April 30, 2025
Looking for more book reviews? Getting readers to pick up your book is the first step in developing a following, building a fan base, and creating a name for yourself as an author. But without a recognizable name or a book that has sold a sizeable number of copies already, many authors find that connecting with interested readers is the first big hurdle after a book is published. One of the best ways to build a strong fanbase and develop credibility as an author is by encouraging more book reviews.
It would be a dream come true for most authors to release a book and for it to catch on like wildfire without doing much if any promotional work to fan the flames of excitement, but the reality is that encouraging readers to pick up your book is necessary. But as a self-publishing author, finding ways to get more book reviews can increase your book’s visibility and help you find the right readers.
Authors can inspire readers to write more book reviews by creating situations where potential readers can access the book, write about their authentic reactions to it and influence others to give your book a try, too. A concerted campaign to encourage more book reviews can spark interest in your book, give you genuine feedback about your writing and help you build a fan base so you can reach even more readers.
Asking social media influencers to provide an honest, bona fide review of your book can be an excellent way to broaden the reach of your audience. Since you cannot pay for reviews nor guarantee that the reviews will be positive, asking respected influencers to read and publicly review your book can increase your book’s visibility but remember that not every reader will love your book.
Connecting with popular book reviewers doesn’t guarantee you will only receive glowing reviews, but influencers can create a dialogue about your writing, bring your book to a wider audience, and help you reach the right reader.
Search for influencers or respected readers who share a similar audience with your book by looking at platforms and social media groups that your potential readers already belong to. Send a personalized, professional request to the potential reviewer, noting your desire for an honest review to be shared online.
Popular book site Goodreads offers authors the opportunity to create a landing page for authors that can include book content and book reviews. Fill in your author’s page content with a professional photo, a bio that highlights your awards, and accolades as well as links to your author’s website and all social media pages.
Encourage readers to leave more book reviews and respond to reader questions when appropriate. Review all of your book descriptions to make sure that the genre and tags accurately describe your work so readers can discover your book on this key book site.
Consider hosting a Goodreads Giveaway to get your title in the hands of more readers that can help you garner more book reviews. The Goodreads Giveaway Page helps authors set up a successful promotion, but to attract early readers and reviews, expect to:
Before your book is widely released, sending a book and requesting a review by these hand-picked readers, called ARC or advanced review copy, can help you secure those all-important early reviews.
The bookish side of Instagram is constantly growing, so tapping into this social media platform can help you get more book reviews in a relatively quick timeframe. By harnessing the power of book influencers, authors can plan a week or two of coordinated book reviews by popular bookstagrammers who often have thousands of followers.
Use all of your social media platforms to reach out to possible reviewers by offering ARCs, hosting a giveaway contests, or simply asking your followers if they might be interested in reading and reviewing your new publication. Readers love to meet authors and often respond well to personal interactions with them, so engaging them in real time on social media is a great way to build credibility as an author while connecting with readers who would love to be early readers and reviewers of a book in their favored genre.
The least formal strategy for garnering more book reviews is to ask anyone who has purchased or read your book if they would be interested in leaving a review so other readers can learn about it. You can ask them via your email list that you send out regularly to your followers, on social media to followers, or through crafted hashtags that allow your content to be found by interested platform users or by posting on sites like Goodreads that honest reviews would be welcome.
Be sure to let readers know that you would love for them to let other readers know what to expect through an honest review of your book and that you appreciate any type of authentic review, long or short, positive or negative.
As a self-published author, you can manage when your first reviews come out by setting up ARCs with digital book copies as well as a small printing run of your book. Working with a digital printer like Publishing Xpress means you can order a small run of your book to send off to early readers and reviewers to help you build excitement and momentum for your book sales.
Once you have developed a growing excitement for your book, you can print a larger volume of books to sell, even making small changes or improvements in your final book based on authentic book reviews and feedback from the ARC and early reviews, allowing you to present the best possible book to your readers.
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