Let's Talk Reviews

We love them. We hate them. Whichever side of the fence you are on regarding reviews, they are a necessary evil.

WHY WE NEED BOOK REVIEWS

In today's society, reviews are king. Everyone is online now and most people check out the reviews of a business or a product before purchasing. I will use restaurants as my example here.

I know that I always read the reviews of a restaurant before I will go to a new one. Once upon a time, those of us in the world would just see a new restaurant and go try it out knowing absolutely nothing about it other than what the owner advertised. Oh, those were the good old days. Not anymore. There are many times that my husband and I decided not to go to a particular place for lunch because of the bad reviews. It's kind of unfortunate, because maybe we would have loved them and made that place a regular stop. I guess we'll never know.

So yeah, reviews matter. If you want to sell books, you need reviews. And they need to be good ones. What can you do to get reviews on your books?

WAYS TO GET MORE BOOK REVIEWS

There are many ways to get more reviews on your books.

I want to start by talking about my favorite way: organic book reviews.

I believe that the very best way to get reviews is by moving lots of copies and getting those organic reviews. Organic reviews are ones that just come naturally, because someone read your book and loved it. Or hated it, as the case may be. Let's hope that isn't the case very often! Some people are so harsh with their reviews. I will definitely talk more about bad reviews at a later time.

The stats vary on this, but on average you should get one review for every 100 books sold, or one review for every 1000 free downloads. Terrible, isn't it? Unfortunately, most people just don't go to the trouble of writing a review, no matter how much you beg.

You can help increase the reviews you get naturally by asking the reader to write you a review at the end of your book.

ASK FOR REVIEWS IN YOUR NEWSLETTER

These people are already your readers. So why not ask them to leave a review?

Here's an example of what I put at the end of my books, and please feel free to use any part of this:

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

I hope you enjoyed reading Secrets of Wildflower Island. It was a lot of fun to write.

An author’s success depends on readers like you. The best way to reach more readers is to have a whole bunch of feedback. So, if you liked my book, please take just a moment to leave me a review.

You can find the review page by going to my website below and clicking on the book, or you can simply go back to the site where you purchased the book.

If you enjoyed this book and would like information on new releases, sign up for my newsletter here:

www.MichelleFiles.com

Thank you!

Michelle

Notice how I said “So, if you liked my book...” That was on purpose. I want to plant in that reader's head that they should write a review only if they liked the book. It probably doesn't work on everyone, but I bet it has gotten me a few more great reviews than I might not have gotten otherwise.

Also, try printing bookmarks or note cards asking for a review when they are done reading. If you sell direct, this one is great. You can slip the bookmark or note right into the book when mailing it out. It will be a welcome surprise to your readers.

WHAT IS AN ARC TEAM AND WHY YOU NEED ONE

The best way to launch your novel while already having reviews on your book is with an ARC team. ARC stands for ADVANCE READER COPY. Simply put, this means that you give away free copies of your book and ask that the reader leave you a review.

Some rules about this:

You cannot require that they review. This is against most site's terms of service. What you can do is say something like, “Thank you for taking the time to read my book. If you like it, I would appreciate it if you leave me a review when you are finished. Here are links to some sites you can leave a review on.” Then give them clickable links to go directly to the review page on the sites your book is on. Make it as easy for them as you can. I recommend that you use a universal book link for this.

Once again, notice how I said “If you like it...” It works, it really does.

HOW TO PUT TOGETHER AN ARC TEAM

Here are some great ideas for finding people who want to read your book and are willing to review it:

Start a Facebook group with people who want to talk about your books. I don't have a group, but I do have a Facebook page about myself as an author and I talk about my books a lot in there.

Either one will work, but will take time to really get a lot of people involved. Once they are, then start recruiting people. Put a post asking who might be interested in a free copy and that you would like a review afterward. You'd be surprised at how many people will jump at the chance. Just put the word out and you should get lots of interest.

Newsletters: You need to have an author newsletter. This is your single best marketing tool. No matter what happens at Amazon or any other book seller, you will own the email addresses of your fans. That alone is worth its weight in gold. Now, since you have all of those emails, send them a newsletter asking who would like to read your book for free. Have them send you an email directly if interested.

BOOK REVIEW SERVICES

Don't want to or don't have time to manage an ARC team? Use a book review service. There are many legitimate services that will put the book in the hands of readers who say they will review.

Let them do all the work.

One of the most popular ones out there is Hidden Gems. It does cost money, but they can track reviewers. And the readers have to review or don't get the next ARC. I have personally used them and found them very helpful in getting reviews. Keep in mind that these readers are not conversing with you directly. They are only working with Hidden Gems as far as they are concerned. Therefore, I have found that the reviewers can be a bit harsher than the ones I speak with myself. I still find it worth it.

There are many other Book Review Services out there. Most of them I have not tried myself, so I'm reluctant to recommend them. But here are a couple that you can try out. If you do, please drop me a line and let me know how they worked out for you. I can use that data in future posts.

Book Sirens

BookSprout

Another thing I should mention is never to pay for reviews. It is against Amazon's terms of service. If they find out that you paid for reviews, and somehow they always do, they will close your account faster than than you can say, “What happened to all my books?”

Using a book review service is not the same thing as paying for reviews. With one of these services, you are paying for them to find readers and get the book to them. It is up to the readers to actually write the review or not. They are never required to do so.

HOW TO GET BOOKS TO READERS SO THEY CAN REVIEW

To get books to them directly, set up a free day on Amazon and tell them to download on that day. That way they can leave a verified review on Amazon. Of course, this only works if you are in Kindle Unlimited (KU). If your book is wide, you can email them a digital copy. Or you can set the book to free on one of your sites, such as Kobo, and then have the readers download from there. Better yet, sign up for BookFunnel and send them the copy that way. I have included information below on how to use BookFunnel for giving away ARCs.

You will find that many on your ARC team will buy a copy so their review is verified, even though you've given them a free copy. Win win.

HOW CAN I GET GOOD REVIEWS ON MY BOOK?

The most obvious answer to this question is to write a great book. I know, I know, easier said than done. Your first book is probably not going to win you any prizes. Most don't. Maybe I'll be wrong and you will be the next Harper Lee. Write one novel and lounge by your pool for the next 50 years watching the money fly in. Most of us are not Harper Lee. I know that I certainly am not. If you don't know who she is, look her up. I write about her a lot.

My second best answer to this: Ask. Yes, just ask, it's that simple. Suppose someone on your Facebook page raves about your book. Yay! Respond by thanking them, then say something like, “I would love for you to write that in a review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, etc.” You will get so many great reviews this way. You know they love your work, so they will only say great things. The worst thing that will happen is they don't follow through. So what do you have to lose?

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO WITH REVIEWS

Use them to help you get a BookBub Deal. It's pretty much impossible to get one of their deals with no reviews.

Make the most out of your reviews. Don't just let them sit on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc., use them. Find the best reviews and highlight them on your website, in your newsletter, and even on your book covers.

HOW TO USE BOOKFUNNEL FOR REVIEWS

BookFunnel is great for getting reviews. Create a Giveaway page on BookFunnel. Make a limit of 100, for example. This will create urgency to download your book.

Then send an email to all of your subscribers telling them about the free book, and requesting a review. Be sure to put a link to the review page on Amazon, or wherever you like.

You can also ask them to email you a copy of the review after it is written and then you will send them Book 2 (or another book) for free. Maybe the first book in another series will work well for this.

Really, there are many ways of getting reviews. Please comment on this post with some of your favorite ways.

Want to learn more about the business of writing? Subscribe to my blog on TheAuthorFiles.com.

Want more info on our services? I would love to talk to you about it. Send me a note to: MichelleFilesBooks@gmail.com.

Cheers!

Michelle Files

Author & Entrepreneur

GreenOwlPress.com