To Share with Your Readers: Tips for Writing Amazon Reviews

Penny C. Sansevieri, is the CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. and internationally recognized as a book social media marketing and book marketing, and a media relations expert. She frequently offers tips and advice on marketing books on Amazon.

As an author I always, always try to encourage my friends to post amazon reviews for books they’ve read. I remind them that reviews matter to authors. Most, however, aren’t familiar with writing amazon reviews or have never written one.

Another issue, I’ve heard from numerous authors who have friends who post amazon reviews, for which they are grateful, but wished they were more detailed. Many times the reviews consisted of not much more than “Loved this book!” And while it’s great to have fans, amazon reviews like that do little to help a book along. Also, shorter reviews are often frowned upon by Amazon and could get pulled if the review seems disingenuous. Read more about why Amazon reviews get pulled.

When a book has lots of great, detailed reviews, we tend to scan them for highlights on the things that matter to us. That’s how we often buy books. Both good and bad reviews can help us decide, and, frankly, I’ve often bought a book after I read a bad review because what the reviewer didn’t like was exactly what I was looking for. That’s why detailed reviews are not only helpful, they’re a must for your Amazon page.

It’s tempting to ask friends and family to write reviews. They often want to help but aren’t sure what to say. And you may have readers who love your work but aren’t savvy on posting reviews.

You can find Penny's tips here:

Where will you to be in 6 months?

Why not here? 

41st Southeastern Writers Workshop! 

June 17-21 - St. Simons Island, GA

Registration opens 1/31

Is Your Book Lost at Sea?

(from The Book Designer)

Dr. Judith Briles is a writing coach, book coach, and publishing expert who recently offered detailed advice on evaluating a floundering book and tips on how to avoid getting lost in a literary sea.

Amazon changed the publishing field—a great thing for so many newbie authors who didn’t think New York or an agent would ever give them a moment’s notice … and it’s also a not so good thing. The level of book pollution has gone beyond the stratosphere.

Anyone and almost everyone can vomit out words and dump them into Amazon’s CreateSpace or get in bed with the growing number of vanity-type presses and in days, literally days, have a book in hand. Is it a quality book or a great looking book? Most likely, not. Too many launch with little to no editing. Ditto with interior and cover design.

Which means that finding buyers—the potential Super Fans—has become fierce. And for authors—all authors—getting found has become the eighth wonder of the world.

Has your book become a sardine in the sea of books available?

Is it lost? Can it be found? Can it become a whale so your buying public can’t miss it?

Read the remainder of Judith's article here.

10 Ways Travel Makes You a Better Writer

Happy New Year!  Time for new beginnings in your writing, right?  Novelist and producer, Stephanie Storey recently wrote for The Huffington Post about a different approach to writing using real-life experiences.  What do you think?

I love to travel. When I was a kid, my parents drove us from coast to coast in a motorhome. When I was eighteen, I went to Europe with a traveling choir. I've studied art in Italy, snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef, and just this week hiked to a glacier on the south coast of Iceland.

Travel has taught me a lot about life (how to communicate, adapt, and solve problems), but lately I've realized about how much travel has taught me about writing...

1: Planning ahead. 

Before going on a trip, you have to plan: buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms, or at least do enough research to know you want to go where you're going. Same with writing: before you start, plan your main characters and big plot points, research your location or time period; I often make a big outline and lay it out on the floor -- sort of like a map of my story -- to guide my way...

Read the remainder of Stephanie's tips here.

When Family Isn't Supportive

from FundsforWriters Newsletter, Volume 15, Issue 51, December 18, 2015   

I received a heart-breaking Facebook message from a 15-year-old young man who asked me how to get his writing accepted. When I explained about polishing his words, agents, publishers, indie and the like, he replied: "For me, I come from an unsupportive familly that doesn't take writing as a talent or a valuable art. How can I practice in such conditions?"

My husband supports me unconditionally, often following me to my appearances. One son out of town reads my work and gives honest feedback. My sister-in-law in Iowa reads every book within days of release. Other than that, nobody else in my family has read my novels much, and definitely haven't read any articles, blogs or other items I've published. While I thank my lucky stars for the three people I have, I know how that stings when family doesn't care. 

I told the young man this: 

"At your age, it's a matter of being well-read first and foremost, then attempting to write stories from what you've absorbed via those good authors. They are your family right now. You are young. You will be an adult in good time and be able to do what you wish, when you like, but in the meantime, read with a writer's eye, seeing what makes for a grand story, great character, and snappy dialogue. Write as you can. And know that successful authors everywhere are in your corner."

When family doesn't believe in your writing, you do the following:

1. Join a writer's group. Use it like a support group.
2. Read with a writer's eye. Nobody puts down reading.
3. Write when you can: lunches, night, early mornings, outside, riding in the car, or while everyone else is watching TV.
4. Relate your interest in writing to your family member's interest in something else. I once used my teenagers' interest in playing hockey. Ask them how much time and money they "invest" in their sports, hunting, cars, video games, etc.
5. Carve out time and call it yours. It doesn't have to be called writing time, but you use it as such. Just make sure you capitalize on it and write instead of doing other non-productive things.
6. Refuse to feel guilty about a beloved hobby/profession.
7. Display how much writing makes you whole . . . and happier. If you act grumpy, you accentuate their opinion.
8. Ask them when they'll give up reading, watching television, going to movies, listening to music, playing online games, because a writer allowed all of those entertainment opportunities to happen. 
9. When someone asks when you'll do something other than "that writing stuff," tell them you adore what you do. Eighty percent of the world hates their job, and you aren't one of them.

Thanks ~ Hope

C. Hope Clark is a freelance writing expert, author of the award-winning Carolina Slade Mystery Series, the Edisto Island Mystery Series, and editor of FundsforWriters.com, a weekly newsletter service that reaches 40,000+ writers. Learn more at her website chopeclark.com