August 2016 is Write An Amazon Review Month! By @TerryTyler4 #AugustReviews
On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amber wrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed ~ following this up, Terry Tyler is starting this initiative along with other writer-bloggers including Rosie, Cathy from Between The Lines, Barb Taub, Shelley Wilson and Alison Williams.
The idea is that, from August 1st, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!). You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time. The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it is you get the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag on it; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway.
Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book. No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used. Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever!
Why should you write a review?
They help book buyers make decisions. Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use? Book reviews are no different.
If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand.
The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly). If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen.
It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes!
Off we go, then! A few more pointers:
If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above.
A review can be as short as one word. The shortest one I have is just two 🙂
You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like.
No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post.
Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review? If so, tweet the link to it with the hashtag #AugustReviews ~ and thank you! I will do one blog post a week featuring these links: The #AugustReviews Hall of Fame (thank you, Barb!).
If you have a blog and would like to spread the word about #AugustReviews, please feel free to copy and paste this blog post, provide the link to it, re-blog it, or whatever ~ many thanks, and I hope you will join in to make this idea a success 🙂
The Write Stuff 
Reblogged this on Bookin' It and commented:
A very good idea! Let’s all do this, and make a general habit of leaving reviews. It actually DOES move the books up in Amazon’s ranking, making them easier for readers to find. Love an author? Leave a review!
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Thank you so much for such a great post, Rosie, and for sharing such a cool idea! I have several reviews almost ready to go, and will post on Amazon as well as Bookin’ It. I heartily encourage everyone to do this. I can tell you from my own personal experience, the more reviews I get, the more sales I make, and the higher in the Amazon rankings my books move. Of course, doing an occasional promo would help, too, but PLEASE try to remember to leave reviews for those books you love.
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Thanks Marcia.
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I reblog it on 30th July as I have other scheduled articles until then. A great idea anyway.
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Thanks Carmen.
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Pingback: Make August WRITE A REVIEW On AMAZON MONTH @TerryTyler4 #AugustReviews | carsonrenomysteryseries.com
Reblogged this on deborahjay and commented:
Reviews are essential to authors, so please, do join in!
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Great idea. Since joining Goodreads and publishing on Amazon I started reviewing each book I read in the hope that the Amazon Angel would look down favorably upon me and increase my book sales and reviews…. but I actually enjoy reviewing, it stretches our writing brain and makes us consider what readers want from a novel. My review in August will be Marcia’s ‘Wake-Robin Ridge’ which I’m really enjoying ( chap 10 ).
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Oh, wow, Janet! How nice that you are planning to review Wake-Robin Ridge. I hope you’ll continue to enjoy it. You are rapidly approaching a point in the story when things start happening very fast, both in Sarah’s life, and in Ruth’s. Hold on to your hat!
And I agree that this is a great idea. I’m going over several reviews I want to get written and share with the world. Thanks for stopping by today!
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Yes, I hardly dare read on I’m so scared for Ruth. I do like novels running in more than one time. I like writing in first person, but never thought of using third person for other characters, such as Mac and solving the problem what’s going on when Sarah’s not there, or what is he thinking?
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I’m glad that’s working for you. I didn’t invent the idea, of course, and have always loved books with multiple points of view. In fact, I prefer them, because I enjoy seeing what’s going on in the heads of characters surrounding the protagonist. It always makes it more interesting, to me, as long as there’s no confusion when the POV shifts. (I do it with either complete change of scene or a new chapter, altogether).
I think because this was my first book–and was meant to be a one-time, Bucket List kind of venture–I wanted to try all my favorite things in it. It was only when I started getting all sorts of emails asking for a sequel that I realized I wasn’t going to quit writing. And here I am, now, with 5 novels out and another in the works. Who’d-a thunk? 😀
Happy reading!
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Many thanks Janet, great to hear you are enjoying Marcia’s book.
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog.
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Reblogged this on jemsbooks and commented:
Wonderful post by Marcia Meara about reviewing books on Amazon. Let’s get onboard and review books now. Indie authors need readers and reviewers! We love you for your reviews! Begin now – August is review books month! Thank you! ❤️
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Great post, Marcia! I reblogged and shared. Best wishes! 😃
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I enjoyed it, too, JJ, and I wish I could take credit for it, but this was actually posted by Rosie Amber, one of the contributing authors here. And I agree, it is a GREAT idea, and I’m very glad you shared it. Thanks so much! I’m working on a couple of things to review for this month, myself, thanks to Rosie’s and Terry Tyler. Have a super week!
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So here’s my 5 star review on Amazon.co.uk for Wake-Robin Ridge. I have also posted a different review on Goodreads. Now I’m off to look up more about the Blue Ridge Mountains and that creepy plant I’m glad I don’t have in my garden, but which is a brilliant device for mysteries!
Even the two dogs will steal your heart in this gripping story.
2016-08-05
‘A great story teller’ was my first impression as I quickly got into this story, or rather two interwoven tales. I enjoy novels set in more than one time and in this book the chapter headings helpfully tell us when and where we are. I have never been to the USA and if I ever get there I would rather visit Wake-Robin Ridge than Disneyland! This is a rounded tale, a romance and ghost story, but also a delightful journey to a beautiful part of the USA. Two very different love stories and four very different lives. I was so involved, that half way through the novel I thought I had misread that it was also a ghost story, so when the first paranormal event occurred it came as a complete shock. Without giving anything away, the description of that first night of terror was more vivid than any horror movie. If I did visit the Blue Ridge Mountains, I would certainly not stay by myself! I look forward to reading more by this author.
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Fantastic Janet and thanks for sharing. I’ve read the next two in this series and can highly recommend them, or even Swamp Ghosts, Marcia’s first book in her other series set in Florida.
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Thank you so much, Rosie. I’m tickled to death that you’ve enjoyed the whole series, so far. And that you liked Book 1 of the Riverbend series, too, even without the slightly paranormal aspects of the Appalachian legends threaded through the Wake-Robin Ridge series. Riverbend doesn’t need any of that–the folks who live there are weird enough all on their own. 😀
And may I take a moment to thank you on behalf of ALL writers, everywhere, for all you do to support us and spread the word about our work. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: You ROCK, Rosie Amber!
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Wow, what a great review, Janet! Thank you so much for sharing here, since many of us don’t usually read Amazon UK reviews. I’m so very pleased you enjoyed the happenings on Wake-Robin Ridge. And I agree, I’d rather be there than Disneyland, too! 😀
Writing that first book taught me that story lines often grow organically, as you go. I knew all of my characters and what their basic tales would be, but there were many details that shifted and grew, or faded, in importance as the story progressed. The night you are talking about is one of them. So, maybe even I was a bit surprised by it. (This is what comes from letting your characters show you the way, I guess.)
I hope you don’t mind, but I think I’d like to share this in a separate post, so all our followers can see that belonging to a community like this one can result in some very positive things, beyond the friendship and camaraderie. THANKS AGAIN!!
PS . . . that creepy plant you mentioned is kudzu, and if you stand still long enough, it will twine right up your legs!! It would swallow your garden whole in no time. 😯
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Hi Marcia, yes you are welcome to share my review in a separate post. My story lines definitely grow organically from my characters; I know some authors like to have the novel plotted out, but I soon realised my characters would not stand for that!
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I’m with you, Janet. My characters are rebellious and determined, and sometimes insist on having their own starring role in subsequent books. 😀 I figure, if they’re that set on it, I may as well let ‘ em have at it. 😀
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Little clips like this can be good practice. Writing Amazon reviews means you’re engaging with a large readership, and you can begin to gauge what does and doesn’t flow publicly. Partly that’s because amazon is a beast and everybody’s on it, but partly too because book reviews are a public place for sharing open reflections on stories, which doesn’t happen as often as we’d like.
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