Every indie author knows the importance of trying to encourage readers to review their books. The more four and five star reviews a book has, the higher up it will rise on Amazon’s pages and the more chance it has of being seen by new readers. It can be soul destroying when you know you have a good product, sales may even be ticking along quite nicely, but the reviews aren’t forthcoming. It doesn’t help when you read a book which has over a thousand reviews – which is probably why you bought it in the first place – only to discover it’s badly written, with repetitions, typos, missing words and a poor plot.
A few years ago, I met an author who writes in my own sub-genre at a writers’ conference, and I subscribed to her email list. In a recent blog post she mentioned the latest book in her mystery series was due to be publish at the start of August. At the end of the post, she mentioned she was looking for subscribers who would be prepared to read an advanced copy and post a review on publication day in two weeks’ time. I’d read the previous books in the series, so I was happy to volunteer.
She emailed me a few days after the book went live to thank me for the review I’d posted on Amazon and Goodreads. Although the first few books in her series had built up a good number of reviews – over 300 in the case of the first – the number for her last book was still languishing in single figures a week after publication day. She was very despondent. As she said, one of the earliest lessons we authors learn is that when we do a free or much reduced promotion on one of the many book sites including Amazon, large numbers of readers download copies, but only a tiny percentage of readers actually write reviews. Hand on heart – how many books are there sitting in your Kindle library still unread? We are all guilty of that.
When people who are on your subscribers’ list and are presumably fans of your work, and who take the trouble to write and request an advanced copy, but then don’t bother to review it, it is very disheartening. Almost fifty people had asked for an ARC but ten days after publication only nine had posted a review. I’m sure these people had asked for a copy in good faith, but life had taken over and they had forgotten or hadn’t got round to finishing the book on time. I tried to console her by saying she had had done nothing wrong and that it happens to us all – me included. (Hint, hint dear readers!!!)
It made me feel guilty about the books I’ve read over this year and haven’t reviewed. I’ve just spent the last two weeks putting up reviews on Goodreads.
I’ve made a New Mid-year Resolution! The day after I’ve finished reading a book, I write a review even if it’s no more than a couple of sentences.
My Kindle is loaded with books I haven’t started yet. When I request an ARC, or I’m sent one by authors whose ARCs I read regularly, I make a point of reading these as soon as possible. I always write a review for these books, sometimes a line or two, sometimes more detailed. I would almost feel like I was stealing if I was sent a book and then didn’t do anything in return. I’ve recently been making more of an effort to at least leave a star rating for most of the other books I read.
That’s great Kellie. If only all readers felt the same way! I feel exactly the same way. It’s one thing to buy a book and choose not to leave a review but I think if you you buy a heavily discounted discounted book or download it for free you have a moral obligation to give something in return. To ask for a ARC and not to give an honest review is a breach of contract – it’s a lie as well as stealing! The only justified reason for not doing so is if you cannot in good conscience give a good review, but you owe it to the author to write and explain why.