Indie Authors need your reviews
If you are an author, scroll down to grab the icons!
You can tell the really serious book publicists out there; they are the ones that tell you what you need to know for nothing. They will all give you the same list of things that you must have if your book has any chance at all in this flooded market:
- Good cover
- Clear descriptions
- Great story
And the other thing you will need is reviews - unpaid, honest, natural and loads of them. And to be honest, that is probably the hardest thing to find.
If there is one word that links together independent authors it is probably "Starvation." The market is still twisted towards the major publishers. They have the money, they have the influence and they have access to things like TV journalists, newspapers and all the things that we don't simply because we are not published by one of the big boys.
The pity is that there are some seriously good writers in the independent sector who just get overlooked - the market is huge and the belief that if you don't sell anything it is because your book is crap, no longer applies.
Honest reviews on the bookstore websites are like adverts for us. They tell readers that other readers have bothered with this book. The more you have, the more bothered people appear to have been. Let me stress, that these MUST be honest reviews, not paid for reviews.
We don't even need long, wordy reviews. A long critique is nice, but for most readers all they want to know is, did you like it? Was it enjoyable? Will I like it? The review that takes seconds to write is probably the best review ever. It is natural, instinctive and truthful.
And, of course, as more and more people use smartphones to browse the internet, they are unlikely to read a huge essay - they will want a paragraph at the most.
But most of us don't get enough reviews, even when we know people are buying the books or downloading them for free.
So, this is my little plea from me and all the other indie authors out there:
Please, leave a review, and Make us Smile
You will help us, you will help other readers, and you might even feel good for having done it.
The Make an Author Smile Badge
(Thanks to Dii at Tome Tender for suggesting the name) Note: Now revised a little.
If you as an author want to use the Review Me cartoon I have made, please do. Here it is in transparent PNG format so you can stick it over your other promotions. Just remember that I created it, and good luck!
Click on each to open a larger version.
Here are a couple of banners - but please, make your own too with your own ideas
