Is it enough to purchase a book, read it and enjoy it? 

 

On the surface the answer would seem to be yes. However, look at it from this point of view.

 

There are hundreds of thousands of books published every year, millions in fact. They all sit on the usual sites (Amazon, iBooks, Google Books, the Fantastic Books Store) and folks purchase and read them. When a book is considered to be of low quality, either because of sloppy production or the writing itself, it may receive a negative review which will push it down the list of books and lower its visibility on those sites. After a few days that book will sink away from view and possibly never been seen again.

 

In contrast, if a book receives a positive review its visibility is bolstered and it shows up a little higher in searches and suchlike.

 

Great! So all we need to do is find a couple of positive reviews and all is good, yes? Unfortunately not. 

 

Unlike a single negative review, which can hugely damage a book's reputation and have it sink to the bottom of the book graveyard forever, a single positive review, no matter how praise filled and complimentary, will only bolster that book's position for a few hours at best. After that, the relentless tide of new publications will start to push it down the lists once more.

 

So, how do we stop this downward trend?

 

By supporting those titles that you have enjoyed in the past by reviewing them positively, encouraging your friends and family to read and review them too and by sharing posts about them on social media.

 

Our site has social sharing buttons below every title entry in our catalogue, please use them!

 

Amazon, Goodreads, all the main ebook and physical book retailers have the same. We encourage you to review your favourite books on as many different platforms as you can, even if it means copying and pasting your identical review to them all. 

 

It will only take the reader a scant few minutes to do this but the effect on a title, and therefore an author's book sales, reputation and overall will to continue in the creative field is immeasurable.

 

We believe that what is needed is a seismic shift in reader's attitudes towards reading in general. If you buy a book (or grab a heavily discounted or free book during a Kindle countdown deal or similar) and you enjoy it, you should review it. It should be analogous to eating in a restaurant and receiving great service. You wouldn't think twice about giving a tip to a waiter or waitress so why do book reviews arrive so infrequently?

 

Reviews really are the lifeblood of an author’s career and are much more important than sales to their reputation and overall visibility in our over saturated 21st Century literary world.

 

Here’s a handy, post novel checklist; Love the book? Love the author? Fell in love with one of the characters? Desperate to read the next in the series? Leave a review.