By popular request, I’ve listed the top 5 mistakes or more accurately, missed opportunities, that I see authors and publishers make when it comes to requesting Book Reviews.
1. They don’t educate. You need to educate your readers, potential readers and fans to the importance of reviews. Not only is it important to you as an author, helping you to be more “visible” on Amazon, but also explain how it’s helpful to the reader, by getting their voice out there, as well as helping potential readers make a more educated decision on whether or not to buy that book.
2. They don’t ask. Human nature is NOT to out of our way to do something. We’re just too busy. But if you ask people to leave a review, you’re more likely to get a review than if you don’t. Also, for book signings, fairs, etc. create bookmarks or business cards asking for reviews.
3. They don’t follow up. As I stated, we are busy creatures, so it is extremely easy to forget to leave a review. So, make a list of people who you know are going to ready your book(friends, family, reviewers, etc) and after about a month, reach out and send an email ask if they’ve finished the book and that you’d love to get their feedback. And then leave a link to your book’s page on Amazon.
4. They don’t ask enough. Most authors include a live link to their books Amazon page in their ebook, however, they do not include it in their paperback. This is a huge missed opportunity! The argument is usually that the url is too long, but with sites like tinyurl.com and others, you can easily take that long url and reduce it to something more user-friendly. Also, QR codes are an extremely easy way to direct someone to a review page.
5. They don’t ask right. This is by far the most rampant missed opportunity I’ve seen when it comes to asking for book reviews. When asking for reviews, most authors write: “Like my book? I’d love to get your review…” This is leaving out so many potential reviews! Regardless of whether you loved my book or hated my book, I WANT YOUR REVIEW! The 4s and 5s are great, but it is the 1, 2 and 3 reviews that will really help you get an insight into your readers and help you to grow as an author. So don’t discard them.
Well that’s it for this video. If you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future videos, feel free to leave a comment below.
Until next time…. Remember to Write Right!
Important links:
ReviewMates FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1346339268738220/
Other sites mentioned in the video:
https://tinyurl.com/
http://www.qr-code-generator.com/