So you’ve read this wonderful book and you’d love to support the author.
You have heard reviews are important but how to post one on Amazon?

Let me tell you…

Go to the book’s page on Amazon.
Then scroll down a bit to the ‘Customer Reviews’ section.
There you will see ‘write a customer review’.
Click on it.

The view on star ratings for books has changed over the years.
If you follow Amazon’s guidelines you might end up giving a lower star rating for a book you thoroughly enjoyed.

Please, allow me to share my views with you.

• I do not give 1 or 2-star ratings
• A book I thoroughly like or love, a book that reads well and has no obvious faults or plot holes, gets 5 stars
• A book I like and makes for an enjoyable read, but misses something, gets 4 stars
• A book that has plot holes, or more things that don’t add up – something that detracts from the pleasure of reading – gets 3 stars

If you wonder how authors perceive the rating, let me tell you that to them, a 3-star rating exactly reflects what we described above – that the storyline or writing had flaws. A 4-star rating makes them think – will have to improve next time (!).

This may be daunting but just write in your own way.
How would you recommend this book to a friend?
Put those words on paper!
You only need a few sentences.

A few ideas:

• What did you like about it – could you empathise with the characters?
• Did you see the twist in the plot coming?
• How did you feel when you closed the book?
• How would you describe what you liked most about the book to a friend?

Hmm. This is the difficult part, you’d say. But why invent the wheel?
What have you written in your review? Did you say … ‘I loved it’ or ‘I would recommend it’ or perhaps ‘what a twist!’ – just use that in your headline.

And… you’re done! Congratulations, you’ve just supported a grateful author. Your recommendation may just be the incentive for the next reader to buy this book.

Amazon requires you to have a customer account with them (and to have purchased something in the past) to be able to write a review.

Lastly but most importantly: please, do NOT put in your review:

• the author is your friend
• the author is family

*both these references will make Amazon and its customers wary of the contents of your review – they will presume it is biased.

• ‘I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review’

If you want to mention having received a review copy, here are a few examples how to (Amazon dislikes the term ‘in exchange for’)
*I received a review copy of this book and I’m reviewing it voluntarily
*I wrote this review based on a(n advanced reader’s) copy the publisher sent me
*This review was based on a complimentary (pre-release) copy.

Please, don’t feel daunted by the info on this page – a review takes only a few minutes of your time and means the world to an author.

Any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch through any chosen social media channel or via email: citystonepublishing@gmail.com.