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One of the best ways to increase book sales is by having a lot of good reviews. For most authors, the quality is there, but getting the reviews is the problem. Authors turn to social networks such as Twitter to get reviews, but most people do not properly ask for a review. The common mistake authors make is sending a tweet to all of their followers that says something like this, “Please review my book. Here is a link (link to book).”
In order to properly ask for a review, you have to ask one customer at a time. This may not be as quick as sending out a tweet to the masses, but quicker is not always better (in this case, quicker is not better). In order to properly ask for a book review on Twitter, follow these steps:
- Identify the people who have bought your book. For some authors, this is the hard part. I use KDP to publish my Kindle books, but their statistics only offer the numbers. Their statistics do not show names of people who have bought your book with a link to their Twitter account. The best way to find the people who have bought your book is by looking at the tweets of people mentioning you. Most of the people who buy my books send out a tweet to me (with my username so I get to see the tweet).
- Favorite the tweets of people saying that they bought your book. By favoriting the tweet where someone says they bought your book, you are showing them that you are grateful that they bought your book.
- Ask them about your book. After a day, ask the person how far they got in your book and whether they liked it or not. If the person does not like the review, continue the conversation anyway. By continuing the conversation, you have the ability to clear up something that may sound confusing, and the reader will like you for continuing the conversation. If the person likes your book, implement #4.
- Ask the person to write a short blurb about your book and submit it on Amazon. People cringe at the thought of writing a review because they take a lot of time to write. A short blurb sounds quick and easy. Sure enough, it is, and by wording your tweet to say “short blurb” instead of “review,” you are more likely to get feedback for your book.
By implementing these 4 steps, you will be able to get more reviews for your book. This process will allow you to build a strong fan base versus going for a hit or miss opportunity by sending a single tweet to all of your followers. Quality customers come one at a time, not in bulk.
In really enjoying your blog. It’s very informative. Can you add an email button to your blog please? Sometimes I prefer to share important information, like what you provide in your blog directly to specific people via email. Thanks, looking forward to your future work. bg
Thank you for the suggestion Brian. I will look into this and see how I can allow my visitors to email people about my blog posts.
While this may be a good way to do it if you’re asking the regular joe schmo I would add that if you’re seeking a review from a book blogger of some kind this may not be the best way to do it. As a book blogger/reviewer myself, those twitter requests are the most awkward.
I do not know how all book blogger/reviewers think about asking someone on Twitter. I got one person who wrote a blog post about my book to also write an Amazon review because I asked on Twitter. Most of my reviews have been a direct result of Twitter conversations.
Your #4 is really good! Good luck with your 6th
Thank you. Lead The Stampede is looking really good right now. The book will definitely be published in the summer.
Thanks Marc. How many books have you written? Do you self publish on Kindle?
I have written 5 books and all of them are self published on the Kindle. I will most likely publish my 6th book (Lead The Stampede) before or in the summer.