WHY ARE BOOK REVIEWS SO IMPORTANT?

 

Natasha Duncan-Drake (Doesn't she sound like a fictional detective?)

http://www.wittegenpress.com/wp_main/importance-reviews-indie-author.html

wrote an interesting article on the importance of book reviews.  She boiled it down simply:

REVIEWS SELL BOOKS.

She wrote how she finished many books, liking what she read, thought about writing a review for it, 

but decided time was too short for her.

Because of Amazon's nefarious algorithms, 

books with few or no reviews 

may not even show up if a reader types its exact genre since it is not popular.

TALKING ABOUT NEFARIOUS --

There are those trolls who lurk, not under a bridge, 

but in the shadows of the internet, gleefully waiting to shred a book with one star reviews --

many times not having read the book, blasting a book for having what it promised to have, or for being on a genre they hate. 

WHY ARE REVIEWS IMPORTANT?

1.) BECAUSE  book reviews are important to READERS.

 People want to know what other folks think of a product before they buy. 

Ever read a consumer review before making a major purchase? 


2.) A WELL-WRITTEN  review points out the things to look for in the book.

 Since you often highlight your favorite portions of the book in your review, 

it makes it easy for other readers to look forward to that section. 

It also helps highlight the content that is most relevant to readers – 

and that provides valuable feedback to the author for their next book.


3.) IT PRIMES THE PUMP:

ONE REVIEW encourages the next review. 

Not everyone wants to be the first reviewer, 

so you are doing a great service by being the first person to write a book review. 

 Once you’ve gotten the reviews rolling, 

one review leads to another, with reviewers often piggy-backing comments, responding to others’ comments.



4.) THE MORE POSITIVE  reviews a book receives, the better it ranks.

 The better it ranks, the more people see it. 

The more they see it, the more likely they are to buy it. 

So by posting a positive book review you are helping the book move up the ranks for more exposure.

And a note about the star ranking – 

anything below 4 stars is considered “not recommended”, so it helps to be generous with your stars.


5.) ONCE A BOOK has 10 reviews ...

 it’s eligible to be included in the “also bought” listing, 

as well as the “you might like” recommendations. 

These listings, in turn, add to the number of sales the book is likely to receive.



6.) AFTER AN  unspecified number of positive reviews, 

a book can be included in the “Recommended For You” emails sent to individual Amazon readers. 

As with every other step of the review process, 

this adds significantly to the number of sales a book may receive.


7.) A STARTLING study revealed

 70% of book purchasers admitted to buying books after checking the reviews.

 Surprisingly many paid little attention to 5-star or 1-star reviews, 

rather they focused more on the number of reviews and the average rating.

So when RETURN OF THE LAST SHAMAN comes out on Feb. 1st ...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S7HOCVG

If you read it (Please, Pretty Please!) and like it,

write a short review on it.

You know like Sandra says she is going to do:

"This did not make me retch.  I bet if you buy and read it, it won't make you retch either!"

Oh, and if you've a book of mine already and liked it, please take a few minutes to write a review of it.  :-)

And Speaking of Reviews: