Hi all!
As I have now published Blood and Water I wanted to make a post about reviews and why they're so important to authors.
Advertising.
The more reviews a book has, the better. This is because it gives the reader a chance to skim through what other people think before buying. Also, to market on certain book sites you need to have a certain number of reviews. Some ask for five, some ask for twenty or more. If you review the book, the author is one step closer to being able to market it on certain sites.
Feedback.
Authors get lots of feedback from reviews, good and bad. This can help them see what people liked or didn't like and whether there is something about the story, cover or formatting that could be improved upon.
Amazon exposure.
The more reviews a book has on Amazon, the more likely Amazon is to recommend it to others. It also contributes to the overall sellers rank, so if they get enough sales and reviews they can break into the top 100.
Goodreads rating.
On Goodreads, you can rate and review a book if you wish. This is good for authors to see how well their book is doing. If your Goodreads account is connected to Amazon, you can review on one site and have it posted to both. This saves you time while also giving the author a boost.
Balance.
Unfortunately there will be people who deliberately leave bad reviews. Some don't even read the book, instead they just rate it badly because Amazon recommended it to them or they think that by rating others badly their book will perform better. By reviewing, you can balance out the bad review and give the author some confidence.
Authors loving hearing what people think.
Putting a book out there is scary, and when people review the book it shows the author that not only are people buying it, but some are enjoying it too!
Blood and Water's first review.
Encouragement.
By reviewing, you can encourage the author to keep writing. This is good for books in a series, if you're invested in the characters and are desperate to know what happens in the next book, say!
Covers.
Some authors like to post good reviews on their covers to try and attract more readers. This shows they appreciate their feedback.
Social media.
As with covers, some authors like to post their best reviews on social media. If you review, you might see your review reposted on one of their social media profiles!
If you have read Blood and Water and have enjoyed it, please leave a review! I'm grateful for any feedback I can get as it's my first book and I want to know what people think.
I hope you enjoyed this week's blog post, see you next week!
