Your first review

Reviews are hard to come by these days, so treasure every one! (Well, except maybe the one-star reviews that simply say "Great book!". Yes, I do have one of those...)

I don't remember the first review I received, but it's been a while. I'm sure it was a huge deal back then.

It does feel good.

There's always that niggling doubt, right after you publish, that doubt that you're any good. What have you done? People will laugh at you! How dare you pretend to be an author!

Then the sales go through, and the stars come in, and it's like oh. Oh, I can do this.

From that point on, it gets a hell of a lot easier...

My first review was from a fellow English major I went to school with. It was thoughtful and honest, and ended up being 4 stars - can't ask for much better!

Congrats on that first review! Those little victories are exciting. It may be just one step, but it can mean a lot. I say celebrate those moments and let them be a catalyst to keep you moving forward, step by step, until you reach the next milestone.

Though I can't speak about reviews, I was thrilled to get my first proof copy.

It's only a few weeks since I received my first review so I can totally relate. Celebrate that sucker - I know I did. .

Congrats! I still revel in reviews, since they're still fairly rare occurrences. My great pleasure along those lines is someone on Goodreads who has given glowing reviews to all three books in my trilogy. She's not somebody who won them in a contest and she's not a friend or relation. A real stranger digs stuff I wrote - how cool is that?

It's a massive lift when you get a good review, but a huge downer when you get a bad one. I think it takes about fifty sales to get a review. Anyone else got similar numbers on sales/reviews?

Is it customary to send the reviewer a thank-you for a good review, or is that against etiquette?

Who do you ask to review your book?
What do you think of the option of paying for reviews?

Amazon are against reviews from friends and family. Apparently, they will even check Facebook connections. There is also a limit of one review per household. If two occur, then both will disappear. I've heard that paid reviews are not a good idea, but have no experience of my own. My experience is that you get a review, good or bad, every 50 sales.

childeroland said:

Is it customary to send the reviewer a thank-you for a good review, or is that against etiquette?

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Good Lord, no.

You don't contact reviewers AT ALL.

You *might* say thank you to someone who lets you know that a detailed review will be going up on their blog or something, and you can thank reviewers who do author interviews along with the post, but regular reviews ARE NOT FOR YOU. Since they're not for you, you don't issue a thank you for receiving them.

Who do you ask to review your book?
What do you think of the option of paying for reviews?

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Paid reviews are not reviews. They're fulfilled business transactions.

I forgot to add that reciprocal reviews are not allowed. If two authors write reviews for each other, these will be disallowed. There are ways around all of these restrictions, but it is far better to write your best possible book and wait for honest reviews.

megan_d said:

So I'm very new to this whole self publishing game and so far it's felt like a lot of noise from me and a lot of indifference from the world. But today I got my first review! Kinda makes all the effort feel a bit worth it. I know it's nothing in the big scheme of things, but you've got to take what little victories you can, right?

Do you guys remember the very first review you ever got? Did it feel like a huge deal for you too, or am I just a big ol' dork?

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I see you've now got 13 reviews since the book was released a couple of months ago and it all looks good on reviewmeta. May I ask if you used a service such as ChoosyBookWorm et al?

Reviews are awesome. Even the bad ones. That means someone took the time to read or want to read at least. I remember my very first review on my first book and it was great. It encouraged me to move forward with my writing. I think all reviews do that. Again, even the bad ones. You can learn from all of them.

megan_d said:

So I'm very new to this whole self publishing game and so far it's felt like a lot of noise from me and a lot of indifference from the world. But today I got my first review! Kinda makes all the effort feel a bit worth it. I know it's nothing in the big scheme of things, but you've got to take what little victories you can, right?

Do you guys remember the very first review you ever got? Did it feel like a huge deal for you too, or am I just a big ol' dork?

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My first book, CHANGING STATES, was published first in England by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The book was a novel about a love affair between an Israeli girl, daughter of Holocaust survivors, and a Palestinian boy. The first review came from the London Times. It advised readers that if they'd like to learn something about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they should watch the news, not read my book. The review also quoted in excruciating detail the one sex scene in the book.

It was the worst review I've ever gotten, and it was my first. Since then my books have been reviewed by the NYT, NPR, and all kinds of media, and usually very kindly; but will I ever forget that first review? What do you think?

I still get ridiculously excited about all the reviews I get, so congrats on the first good one (and all subsequent ones)! I'm pretty terrible at promoting myself, so I don't get reviews very often, but I'm hoping to get better at it and utilize the trickle-down effect of reviewers on GR (if one likes it and reviews highly, and has lots of followers, others often take note).

Every time I get a new review, I squee a little inside ^_^

My first review came from a good friend. It was quite a few years back. It was pretty obvious and was one sentence long. It was better than having no reviews though. Ha. They are not easy to come by, but in your case, I say celebrate. It is the first and it starts the ball rolling. Congrats!

Congrats! Sometimes it's the little things in life.

My first review was a good one and from a complete stranger. So it felt good and made me think I might not be as bad as I think I am.

I got my first review last night. It was only one sentence long, but it was five stars. I'll take it.