The Importance of Book Reviews

Gaining book reviews can often be one of the more unexpectedly difficult aspects of publishing and marketing your work. Without reviews, it is unlikely that people will feel confident enough to buy your book. But you need them to buy your book in order to leave reviews. A difficult conundrum! However, even though it is a challenging prospect, gaining book reviews is the one step during your book marketing which you cannot afford to miss.  
 
Why is it so important? 

Reviews give your book credibility. They let readers know that the book is legitimate, interesting and a worthwhile purchase. These days, it is very unlikely that anyone purchases anything without checking out the reviews first! There are so many scams on the internet that often customers are wary of purchasing items which have no reviews. On that note, reviews statistically make your book more likely to be chosen over a book which lacks reviews and ratings. 
 
Book reviews also help create excitement and buzz around your book. Generating interest can be incredibly helpful for the launch (or relaunch) of your book. Having reviews on your book before the launch date will give your book the boost it needs to see a flurry of activity from the get-go.  
 
Another important reason is the potential marketing opportunities. Some sites will only accept books which have a certain number of reviews already on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads.  
 
Why is it difficult to get reviews? 

Gaining book reviews is difficult for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a time-consuming process which does not often give encouraging results. The onus is on the readers to leave the reviews and therefore it can be frustrating for the author when the process is out of their hands.  
 
If you are hoping to gain reviews on Amazon, there is the further challenge of gaining reviews from readers who are not friends or family. Relying on friends is a great way for new authors to gain some starting reviews, however, Amazon has placed restrictions on this, removing reviews from friends or family altogether.  
 
Gaining reviews can also be an expensive journey. Book review sites are incredibly expensive, for example Kirkus charges $425-$575 and NetGalley charges $399-$599, and often the reviews cannot be guaranteed.  
 
Getting your foot in the door to start gaining reviews can be a difficult process. For an easy and secure way of gaining book reviews check out our ARC and Book Review Service here at Rowanvale books. This service will save you time and effort in an ethical way, in line with Amazon’s rules and restrictions. 
 
The service charge includes a set-up and admin fee alongside a charge per the number of readers you would like your book distributed to. This means that you can decide how many readers you want to read your book in accordance with your budget. The service also comes with a set-up fee refund guarantee if there is no interest from the reviewer pool for your title! 
 
We know how important book reviews are and so we have a constantly monitored and refreshed reader pool to ensure that we have passionate readers, excited for new book content which ensures a high read-to-review ratio!