I DON'T KNOW HOW TO REVIEW A BOOK!

 

Why do authors want you to review their books so badly?

Think Lightning Rod.

Over and over you hear that success in book sales is elusive.  It comes when it will ... like lightning.

With Amazon Kindle books, you can draw the lightning with reviews.

These figures are what the conventional wisdom say is true about reviews and Amazon:

1.) Around 20-25 reviews,

Amazon starts including the book in “also bought” and “you might like” lists. This increases your chances of someone finding your title.
 

2.) Around 50-70 reviews,

Amazon looks at your book for spotlight positions and their newsletter. This is HUGE.

This is my personal goal.  Of course another personal goal is to get a date with Olivia Wilde, too. :-)

3.) Number of reviews may affect Amazon sales ranking. (I have no actual proof of it.)  Amazon Sales Ranking is so arcane that killing a butterfly in South America could affect it!

4.) Some websites will not consider or promote your book unless you have a number of reviews on the page

Interested in writing a review for a friend's book? 

Here's how you can do it painlessly:

A.) JUST 20 WORDS!

That's all you have to write.  You highlight the number of stars you want to tag the book with and write a mere 20 words. 

 Think TV GUIDE summary.  Think what you would want to hear about you were considering to buy and write that.

B.) SAY SOMETHING YOU LIKED ABOUT IT:

Say something you liked about it. Things that you could focus on could include the plot, a particular scene, characters, how things changed during the course of the story, etc.

If a bit of dialogue tickled you, say so. 

Do not give away all the punchlines. But one is allowable and give the prospective reader an idea of what to expect.

If the short chapters helped you in reading the novel, say that. If the humor was just your cup of tea, say so as well.

If there was a moment or character that personally impacted you in some way, don’t be afraid to say so.

Put yourself in the review.

Authors love to know their readers and I know that I’m always moved when I can tell someone made a personal connection with something I wrote.

C.) DON'T GIVE AWAY THE ENDING:

If you're reviewing the book, SIXTH SENSE, do NOT write:

"I couldn't believe at the end when you saw the psychologist was really a ghost!"

You're not being graded for this review. Have fun with it. Relate how you felt during the read and afterwards as well.

D.) I HATE THIS BOOK. SHOULD I WRITE A REVIEW?

That is up to you. 

I file such a book under the heading, LIFE IS TOO SHORT.

 You know when your mother told you:

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?"

  There is wisdom to those words for reviews.

 

What I find to be negative, others do not.

If I cannot find enough merit in a book to recommend it, I remain silent, reluctant to harm another's dream. 

Pinpointing areas needing improvement is for critique partners.  Life truly is too short for me to spend valuable time being negative. 

If an error is glaring enough but the majority of the writing sound,

I write the author a polite, hopefully helpful, email that does not blare to the entire internet community what I believe to need fixing.

Ever stand in a store and witness a child being publically chastised in front of the whole place? 

Negative reviews to me are like that.  They call it the WORLD WIDE net for a reason.

You may think differently.  Many believe in negative reviews.

E.) BE SPECIFIC ... AND READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU WRITE THE REVIEW

If you decide to write a negative review, be specific and give a way to improve the flaw in the writing.

Being specific will help the author know where to start. Being specific helps the prospective reader decide if those details that bothered you would bother him/her.

Not reading the book but slamming it because of the genre, the title, the cover, or the sex of the author

while making it plain that the novel was not read is sure to get your review disregarded.

{Gwen Perkins wrote the excellent post that provided the skeleton around which I wrote this post: http://gwenperkins.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/qa-why-write-amazon-reviews/