Five Minutes or Less to Posting an Amazon Review

Our guest blogger is Athol Dickson author of several books including January Justice.

Five Minutes or Less to Posting an Amazon Review

SO YOU READ one of my novels, and now you want to tell people about it? THANK YOU! No matter what you have to say about my novel, your review is important. It will let other visitors to Amazon know someone has read my books, which is vital in making an independently published author like myself visible to a wider audience.
Because we’re all busy, here are some tips for reviewing a book quickly:
The 5 second “Like” – If you really have no time, you can simply click the “like” button underneath the title. If you have another second or two, then you can also share the book’s Amazon page with your Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest friends.
Rate someone else’s’ review – You’ll see the “Yes” and “No” buttons for this just below the person’s comments. Reviews with the most “helpful” votes appear on the buy page. By voting for the most informative reviews, you help move them to the head of the line. Have another minute? Click the link beside the buttons to leave a quick comment about their review. If you find a thoughtful, thorough review that helps you decide whether to buy the book, the reviewer will always welcome a little praise.
Tell people what you thought about the book - If you can spend a couple of minutes more, go ahead and leave your own review. Click on the text link that tells how many reviews the book already has. You’ll see that link beside the stars. Then click on the “Create Your Own Review” button to get started. You can keep it short. One or two sentences is fine. But if you want to say a little more, keep it informal. Just talk about the things you liked or disliked as you would with a friend over coffee or tea. Almost anything you have to say about your reading experience is fine. The only thing you should NOT do when reviewing a novel is give away the ending, or any of the important plot twists.
Give it a star rating – Be honest, but do consider what the stars mean. 5 or 4 stars are a positive endorsement, which will help an author’s career. You should choose one of those if you think the book was well written and well worth your time. 3 stars is neutral, for books that you consider about average when compared to others of their kind. 2 or 1 star ratings are seen as “NOT RECOMMENDED” by Amazon, which can damage an author’s career. They should be chosen only if you think the book was very poorly written, or a waste of your time.
It’s that easy. And because writing is a lonely business, I know every author would join me in saying we appreciate you taking just a little time to give us this kind of feedback.