Reviews matter

[cornerofmadness]

There's a bit of a dust up on Jana's FB. Apparently some author (name deleted) pissed off one of her/his fans by lashing out at the non-reviewers with literally an F bomb every third word. It was exceedingly unprofessional.

That said I understand the author's frustration (not that I dared say that on that post because yeah). What readers NEED to understand that in this day and age of publishing reviews matter. They matter as much as your dollars. Amazon's method of bringing books to the reader (and let's be honest no matter what we think of Amazon they're the driving force right now) is based almost entirely on reviews.

If you get 20 + reviews Amazon will suggest your book as a 'you might also like' and so on and so forth.

In the post villifying that author, so many of them said these two excuses which are so...pointless and are probably what set that author off.

1. I don't know what to say - Honestly it DOES NOT matter. It can be a BAD review and Amazon's algorithms still count it. You could simply say hey I liked this and it would count.

2. I don't have time - Really? A simple review could be done in 60 seconds

ANd that's all it takes to help an author sell books.

the poster was ranting about readers starving authors out by not reviewing. Harsh, bound to piss people off, and in a way, true.

Have a favorite author who isn't Nora Roberts, James Patterson, JK Rowling Stephen King famous already? Help them, slap some stars on that book and pen a few lines of review, help them crack the next level of Amazon's algorithms.

Speaking of that I need a beta for a 24 hour turn around. I might have to do this entirely on my own.

Oh and catw00man is doing a write every day in Sept challenge and I liked the sounds of that so for me Day 1- 164 words Day 2- zero thanks to the zoo. Day 3 1,192

Comments

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

I put something on Amazon for anyone I know, or isnt a big name.

Heck I even do swaps with other writers!

Also I review a ton on audible but the app for audible makes it hard to not do a review at the end of a book.

About the "I don't know what to say" -there is always something to say even if it is 'I dont know how she could have fallen to sleep in a bed with a dead body'

[siphraniax3.livejournal.com]

I'd say chewing out your fans with f-bombs is a good way to lose fans. No one owes you a review. If someone is moved to give you one, great, but a review is a gift.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

exactly. I mean if you want to educated people as to WHY they should review your work telling them you're fucking starving because of them is not the way to go. Instead provide links to how Amazon's review policies work and what it really means to you and your continued career. Insulting your readers can never come to any good

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Same here. I even review the big names because I enjoy reviewing books.

I try to do swaps with other authors but amazon now does NOT allow that (unless of course you have an amazon account separate from your author one)

Really? I've not done much with audibles. I'm not an audio book fan.

exactly. I don't find that excuse holds much water but I see it said a lot so I guess people do worry about it.

[siphraniax3.livejournal.com]

Yep. Says it all right there.