Getting Started With Reviews

With more, and more books being released every day on Amazon it’s important to try and find every angle that will help with your book promotion. There have never been more opportunities than there are today. The question is… how are you going to take advantage of the opportunities that surround you to gain more reviews for your book?

Book reviews help spread the message about your book. When people review your book, and enjoy it, their review can encourage others to buy your book. A poor review can also help readers make up their mind about your book. There is literally no bad review. All publicity is good publicity.

The first step towards gaining more reviews should be organization. Just as you organize your thoughts before you start writing a book—you should organize your review process. I would suggest starting by putting together a reviewer kit.

What’s that?

A ‘reviewer kit’ is exactly that. It’s material for would-be reviews that you can send to them via email to help them review your book:

A PDF of your book.

Press release about the launch of your book. Try to make it sound like a story you would read in the newspaper.

Cover letter. This should be a brief introduction to you and your book, but keep it short.

Photos of the book and author. You’ll need high- and low-resolution images if you’re approaching both print and online reviewers.

Author bio. This is a good place to show your qualifications, particularly if you’re a nonfiction author.

Once you have these items collected together you can begin your hunt for reviewers. We’ll talk about that next week.

Working With What You Have To Gain Reviews

Reviews are critical to boost your marketing performance in many ways. This includes your SEO performance and your reader experience. By approaching readers at the right time, via email, social media, or even inside your book, all your efforts may pay off. Have you tried these top tips for review success?

Offer compelling incentives for your readers

Readers are constantly bombarded with requests from authors they are associated with. Before asking your readers, make sure you offer something that has a high perceived value. Do not hesitate to offer an incentive to those who leave comments and reviews on your books. Feedback is valuable!

Ask your readers on social media

Social media forever changed the relationship between author and reader, and users are now very vocal when it comes to sharing their experiences with products; both positive and negative. With Amazon, it is now easier than ever for a reader to express an opinion. Positive, or negative, invite your readers to share their experience of your book.

Follow up with personalized emails

At the right moment, it is vital to seek advice from readers on your books. Once a reader makes a purchase, receives the book and reads it, their level of interest is at its highest. Therefore, it would be a good time to contact them then via email and ask how their experience was. With the book, still fresh in their mind, it is very likely they will provide an assessment of your product right away.

Don’t forget the product itself!

When you are getting ready to upload your book to Amazon… don’t forget to put a note inside your book asking for people to share their thoughts about your book. This can be as simple as a note in the copyright, or even a mention of reviews in the foreword.  Don’t forget to always offer attractive incentives, the investment will be worth it!

A Few Reasons For Readers Not To Review Your Book…

As a writer, you spend a lot of time chasing people for reviews. Many of us have tired of asking friends, family and neighbors to write reviews for us. We’ve also had the people who have promised, and failed, to deliver reviews for our books. This blog article is all about reviews. What stops people from leaving reviews on our books?

They didn’t connect with the book…

Even if you told the reader that you want an “honest” review, anybody who knows you personally will feel awkward and uncomfortable leaving you anything but a positive review, so you’re basically asking them to lie They’ll choose pleasing you over writing a fair book review.

They just didn’t read the book…

Was your book poorly formatted? Did your cover look unprofessional? Maybe the story didn’t hook your reader straight away? Maybe they would rather say nothing about the book.  But you’re bugging a reader to review a book they don’t want to read. It becomes a chore and a favor and not an easy one. If someone is doing you a big favor, find a way to help them out as well – though really, you shouldn’t ask for favors. Just move on and find someone who would enjoy your book.

Speechless?

Maybe the stress and pressure makes them avoid reading or taking action. Maybe they’ve never written a book review before and don’t know how to start. Maybe you need to make a simple template for them to copy, or let them know that a brief review of just a few words is good enough.

The book didn’t move the mountain…

It’s easy to review books that you loved or hated. You don’t need to look for things to say, you know why you liked, or didn’t, like it. It’s much harder to review books that have caused no reaction at all.

Maybe it’s not bad, maybe it’s even decent. A “good effort.” But they still had to force themselves to get through, and now that it’s finished they can’t really remember what it’s about. The plot wasn’t strong enough or well organized. The characters weren’t deep enough or didn’t resonate. The conflict didn’t intrigue them. They just didn’t connect and can’t think of what to say about your book. It’s as simple as that.

Spotlight Review: Learning Me (Lightworker Series Book 1)

An unusual story from a talented writer who shows great talent for building a story that will hold your interest from beginning to end….

Something a little different for you this week. This is “Learning Me (Lightworker Series Book 1)” from Jamie White. I have to say that this one was a joy to read. Have you ever had a dream? Courtney dreams of becoming an actress, and when that opportunity arises, she finds herself fighting against her parents who forbid her to take the chance of becoming the star of an Indie movie.

But why do her parents object to her becoming an actress? That’s when the book starts to become extremely addictive. As Courtney tries to work her way through their objections, she starts to discover the truth.

Weaved with an extremely talented pen—this is a book that will hold your interest and will have you asking for the sequel. Courtney is an extremely well developed character. Sam is well done, too. These characters are so well created the reader finds himself, or herself, rooting for them every step of the way.

The anticipation in this book is so strong you cannot stop turning pages for a second. Even if this is not your usual genre—even if you are not particularly drawn to the description—you should get a copy of this book and become immersed in one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s well worth your time, and once you’re done, you need to start a petition to get more books from this author. Seriously. She’s that good!

Learning Me (Lightworker Series Book 1)

Jamie White

 

Courtney dreams of being a professional actress one day, but her parents have always been against it. Their disapproval and disinterest in what she loves most has always been a source of resentment, but she refuses to give up on her dream despite their feelings about it.

When she’s given the chance to audition for an indie film, Courtney’s thrilled but wary of her parents’ reaction to her news. They, predictably, forbid her to do it, and force her to choose between following her dream and keeping the peace at home.
Her decision stirs long-repressed memories of her childhood that lead her on a search to get to the heart of their objections to her acting dream. No longer satisfied with the explanations they’d given long ago, Courtney begins a search for answers.

Courtney’s search for the truth leads her in a direction she’d never imagined. One that will make her question everything, and everyone, she knew. Even herself.