Positive Book Reviews

What people don’t understand, that as an author, you open your self to the world. You show them something you created from start to finish. Honestly, from my experience, it’s scary. I’ve always been a very private person and letting the whole world know some of the weird stuff I’ve come up with – makes me feel a little over exposed.

Sometimes, that exposure can put you on top of the world. Success in the whole self-publishing realm revolves around positive reviews on numerous sites such as Amazon, GoodReads, and The Kindle Review.  Friends and family will review your work and most of the time posts something good. However, it’s when someone you don’t know, and that person is associated with a bigger media, and makes a positive review – it means something. Don’t get me wrong – friends and family means a lot.

However, there is a stigma with book reviews and indie authors. Early on, unscrupulous people realized that they could charge for a positive review, regardless of how good the book was, and muddy up the system. Amazon was forced into action by removing reviews off their system, same for Barns and Noble, and Goodreads. Traversing these treacherous waters is very time consuming.

When I started the whole self-publishing route, like any author, I was afraid of the negative reviews. Since it was unavoidable, I searched the World Wide Web for the best place to submit my book for a good, respectable, honest review. One of the few sites that always floated to the top was The Kindle Book Review. Getting a book reviewed by these guys/gals is more than tough. They are in high demand, they charge nothing, they have a huge following, and their reviews are posted on Amazon and Goodreads. Above anything else, their reviews are respected throughout the indie writing world.

In November, I submitted my first and only official letter requesting a review from any entity, of my book, to The Kindle Book Review.  Getting family and friends to submit a review sometimes is like pulling teeth, getting a group of reviewers who are hounded by 1000s of authors daily, to review my book – yeah right.

I never received a response, which was fine.

However, yesterday I logged in to GoodReads.com and was surprised to see that The Kindle Book Review not only reviewed my book, but also gave it 4 out of 5 stars. They had also posted a positive review on Amazon.

To some folks, this might not be a big deal.  To me, however, it meant a completion to something I started a long time ago.

I never realized how important reviews and ratings played in success of a product until I went down this path. I now rate and review every item I buy online. Every book I read I try to rate (unless it terrible, then I don’t bother). I strongly suggest you do your part. If you bought something from Amazon, EBay, or Etsy, be it a book, car part, or art – give good honest feedback. In the end, I think it helps everyone.