Customer Reviews of Books are So Important. Here are some guidelines. . .

Customer Reviews of books are so important.

If you would, please tell others about my books. Word-of-mouth recommendations are always effective and much appreciated.

But—in today’s market, a kiss of death for a book’s success is having few reviews on Amazon. So leaving a customer review on Amazon is so helpful.

Leaving reviews on Goodreads and BookBub is also really helpful.

If you would, after you have read any of my books, leaving a customer review would be awesome.

Think of it not as a book review—a book review sounds time-consuming and maybe even daunting.

Instead, think of it as a customer review—like you review products on Amazon.

Just a couple of sentences is great!

Here are some things to know first:

REVIEWING—Goodreads and BookBub reviews are fine for anyone to do. (These sites are not booksellers.)

However, not anyone can leave an Amazon review, because Amazon is a bookseller.

Amazon has important guidelines for reviews. Basically:

  1. It must be an honest review.

  2. Do not leave a review if you are related to me personally—or even professionally, if we have a close working relationship.

    What this means is that you should not leave a review on Amazon if:

But, again, here are two other things you can do that are helpful—and anyone can do these, even if you are related to me:

  1. Word-of-mouth recommendations. Always effective and much appreciated.

  2. Review on Goodreads and/or BookBub. Again, a short review is just fine.


IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE SETTING UP YOUR GOODREADS ACCOUNT:

While not a bookseller itself, Goodreads is owned by Amazon. So, the reviews on Goodreads are linked to an author’s book page on Amazon or can be easily seen by Amazon.

What this means, whether you are an author or reader or both, you should NOT open your Goodreads account with any of your social media links (do not use Facebook). In fact, you should open it with an email you do not use for Amazon. (I opened mine account years ago, and I used an email I don’t use for many things. But, I did use the same email to open my Facebook account—I don’t think that is a “problem,” but I wish I had used an email not affiliated with any social media.)

Here’s why. We build our social media following, which is a good thing for book promotion. And, it is always recommended that we let our followers and social media “friends” know about what we are doing and about our books.

But, here’s the “problem” if Goodreads is connected to your Facebook or other social media account—Amazon can see your social media friends.

This is what drives me crazy—those are people we want to inform and who want to be informed. They should be the ones to leave reviews for our books. BUT, Amazon considers this social media friend as writing a possibly biased review and might take the review down.

Bottom line: you don’t want Goodreads or Amazon to know who you are friends with on social media sites (other than Goodreads).

Even if you are not an author, you might be reviewing books by authors you know. So, if Goodreads/Amazon can see that the author might be your friend on Facebook or other social media (other than Goodreads), then that affects the author you are reviewing, as they might take down your review.

Here is a page and a great, short youtube video on the page by Dave Chesson, who shows how to set up your account. Dave and his company—with a lot of free resources—have been invaluable to me on my journey to publishing my novel. (I bought and used Atticus from his company for formatting the inside of my book. His Publisher Rocket, which I bought, gives incredible information on categories, keywords and how those work on Amazon.) But, a lot of what he offers is free, as is this advice below, and worth reading and viewing the video:

https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-use-goodreads-for-authors/

Additionally, here are guidelines pages from Goodreads and BookBub:

A screenshot of the first customer review on Amazon for WILD CONVICTION. Notice the words “Verified Purchase.”

My understanding is that this means the reviewer bought the book from Amazon.

About the Blog Author

Mary Dezember, Ph.D., creates stories about possibilities—inspiring champions to find their magic and create a new and better day.

She believes it helps to make life magical, even if that means simply cuddling a cat, donning a tiara, talking with a unicorn, channeling the muse, or reading a good book.

She lives in the Land of Enchantment.

Mary is seen here making her life magical by donning a tiara.

A lover of the beauty and power of language, she states: “We spell words and, arranged well, words can put a spell on us.”

Her novel, Wild Conviction: Sixteen is Power, (Brilliant Moon Press), is a richly historical, coming-of-age, socially conscious, epic adventure with touches of magic and love. It examines the historical basis for contemporary social issues and the rite of passage to identity, including the hero’s emotional and intellectual quest.

Her publications also include several non-fiction essays and articles, fiction, and two books of poetry: Earth-Marked Like You (Sunstone Press) and Still Howling (CreateSpace Independent Publishing), with the title poem being First Place winner of the Best Beat Poem Contest, 2016, sponsored by Beatlick Press.

She holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature with an emphasis in Comparative Arts from Indiana University. In addition to being an author of novels, she is a poet, Professor Emeritus of English at New Mexico Tech (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), and a scholar of the arts, literature, and writing.

“Mary Dezember has created a tour de force
featuring a strong young woman
who displays integrity, independence, empathy,
and a commitment to equality—
a necessary role model for today’s world and any other.”
—T. A. Niles, from T. A.’s Poetic Expressions-Plus
[about Mary’s novel Wild Conviction]