Book reviews are one of the most effective marketing activities. There is no such thing as having too many reviews. The great thing about a good review is that it tells potential buyers that someone else has read the book and liked it. A good book review is a powerful marketing tool. You can use it by placing it on your blog. You can also share it using social media links. Another tactic is to add it to your book’s on page Amazon Central.
There are many strategies you can use to get more reviews.
Goodreads Groups are a fertile area for asking for reviews. Use these groups as your first resort. A few of these groups are listed later in this chapter.
Another approach is to contact the review site. These come in two flavours. One will review your book, usually for a fee. Self-publishing reviews It is such a site. That’s how it is Booklife. Some sites will review your book for free. Reader’s favourite It is one such free site although it will prompt you to upgrade to a paid review.
The second type of review site will not actually review your book, but will make it available to a number of potential reviewers. I include some of them later in the chapter. There are many more besides the ones I mention, but I’ve only included the ones I know. A simple search will give you a list of more sites that offer to get book reviews for the price.
Let me be clear: if you use one of these services, you’re not buying a review. You are paying for a review service that will put your book in front of many potential reviewers who may or may not choose to review your book. Reviewers who choose to read your book through the review service are not paid. What you pay for to sign up for a review service is access to all of the potential reviewers on its list.
Some audit services will not deliver the goods. They tell a good story about the many reviewers on their email list, but you won’t get how many reviews you’ve subscribed to. These sites simply don’t have enough readers on their list to provide reviews. Others, a small number, are just scammers looking to rip off authors.
Another strategy is to give away copies of your book, hoping in exchange for a promise to review it. You can use your social media contacts here. Ask if anyone wants a free e-book review copy. I’ve found this tactic to be marginally effective. The main reason is that some people ask for a review copy only because it is free and they have no intention of writing a review at all. Also, some readers will not like the book and will not write a negative comment. My experience is that about 25% of these readers will write a review. However, e-books don’t cost you anything to send out to potential reviewers so you don’t incur any costs.
It is my observation that many people do not write reviews of books they enjoy because they are not sure how to write one. To alleviate this problem, I have written a series of questions to help readers write a short and simple review of the book. There are two versions of this: one for fantasy and one for realism. When you ask someone to review your book or when you submit an eBook copy for review, paste the questions into the email or you can create a document and attach it to the email.
Fiction book review questionnaire:
1) On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 is the highest) how would you rate this book?
2) Did you like or dislike the book?
3) Please explain why you answered 2) as you did.
If you liked the book, please answer the following questions:
4) Why did you like the book?
4) What did you not like about the book?
6) Do the main characters seem real and believable to you?
7) Did you want the book to continue beyond the end?
Use your answers to these questions to write a few sentences about the book. Tip: Don’t write a brief summary.
For example, here’s a review I received for one of my novels:
I enjoyed reading Falstaff’s Big Gamble: A Fantasy Adventure to Get Shakespeare Spinning in His Grave (Gunderland Storybook 2). The author has written a funny satire and it is a very entertaining read. I felt the author was very creative and knowledgeable about the famous Bard Avon in writing this light, imaginative and delightful tale.
Nonfiction Book Review Questionnaire:
1) How many stars, from 1 to 5 would you give this book? (five is the highest rating)
2) What did you like about the book (if any)?
3) What did you not like about the book (if any)?
4) Did you get the information promised by the author in the book publicity and other promotional materials?
5) Did the book contain information that you were not expecting or were not aware of?
6) Would you recommend this book to others?
Use your answers to these questions to write a few sentences about the book.
Here is an example of a review of one of my nonfiction books:
FFilled with diagrams and written almost like a step-by-step guide for authors, Creating Stories is a must-read if you’re a new author or have been struggling at all writing your next novel. This is a guide for novel writers and short story writers. It covers character development, plot development, and more. In fact, it gets down to the nitty gritty of things. I like that it touches on the base of things like comedy writing and satire.
