how you might go about getting some more!

The best thing about Amazon is the ability to leave reviews and to gather momentum for your books through word of mouth, and we love them for it. Even better, they’re pretty good at trying to make sure those reviews are legitimate reviews, rather than people trying to game the system (and okay, there will always be peeps trying to game the system, but at least they’re trying).

As well as our own stories around reviews, we also give a whole lot of options and ideas on ways you might consider trying to get reviews for your book up on Amazon. Hope it helps! 🙂

Reviews, (the good the bad and the ugly)

Why Do I Need Reviews?

-Reviews help readers decide whether to purchase a book also. Good and bad, depending on the feedback, can often entice a reader to buy your book.

-Supposedly the more reviews you have helps with the algorithms on Amazon, however there is no definitive proof regarding this.

-Some advertising sight will require a minimum number of review before they will accept your book.

-It’s a double edged sword for new writers, because you need reviews to get people reading your book, but how do you get them?

Caution-

-It is often the case that if you review friends or family Amazon will pull the review. Not sure how they know you’re linked, but it happens. The SPA girls cannot review each other, (believe me we know, we’ve tried.)

-Don’t buy reviews it is never a good look. Also never buy negative reviews for your competitors.

-Don’t try and review your own books. I doubt this would work without a secondary account, but if it does, don’t.

-Please do not ask your followers to go and down vote negative reviews on your books.

-Don’t beg for reviews, it never looks good. This happens on social media a lot. Hey, its okay to ask now and again, but do it in a way that is not pushy.

Reviews are important for many reasons but some writers (Wendy is one of these) do not like reading their reviews, so she gets someone close to her to do it. The reason why this is important is that if there is an issue with a particular book, for example a plot point or editing issue, you really need to know about this so you can correct it.

Negative Reviews

-Remember that some people are just plain mean and will write something nasty, so be ready for that.

-Sometimes they’re just having a bad (hey happens to us all right)

-Your competitors will post negative reviews.

-Negative reviews can be posted simply because the book did not download properly (often not your fault) but the reader will negative review you anyway.

-Often when you special your book at a low price, or put it out for free, you will get a lot of downloads from people who don’t usually read your work, and often not that particular genre, and consequently some of these will be negative, but that just comes with the territory.

TREAT PEOPLE HOW YOU WANT TO BE TREATED. (don’t annoy people, it will bite you in the ass)

Our advice is do not respond to reviews, negative or positive, (of course that decision ultimately is yours to make) because reviews are the readers domain and they should have the right to say what they like without author interference.  I have seen authors who do, and some of the results are not pretty.

REVIEWS ARE PART OF BEING AN AUTHOR – DEAL WITH THEM!

How to get reviews

-ARC (advanced reader copies). Build this list, because they get the book before it goes live. This ensures that their reviews will go up on the day it is live.

-Net Galley – is a site where book reviewers and other professional readers can read books before they are published. This is a paid service.

-Ask your email newsletter subscribers to post a review (nicely).

-Approach reviewers on Amazon who read books in a similar style and genre to yours. Offer them a free copy for a review.

-Goodreads is a reader based site. Treat it with respect, but you can get reviews there.

REMEMBER EVEN IF YOU GIVE A BOOK AWAY THE REVIEW WILL NOT NECESSARYILY BE A POSITIVE ONE!

If you are struggling to deal with a bad review check out your favorite author and find their one star reviews, because we guarantee they have them!