GOOD REVIEWS discussion
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Does Requesting Reviews Actually Work?
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Do you find any correlation between reviews and sales? Good reviews give the writer a sense that his or her work has been understood and valued, but I haven’t found that they necessarily translate into sales.
I’m sorry, James, I didn’t mean to pass over your second paragraph. I think one learns to become circumspect about offers to do reviews. A year ago, someone contacted me on this site, offering to do a review of my book. She even volunteered that her mother would like to do one, too. So, I mailed her a copy of my novel. But — unless she’s been out of the country for the last eleven months — the offer was insincere. I’ve seen my book for sale on EBay and, naturally, wondered, because I’ve been told that can happen.Good luck to you. Maybe your stressing this issue will have great results. I hope so.
Actually, I am responding to your second, third and fourth paragraphs.
I've found I always get reviews when I give my book away for free for a day or so and post an ad for it on a site such as Freebooksy. For example, the last time I did this for my most popular book, I had about 1500 downloads. Out of that I received nine reviews. My experience is a lot of downloads will equal a handful of reviews. I know a lot of people balk at the idea of giving away their work for free, but I've found that a lot of readers click the "borrow for free" button instead of the download for free button, so you get paid through page reads. At the end of the day, the number of reviews you receive reflects how many readers you've reached.
Frances wrote: "Do you find any correlation between reviews and sales? Good reviews give the writer a sense that his or her work has been understood and valued, but I haven’t found that they necessarily translate ..."No, I haven't seen sales shoot up following a review. But then I'm not in it for sales. I'd offer my books free if Amazon would allow it. My goal is to entertain and sales are secondary.
Shannon wrote: "I've found I always get reviews when I give my book away for free for a day or so and post an ad for it on a site such as Freebooksy. For example, the last time I did this for my most popular book,..."Call me old fashioned but I feel if you answer an ad saying 'free book in return for honest reviews' then you're morally obligated to give a review whether you liked the book or not. A bad review is still a review and a negative comment might draw attention to something you need to work on. If as you say 'the number of reviews you receive reflects how many readers you've reached' then I'd like to know what is is about my writing that fails to reach others -- is it the story itself, is it my style of writing, do I use certain words I shouldn't? Without feedback there's no way of knowing and any 'improvements' I might attempt are simply guesswork. That's why I think readers who fail to give reviews for free books are robbing the author of any rewards he might gain. As an author yourself, you know how hard it is and all the effort that goes into composing, editing, and crafting a tale. And I'm sure you'd appreciate hearing back something -- anything -- to show your efforts weren't wasted. All we as authors are asking for is a little kindness. And I don't think that is too much to expect.
James - you can set your books to free. Message me if you want to know. It's not a secret - I just won't want to spam up your board. It might involve opening up a different distribution channel first.
I know that for me, from the reviewer side of things, I tend to wind up being more likely to review a book that the author emailed me looking for a review of as opposed to the stuff that gets posted up here. It might be a little silly, but part of it is that most of the time when I get approached about doing a review I can tell off the top if the author in question read my review request page and it feels a little more like they're serious about wanting me to do the review.When it seems like an author is more serious having me review their work I'm more likely to not only review it, but also to offer to host a guest post instead of a review if I'm backed up or to warn them about how backed up my TBR list is as opposed to just telling them that their work doesn't seem like a good fit.
It changes how I as a reviewer approach the book and the possibility of reviewing it. Though, I also don't generally offer to take on a book to review unless I'm fairly certain I have time to get it read and reviewed in a reasonable time frame.
You could try and check back in with some of the more recent folks you've sent books to for review. Something may have come up or it may have been a matter of them not knowing what to say about your book. It may help, it may not, but it shouldn't hurt.
To get reviews, you have to do some work. Just sending out 'help me!' emails to a bunch of random reviewers, even in your genre, says to the reviewer that you don't care enough to personalize your request.Most reviewers post their guidelines. You can see what they read - and some of their reviews - on their sites, blogs, and places like GR. Read some of their reviews and comment on them. Read their posts...
When I make the effort to request a review this way, my acceptance rate is around 50%, and the reviews are lovely. But I am careful to be professional and not bother people, because otherwise they are even less likely to review.
'Professional' means more, rather than less formal. No typos in your request letter. An option on what format to receive your book in. A request for the right email address, if it's not obvious. Enough of a letter/an email that says, "we are both busy people," and the reason you picked them specifically to ask.
Compared to the rude requests, you'll stand out. You might even get what you ask for.
Alicia wrote: "To get reviews, you have to do some work. Just sending out 'help me!' emails to a bunch of random reviewers, even in your genre, says to the reviewer that you don't care enough to personalize your ..."I have NEVER been rude in any of my requests. I enter GR or Amazon giveaways essentially saying 'free book in exchange for honest reviews'. The person then contacts me and I send them a PDF, epub, or mobi as they request. I don't know how much nicer I can be than that.
Rhian wrote: "James - you can set your books to free. Message me if you want to know. It's not a secret - I just won't want to spam up your board. It might involve opening up a different distribution channel first."I must be dense but I don't see on your GR page how to message you.
James wrote: "I enter GR or Amazon giveaways essentially saying 'free book in exchange for honest reviews'...."That's just one way to get reviews, and it's not personalized to the reviewer in any way.
Random readers getting a book have self-selected - and the giveaway requires nothing of them except the stated intention to provide a review - which, most authors here can tell you, is often where the exchange stops: many of those readers never provide the review.
Stating you'd like a book and will review is a very small commitment that may net you a book. But those authors have no power to compel you to write it.
If the giveaway implies otherwise, it is incorrect. Authors hope some of those books will bring in reviews.
Which is why the personal approach has more potential - you have to give something of yourself when you write an email which requests a review: your words. These can tell the author a bit about you as a reader, reviewer, and all around decent human.
I wish everyone who receives a free book 'in exchange for an honest review' felt as you do - and provided that review.
This discussion has gone far afield of it's original intent. I was asking AUTHORS to respond as to how this particular DISCUSSION GROUP was working for them in garnering reviews. Instead I am getting advice on how to approach PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS, which as much as I appreciate it, is not what I was asking for. So thank you everyone who replied but I'm shutting down this thread as it did not achieve it's purpose.
Hey James, I too have faced the very same problem. I had done giveaways and had even sent free ebooks to the readers whom I contacted and they told me they would like to review it. However hardly 1 of them posted a review.
So I have now stopped giving / sending my ebooks for review for free. My book is available on Kindle Unlimited for free though . So I tell the reviewers to read my book if they can on Kindle Unlimited and review it. This doesn’t fetch many reviewers but neither did giving away my books for free fetch any reviewers .
But atleast I do get Kenp reads and get paid through it a bit.
Also one other thing that I have learned is that if the reviewer is actually interested in your work they wouldn’t mind paying for your book to read and review it as long as it is available at a reasonable price. Mine is available for just $2.99 and all the reviews I’ve got till now are either from the Kindle Unlimited readers or from people who have actually purchased my book.
Lauren wrote: "I know that for me, from the reviewer side of things, I tend to wind up being more likely to review a book that the author emailed me looking for a review of as opposed to the stuff that gets poste..."Having just discovered you Lauren .....
Coming on 8th & 9th July – FREE, yes FREE from Amazon; " The White Hart – a happy ghost story if there can be such a thing” (A Red Grouse Tale) .....“Super story, such fun. Unusual, amusing and uplifting.” Amazon Customer.
“Ghosts and ghost stories fascinate me and this story is a delight. In many ways it is about redemption and understanding, for both the ghost as well as the man who sees her. The quote by St. Thomas Aquinas referenced in the beginning of the story, makes a wonderful anchor for the plot. “Not everyone who is enlightened by an angel knows that he is enlightened by him.”” D.A.Henneman (Author)
“A feel good ghost story which isn't designed to spook or discomfort.” Phil Leader (Reviewer)
….. and so could make a nice little summer holiday read?
Like all authors on Goodreads, I need reviews please - on Amazon, Goodreads, Bookbub, your blog, your friend’s blog - the more the merrier! All will be much appreciated.
Hope you enjoy " The White Hart "
Leslie wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I know that for me, from the reviewer side of things, I tend to wind up being more likely to review a book that the author emailed me looking for a review of as opposed to the stuff ..."Hi Leslie,
Like I said in my previous comment, I have a review request page on my blog for getting in touch. That's the way to contact me for reviews, because I haven't been on goodreads much lately and OP wanted this thread over.
Lauren wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I know that for me, from the reviewer side of things, I tend to wind up being more likely to review a book that the author emailed me looking for a review of as oppose..."Done.
I'm still new to Goodreads, and have posted a request asking for Reviews for Out of Darkness, A Testament of Love, Endurance, and Survival, in exchange to read and Review another author's book; however, I have not received any takers, so I'm not the best one to say if asking for Reviews actually works.
Wow! I can't believe you sent out 200 copies of your book with the promise of a Review, and of those only 4 came thru. I agree, if you gift someone a copy, family, friend, or just an acquaintance, the least they can do is read and Review it. If someone does not have the time or the inclination, desire, or motivation to do this, they should forward the book on to someone else who will. Simple common courtesy. I think this came from James. What is the title of your book, I'm curious?
If someone agrees to read and Review my book, I would not send them a printed copy that I purchased myself, I would send them an attachment in email. Also, I would probably break it down in half, send the first, and when they have read that much, I send the rest. That way, you know they are reading it, and more likely to follow thru with their promise.
Has anyone heard and are you aware that Amazon's guidelines for posting a Review is that a person has had to have purchased $50 worth of online merchandise in the past year to qualify? My sister in-law read my book, tried and tried many times to post a Review, only to be declined. After looking into the matter, this is what was found. Totally ridiculous! What one purchases online should have no bearing on posting a book Review. Also, a person must have their own Account, so if there is a married couple that share an Account, they cannot each post their own Review, they have to piggyback the same Review.
The $50 requirement is, unfortunately, the only way they've found so far to make sure the account posting the review has an actual human attached to it - and not a review mill from China or the Philippines or such.And you should not have friends and family posting reviews, as they are against the Amazon Terms of Service. No matter how reasonable and fair YOUR friends and relatives are, there is a perception among readers (reviews are for readers) that those people may be biased in their love for your book, so they don't allow that kind of review. Otherwise, the credibility of their review system would fail.
These things gall, but Amazon keeps its prices down by managing as much as possible through simple rules and software; if everything had to be decided by humans, it would be expensive and slow.
This thread asks "Does Requesting Reviews Actually Work?" I suppose the answer is yes and no, as it rather depends on what expectations you have.My experiences are:-
1) Asking for a review at the end of your story; rarely, most readers don't bother.
2) Free give-away or countdown deal on Amazon; rarely, most readers don't bother.
3) Individually targetted requests to reviewers and bloggers; rarely, most don't bother. However, one needs to say a touch more. For every 100 requests one sends out one may get say 30 replies. Of the 'Yes's' many will never bother to post, or just post on their blog which might be seen by their friends and little more. Possibly 10 might come good and actually post on Goodreads, and if one is lucky 5 might post on one of the Amazon sites (note that I said 'one of the Amazon sites') Unfortunately, Amazon does all it can to restrict reviews - as anyone living outside the USA knows! A review posted on one Amazon site does not show up on others (an amazon.co.uk posted review will not be seen on amazon.com, amazon.ca, etc.) , so getting reviews posted 'on Amazon' is a real uphill struggle and horrendously time consuming when one is trying to write at the same time.
So I don't know what the answer is, except 'keep plugging away'. If anyone knows the secret, be a sport and let the rest of us know!
How interesting to hear these so-called terms of Amazon. As a self-publisher, I have taken workshops on how best to market my book, and they all say how important it is to get your friends and family, people who care about you, to read and post Reviews about your book, before the public will be interested enough to give it a try. No Reviews is not attractive to any buyer, regardless of what the shopper is shopping for. The more Reviews, the better exposure you have. I have been holding off before actually marketing my book with purchased ads to acquire more Reviews. Even getting family and friends to post a Review is not easy. I'm sorry, Amazon, but you do not have the right to dictate who can and cannot post a Review on my book.
When you post your book on Amazon, you agree to their conditions.It is a business relationship between you and your publishing company.
They want their customers (your potential readers) to trust reviews, and people don't trust friend and family reviews because those reviews are often biased.
It is that simple.
I suggest having friends and family members recommend your book to others; if these others buy, read, and review, you will have trustworthy reviews.
Michele wrote: "How interesting to hear these so-called terms of Amazon. As a self-publisher, I have taken workshops on how best to market my book, and they all say how important it is to get your friends and fami..."Not going to lie, that seems like really bad advice. Friends and family reviews tend to feel weirdly hollow, no matter how positive they are, and that tends to put me off a book. You'd want a mix of positive and critical reviews starting off, so that people who read reviews first can get a good feel for what they're getting into.
I stand by my original suggestion of looking for reviewers and putting in the time to personalize your request for a review to each of them. They'd have more reason, having talked to you, to follow through on reviewing your book. Plus, then you'd not only be getting seen by their readership but, most of them also cross post to Amazon and Goodreads.
It's a bit more work, but more likely to get returns than just doing random giveaways. Plus, if you're already looking at paying for advertisement and don't want to do the work of contacting reviewers, there's a number of folks who run publicity services who will do the work of contacting people for you.
I would also not split your book in half and require the people reading your book to contact you again for the other half. That's going to wind up with a lot of folks frustrated and feels likely to negatively affect your review scores.
This has been a learning process. Thank you for the advice; I will definitely lower the price of my kindle version, and personally seek out individual Reviewers.
Michele wrote: "How interesting to hear these so-called terms of Amazon. As a self-publisher, I have taken workshops on how best to market my book, and they all say how important it is to get your friends and family, people who care about you, to read and post Reviews about your book..."Then these workshops either aren't very credible, or are knowingly advising people to violate the rules regarding consumer reviews, or both. Do they advise you to ensure these friends and family disclose their relationship to the author in their "reviews"? I bet they don't. No, rather they're instructing people to get those with an obvious bias to pose as unbiased customers to write marketing copy disguised as a consumer review. This is intentionally deceiving unwary shoppers.
Ugh.
Not picking on you, I know there's lots of bad advice out there for new authors, and some new authors truly are ignorant enough to fall for it - but the people giving such smarmy advice to the unwary (or unscrupulous) makes me utterly sick.
My advice - avoid any entity giving you marketing advice that is providing such unethical advice.
As I'm sure you're aware *now*, reviews by friends or family of the author are not allowed to be posted as consumer reviews on Amazon (for what I think are obvious reasons). Goodreads does allow them, but IMO anyone honest would disclose their relationship in their review.
Another thing to keep in mind - those who obtain a free copy from the author or publisher for review MUST disclose that in the review. The reason for that is - consumers have the right to KNOW there is a potential for bias and make up their own minds how much weight to give a review informed of that.
So, authors who get friends and family to post reviews - do they ensure these people disclose that relationship? Nope. And the reason is obvious - they KNOW the obvious bias would then be clear and WANT people to be deceived into thinking it's a review by a disinterested person with no relationship to the author.
Same for authors who trade reviews with each other. There's an obvious reason they don't disclose this arrangement in the review - because they KNOW that will reveal the bias.
If I discovered there were undisclosed "friends and family" "reviews" posted (and it's not as hard to figure out as some authors think), I would automatically put that author on my Never Read list.
Same goes for authors trading reviews - which also is not allowed - Amazon or Goodreads. And even when not traded reviews by fellow authors tend to read like fakey ad copy, rather than a genuine reader review. They're pretty easy to spot, and do more damage than benefit. Readers really aren't stupid.
"...No Reviews is not attractive to any buyer..."
Who is telling you that? These same smarky marketing advisors? Or are book consumers telling you that? Cuz really, many people, if they find a book attractive and interesting from the cover, blurb, Read Inside, etc., don't tend to even look at reviews at all. Some will read some, but most take them with a grain of salt either way - because, readers know personal tastes differ. Sure, reviews can help readers find books they'll enjoy and avoid books we won't. But many readers (me included) have no problem at all taking a chance on a book with zero reviews - IF it looks like there's a good chance we'll enjoy it.
And, I cannot say this strongly enough - consumer reviews are NOT free marketing. That's not their purpose. Their purpose is to serve other consumers, not those with a financial interest in the product.
Ms M has given you some good advice :D
The Just-About-Cocky Ms M wrote: "Michelle, a word of caution. Amazon is different from Goodreads in that it will not allow "friends andfamily" to review your books. So your sister-in-law's review would eventually be rejected for t..."Just a slight correction - while GR does allow friend and family reviews, it does not allow author traded reviews.
Michele wrote: "Thank you."You're welcome. Good luck with your book, Michele. :D
I joined GR in 2016 but began self-publishing in 2004. Since joining I participated in dozens of giveaways here and on Amazon. I also engaged in deals where 'you review my book and I'll review yours'. All told, I estimate I've sent out over 200 hundred books. And of those books I've received back a grand total of 4 reviews. And absolutely none came from the 'you do mine I'll do yours' crowd.
I don't know if people are mean, dishonest, or just hoarders but to me if somebody gives you a free book you should have the courtesy to read and review it within 6 weeks. Otherwise you should not get the author's hopes up.
I'd really appreciate some responses to this. Perhaps if others are experiencing the same thing we could get GR to institute some type of filtering system so only sincere requests get thru.