How to Leave a Review

Many of us rely on book reviews posted on Amazon or other retailers to make decisions about which books to buy and which to avoid, but only a very small percentage of readers actually take the time to leave those valuable reviews for the rest of us. As an example, at the time of writing this, The Horse Mistress: Book 1 has approximately 20,000 downloads, and 42 reviews. According to my calculator, that means that only 0.2% of readers have left a review.

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For many people, this is at least partly because they don’t know how to leave a review. Fortunately, Amazon makes it very simple to review books or other products. You don’t even have to have purchased the item directly from them. As long as you have an Amazon account and have bought something from them in the past, you can review any item on Amazon’s site.

STEP 1: Submit the Review

So, let’s say you wanted to review The Horse Mistress: Book 1. When you click on the book title, you’ll be taken to the Amazon page where the book is for sale.

On the book’s page, below the title you will see a star rating. Click next to that where it says “(number of) customer reviews.” If there are no reviews yet for a product, it will say “be the first to review this item” instead. This takes you to the review section. Click the “Write a customer review” button. If you’re not logged in, you will be prompted to do so at this point.

You will then be taken to the review page. Here, you can answer questions about the plot and characters in the book, leave a star rating, write a review, and give your review a title. Be honest! If something bugged you, go ahead and put it in there. Negative feedback is as useful as positive feedback—that’s how I learn to write better.

Also, don’t feel like you have to write War and Peace. The sweet spot for reviews is between 75 and 500 words, but the minimum is a single word. I have a few reviews that simply read “OK,” and that’s… well… okay. That said, specifics are great. Remember you are writing to help others decide whether to buy or not, so “it was fast-paced and emotional but the sex was too graphic” is more helpful than “I thought it was pretty good.” When you’re happy with the review, hit “Submit” and you’re done.

Step 2: Link to the Review

I’m guessing that most people visiting this page are doing so in order to get a free review copy of The Complete Horse Mistress Collection. If that’s the case, you’ll need to email me the link to your review once it’s live. Again, this is pretty straightforward.

Here’s how – Option 1:

  1. Amazon will send you an email, letting you know your review has been published. At the bottom of that email is a link that says “See your review on the site”.
  2. Right click on that link and then select “copy link address”.
  3. Paste that link into an email and send it to me at r.a.steffan@thequeensmusketeers.com, with the subject line: “Review.”
  4. I will send you a BookFunnel link to download your free review copy of one of my other titles. Enjoy the book, and when you’re done, leave a review of that book as well.

Option 2:

  1. Make sure you are logged into your Amazon account.
  2. Click HERE to be taken to a list of your reviews.
  3. Find the “Permalink” to the review you are submitting. This will be below the review, next to the “comment” link.
  4. Right click on “Permalink” and select “copy link address”.
  5. Paste that link into an email and send it to me at r.a.steffan@thequeensmusketeers.com, with the subject line: “Review.”
  6. I will send you a BookFunnel link to download your free review copy of any of my other titles. Enjoy the book, and when you’re done, leave a review of that book as well.

That’s basically it! If you hit any snags, let me know and I’ll try to help. As a writer, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate my readers’ assistance with this stuff—it really means a lot to me.