Book reviews are valuable for both authors and potential new readers.
As an award-winning self-published author with three books already on the market, I’ve always recognized the importance of reviews but struggled to convince my readers to post them.
However, I recently saw a direct correlation between reviews and free marketing opportunities on Amazon, so I wanted to take a moment and share my personal experience to demonstrate WHY book reviews matter so much. Taking the time to post a review is one of the easiest (and completely free) ways to let your favorite authors know how much you appreciate their hard work!
Why Are Book Reviews Important for Indie Authors?
Book reviews are important for any author, but especially independently published (aka “indie”) authors who have to wear many hats. Indie authors do so much more than write books; they also have to step into the role of publisher, agent, publicist, social media manager, event coordinator, etc.
Traditionally published authors are able to outsource some of these roles to help market their book after its release. Many indie authors don’t have those opportunities, so the only way to get that work done is to do it themselves.
A self-published author’s greatest challenge isn’t writing, editing, or even publishing the book. It’s getting that book into the hands of new readers and building a fandom.
This is where book reviews come into play.
Reviews help indie authors build credibility with potential new readers. When I have my booth set up at events, it’s extremely common to see people checking out my books and then consulting their phone. I know they’re doing one of two things: either they’re checking Amazon to see if they can get a better deal by shopping online (even though they’re circumventing the author and losing the opportunity to get a personalized, autographed copy), or they’re checking online reviews to see what other readers have posted about the series.
In most cases, they’re checking reviews. Online book reviews are a more accurate snapshot of whether my fantasy series is worth reading so they can decide if it’s worth the risk to invest in my novels.
Recommendations from nonbiased readers online carry much more clout than the author’s sales pitch, and accumulating a lot of positive reviews and a high rating average also bolsters my credibility.
After all, my goal is to sell books, so of course I’m going to recommend buying my novels if a potential customer engages with me! That’s how I make my living. However, I’m not the type of author whose only interest is making the sale. I do want to make sure my genre and writing style is a good fit for the right kind of reader. I don’t want to get bad reviews because I pushed a reader to buy a genre they don’t enjoy.
What does all of this mean? From the simplest perspective, book reviews help me convince new readers to take a chance on my novels.
Without those reviews, people naturally assume the author is an amateur and/or the book isn’t worth reading since it wasn’t worth reviewing.
The #1 Benefit of Gaining Book Reviews on Amazon
Any indie author knows that earning positive book reviews is essential to success. But did you know that building reviews also unlocks a huge marketing advantage?
(I didn’t until recently!)
Over the last couple of years, I’ve crossed paths with multiple customers who had either seen my book and recognized the cover or already purchased it. I like to ask people where they saw my book so I know how my marketing strategies are performing. Did they see it at a local shop? A library in the area that had it on display? Social media? A festival, market, convention, or other event where I had my booth?
To my surprise, many of these customers told me they’d seen it on Amazon. After further inquiry, I realized it was a recommended product based on other books they’d bought.
This was HUGE news because I don’t pay for Amazon ads (or digital marketing in general), so I was stunned to learn that Amazon seemed to be recommending my book to readers for FREE! No extra work, no paying for ads, no creating promotional graphics, no setting target audiences and keywords (other than what you’ve already listed for your book).
Naturally, the big question is… how many book reviews do you need for Amazon to start doing this?
According to another indie author who vended next to me at an event this summer, that minimum number is fifty. However, after some online searches to verify, the correct answer is… nobody actually knows. Some agree with the fifty mark. Others say twenty. Others say there is no magic number, and anyone who claims otherwise is spreading a rampant myth that just won’t die.
The consensus seems to be that Amazon’s algorithm is a closely guarded secret that operates on a lot of different variables, which means reviews are only a small part of the equation. All I can say for certain is that I didn’t regularly run into people who were already familiar with my book due to Amazon’s recommendation until I reached the fifty-review threshold, so that did indeed seem to trigger something with the algorithm.
At the very least, even if Amazon does start recommending your book to customers prior to achieving fifty reviews, hitting that goal seemed to give my book a jump start based on my own personal experience.
Tips to Get More Book Reviews
Book reviews are important to authors for many reasons, from building credibility with potential new readers to getting a boosted product recommendation from Amazon. But how can indie authors get more reviews?
(We’re talking genuine, unbiased reviews here. Not shady reviews that you paid for to try and hack the system.)
That’s the million-dollar question. I struggle with convincing people to write reviews, and many indie authors in my circle face the same problem. Here are some of the tips that I and other colleagues have implemented:
- List your ebook on NetGalley. If you aren’t already familiar with NetGalley, it’s a platform where authors and publishers list ebooks for free in exchange for reviews. I participated in a co-op program that drastically reduced the cost and labor of a NetGalley listing, so if you’re planning on using NetGalley for reviews, I highly recommend going this route, at least for your first time. Read more about my experience with a NetGalley co-op.
- Include a printed reminder with the book when customers purchase directly from you. I slip a handwritten note (along with other items) inside a sealed envelope that readers aren’t supposed to open until after they finish reading. Another author I know prints her message on vellum and tucks it between the last pages so readers find it as they near the end of the book. Yet another author told me about a friend who put a sticker on the inside cover with a QR code and found surprising success with that method. I also know several authors who include a custom bookmark that has their website, social media links, QR codes, and a reminder to post a review. You can get creative with your own unique way of encouraging readers to review your books.
- Post on social media. It’s a basic but simple way to remind your fans why reviews matter so much and ask them to write one if they haven’t already.
- Incentivize reviews with a drawing. I have occasionally encouraged reviews by using them as entries into a giveaway drawing on Discord and social media. People who want to enter the drawing send screenshots to prove that they’ve written a review on various platforms like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, etc. Each review for each book on each platform counts as an entry into the drawing. It doesn’t have to be a new review if they’ve already posted a while ago. I also use this method to encourage fan art submissions.
- Partner with #bookstagram and #booktok influencers. When I first started publishing, I was able to connect with several bookstagrammers who reviewed and featured my books for free. However, those days seem to be in the past. It’s hard to find influencers who don’t charge you for reviews, and in my humble opinion, it’s not worth shelling out the money for paid reviews unless they’re professional editorial reviews. Ideally, you want to rack up honest reviews from regular readers. Paid reviews are perceived as solicited and biased.
Reviews are an important yet challenging part of self-publishing. How will you incentivize your readers to help boost your Amazon recommendations and author clout?
I'm an award-winning fantasy author, artist, and photographer from La Porte, Indiana. My poetry, short fiction, and memoir works have been featured in various anthologies and journals since 2005, and several of my poems are available in the Indiana Poetry Archives. The first three novels in my Chronicles of Avilésor: War of the Realms series have received awards from Literary Titan.
After some time working as a freelance writer, I was shocked by how many website articles are actually written by paid "ghost writers" but published under the byline of a different author. It was a jolt seeing my articles presented as if they were written by a high-profile CEO or an industry expert with decades of experience. I'll be honest; it felt slimy and dishonest. I had none of the credentials readers assumed the author of the article actually had. Ghost writing is a perfectly legal, astonishingly common practice, and now, AI has entered the playing field to further muddy the waters. It's hard to trust who (or what) actually wrote the content you'll read online these days.
That's not the case here at On The Cobblestone Road. I do not and never will pay a ghost writer, then slap my name on their work as if I'd written it. This website is 100% authentic. No outsourcing. No ghost writing. No AI-generated content. It's just me... as it should be.
If you would like to support my work, check out the Support The Creator page for more information. Thank you for finding my website! 🖤