Being an author is just like running any business. Reviews will help build your credibility and integrity and encourage new customers (readers) to try your product (books). Reviews can help both author and readers in many ways; from sales to giving your audience a voice.
Book Reviews Can Increase Sales
There are several ways in which reviews can help with your book sales, but the two main ways are through building your credibility and searchability.
If you are a new author, and particularly if you are a new self-published author, readers have no trust built up in your writing.
A good summary can intrigue people, but most readers want to know more about your book; is the plot done well, are the characters developed, are there great twists. Readers want to know that your book is worth their money before making their purchase, and reviews can do a lot for providing that proof.
Reviews also make it easier to find your book. Reviews can help move your book up the search ranking on sites like Amazon or Goodreads, and reviews can also help your SEO (search engine optimization). Reviewers will use keywords like the title of your book, your name, the genre, and sub-genres of your book. The more times these things are mentioned, the better chance of your book getting surfaced in the search results for those words. Increasing the traffic to your book pages combined with good reviews of your book are the best ways to lead to the sale of your book.
Book Reviews Help You to Understand What Your Readers Want
Reading through the reviews written about your books can really help you better understand what it is your readers are looking for. Answering questions like, what are your readers enjoying about your work? What do they think is missing? And, what do they connect with? Can do a lot to help you understand your audience.
This kind of insight into your work can help if you are stuck in your writing, especially if you are writing a series, by showing things you didn’t notice, work on weaknesses, and motivate you.
Reviews can also show you where there might be miscommunications between you and the reader, such as an aspect of the book that is too subtle or confusing and therefore not getting through to the readers.
Reviews enable the author to have direct communication with their readers and help ensure that they are writing the best books for themselves and their audience.
Book Reviews Help You to Craft and Improve Your Writing
Getting feedback on your writing is incredibly beneficial and integral part of the writing process. It enables you to continue to grow as an author while getting feedback specifically from your target audience.
Getting good feedback on your work is wonderful and can help you see what you are doing well and keep you inspired and motivated, but constructive feedback is just as helpful, if not more so, in improving your craft and pushing you to grow as a writer.
As long as you can remember not to take any of the comments personally and read them with the earnest desire to work on your writing.
Look at 2-4-star reviews in particular. These reviews are more likely, to be honest, and helpful.
1-star reviews especially are more likely to be less insightful, a troll or someone who isn’t your target audience.
When writing a book, you always want to get feedback from readers, book reviews can offer a broader range of perspective than just your friends.
Reviews offer feedback that is insightful and points out things that are hard to see on your own. Edging you ever closer to writing that next best seller.
Reviews Speak for Your Book
Book reviews allow your audience to speak, giving them a voice. Most people who write book reviews are honestly trying to help other readers understand your work.
Reviews promote the book and you as an author.
Good book reviews are your readers directly recommending your book to potential readers, and become an active part of the marketing process. At a certain point, the author has to let go of their work and allow their readers to make up their minds about it.
Reviewers then become the voice of the book, letting people know more than the summary can provide on its own. They speak of your book and for your book.
Book reviews are an integral piece of the puzzle that is writing books and being an author. They help both readers and authors connect and promote writing they are passionate about.
Book Reviews Are Essential to Building Your Brand as an Author
Building your brand as an author helps target the specific audience reading your genre. Your brand as an author is what helps sell your book.
As you build your brand your credibility, and recognizability grows. This builds trust with new readers and turns them into fans who’ll always come back for your next book.
Book reviewers are able to build your brand like no one else. By writing reviews that say things like great characters, excellent world-building, or amazing mystery, those things become part of your brand.
Reviewers can let people know what genre you write in and if you excel in that genre. Adding your genre to your brand is an easy way to show your target audience, you write something that they will enjoy.
Being known as a writer who is great at world-building, especially for sci-fi or fantasy, will help target readers who look for that in the books they choose.
Having a clear brand also makes you more recognizable to your audience, helps them remember your name and what you excel at, making them more likely to think of you when looking for their next read.
The more reviews that say things that build and boost your brand, the more people will have trust in your ability to craft a compelling story.
What did you think of our reasons for why book reviews are important to readers? Let us know in the comments.