Reviews

by Bethany Maines

Ahhhhhh... The soothing feeling of not being in a mad marketing scramble.  

Being in a post-book release time frame is both relaxing and a little bit of a let-down.  The majority of sales happen around the book release week and after that, there’s just general marketing and gulp, waiting for reviews to come in. Reviews, believe it or not, are quite hard to come by.  In a world where literally every service seems to ask for you to thumbs up, rate, review, rave about, the good old fashioned recommendation of a book has become both more important and yet, even harder to get.

Readers get intimidated by the process – do I need to write a book report? Ahhhhhh!!!!  The answer to that one is no.  Short reviews are frequently the best.  For example, here’s the latest review for The Second Shot…

“A drunken mistake in college cost U.S. Marshal Maxwell Ames the love of Dominique Deveraux and six years later, he’s determined to fix the slip-up. But there’s just one tiny problem. When I started reading I couldn't put it down. Bethany Maines is magnificent and amazing writer. I cannot wait to read more of her books. Keep up the great work. You should definitely read this book. Can't wait for the next book.”

Now obviously any review that calls me an amazing writer is going to be tops with me, but beyond that, the reviewer did the one thing that is required in a review – said what she liked. Then she gave it a rating and moved on with life. No synopsis, spoilers, no over thinking or hard work.  Read the book, reacted, bam, done.

Then readers think – does it really matter if I leave a review?  Short answer, yes, it really, really does.  Even on older books?  YES!!  There are some marketing options that I can only get if I have enough reviews or a high enough rating.  Your kind words really matter.  And of course, saying I’m an awesome writer is the kind of thing that keeps me going when some meanie leaves me a two star review. (It happens to everyone, we are breathing, we are breathing, and letting it go…)

So to anyone who has left a book review, even if it wasn’t for one of my books, I say thank you.  And if you’d like to give a writer a gift… may I suggest leaving a review on Amazon, BookBub, or Goodreads.

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.