Support for Indie Authors discussion

Can anyone tell why it's so difficult to get reviews? I have several friends that are indie authors and they have very good books but the readers who rave about it seem reluctant to post a review. Word of mouth has worked to boost sales but not reviews? How can they boost reviews or find willing reader-reviewers?

Lisa wrote: "Can anyone tell why it's so difficult to get reviews? I have several friends that are indie authors and they have very good books but the readers who rave about it seem reluctant to post a review. ..."

Hi Lisa - I'm not sure there's a firm answer to this, but thinking about the motivation/psychology of it, people often opt for ease and convenience in their lives (think 'Nudge' or 'Misbehaving' by Thaler). So when leaving a review is easy, they might do it - for example, the little star rating thing pops up at the end of my Kindle book? I can easily just push which star I choose, there's no obligation to write anything, there's no logging onto a different platform, etc.

Whereas as soon as someone asks me to write a review, or make a post, or do anything that requires real effort... well, I have to have some pretty strong motivation to do it. That motivation might be a pre-existing commitment - someone asked me to review an ARC, and I agreed, therefore I shouldn't renege now (ie. social pressure). That motivation miiiight be that the book was so amazing I have to tell the world - but that doesn't happen often, and it would really have to be pretty impactful for me to do that.

Also leaving a review is putting it in stone, so to speak - it's easy to say something is good when talking with your friends, but the extra step of committing to a 5-star-review, in writing, online forever, with a description of why you liked it so much... that's harder to overcome.

Plus, getting reviews isn't difficult just in the book world, it's difficult for anyone trying to sell stuff - if you go to a small restaurant, they'll have signs up saying please review on Google/FB etc. It's just the way of it. Companies that make it the easiest to review them will get the most reviews.

Anyway, that's just my musings on why it's so difficult to get reviews. As to how to increase the numbers!

So... there are quite a few platforms out there for indie authors to get their books out to people who are more likely to leave reviews - dedicated mailing lists that people actively sign up for under the expectation of leaving a review. For example, Voracious Readers and Booksprout can be good for that (to name just two). Also there are FB groups that are filled with people who specifically like to read AND review books, so that's a good start too.

So that might help them, if they can target audiences that are already pre-disposed to leaving reviews, rather than readers who love it but are unlikely to post anything.

That's all I've got... interested to read other people's perspectives on this topic as well.

There are instances where there has been backlash from authors for 'poor' reviews and this has caused reviewers to think twice about posting even an innocuous comment. Authors are encouraged NOT to respond to reviews, even when a reviewer complains about spelling 'errors' when it is actually British spelling not recognised by the reviewer. Replying to a review rarely ends well. Even a thank you for a good review has been deemed a problem as reviewers feel that the author is sitting on their shoulder.
Reviews are really for readers, not authors, but it can be helpful for authors to read them in case there is a common problem that should be addressed.

I don't remember the number of readers it takes to get 1 review but it's high. Let's say it takes more than 100 readers to get 1 review.

Also, the star rating at the end of a Kindle book, many readers think it helps the author but that's not what it does, it's meant for Amazon to determine what to promote to you.

That's why authors do free days, to get the book into many hands to increase reviews.

Although reviews are another way to get your book known by potential readers, it is a double game of diminishing returns. As has been noted by the posts above, it is hard to get reviews of any kind. And then reviews, even ones in major publications, usually have very little impact on sales. When I see a review of a book in a publication such as The Wall Street Journal or Atlantic Magazine, I start tracking its ranking on Amazon - very rarely does the ranking improve to any noticeable degree. So, the moral of this story is that you will find it very hard to get many reviews, anywhere, but don't fret about it too much because they generally don't help all that much anyway.

Lori-Ann wrote: "I don't remember the number of readers it takes to get 1 review but it's high. Let's say it takes more than 100 readers to get 1 review.

Also, the star rating at the end of a Kindle book, many rea..."

oh really I didn't know that about the star rating on Kindle! How interesting. Good to know!

Lisa wrote: "Can anyone tell why it's so difficult to get reviews?"

I've always thought getting reviews was the easiest part. I think you're really wanting to know why it's hard to get a lot of reviews in a short amount of time.

Putting on the reader cap:
I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, I have to feel passionate about a book before I review it. If a book doesn't excite me, good or bad, I don't feel like reviewing it. I might give it a fly-by three or four stars on Goodreads and leave it at that. It's hard to tell by my reviews, especially lately, but I read a lot. And so most books tend to fall around two to four stars for me and I don't feel excited enough to review it.

Putting on the writer cap:
I write for a whole bunch of reasons. I write because I enjoy telling stories. I write because of all the creative outlets I've tried, this one gives me the most satisfaction. I write to keep my sanity. I write to make a little extra income. Way down there on the list is to get reviews. I like getting them, but I don't care enough to worry about them. I don't seek them out and don't think about them much when they do come in.

If you're desperate for reviews, there are groups on Goodreads and Facebook that can help. I would steer clear of anything that resembles a review swap or asks you to pay for reviews in any fashion.

Putting on the mod cap:
This topic comes up a lot. And it gets shut down a lot. So, just a reminder, we're not here to discuss reviews. I'll leave the topic up for now, but if it becomes negative (complaining about "bad" reviews, etc.), it will go away. Thanks.

If all you want is reviews then Bargain Booksy/free promotion will get you at least a handful of Amazon reviews each time you promote. You will get thousands of downloads from people who just like stuff for free and who don't have any real interest in your book, but some will actually read your book, and reviews will crop up on Amazon in the following week or so. Of all the paid promotion services available for authors not in KDP select I've found Bargain Booksy neither over-promises nor overcharges--they are up front about where you should set your expectations.

What Dwayne said about bad reviews...yes you might get some, with any review-seeking promotion, and somehow it's harder on an author when someone has gotten your book for free and then disses it, so be prepared for that. One cute thing GR does that I just discovered lately--if you, the author, click on "see review" for a bad review posted here, you get a pop-up reminder to keep your cool and not respond emotionally to the poster. A great reminder!

Well, I want good and bad reviews. The good is nice for the ego, but I want to know why you gave the book 2 or 3 stars. Only with the bad reviews where they say why they didn't like the book am I able to make the next one better. Good or bad, as an author, I don't respond to reviews. I have better things to do with my time.

Also, I appreciate the information on where to promote to get some reviews. I'll need to see if I can get a free promotion out there. This group is the best.

Except, B. A., what one person loves, another may hate. You have to keep in mind that no matter how or what you write, there will always be people who love or hate it. 😉

Maybe it's just a numbers' game?
Related to this: back when I was a fanfic writer, I wrote for the same fandom during almost five years (a quite, yet not extremely popular one, should I add). The first stories got a ton of reviews, and I noticed the other writers were getting a lot too. As time passed, I got less and less and less--but it was not just me, all the others did. Nowadays I have stopped writing for it for about a couple years, and I have seen the active authors rarely get any at all.
Fun thing is, my stories are still getting lots of visits, just as much as when I was active. So maybe it's a progression like that? Say:
Year 1: X number of stories, Y number of people who review.
Year 2: X x 2 number of stories, Y number of people who review.
Year 3: X x 3 number of stories, Y number of people who review (and so on...)
Or in other words, the cake remains the same, but the people trying to get a bite are ever increasing.
I would love if someone could actually refute this.

Haru wrote: "I would love if someone could actually refute this."

I can't, but I can add to it. Everything diminishes when the newness wears off. When Goodreads came out, people went in and added every book they'd ever read for the sake of reviewing (or simply ranking) them. Nowadays, I barely remember to rank the books I read this year to get credit for my reading challenge.

Amazon was the same. When the Kindle came out and you could instantly start reading the book you bought, Amazon would wait about a week and then email you asking for a review. I'm sure there were tons of folks who saw reviews this way, myself included, but there were more people (again, myself included) who got sick of the spam and either ignored or deliberately stopped reviewing.

And then, of course, reviews became currency. Why buy a book when posting your opinion could get you free books? If this bothers you, don't give out review copies.

I've watched my average review per year drop drastically since 2012, going from about 5 per month to 5 per year if that. But you know what this has NOT affected? Sales. On the contrary, year over year, as my reviews petered out, sales grew, adding yet another log to the oft ignored "reviews do not increase sales" fire.

Yep. I'm experiencing the same as Christina. Sales are kinda all over the place. I might go a couple of weeks without any, then one day have a bunch on one book. I see very few reviews these days, either.

Slightly better in sales and much better in KDP reads than I was two years ago and drastically fewer reviews.

B.A. wrote: "Well, I want good and bad reviews. The good is nice for the ego, but I want to know why you gave the book 2 or 3 stars. Only with the bad reviews where they say why they didn't like the book am I able to make the next one better."

Hmm... I wouldn't call a 3 star review "bad".

As a reader, when I write reviews, I don't write them to help the writer improve. I write them to give my opinion to other readers.

As a writer, there are a lot of things I do to improve my craft. I would never use reviews to learn how to make the next book better. As Leah pointed out, no matter what we write, someone will love it, someone will hate it, someone will think it's just okay. Even the greatest writers in history get one and two star reviews. Unless you're getting a lot of reviews saying they found a lot of typos in your book, don't let them sway your future writing. I always figure, if I try to write for the average reader, my writing will come out as average.

The best way is to write another book.

With eBooks and Amazon's look inside feature, if a reader is intrigued by the book description, he can sample the story from the excerpt.

As a reader, a bad review won't necessarily turn me off especially if it's a mix or all over. Sometimes a reader picked a book that didn't suit him and that's sometimes easy to tell.

When I try a new author now, I read the sample using the Look inside. Cover and book description are more important than reviews. And a reader might leave a review for the first book but not all others.

When I get the Amazon email asking to review, I have rarely read the book since I try to grab books I want when they're on sale. I also get books for my mom. She has way more time to read than I do. I also keep some books to read for a specific occasion like a vacation, long weekend or reward.

Christina wrote: "Haru wrote: "I would love if someone could actually refute this."

I can't, but I can add to it. Everything diminishes when the newness wears off. When Goodreads came out, people went in and added ..."

Thank you so much, Christina. I've fretted enough over reviews that Amazon refused to post etc. But you're not the first to note that reviews don't really boost sales. Frankly, if I want a book, I don't read the reviews. I just buy the book and read it. I think we've all been harassed about reviews enough. I really appreciate your input. Calming down over here!

Lori-Ann wrote: "With eBooks and Amazon's look inside feature, if a reader is intrigued by the book description, he can sample the story from the excerpt.

As a reader, a bad review won't necessarily turn me off es..."

Exactly. I've wasted so much time trying to get reviews. I'm done with that. Hoping the upcoming Book 2 will sell Book 1. Thanks.

Beyond the books I've sold personally, I think reviews from Netgalley and industry publications and blogs have driven all my sales. They also give good fb to me as a writer/promoter. For instance one of the most common things people have written in reviews is something like "I didn't expect to like this as much as I did." or "unexpectedly good." It's either the case that my pitch lowers expectation or people's expectations are generally low for indie titles--either way, good to know.

Reviews are hard to get but I'd say even more so here on Goodreads because of trolls and people who feel the need to call out authors for trying to get them. The best way to do so is to reach out and appeal to your audience although sometimes even that can prove difficult.

I like to use non-reciprical review clubs on Goodreads. Review Club is a great one. It gets your four reviews for your book (you read four books in exchange) whenever they start another round, usually once a month.

I would also point out the trap that I have noticed here on GR: there a A LOT of scammers lurking. I've had several people mention that they are interested in my book, but when I email them directly about which format they would like the book sent to them, there is no further communication; only an onslaught of spam emails. These emails all exhibit the same characteristics:
- they are never sent to me directly and are all emailed to me via BCC
- they contain no specific details relating to me or my book directly
- they are predominantly asking for money in return for a service. Paying for reviews is NOT something I am interested in. Caveat emptor, so to speak.

Phillip wrote: "I like to use non-reciprical review clubs on Goodreads. Review Club is a great one. It gets your four reviews for your book (you read four books in exchange) whenever they start another round, usua..."

This seems to be a better avenue, and I will certainly check this out. Thanks, Phillip.

The best and totally honest way to get reviews from your readers is from your email list. You give away ARCs with the caveat that they are agreeing to give an honest review in three weeks when your book launches. The day before the launch, Remind all those who took and ARC to leave a review tomorrow. Send them how to do so with the link. This should net you a few.

Another way which takes longer is to put that line after "the end" that says something to the effect: If you liked this book, please leave a review so others may find it easier.

You can ask your readers on social media to leave reviews if they liked the book.

These I actually got from a publicity person, a marketer, and an other author...all from different sources at different times.

The other way is like Phillip said, join a group where you are reading a certain number of books a month and you ge reviews in return. (that is close to an Amazon no-no but okay here on goodreads) On Amazon, the reviews are supposed to be organic.

Be very careful of paying for reviews or even using the reciprocal reviews on Amazon. It is a practice that is frowned upon since it leads to reviews that aren't honest.

The very best avenues to pursue....Email list and followers on FB, Instagram, Twitter, blogs, etc. Things where you are actually involved with the people and they know you but aren't counted among your friends/family.

This explains why my books have more reviews on Goodreads than on Amazon!! And they're a higher overall rating!!

Team Goofball, take your spam elsewhere

Previous comment deleted. We don't discuss review swapping here and I don't give a hoot how you feel about that.

In fact, we're not here to discuss reviews and while I have been allowing some topics to remain, lately I've been closing these topics as sooner or later someone always comes along to blatantly ignore the rules.

Review swapping is worthless. Don't do it. All you're doing is giving one another fake reviews. It's pointless.