Today’s topic is about reviews. The picture I’ve used is a review for one of my books. That single review is worth more to me than I can express. THAT is how I really get paid as an independent author. I’m not saying that the reviews have to be that good, either. An honest, one-star review, that takes the time to tell me ‘why’ I only deserve one star… can be just as valuable as the one over there.

They say that if a street performer makes you stop and watch them for any amount of time, you owe them a buck (who are THEY?). While I would be okay with this ‘rule’, I rarely get a chance to see anyone performing on the street here in rural north Idaho. A street performer is putting on a show, displaying what they’ve got to entertain you with. They don’t get to pop out a sign with a cool picture and a few words describing their routine and a promise to entertain… they just do what they do to entertain and get paid based on how entertaining they were.

Authors, however, get to do that very thing. We present a cover (in the hopes that it’ll capture your attention enough to consider paying), write some words to describe the potential entertainment within, and hope that’s worth the effort of paying what we’re asking. Sometimes, we actually get to share that entertainment potential by sharing snippets of our writing… or by discussing the story with people on social media. But that’s just a monetary compensation… where’s the REAL payment?

That would be the review. Just like dropping a buck for having been entertained enough to stop and watch a street performer, a book review (on any site, really) is about the same. The clapping at the end of the show are the four and five star reviews. The people who pitch in a quarter and walk away with a scowl are the one star reviews. Every interaction is pertinent to the performer. Every person swaying to the music, a rating on a scale that can be used to tweak the performance. Every smile an acknowledgement of the effort put in.

We can’t watch people read our books. We can’t get the visceral reaction of someone releasing an uncontrolled groan as we’ve killed off a character that took us so long to develop. We can’t see someone slamming a book in frustration as they’ve found another error to draw them out of the story. We can’t stay up late along with the reader who really needs to read ‘just one more’ at one in the morning… when the alarm will be going off in five short hours.

Reviews are our window into the reactions of our readers, whether they be good or bad. They are the way we have to judge just how well we are doing in our bid to entertain. And just as the crowd that’s big, and getting bigger, surrounding a very special street performer can draw more people in, so can reviews. Amazon has an algorithm… a set code of instructions… that recognizes those crowds. It can pick out the amount of people smiling, swaying to the music, and dropping coins and bills into the hat. It can recognize and share that information… but only if people review the books they read.

Life is busy… and messy… and complicated. Life makes it difficult to be a human, no less a human that wants to write for others.  We read to escape life. We read to enjoy life. We read to take part of others’ lives. Why is the act of dropping a bill… or a handful of change… into an author’s hat so difficult? It’s not like it’s hard. It’s super easy to click a button onto a row of stars. It only takes a second to write, “Kept me up way past bedtime. Great read.”

At the end of every ebook, there is the ability to post a review (even if that’s only clicking on a row of stars). If you have the time to go online and look for books to read, you have the time to review the last book you read. It’s not necessary to write a college discourse on every book you pick up, even a ‘meh’ has its merits.  So, the next time you find yourself surfing the web, bored out of your skull… or feeling like there’s nothing to do… or even feeling creative but have no idea what to release that creativity ON… think about writing a book review, or two, or three. It’ll be like dropping a buck or two, or three, into the hat of a street performer who’s goal is to entertain. Let them know if they did a good job.

How do you feel about reviews? Do you take the time to do them? If so, do you keep them short and sweet? Only give out stars w/o explanations? Let me know in the comments. I love to hear other people’s ideas and thoughts.