Every book marketing "expert" tells authors they must have reviews. Is that true? Authors agonize over obtaining ARC readers, some even positing that they need at least a hundred. Book promo sites urge us to give away our book, the upside being that after all, we need reviews and what better way to get them?
I've done both of these things, and while my genre is nowhere near the top of the popularity charts, my results are, I believe, a representative sampling of their efficacy.
The one book for which I offered ARCs via a Goodreads post resulted in approximately three takers. My LibraryThing giveaway, too, was in essence an ARC. Thirteen people won and only about six of them followed up when I emailed them (to ask which format they'd prefer). Thus, let's say nine people received a copy of my book. How many reviews did that garner? Two. Not bad so far ~ about a 20% review rate. Then I booked a Voracious Readers Only twenty-book giveaway (these were ARCs as well). Twenty books were awarded, resulting in one review. Oops, that brings my return down to 10%. For all the work involved, it was hardly worth it.
And a lot of authors pay a funneling site to distribute their ARCs. I created and sent my own, so at least there was zero expense on my part.
As for the free book promo (that I paid for), my record of forty-two downloads still stands. I did not get one single review.
Lies and Love still sits at four Amazon reviews. Did those generate sales? Nope. Would a hundred reviews generate sales? Maybe, but how many ARCs would an author need to send to reach that number? Based on my returns, one thousand. You've got to be kidding.
Many authors claim to have sold multiple copies of a book that has no reviews whatsoever. I believe them. I think we tend to obsess over reviews because we've been instructed to obsess over them.
There is so much competition in the self-publishing field that it's only natural to grasp at straws. I did. Before I went down the rabbit hole of battling for reviews, I'd only sold about four or five copies of all my books put together. To date, I've sold 122, and my "biggest seller" is a book I never promoted. It's all just chance.
Just like the stages of grief, indie authors go through stages, too.
1. The book is at last published.
I'm so excited! I can't wait for everyone in the world to read it!
2. No one is reading it.
I need reviews, dammit! How can I get reviews? Whatever it takes, man, I'll do it.
3. I sent out a hundred ARCs and I only got two reviews.
I didn't do it right. Maybe I'll give my book away! Get it on one of those newsletters. People will snatch it up and rave over it. Then watch the reviews pour in!
4. Nobody reviewed my book.
I am a failure. I can't write, I will never be a good writer. People are either laughing at me or pitying me, and I don't know which is worse. I'm never going to write again.
I refuse to play that emotional game ever again. With my next book (if it's ever finished), sure, I'll slap it up there on Instagram just to go through the motions. Maybe I'll stick it on a couple of the cost-free sites. I'm not against advertising. I'm against going broke doing it. What I'm not going to do is agonize over my lack of sales. Who am I, after all? And why do I think I deserve to be a best-selling author? I just do what I do.
By all means, knock yourself out soliciting reviews. Maybe they'll help. I don't think they will, but that's only my time-tested opinion.
But nobody can (or should) tell an author what to do.
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