Post 5 of 26 of The Self-Publishing Series
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/94889907″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Reviews are the reader’s emotional reactions
Reviews are a unique currency. As I said yesterday you can have a great conversation with your readers through their reviews but today I want to look at the power of reviews for potential buyers. Do different reviews have more credibility than others? The image below is a snapshot of my book’s reviews. Which reviews do you want to read? Here’s how I believe most potential buyers navigate the reviews of books and why it matters to you as an author.
80/20 Rule:
Buyers will look at the overall balance of reviews. If there are only five star reviews then the book has no credibility. It needs 80% five star reviews and the remaining 20% will likely be spread out through one through four star reviews. Michael Hyatt’s book Platform is a great example of this. Some people are just NOT going to like your book and others are going to love it. If a book has more of a 50/50 split between five star and the other 50% between one through four stars then buyers are going to run away.
[Read more…]