HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW AND HELP YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS
Posted by Lizzie Lamb
Authors know how difficult it is to build a following of loyal readers and to gently persuade those readers to review their book once they’ve read it. To help redress that, August 2016 has been decreed Write An Amazon Review Month! By @TerryTyler4 #AugustReviews and we’re going to do our bit to help.
On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amber wrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed ~ following this up, Terry Tyler is starting this initiative along with other writer-bloggers including Rosie, Cathy from Between The Lines, Barb Taub, Shelley Wilson and Alison Williams. The idea is that, from August 1st, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!). You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time. The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it is you get the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag on it; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway.
Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book
No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used. Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever!
Why should you write a review?
- They help book buyers make decisions. Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use? Book reviews are no different
- If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand
- The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly). If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen
- It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes
Off we go, then! A few more pointers:
- If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above.
- A review can be as short as one word. The shortest one I have is just two 🙂
- You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like.
- No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post.
Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review? If so, tweet the link to it with the hashtag #AugustReviews ~ and thank you!
One last thing . . . if you haven’t read any of my books but like well-written romantic comedies with lots of sassy humour, great characters, fabulous locations and heroes to swoon over – give one of them a try. And don’t forget that review (!)
About Lizzie Lamb
I write contemporary women's fiction mostly based in Scotland with hot heroes, feisty heroines and always a happy ending. Along with three other authors - Adrienne Vaughan, June Kearns and Margaret Cullingford - I formed the New Romantics Press under which our books are published. I have published five books since 2012 and am about to launch #6 - Harper's Highland Fling. Do check out my Amazon page: viewAuthor.at/LizzieLamb and click 'FOLLOW'.Posted on July 30, 2016, in Lizzie's Scribbles and tagged #amwriting, amazonreviews, author, blogger, facebook, review, romance, Take a Chance on Us, twitter. Bookmark the permalink. 16 Comments.
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Go on – get reviewing !!
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Reblogged this on SHARON BOOTH and commented:
August is write a review month! Authors need reviews. If you’re not sure how to write a review, or you’re worried it won’t be good enough, or you don’t understand why they matter so much, read on!
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Thanks Sharon, reviews are the lifeblood of writers !!
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I have written a couple of Amazon reviews. One was on a tin opener and a couple were about camping equipment – but I don’t think that’s the kind of review your talking about! I have never written a book review online but I do recommend books I like to my friends.
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Bill, you are funny! Word of mouth re books works really well,, too. But for an author to be more visible on Amazon and to trigger their ‘publicity machine,’ a writer needs at least 50 reviews per book. Luckily I cagole people into reviewing mine, but it’s getting harder and harder. Keep up the good work – hope the tin opener has lived up to your review of it. LOL.
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Reblogged this on Adrienne Vaughan.
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Thanks for reblogging Adrienne.
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Yo Lambster! I am always encouraging people to leave reviews. For all of us! The best reviewers seem to be other writers …coz we know how important it is! Well done Terry et al for getting this going!
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Yes, totally agree. Must get up to date with my review writing.
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Excellent post, Lizzie.
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Thank you Lix xx
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Great article Lizzie. I linked Rosie’s article to my blog and will link yours as well!
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Thank you, Hywela. I must admit I could work harder at leaving reviews myself and I’m going to make a real effort this month.
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Reblogged this on SpookyMrsGreen .
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Thank you for reblogging my post 🍾
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You’re welcome! 🙂
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