I’m honored to have Award Winning Author, Ben Burgess stopping by Book Referees blog to tell readers why writing reviews are important. Welcome to Book Referees, Mr. Burgess!!!
It counts
You’ve just read a great book that made you feel all types of emotions. You laughed. You cried. The book has made you think, and has even changed your views on some taboo subjects. The book has had a lasting impression on you, but what do you do afterwards? Do you tell people about the book? Word of mouth is very important, but it can be limiting. With word of mouth, you might talk about a book if a topic reminds you of the story or if it’s fresh on your mind, but then what? Will other potential readers know how deeply you felt about that book? Believe it or not, Book reviews are very important for good and bad books.
When you write a review, friends, family, and other readers can see what you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy about the book. It’s your forum to let people know if the book is or isn’t worth their time. Everyone wants their voice to be heard. Everyone wants to be understood. Writing a review gives the reader that voice. Sometimes a synopsis isn’t good enough. As a reader, there are times when you need more to help you decide if the book that has your interest, is for you. That’s where reviews come in. When I’m searching for a book, I read both the positive and negative reviews. I want to see both sides of the spectrum.
As an author, sometimes we don’t see the flaws in our work. Reviews help authors become stronger story tellers. Constructive reviews, give a healthy balance of what worked and didn’t work with the book. When the review is written constructively, most authors won’t be as defensive and will keep in mind the flaws that were brought to their attention. For me, I try to improve with every book. I want to be the best in my genre, and I try to evolve by turning my weaknesses into strengths. I learned about my weaknesses through my reviews.
Besides writing reviews to help improve an author’s storytelling, reviews also help to keep authors motivated. You might have a favorite author and love their work, but they have very few reviews. As an author, nothing feels better than seeing a reader write a review explaining that they enjoyed your book. It helps the author to keep the desire to continue publishing because they see that people are appreciating the hard work they’re put into writing the book. If you’re reading this blog, chance are you enjoy books. If you want your favorite authors to continue writing, they need not only your support with buying the book, they also need your support of recommending and reviewing it.
In conclusion, you may feel that your review doesn’t matter. You might feel that a lot of people read books and write reviews, yours won’t count, but it does. I hope this blog post shows you your importance.
