Positive reviews are the life-blood of self-publishing. They enable readers to find the authors they like and help authors understand and better serve their readership.
If you would like to leave a review, good or less good, here’s what to do.
SPOILERS!! Please consider your review may be seen by people who have not yet read the book! Please don’t give the plot away!!
On the Amazon website
This is where most people will go to check if they want to buy a book or not… Give them some advice!
- Go to the book page on the amazon.com or amazon.co.uk website
- Click on the customers reviews link below the title (it will indicate the number of ratings in blue)
- This will take you to the reviews page with the rating bars and a ‘Write a review’ button either to the right or below.
- In the ‘Create a review’ page, you will need to give an overall star-rating by clicking on the 1st star to the left for a 1*, 2nd star to the left for a 2* etc. up to a maximum of 5*.
- You will be invited to add a photo or a video; this is optional and not particularly relevant for books.
- Your star-rating will count as a review, but you may choose to write an actual review including your opinion of the book and your recommendations to other potential readers.
- Please don’t forget to include a headline: most people will read no further.
- In the next box down, you may write your full review. Please remain respectful of the author as well as other reviewers and readers. For instance, when describing what you did not like about the book, it is good practice to focus on what may help others decide whether to read it or not, rather than disparaging those who enjoyed it.
- Constructive criticism is useful to authors, especially self-publishers like me, as it enables us to better serve our readers and give them more of what they like and less of what they don’t!
- Bear in mind a review left on amazon.co.uk will only appear on the UK website, whereas one left on the amazon.com will be available worldwide. If you have an amazon.com account, your review will reach more people.
On Goodreads
As at March 2019, 85 million of us had an account on Goodreads. That’s a lot of readers looking for their next book and waiting for your opinion!
- If you have already marked the book as ‘currently reading’, the review box will come up as soon as you click the ‘I’ve finished the book’ buttton in your progress tracking.
- Otherwise, find the book in the search box, mark the book as ‘Read’ in the drop down menu.
- This will bring up the 5 stars for your rating, and the ‘Write a review’ button. The star rating is sufficient. The review is optional.
- If you choose to leave an actual review, please don’t forget to flick the ‘Spoilers’ switch at the bottom of the review box, if you give more than a mere hint of plot points or twists.
Some people choose to leave lengthy and detailed reviews, well articulated and argued; this is by no means indispensable. A short review explaining what you liked or disliked will be just as welcome.