Spread the Love! Leave a Review.

The above meme is found in the back matter of all WordCrafter Press books because it is true. Reviews are the best way to spread the love for authors that you read.

Not everyone can afford to buy a book, or back a Kickstarter campaign, or support a Patreon author. I get that. But it doesn’t cost anything to leave a review. You’ve already got the book in hand, so all it takes is a small amount of time to go onto your blog, or your favorite book site and leave a review, or both.

I do book reviews here on Writing to be Read. And although I’m not real timely about it, I also post my reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and BookBub. Now that actually does take some time, but if I use copy/paste from blog to booksite, it isn’t too bad. I do them in batches, after the reviews have posted on my blog. I’ll be doing the last batch for the year in December, so I can start fresh with my January reviews in 2024.

I do that because I think reviews are important for authors, and I appreciate the work that goes into the books that entertain and inform me. I started doing reviews on my blog as a way to show my support for my fellow authors, and free books were just icing on the cake. I’ve never been able to afford my vorocious reading habits, so blogging reviews has been a win-win.

An article by Chuck Wendigg over at Terrible Minds offers good reasons for authors wanting reviews and for leaving reviews. https://terribleminds.com/ramble/2023/10/27/psst-leave-a-review-and-why-leaving-a-review-matters He points out the ‘word of mouth’ value of getting reviews for your books, and he also talks about the all-mighty algorythm, how reviews can affect it, and how it affects your standing with distributors and your book’s visability.

Let’s face it. In today’s marketplace, people check reviews on everything, not just books. Reviews are not a new thing for books, which have been riding on reviews, even when traditional publishing was the only option available to authors. So it should be no surprise that reviews are so very important. And as indie authors in a sea of competing books, they can be hard to come by.

I put a lot of time and effort into getting reviews for my own books and for those of WordCrafter Press, too. Reviews don’t usually fall from the sky, you have to ask for them. I send out review requests to reviewers who might be interested in each book, and offer up ARCs (Advance Review Copies). And I put the above meme in the back of each book to remind readers to leave a review right after they finish the book.

____________________________________________________

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; her time-travel adventure, The Rock Star & The Outlaw; and book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

_____________________________________________________

Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review here.