Validity, Visibility, and the Warm Fuzzies
Dear Maggie,
Do reviews really matter?
Sincerely,
Critic in Cranston
Dear Critic,
Yes, reviews matter! If an author receives a hundred reviews, Amazon sends a box of chocolates. At five hundred reviews, we get invited to join a secret writer’s club. When we reach a thousand, a unicorn shows up in our yard and spews multi-colored glitter all over the lawn. Totally kidding, obviously. However, reviews really do matter to authors and here’s why…
Reviews lend credibility and validity to our work. If you’re planning to stay at an AirBnb, or you’d like to try out a new restaurant, one of the first things you’ll probably do is check the reviews. As a reader, you’ll likely do the same thing. At least, that’s what I do. Especially if an author is new to me, it’s valuable to see what other readers are saying about them online and why. I’ll still make up my own mind about downloading, ordering, or picking the book up from the library, but I’ll feel better informed before I invest my precious time.
With regard to reviews, more are better. Amazon ran a survey regarding product reviews and found that people were 64% more likely to purchase something that had 1000 reviews vs. something with 100. Books are products, so more reviews matter! More reviews also equals better visibility, which can translate into more options for the author with regard to advertising. While most platforms, like BookBub, don’t require a minimum number of reviews to run a featured deal, they do consider those metrics. Sometimes, we might see a nasty review online about a particular book, but if there are a lot of other thoughtful, positive reviews, we might feel comfortable labeling that one as an outlier. At the very least, we’ll have plenty of data to help make a decision.
Finally, authors appreciate reviews because they make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside when someone tells the world they loved our story. Truly, you can’t underestimate the value of a few kind words. Writing is a solitary endeavor, but most of us aren’t writing for ourselves, we’re writing to entertain others, to convey a message, to connect with readers, to share a world we’ve created and the characters who inhabit it, or some combination of all these reasons. To know we’ve touched another person with our work means everything.
And now a word about negative reviews…
All writers get them. They don’t feel great, but a reader’s honesty is appreciated. Not everyone will enjoy every book, and that’s okay. We understand and expect that will be the case, just please don’t be cruel. Remember, even if you didn’t like a book, the author worked hard to create that story, and they likely felt very vulnerable at one time or another when they sent their book baby out into the world. So, share your honest reactions, but please, do so thoughtfully.
Okay, that’s the skinny on reviews. If you’re so inclined, please leave a review for any and all of my books on Amazon or Goodreads. Just a star rating and a few words will do it! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll be looking for that unicorn…
