Said THANK YOU to a reviewer and clicked the LIKE button under their review?
The means to do both is provided by Goodreads and Amazon!
Authors often complain about the lack of reviews for their Bestselling Stories, but how many of you interact with readers who DO leave their reviews?
Having received thank you’s and/or messages from authors about my short, simplistic and unprofessional (but honest) reviews myself, I know how nice it feels (and I deal with authors on a daily basis!).
It may encourage them to read at least one more of your books!
Likewise, when Amazon sends me an email to notify me that someone has advised that my review helped them, (they had clicked the LIKE button under it), it pleases me and it’s not always, or only, the author who does so.
AVOID making comments or taking up arms against unfavourable reviews – read WHAT is being said (not HOW it is said) and rectify any mistakes advised.
If the complaint was about a lack of editing – GET IT EDITED – then re-publish the book and STATE that it has been edited and re-published!
Checked and ensured that ALL your books appear under your Author name?
I have discovered, through my own blog related and personal searches, that many authors seem to use different names when they have uploaded their books onto the Publishers online stores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, et al!
I don’t mean that they are using Nom de Plume’s (Pen-name’s if you prefer) at times – I mean that they sometimes forget to ensure that EVERY book has the same Author Name, e.g., sometimes initials are used, sometimes the first name is abbreviated, sometimes the middle name or initial is included, sometimes it’s not.
BE CONSISTENT!
Updated your Author Page Details?
Your Author Page on the online store(s) you publish and/or sell your books through, (in the case of Amazon, don’t forget to post it in USA, UK, Canada and Australia – which was recently activated) is like a Curriculum Vitae and as such, should be periodically updated to reflect any recently acquired experience or achievements, any new photographs of you (in a suitably author-like pose that doesn’t make you cringe, go beetroot red, or scare animals and small children – AVOID SELFIES!) and do NOT approach it as a CHORE – it will be evident! Don’t forget, the object of a good CV is not only to provide all the necessary basic facts about you, it is also the means by which you sell yourself as the right person for the job, or in this case, the author of the best books to read 🙂
Backed up your computer and WIP files onto a separate Hard Drive and or Cloud?
Backing up onto your computer hard drive or a nice cheap Flash Drive is NOT enough!
Computers can have sudden and unexpected breakdowns and it only takes a moment of distraction for a strong magnet (like a mobile telephone, or device like an iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, etc, to delete, or corrupt, anything stored on a Flash Drive (the cheaper the Flash Drive, the more likely it WILL happen)
INVEST in a separate Hard Drive, preferably from a reputable and highly recommended, manufacturer who has taken great pains to try, test and PROVE their product is reliable.
Backed up your Blog, Website, Goodreads, etc, contents?
I have broadcast this message several times already, and will continue to do so, because it is so easy to forget.
I make a point of backing up my blog daily AND after I’ve added new content which is scheduled or in draft form.
I cannot discuss other providers, but I can tell you that WordPress and Goodreads make the process nice and simple!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Reblogged this on chrismcmullen and commented:
What a great reminder list. There are several things here that we should be keeping up with.
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THANK YOU for the re-blog Chris 😀
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I’ve been afraid to like reviews at Goodreads. I know there are a few readers there who easily take offense when authors dip their noses into the review section, so I’ve been trying not to inadvertently offend anybody. (I also hear a lot of discussion among authors about not thanking reviewers directly.) Definitely, I’m extremely thankful for every review of any kind. 🙂 This is a handy list. Thank you.
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Glad it’s useful Chris 😀
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Reblogged this on Have We Had Help? and commented:
Food for thought
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Reblogged this on Author P.S. Bartlett and commented:
We authors are so busy busy busy! However, do not ever allow yourself to be too busy to give thanks to those who read your work and take time out of their busy schedules to not only read your work but review it as well.
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THANK YOU for the re-blog Suzy 😀
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I got too scared to do that after Goodreads more or less said not to interact with people. I guess it’s ok on Amazon, but it confused me.
Loretta Livingstone
>
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If a reviewer gives a favourable review it SHOULD be OK to thank them Loretta, if the review is NOT favourable, but raised valid issues, then take the issues on board and rectify them if possible and thank the reviewer for their suggestions – however- if the reviewer was rude either about you as an author or trashes your book – do NOT engage with them at all. 😀
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Chris – I found to my cost a long time back when dealing with reviewers unknown to me that it always pays not to react in any way, particularly on Amazon and especially Goodreads. Why? Because despite all of the recent rhetoric, claiming that both sites have stamped out the trouble makers, the trolls still rule.
That said If I know the reviewer(s), I will always contact them personally via email, or here on WordPress or on Linkedin or Facebook to thank them.
I’m not alone in this approach. 99% of my fellow writers, through a strong sense of self preservation, follow the same approach. None of us need the aggravation…
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I understand your reluctance to contact unfamiliar reviewers Jack – the main point is that you do, at least, contact reviewers you’re familiar with, as I know from personal experience 🙂
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The whole idea of book reviews these days, to my way of thinking, is largely pointless these days. By allowing anyone, ie trolls, to add a ‘review’ makes a total nonsense of the whole process…
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Smashwords won’t let you put reviews on unless you’ve actually bought the book from them and that seems to help minimise the Troll problem Jack 😀
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Very good advice. I think there isn’t a reviewer I have not commented on on my Amazon page and liked. If there is I’d like to know about it. I once got feedback from a customer who thanked me for taking the time to respond. I even respond to the negative reviews and thank them as well. Recently I lost my external Hard Drive and thought it was gone forever. unfortunately I had copied my most recent projects to the drive, but failed to back them up because I was trying to make more room on my laptop HDD. After weeks of looking for it, my daughter rang to tell me she has it. What a relief. I now back up on Cloud (through Google “Drive”) and also send myself the most recent copies of my books as an attachment. That way I have more than one option if something should go missing or get deleted by mistake. It’s a very valuable lesson to learn.
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Hi Paul, backing up to Cloud Storage and sending attachments to yourself by email are also good ideas, well as onto external hard drives – every little helps 🙂
Have you checked your Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon Australia accounts?
I now post review comments on all four places 😀
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I saw them just this morning thanks. I really appreciate all the extra effort you go to for this little Koala. 😀
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😀
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Wow, I knew some of this but some not at all!! I do use an external hard drive but I had no idea about backing up my blog, yikes!! Better look into that right away. Thanks so much Chris for all the very helpful info as always 🙂
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Welcome Sherri – WordPress (and Goodreads) make it easy to do 😀
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Thanks again Chris 🙂
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The only backing up I have ever done is to my cheap flash drive lol! I’ll have to rethink that one now. Never thought of using my Dropbox acct that way, good tip! So even my blog needs to be backed up? Never knew that, thought it was safe in the hands of WP…
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Hi Ali – NOTHING is safe when it is purely online (not just WP) – a solar flare is only one of the high profile events in space that could knock out the whole internet system 😀
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