Most authors are absolutely desperate for reviews. Those reviews can make or break a book when it comes to sales, and authors know it. It makes sense - would you rather read a book with half a dozen reviews that give interesting feedback, a book with hundreds of glowing reviews, or a book with no reviews at all?
Authors will often send out free copies, known as ARC copies or Advanced Reader Copies. The deal is that the reader gets a free book just before publication or just after. In return, the reader leaves an honest review of the book. As long as the review is honest, and at least tactful about the bad bits, it's a win-win result.
Some influencers on Instagram, Facebook, and on their own websites, can make a few pennies from ads and affiliate marketing. I've heard rumours that some of the biggest ones will charge authors for their reviews, which is strictly against the rules for Amazon. Most ARC readers are more interested in the chance of reading new books that they may never have discovered by themselves than playing the system.
If you ever decide to become an ARC reader, I found a post here, How to Become and ARC Reader and Acquire Books for Free, that covers some of the basics, including book review sites like Net Galley. Net Galley may have a formal set up and have certain requirements, but not everything is so regimented. There are ARC reader groups on Facebook, and I think most social media sites that have any sort of author groups will have posts looking for ARC readers.
I've had a rummage around, and I found some common rules and requests for ARC readers.
- Be Honest. If the book is brilliant, then it's great to share the good stuff. If, however, you struggle through a novel, or if you find parts problematic, then it's okay to mention it in a review to warn other readers, but think about point number two.
- Be Tactful. The book may not be perfect, but the author is a human being who has poured their soul into their work. When I write a review, I strongly believe that it's better to be kind than leave a witty but cruel comment. That goes double if it's really tempting to put in something that sounds hilarious, is possibly true, but would be unnecessarily hurtful to the author.
- Be Prompt if it's Possible. Publishing algorithms are unrelenting and a review left within a month of the book going live will have have considerably more weight than a review left three months later. However, any review at any time is significantly better than no review at all.
- Be Aware of the Rules. Amazon is incredibly strict about reviews. It's entirely appropriate to mention that you recieved a copy to review. It's not okay to say that you recieved the copy in exchange for a review. Amazon are very clear that all reviews should be honest and freely given without incentive. If you mention any form of payment for a review, you're getting the author into trouble.
- Communicate. Talk to the author. Let them know about any problems and delays that you have, together with any technical difficulties. Ask them if you have any questions. If you feel that you can't finish a book, or that you can't give a good review, let the author know.
- Spread the Word. Share the review where you can. You may feel that you can only share among your friends, but it would mean so much more if it's posted a little further. You don't have to have a fancy presence or loads of followers. Just the existence of the review is important, but sharing it is a bonus. You could post to your own blog, Amazon (the biggest deal), Goodreads, Storygraph, and any social media where you would normally post. And if you tag in the author and give permission for them to share your opinions, so much the better!
And be warned - if you recieve an ARC and you neither post a review nor let the author know that you didn't feel able to review, then you're not likely to get other ARCs offered to you. It’s also vital that you remember that the copy is for you alone, and not to be shared around. You have privileged information.
I write the odd review, and as I hope to get back to it, I've bookmarked How to Write a Book Review on the Reedsy site to use for guidance which may be useful for anyone else wanting to indulge. In my view, reviews are there to give other readers information to help them decide whether or not to read that particular book. A review doesn't have to be clever or fancy, or even particularly long. It's just there to say - I read this book, this is how it made me feel, and these are a few words about what to expect if you also read this book.
Authors who also write reviews are in a tricky spot, as anything that looks like a review swap is extremely frowned on by Amazon, but I like writing an occasional review as it helps me to look outside my comfort zone and to read wider. So I'll very carefully get back to reviewing and enjoying it in the near future.
I'd love to know what you think about ARC reading, reviews and this article, so feel free to drop a note in the comments. This article was written with the use of em dashes but without any sort of AI assistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment