Authors know the importance of getting book reviews. The more reviews you have, the more books you sell. And the more books you sell, the more reviews you get. 

It’s a virtuous cycle you want to repeat because the opposite is also true. 

The fewer reviews you have, the fewer books you’ll sell. And if you don’t sell books, you won’t get reviews.

Getting reviews is especially important for indie authors who sell most of their books through Amazon. That review count and ratings are displayed on your book pages where everyone can see it.

But how do you get more reviews?

To find out, I interviewed Jim Kukral the founder of Author Marketing Club, the former host of the Sell More Books Show, and the current host of the Unskippable Podcast.

Why won’t readers leave book reviews?

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: A lot of authors struggle to get book reviews, why is it so hard to get book reviews?

Jim Kukral: There are a bunch of reasons why it’s hard to get reviews.

* People who read books are reading for entertainment. They’re not in it to leave book reviews. They paid for the book. They read it, and they’re done.* People don’t know how to leave reviews. It’s a foreign concept to a lot of people. They don’t know which button to click because they’ve never done it before.* People don’t know what to say, or they’re not interested in leaving a review.* People don’t think of leaving a review, so you have to prompt them.

Readers are not necessarily writers, so when you ask Joe Plumber who just read your nonfiction to leave a review, it is a major task. He doesn’t know how, and he doesn’t expect he needs to. Plus, he has no idea how to write.

That’s a big barrier to entry for leaving reviews, and that’s why most people don’t do it.

Thomas: A handful of people leave a lot of reviews. But that is a tiny fraction of readers. I would imagine most book readers have never left a single review.  

How do authors help readers leave reviews?

What are your strategies for helping readers overcome those obstacles and write that first review?

Jim: You must ask people to leave a review. If you don’t ask, only 1% will do it. Make a personal plea and ask them to do it. Your response rate will increase a few percentage points because you asked personally, and it can make a world of difference.

I write nonfiction, entrepreneurial books for small businesses, and at the end of every book, I nicely ask them to leave a review.

I write, “Did you enjoy what you just read? Well, reviews are the lifeblood for people like me who write books like this. Would you leave a review?”

When you ask nicely and explain why reviews are important to help you continue getting your work into the world, you will see an increase in reviews.