What do you do when you read a good book? You tell somebody about it, right?!?!

“Oh my gosh, you have to read this book! I stayed up way too late finishing it. It’s going to change your life! You just have to read this!”

— You, when you L-O-V-E a book

You become a walking billboard for the author. You tell everyone at work, your mom and your sister, every member of your book club, all of social media, even your dog groomer knows that you love this book.

Why? Why do we do that?

Because we don’t want the reading experience to end. If we can talk about the book, it isn’t really over. And if we can convince other people to read the book, then we can talk about it with them, and relive all of the drama and glory of the story. Telling people about a good book, is almost as much fun as reading it in the first place.

But many of us stop there.

Believe me, authors L-O-V-E when you talk about their book. Word of mouth is by far and away the biggest success factor a book has in it’s corner. No matter who published it, who endorsed it, how many ads it has in People Magazine… if people don’t like it and talk about it… the book is unlikely to sell well.

But do you know what is almost as important? Reviews. The Amazon Algorithm (yes, with a capital A) is designed to visibly introduce online shoppers to products that have been purchased AND reviewed. If a book has zero to few reviews there is a snowball’s chance in hell that it will show up in the “also bought” section of your screen. Even slimmer are the chances that it will appear in the ads slots on Amazon or even Facebook.

Reviews are also a factor for consumers as they decide which book will win their hard-earned money. A cheesy review with a glowing 5 stars that was likely written by the author’s high school English teacher doesn’t hold much weight. But an honest appraisal of story, pace and character is much more helpful. People want to know… did you enjoy this book? Is it worth my time and money? They do NOT want to know the end, or who the girl ended up with.

So the next time you finish a book, go tell everyone how much you loved it. Tell them that a character quirk drove you crazy until page 378 when it all suddenly made sense. Tell them you wished the sequel was out tomorrow, instead of November. And then… go online and write a review.

To put my money where my mouth is, I wrote two reviews this week.

The first is a fun beach read of a book, Absolutely True Lies by Rachel Stuhler. A Hollywood writer down on her luck gets the ghostwriting job of the century. After landing the job, she lands a thousand other places she wouldn’t expect. Both the protagonist and the reader better hang on if they expect to make it to the end of this book in one piece. Here’s my review.

4 Stars “I took this book on vacation and was so glad I did. It was the perfect summer read... something light and fun with ever shifting character motivations that kept me guessing until the end. It was fun to imagine if the realities of the celebrities in our world live the way the author depicted them... especially since her bio said she has spent some time in the Hollywood scene. The final scene sets us up nicely for a sequel and I for one would be interested to read more of Holly's author adventures in Hollywood.” – Absolutely True Lies by Rachel Stuhler

You may remember a blog post I did earlier this year on the amazing resources written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. Well after purchasing and using their newest resources (The Urban and Rural Setting Thesauruses) I was overjoyed to write this review.

5 Stars “This book, like the others in its series, is pure genius. If you are looking for a tool to take your writing to the next level, buy this entire set immediately. The extensive forethought and detail that has gone into creating this resource is incredible. It has definitely made a positive impact on my writing.” – The Urban/ Rural Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

What is the best book you have read this summer? Comment with the title below and then go write a review!

P.S. If you have read one of my books and haven’t written a review… I would be forever grateful if you’d consider. To make it super easy, I’ve left this handy dandy link for you to click, RIGHT HERE. Just click on the title, then reviews, and then on the little white button that says. WRITE A REVIEW. Thanks in advance! Hugs and happy reading/review writing!