I just finished writing a review for another author. It started me thinking. Are book reviews still that important? Some books get hundreds of reviews. Others have very few. Does this increase sales? Personally, I pay more attention to blurbs and excerpts. You may write a glowing review and I read the book and hate it – different expectations.
So why book reviews?
There are reasons to get those reviews that not only sell the book but help the writer.
First the more reviews the easier it is to find the book when people are searching. Your SEO (search engine optimization). But good meta tags could work the same way.
Reviews might also provide the author with credibility for the potential reader. On sites like Amazon, Kobo and Goodreads it can move your book up the search ranking.
Another way book reviews might help is to share information with the author on how a reader likes or dislikes their book. They might share what they particularly enjoy or what they found confusing. Their feedback can be very helpful to the author. It can help improve the author’s writing, reveal possible weaknesses, and provide motivation for the next book.
Remember not to take any of the comments personally. If you disagree with a comment and feel it isn’t accurate, disregard it.
Reviews not only promote the book but you as an author. And another marketing tool people talk about is branding. What is your brand? Your brand helps to sell your book. And reviews can help you develop that brand. They say things like the book is a romantic suspense so readers will know your genre and maybe that you write that genre well. That could be part of your brand. If you are great at world-building that could also be part of your brand. So pay attention to those reviews. They might help you as an author in many different ways.