The Importance of being Honest

Subtitle – How to help your Indie Author.

Apologies if this post is a tad self-indulgent, but an incident today brought it home to me about how the livelihood of an indie author can be totally de-railed by the cruel vituperation of one or two harsh critics. Even more so when their comments are inaccurate and pay no attention to the blurb description. But enough about me.

If you’re an avid reader, the best possible help you can be for your favourite author (indie or otherwise) is do as many of these steps as possible for each new release:
1. Buy the book. This is particularly important if you do leave a review as it gives it the kudos of a “Verified Purchase.”

2. Read the book. Obvious, right? But with so many pulls on your time, it’s easy to forget.

3. Leave a rating – between 1 and 5. Even if you bug out halfway through and only give it 3 out of 5, it’s better than nothing.

4. Post a review telling potential readers your opinion. If you find this a tad tricky, see below.

5. Spread the word on social media – tell all your friends why they should be buying a copy of the book.
This last one is often overlooked by many - nothing helps more than the oxygen of publicity.

How to write an awesome review.

If I had a pound for every time someone told me they were rubbish at writing reviews ...
I get it, really I do - if you're not naturally confident with words it can be daunting.
So here's some questions to help you focus your thoughts and give a really good flavour of the book.
1. Who were your favourite characters in the book and why? If applicable, who did you hate and why?

2. What most attracted you about the author’s style (and why)? e.g. pace, characterisation, dialogue, plot, wit/humour, originality, descriptions, narrative style, quirks.

3. Did the story fit with the genre – which Films/TV shows was it most like, or what other authors is it similar to? e.g like Stranger Things meets Big Bang Theory or Stephen King meets Jason Ayres.

4. What (if anything) surprised you/what did you learn?

5. Any other general comment about how it fitted with rest of series/could be read as stand-alone, how it related to your personal experiences etc.