By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
For many years, several times a week, publishers and authors send new books which arrive in my mailbox. To libraries, I’ve given away so many books that a church in Kentucky was able to gain accreditation for their school and it amounted to thousands of books. The mayor of the town even declared a Terry Whalin Day (a one-day event). I receive many more new books than I could possibly read—especially since I do it in my “free” time and write book reviews. Whether you are a new writer or experienced professional, in this article, I want to give six reasons to write book reviews.
As an editor, I often ask writers what they are reading. If they write fiction, I’m expecting they will tell me about novels they are reading. Years ago, I met an older man who had written a romance novel. He confessed that he did not read romance novels but only wrote them. This answer did not give me the right impression about this author. You don’t write a novel just because it is a large genre. Writers are readers and writing reviews documents your reading habits—and my first reason for writing reviews.
Writing reviews helps you understand your market and audience. I encourage you to read and write about other books in your area of the market. As a writer, you can either be a competitor or cooperate and support your competition. I believe you are stronger if you support your competition with reviews.
Book reviews sell books and everyday people read reviews to make buying decisions. If your book on Amazon has less than 10 reviews and has been released for a year, that gives one message where if it has over 50 reviews (mostly four and five stars) then that sends a different message to the reader. As authors, we need to continually work at getting more reviews—even if your book has been out for a while.
When you write a five-star review for an author, reach out to that author and tell them about it. Reviews are an important means for you to support other authors and build relationships.
Books change lives and this reason is my fifth one about why to write book reviews. You can influence others to buy a book and read it from your review. I know firsthand books change lives because a key part of how I came to Christ years ago involved reading a book.I read a book called Jesus the Revolutionary and you can follow this link to read the magazine article that I wrote called Two Words That Changed My Life. Books can have powerful impact on our lives.
My final reason: Writing the short form is an important skill for every writer. For example, I do not review electronic books—only print books. If I read or listen to a book, then about 99% of the time, I will write a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Create a personal standard for your book review. Mine are not a single sentence but at least 100 words and often include a quote from the book to show that I’ve read it with a unique image.
Are you reviewing books or going to start reviewing books? Let me know in the comments below.
Tweetable:
.png)
6 comments:
Terry, this is such a helpful article. And how crazy for that author to have written a romance novel and not read the genre.
I used to do book reviews for publishing companies like Sylvan Dell, now Arbordale. It was a great way to see what the industry was publishing while helping the author out.
But it's even more important to support self-published authors.
Karen,
Thank you for this comment. It's been proven that 90% of people who buy a book online have read a review BEFORE they buy the book. It makes sense because these reviews show readers that the book is worth reading. Ironically there are over 4,500 new books entering the markete every day and many authors don't understand the importance of getting reviews--so they put zero energy into getting reviews. I hope my article encourages people to write reviews of the books they are consuming.
Terry
Important information, Terry. I wrote a tome on reviews--I mean it's really fat. How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. I think it's most important for authors to avoid reviews they have to pay the reviewer for. It's about ethics. But it's also about paying for something you can get more ethically by NOT paying for them! The gatekeepers who count know the difference and avoid anything that smacks of payoffs. (Anyone remember the 64,000 dollar question on TV? ). In fact, avoiding those situations is one reason that Amazon is so careful about accepting reviews. And there is a whole chapter--like a case study--in my book on that, too. And, yes. Terry is right. They are really important to get. All the more reason to learn a lot about them in advance of a book's publication.
Yes, you can probably tell that I am obsessive about this. Ahem!
Best,
Carolyn
Carolyn,
I agree paying for reviews will get you in trouble on a number of fronts. It's better to get them ethically and consistently which is what you and I have done through the years. It is not easy for possible.
Thanks for reading and your encouragement.
Terry
I have a question: Amazon cares about getting authentic reviews, preferably from people who bought the book, but what about getting books from the library to review?
I've been thinking about giving myself a challenge to take out 10 children's books a week for 10 weeks to study them and review them. Do you think it would be necessary to include a sentence in the review that I got the book from the library?
Karen,
Great question. When you review a book from the library on Amazon, it is published but not a "verified" review because you didn't purchase the book. Unless you are a sophisticated consumer, you probably don't realize this subtle distinction--so it makes no difference to most people. I'd go for it and your reviews will help many people--readers and authors.
I would not say anything about where I got the book (library or someone else) because it could get it kicked and not posted. Approach the review as any reader and write your review and post it is my counsel.
Terry
Post a Comment