I recently read this post from Kristen Lamb about leaving book reviews. Please read it fully. It is very important to authors.
If you are a reader, no matter HOW you read a book, try to leave a review of some sort. It doesn’t matter if you checked it out from a library, borrowed from a friend, or “stole” it from the Urgent Care waiting room while they held you hostage.
Go to Amazon, ideally. Whether anyone likes it or not that is where most REGULAR PEOPLE look for books/book reviews and try to leave a review.
Yes, feel free to leave a book review at Goodreads. But I will say that, as I have mentioned far too many times before, regular people (*code for readers) have no idea what Goodreads even is. AVID readers do. Readers who are also writers or who aspire to be authors do.
Normal folk? Not so much.
Do you leave reviews for books you read? If not, why not? It doesn’t need to be an essay, a simple comment is sufficient.
And you don’t have to have bought it from Amazon to leave a review there.
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Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 
I don’t know how it is with Amazon in the UK, but here in the USA, they pull that trick offer all the time, but I carefully search the screen top to bottom (be sure to scroll down because they hid things waaaay at the bottom!) and left to right and somewhere in tiny print and a unlikely spot is a little button that says “No, thanks”
That’s your key to the kingdom to get out of a “free trial” of Prime. Good luck finding that little button. It may be phrased different since Brits have a different way of saying some things compared to us “Yankees”! 😉
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I promise I did search, but next time I’ll search harder. Anyway, they lost a sale because of it, so where’s the advantage to them over making it clear?
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I always try to leave a review or at least a rating on Goodreads and/or Amazon.
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So do I, but I’m surprised that there are authors who don’t.
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I agree. A good review is so important. Other readers rely on them for making their choices, just as authors do to help with the promotion of their books.
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It’s hard to get reviews, Viv. I’ll ask for them, and I’ll explain that even a single sentence, even two words is highly appreciated. But “normal” people just don’t seem to get it, and I’m not inclined to apply a lot of pressure. I hate to say it, but there are a lot of authors who don’t leave reviews, and that can be a little upsetting since they know how important reviews are. Just a sentence, just a couple of words would do. Sigh.
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I know. It’s worse than wringing blood from stones.
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LOL. Yes. I sometimes wonder if readers are intimidated by thinking they have to write 4-paragraph erudite reviews. I’d be happy with even with a star rating and no review!
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Me, too!
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Yes! Amen.
I wonder about Amazon though. They seem to be all over the map about whether they accept reviews by people who haven’t bought the books from them.
Years ago, with my first book, anyone could post a review. Then, they couldn’t. Now, it seems spotty. How does one qualify to leave an Amazon review? Inquiring authors want to know!
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I’ve had reviews refused because I hadn’t spent enough with Amazon in the previous year.
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Well, I spend a fair amount on Amazon every year, though not on books. I mostly get my books used or new at local bookstores. I wonder if that matters. If not, then I might try posting a review on Amazon for some book I’ve read and see if it gets posted.
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I don’t think they’re bothered about what you’ve bought. It doesn’t have to be books.
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We as a couple spend a lot on Amazon, but it tends to be my husband that buys because he has a Prime account. No point in me having one, too. Double the cost! So my spending is not so high.
Also, the last thing I tried to buy, they put up a screen saying, “Have a month’s free trial of Prime and get it tomorrow.”
I couldn’t find any way to proceed without this free trial. I felt that if I agreed, I’d forget to cancel and end up paying. I thought that was bad, not giving me a way to refuse.
Another time they offered the free trial, but gave me no option but to either take the trial or pay £3.50 for next day delivery, which I wasn’t bothered about. No way could I find any way to get free delivery on a later date.
I don’t really like them, but find them a necessary evil.
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