Why Authors Keep Bitching about Reviews

Dear Reader,

I’m sorry, because I know I’m guilty of this: constantly asking, even begging for reviews.

I know it’s annoying, because I don’t always feel like leaving a review for books I’ve read either. I worry about what to write, and whether my review will look stupid among all the others which invariably seem cleverer to me. But there’s a good reason for my irritating behaviour, I promise…

Why Reviews Mean Everything

What do writers want? To write and sell books. Not necessarily to make money, but to fund future book projects. In order to be able to write (and have our work read by people, rather than sitting around on our computers in complete obscurity), we need to have some money to put into our books. Whether it’s for cover art, editing, promotion, gifts. It’s almost impossible to make it in this business if you don’t invest anything into your books.

So, how do we sell books? We rely on our existing readers to buy our new releases, and we try to grow our readership by making it easy for our books to be found by people who’ve never heard of us before.

How do we get found? Dumb luck is too unreliable, so the answer is: advertising.

How do we advertise? When a reader finds us via our advertising, how do we make our book attractive enough to buy?

Some Facts about Advertising

  1. Not every advertising service actually works
  2. The ones that do work, won’t accept books without a proven track record
  3. They choose to measure the success of a book by its reviews
  4. Even if your book gets accepted without any or with few reviews, any reader who clicks on it, is going to feel nervous parting with their money, if they don’t trust the reviews
  5. Because it has to be said: Buying reviews is bad, so there’s no easy way out but to somehow encourage real people to leave real reviews
  6. Amazon (and perhaps other retailers as well), are rumoured to give more prominent placement of books with lots of good reviews.
  7. Think about how you buy books? Given the choice between two interesting titles, do you go for the one with no reviews or the one with 100 of them, and a 4.5 star average?

Together with having a good-looking cover, and a convincing product description, plus attractive price, reviews are a crucial part of turning a book that looks like nobody wants it into one which people are willing to spend on.

So, while I apologise for being pushy and annoying, asking for reviews, I hope this information explains my motivation behind it. And I hope next time you read a book, whether one of mine, or another author’s, you remember some of what I’ve said, and leave them a review. Even if it’s just a couple of sentences outlining what you liked about it. You’ll be contributing directly to that author’s career by doing so. And they’ll appreciate it, so much.

Dear Reviewers

Not a week goes by that there isn’t some author-lashing-out-against-negative-review or alternately reviewers-lashing-out-against-bad-author scandal going on in this exciting world of digital publishing. It seems like a good time to blatantly copy other author blogs to make a stand myself.

Recently, I ventured into the virtual “wild west” that is Goodreads and stayed longer than I normally would. You see, Goodreads, is a reader site. One where a lot of passionate people come together and write exactly how they felt about a certain book or story. It is known to be a potentially scary place for authors who are easily discouraged. It is the home of the “star rating only” review, where anyone can give a book as many (or few) stars they like, without necessarily stating why they feel that way or perhaps even without reading the book, as demonstrated by many books which attract stars before even hitting the shelves.

My usual approach to Goodreads is similar to what a lot of other authors do: Go in, hold your breath, add any new releases or make (only vital) amendments to existing books. And whatever you do, never scroll down to read the reviews. If at all possible, don’t even look at the average rating.

But as I said, recently, I ignored my usual M.O. in favour of actually looking around with my eyes wide open. I read every single review I hadn’t seen so far, looking for not just the occasional pat on the back which would keep me going, but also constructive criticism to help me improve. My ratings aren’t brilliant on Goodreads, but they’re probably quite normal, not terrible. Informal advice for authors states that Goodreads and Amazon averages will normally differ by one star, and that’s about what I saw.

While reading, and taking note of some of the issues reviewers found with my work, I tried to work out which were worth keeping in mind, and which were just down to a difference in taste. After all, you can’t write something that’ll appeal to everyone, and that’s perfectly fine. I also was reminded of the “like” feature which allows you to give a bit of appreciation for reviews and other content, similar to the “like” button you find on Facebook. Then I felt tempted to “like” all my reviews, even the bad ones. I may not agree with everyone’s opinion, but I appreciate they took the time to share.

To the right reader, a negative review complaining about a certain aspect of the story can be a positive. Perhaps the thing one reviewer didn’t like is something another is looking for. In any case, I appreciate someone out there taking the time to read my work and commenting on it. That’s a lot more than I could’ve hoped for a couple of years ago.

I felt worried though. If I “like” a negative review, could this be seen as trying to be sarcastic? Would it seem invasive to think that a nameless, faceless writer who sells their work on Amazon actually pays attention to Goodreads? I’ve heard of people getting into trouble for thanking a reviewer for a positive review, as though simply entering Goodreads is akin to reading someone’s private correspondence over their shoulder, or eavesdropping on a personal conversation among friends. I suppose I can see where people are coming from, yet at the same time, this is unrealistic. When you post your views on a public forum – a website anyone can sign up for and read through – that’s not private. It’s exactly the same as sharing incriminating photographs of yourself on Facebook and then being surprised when the cops knock on your door. The internet is not private.

But I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes either.

So I’m explaining myself here instead, on my home turf. I do appreciate all the reviews I’ve gotten. Even the negative ones, because they give me something to learn from. Thanks, everyone! And please keep ’em coming because nothing is lonelier than an Amazon listing with zero stars.

Are you a Book Reviewer?

Authors love it when someone takes the time to review our work. Especially if the reviewer has taken the time to really think about the story, characters, or whatever else they’ve commented on.

And as a reader myself, I also find reviews so invaluable when trying to decide whether a book is really for me or not.

That is why I would like to help!

If you read & review Erotica or Romance for your website, blog, Facebook page or whatever, please get in touch! Send me details of where you publish your reviews, using the contact form, and I’m happy to send you free copies of my work. And no, I won’t expect you to lick my ass and say my work is pure genius (unless you really think so!). I expect honesty & impartiality.

Obviously I expect that whatever I send you is used exclusively for the purpose of reviewing it and doesn’t end up on some pirate website somewhere. But that should go without saying.

Thanks for the love :-)

I know it seems a whole lot like bragging, but I wanted to express how very grateful I am to have received some lovely reviews lately. Really!
Not bragging!

Just Another Day at the Office – I

UPDate 2019: The serialized version of Just Another Day at the Office is no longer available. Stay tuned for the re-release of the novel edition in Autumn 2019.

Good beginning to a series; 5* by Adam

Well, she’s done it again.

 

Hedonist Six – or Six, as her friends call her – is back up to her usual tricks, writing a story that is long on emotions and heavy on the innuendo, with lively and realistic dialogue.

 

She switches POV seamlessly between her male and female characters, giving each a unique voice; voices, I might add, which ring totally true to their genders.

 

And when the book ends, you REALLY want the next volume to be out. Like, NOW.

 

So – buy this book and maybe she’ll get cracking!

Should that be Ms Sex? 4* by Elizabeth

I like the structure of this book. Ms Six, or maybe I should say Ms Sex, moves the pace along using flowing paragraphs for intimate scenes, resulting in a breathless romp, eagerly driving her reader forward in an uninterrupted stream, a waterfall of prose delivers a sense of urgency. Both John and Cathy have humanity, which is cleverly drawn; it’s refreshing that there are no perfect creatures in this realistic story.

Between a Rock and a Soft Place; 4*  by Lee

You know from the title, “Just Another Day at the Office,” this is not going to be just another day at the office and the surrealistically-pseudonymed author Hedonist Six keeps us turning pages waiting for that special day to arrive.

 

Cath Davies has just scored a new job and immediately finds herself between a rock and a soft place, the rock being Dick ‘pervert’ Porter with the smelly armpits and drooling lips, the soft place being the arms of the delectable Jonathan Hall – where Cath isn’t but would like to be.

 

In this coming of age romance, we are treated to an array of office politics, sexual and otherwise, and there were times flicking through my Kindle when the wry smile that appeared on my lips came from memories of the Ricky Gervais comedy “The Office.” Like Mr Gervais, Ms Six is in tune with the zeitgeist and her characters when not stealing amorous glances may well be chatting about the latest developments on X-Factor.

 

I must admit I’m intrigued by the name Hedonist Six – is that six of the best, the dream of all girls, at least in the land of erotica? I am sure that in time I will find out and, in the meantime, I look forward to the next episode of office politics.