I know, I’m guilty too.
It’s just so much effort to log into Amazon and write a coherent review about a book, even if it is one you loved that resulted in a three-day book hangover preventing any kind of productivity at work. And even if I did take the time to write my thoughts on it, I’m sure it’s all been said already by someone else, much more eloquently. Why bother?
Well, I’m here to ask you to bother. Just two minutes of your time to at least give a star rating on Goodreads can make a world of difference to an author, especially an unknown one like myself. Why? Because it affects the algorithms that govern discoverability at online bookstores. The more people who discover and are aware of my book, the more potential readers I’ll gain, who (hopefully) will love it too and who might leave more (glowing) reviews and lead to more people discovering it and so and so forth until the point where I become the next JK Rowling (just kidding!).
Apart from unsexy algorithms and spiders crawling the Net, it’s also fantastic to hear what others think of my work. Like most authors, I’m inherently insecure about putting my innermost thoughts and fantasies out there in the world for anyone to peruse, and to learn that someone not only took the time to read it, but enjoyed it as well – well, that just sets my spine a-tingle. I’d love to hear what you liked, what you disliked, how you think I can improve as a writer.
Really, just about any kind of feedback is appreciated.
Unless you hated it. Then please refrain from mentioning it anywhere or to anyone. Ha, I kid of course. You are entitled to your opinion and if you feel like setting my ears ablaze with a scathing review, then go right ahead – but please do tell me why so I can learn from it.
And if you want to inject some humour into your bad review, as the writers of these hilarious one-star reviews of children’s books have done, then even better.
Although I very rarely write a full review of the books I read, I make a point of always giving a star rating on Goodreads. It’s nice to reward an author with a good rating and it helps other readers decide whether or not they should read the book too. I hope you’ll spare a few minutes of your time to review my books and any others you read and truly enjoy.
Do you leave reviews of books you’ve loved (or hated)? Why do you do it and where do you review them? Has another reader’s review ever influenced your decision on whether or not to read a book?
