Getting Book Reviews: Easy, Ethical Strategies for Authors by Rayne Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Getting Book Reviews is a book most suitable for Indie writers although there are some tips for published writers too. Rayne reminds the reader that reviews help sell books and with more people using online book shops for their purchases it is very noticeable that readers are drawn to the books with many reviews. She explains that this is a basic psychological buying factor, people are attracted to what others have and they too want to share the experience.
There then follows easy to read chapters with proven achievable strategies about how to get reviews. These include simple ideas like a polite paragraph at the end of your book asking readers to write a review, using your fans and followers, and asking your beta readers to write a review.
There are also chapters on the muddier waters of review swaps, review circles and paying for reviews. My favourite chapters were the “Approaching a book blogger”, as a book blogger I appreciate an author who is considerate and takes an interest in my blog and stays interested after my review. My other pick would be the “Ways to send a book to reviewers” I am astonished by the number of authors who approach me for a review with only a PDF or Word Document of their story.
I enjoys Rayne’s writer’s craft books because of their simple easy to use advice and common sense and I often recommend them to authors when I feel the advice they offer will be of help.
Reviews help sell books.
When browsing online for their next read, most readers are drawn to the books with many reviews. More and more readers glance at what other readers have to say about a book before they hit the ‘buy now’ button. The more people have read and liked the book, the more they want to experience it for themselves. This is a known psychological factor called ‘social evidence’, and it plays a big role in purchasing decisions.
The more reviews your book has, the better, especially if they are genuine, personal, thoughtful and positive. Reviews can multiply your sales and catapult your book to the top of bestseller lists – but how do you get them?
Perhaps you’re a new author and can’t get those crucial early reviews to start the train rolling. Maybe you’re a seasoned author and your books have garnered reviews, but not as many as you need to break out. Or perhaps you’ve gone the corporate publishing route, and find that your publisher’s publicist isn’t getting your book the attention it needs.
This book shows you many proven strategies to get the reviews your book deserves. Instead of urging you to labour through tedious, spirit-draining procedures, I’ll reveal quick, fun, empowering tricks.
All my suggestions are legitimate and ethical. In this book you won’t find methods for manipulating, faking and cheating. Strengthen your readers’ bond with you, don’t sabotage it.
Most of the methods I suggest are free, although some incur expenses. You will definitely need to spend time. You can apply them all these techniques, or cherry-pick the ones you like now and keep the rest for another time or a different book.
At the end of most chapters, I’m sharing mistakes I made and learnt from. They all seemed a good idea at the time.
Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
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Rosie Amber 