Recently, on the Writing Wenches blog, I talked about my approach to reviews and the different things I take into consideration when posting a review.
Reviews are important.
On 7/7/2014, I published Sweet Dreams. I have sold books on Amazon, B&N, iBooks and Smashwords. Now I am looking for those people who read Sweet Dreams to post their reviews.
Reviews are an author's bread and butter. Especially a newly published author. There is no reason for anyone to take a chance on an unknown author. That is why the review is so important.
It lets the potential reader know what to expect, how other readers enjoyed the book, and if they would purchase other works by this author.
It is word of mouth gone digital. Now that everything is online, readers looking to discover a new author will read the reviews that have been posted and take that into consideration before buying.
If the author is unknown, how do they find the book? Well maybe they saw something on Twitter, maybe the book came up in the "People Who Purchased This Also Purchased..." pitch at the bottom of the page. Maybe a friend recommended the book or the reader found a post on Facebook or a book blog recommending it when searching under books.
Who knows how they found it in the sea of books out there. The important thing is they found it. The first thing a potential reader will most likely do is to read the synopsis (book blurb). Next, they check the reviews of other customers.
The photo above is a snapshot of my reviews on Amazon, the first being my favorite. Why is the third not my favorite? It is 5 stars after all and the first is 4 stars. Well, I love the third review. It gives you an idea of the style of the book and the reviewer is now a fan, and I love that. But the first review, "Super Enjoyable" is exactly how I wanted my readers to feel after reading Sweet Dreams.
Now, I am all for the short and sweet review. I do not post long reviews of books I read and I get to the point listing a couple of details so that it is evident that I actually read the book. Authors love to hear positive feedback from their readers about which character was their favorite or which scene was the most engrossing.
The professional reviewers and book bloggers out there are great at leaving six paragraph reviews of how the book made them feel and what they like about the author and the story, without spoilers. And bless them, that is why they are professional reviewers.
I just want the people who have read and enjoyed my book to post a review, in the hopes that someone will read the review and decide to use that recommendation to purchase my book.
How do you leave a review?
Simple, if you purchase the book online you would simply leave a review at that online retailer's site. You can also leave a review on Amazon or on Goodreads or both. Neither Goodreads nor Amazon require that you purchase the book from them to leave a review on their site. They only thing they are asking for is a few details about the book so they can tell by your post you actually read it. If you are going to take the 1 minutes to post a review, you need to make sure the post is not just "Loved It". It should say something about a specific character or plot point without being a spoiler. To find the review button on Amazon, just scroll to the bottom of the book's page and click on the button titled "Write a customer review". Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.
So here it is. I am asking my friends, family and fans, who have read Sweet Dreams, to please post a review of Sweet Dreams. Below are the links for Sweet Dreams on Amazon and Goodreads, to make it easy.
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Dreams-Jennifer-Senhaji/dp/1499785577/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22458936-sweet-dreams
Oh, and you can check out the Writing Wenches blog at http://writingwenches.wordpress.com/
Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Jennifer Senhaji, Your Sweet and Spicy Romance Author
www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com
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