A Single Sentence...

So, what do reviews mean to an indie author? Well, I'll tell you, the mean everything, they mean the world. Does that sound a bit over the top? It isn't. I can't overstate how important they are to us.

One of the reasons, quite frankly, is because they are so hard to get. The same reason gold and diamonds are worth so much, they are a scarce commodity. Only a very small percentage of those who buy a book will stop and rate it, even fewer will review it. The irony of that, is that when deciding whether to buy a book, the first thing anyone does, is to check the reviews. No one wants to write reviews but everyone wants to read them.

They are especially important for indie authors. We already have a bit of a mountain to climb, getting people's attention and getting them to take us seriously. It is even harder to try and persuade people to buy a book with no reviews.

It's not just that though. Indie authors are generally not in it for the money, because we know there isn't really any money in it, not for most of us anyway. We do it because we love it and because we want other people to love what we do.

Most of the time though, it's like going out into the middle of a field and shouting at the clouds. I'm going to do something that's a bit frowned upon now, I'm going to quote myself... yes, I know but I think I put it quite well over on my website, where on the homepage I say...

"I'm going to paraphrase Steven King now (if you're going to do a thing like that you should always warn people first). He said something along the lines of...

If telepathy is transmitting thoughts and images from one mind to another, then telepathy is real. Writing is telepathy.

It's also lonely... You send your work out into the ether and have no idea how it is doing. Like packing your children a lunch, sending them off into the world and then... and then... they don't call, they don't write...

So, why not let me know how the telepathy is going?"

Without reviews, we don't know how the kids are doing. Are they well behaved? Do people like them? Has anyone fallen in love with them? What have they been getting up to?

So, why aren't there more reviews? I have some thoughts on that.

There is of course the obvious, people just don't like your book but they don't like to say. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Horrible thought but it is one all writers have to live with if we publish our work. Silence, feeds into our, 'imposter syndrome,' and self-doubt, it can give us some very bad days.

The next obvious one is, 'life gets in the way,' people really do mean to review you but 'stuff happens,' and they never get around to it. Time goes by and then it sort of feels too late. (It isn't, we will take the review and thank you for it).

The other one I hear a lot is, 'who wants to know what I think? I'm nobody, who cares what I have to say?' We do! We really, really do! You're our readers we absolutely, definitely, incontrovertibly want to know what you think. Anyway, what on Earth do you mean, 'I'm nobody?' You are somebody, you are you and you are absolutely unique in the universe. Your opinion is as good as anyone else's and likely better than many with louder voices.

Then we come to what is probably the biggest one. 'I was going to review your book but I didn't know what to say.'

So many people are put off leaving a review, because they feel like they have to write a 'book report,' like they have gone back to their school days, or because they think they have to come up with something witty or insightful to say, that others will judge them on the quality of their review.

Many people love to pen an in-depth review and we are always up for reading them but there is no need to do that if you are not comfortable with it. Genuinely, don't worry about it. A single sentence will do, whatever you want to put. 'Such a good book, I loved it,' or, 'I so enjoyed this, I hope there will be a sequel,' Is just as valid as any other review. It may not be witty, or insightful but if it is how the book made you feel, then it's fine.

Just one more thing and then I will have had my say on the subject of reviews.

Please be kind.

The thing is, authors are people too, if you see what I mean. We have this mad urge to write and publish books, nobody asked us to, you didn't ask us to, I get that. If we stick our heads above the parapet then we can expect that we might get shot at. Still, we have all the same problems as anyone else, some people have easier lives and some harder and that is the way of the world. Most indie authors shoehorn a little writing into their lives where they can. The book you review could represent two years of stolen Sunday afternoons, or eighteen months of early mornings before work.

Just remember, that when you review an indie author's book, you are not reviewing the latest budget dishwasher from a faceless corporation, or even the latest blockbuster by a million selling author who doesn't even read their own reviews and never sees the bad ones anyway. No, you are talking directly to the person who wrote it and it's their baby.

I know it can be fun to dismantle something with a witty turn of phrase but you know, you wouldn't go up to someone in the street, slap their kid twice around the back of the head and say, 'You have such an ugly kid, you should be ashamed.' You wouldn't, would you?