For author-publishers like me, it’s all about reviews, reviews, reviews. Next to word-of-mouth advertising, online reviews are the single best marketing tool most authors can use. But we can’t write more than our own review (if we choose to–most don’t). I reviewed my books, but only on Goodreads.com because I read both as a reader, not the author, and I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge every year so I had to write something about the book since I’ll never give my books any sort of star rating.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for all the wonderful reviews Straight River and Castle Danger have received since I published them. This is just a gentle reminder that if you read either or both books, please consider posting a short online review on Goodreads.com, Amazon.com, or Barnesandnoble.com (or any other online review site you patronize). It’s quite easy and quick to do. You don’t need to write much–a few short paragraphs that highlight specifics about the book that you liked or didn’t like.
Negative reviews are wonderful too. The most important thing a potential reader looks for is if a lot of other people have read a book. Then they’ll read some reviews to see if the plot sounds interesting and the writing is competent. Personally, I tend to be suspicious of books that only have 5-star ratings that were all posted within a week or so of each other. That indicates to me that friends and family were coaxed into flooding the website with good reviews early on to try to give the author’s sales a boost.
CLICK HERE FOR A QUICK AND EASY GUIDE TO POSTING ONLINE REVIEWS.
Ten reviews are the minimum I prefer to see before I consider a book. One hundred reviews give me a good consensus of the readers’ enjoyment of that book. Castle Danger is about halfway to 100 reviews from all sites. It’d be great if Straight River can get to 100 first!
I’d love it if those of you who have told ME how much you liked my books tell THE WORLD that you liked my books. (Post a review even if you didn’t–I don’t mind a negative review as long as it’s constructive and honest.)