How Authors Can Use Reviews in Book Marketing

EPISODE SEVENTY THREE

Amazon isn't the only place where reviews can have an impact on book sales. So where can authors get more authentic reader reviews and how can we put them to work in our marketing efforts?

TRANSCRIPT:

Jenn Hanson-Depaula: Hello, and welcome to the Book Marketing Simplified Podcast. I'm Jenn Hanson-Depaula.

Marcus Depaula: I'm Marcus Depaula. Jenn, authors know how important it is to get reviews. Obviously, Amazon is where a lot of people focus their review efforts. There's a lot more to reviews than just having them on Amazon.

Jenn: Absolutely. I know that it can be very frustrating and difficult. It can feel like you're pulling teeth trying to get people to actually leave a review.

Marcus: It's scary.

Jenn: It is. Many readers have not left many reviews. They don't understand, okay, I don't need to write this huge review. It can just be a couple lines. It can be a few sentences. There is some resistance to leaving reviews on Amazon. Something that I really encourage authors to do is to get a little creative on how to get reviews outside of Amazon. This is especially if this is your first book. If you're feeling that pressure of, "Oh my gosh, I have to get all of these reviews on Amazon, and they just aren't coming in yet," it's okay. Take a breath. Remember that you have a lot of time that you can begin to accumulate more and more reviews.

Marcus: We all have to start somewhere and it just builds and builds.

Jenn: Absolutely. What I want to encourage authors to do is to look at other ways that they can start collecting reviews outside of Amazon, but also how you can get the most out of them. The very first thing is that many times I see authors who get comments on their social media or they get a DM or an email from a reader saying, oh, I love the book. Thank you so much. It's just a few words and they feel deflated because they think, why didn't they put that on Amazon? What I always encourage authors to do is if you do get a comment or a DM or an email, take a screenshot of it.

First of all, thank them for reading the book and for leaving this comment or letting you know. Then say, I would love to be able to use this within my social media or on my website. Do I have your permission to use this? You can say, I don't need to use your face if you have the avatar in there, if it's on social media, or I don't need to use your name or your whole name. I can just use your first name, but are you cool with me using this? The great thing about this is that you can use those screenshots and put them on your website.

You can use those quotes and use them within a caption of a social media post. Let's say you're doing a more promotional post where you're sharing the hook of your book and you are telling a little bit more details about what the book is about or what the features are within the book. Then you can put in one of these reviews, one of these quotes from a reader to give it that social proof. This is something that you can use everywhere. What I see so many authors not doing is using even just some of those little quotes that people use. You don't need to even use the whole quote. If they left this huge review, you can just pull some of those keywords and use that within your captions, within your copy on your website as that social proof.

Because readers want to know, is this book going to be worth my time? Is this going to be worth me putting this book ahead of the others that I have on my to be read list? We want to give that assurance that this is a really great book. Other readers have loved it. These reviews, this feedback is a great way to do that. You can use these over and over again. If you are a brand new author and you only have a few reviews, let's say you have three reviews, you can use those again and again and again. It is not something where it's a one and done.

Using them over and over again, repetition is key within marketing. Two, not everyone sees those posts when you post them. Three, people aren't sitting there keeping tally of how many times you've used a review.

Marcus: Exactly.

Jenn: It's not something that is going to be at the forefront of their mind. This is a marketing tool and using it again and again is very important.

Marcus: That actually made me think of another question. Is it okay for me to make my own fake review and use that as content?

Jenn: No, it's not. It's not honest. It's not truthful. It's not something that you want to resort to. Falsifying anything is not good.

Marcus: Because the ultimate goal is to make more connections with other people that are your ideal reader. If you're being dishonest in any way, even these little ways that might seem innocuous, that potentially could hurt you at some point. It's just so easy to, like you said, just use some of the DMs or some other comments and stuff from other people. Why put yourself at that risk?

Jenn: You want to be trusted right off the bat. If you get all of these glowing reviews and the book does not deliver on that, that's hurting future books. That's hurting your trust with your readers. It's also within your marketing. You want to be truthful on, okay, this is what this book is about. This is what this book will deliver. These are the questions that this book will answer. I've seen many books where the marketing has been very good, but the book does not deliver. That ends up hurting them in the long run for their upcoming books. Because it's like, okay, this book did not deliver on that. The marketing was really good, but the book didn't deliver on that. Just be truthful, create the best book that you possibly can, and make those genuine connections.

Marcus: Your readers don't want to feel manipulated. On the flip side of that, once you start using those authentic reviews and people start seeing those on your social media posts on your website, that might actually prompt them to say, oh, this person is receiving reviews. I can leave one too, and they might post it and I might be helping them. For your true fans, that's a big win.

Jenn: Absolutely. When they see, oh gosh, she quoted me or she used my quote. This isn't to say to stop asking people to leave reviews on Amazon, but it's thinking about ways outside of that big machine that is Amazon and also going, hey, if you want to leave a review somewhere else, go to Barnes and Noble, go to my website, go to wherever it is that you buy books and leave a review. If someone does leave you a review, say, thank you so much, this means the world to me. Are you cool if I use this on my website or within a social media post? Hey, have you ever considered leaving this on Amazon?

Marcus: We haven't done a make it happen moment in a while, but for this episode, maybe we could ask you as an author to let your fellow authors that you're a fan of know how much you appreciate their work and what they've done, whether it's social media DM or an Amazon review or Barnes and Noble review.

Jenn: Absolutely. Reciprocity is a huge thing. When we start putting that energy out in leaving reviews or leaving thoughtful comments, that brings it back to us as well. It's a great habit to get into and a great practice to put into place, but it's also going to return to you as well.

Marcus: We love how supportive the author community is. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast as always and for letting Jenn know how much her content means to you and how much it's helping you.

Jenn: Yes. Thank you so much. We'll see you next time.