Previously, I discussed the significance of reviews from a reader perspective, but let’s talk about it from the author perspective too. We’ll review (haha) some practical advice for how to gain more reviews so that you’re all ready to go for your first or next novel.

I’m still working on these, so don’t assume that I have mastered the art of getting more reviews. However, this is what my research has dug up and what I am working on improving. As always, I am using my failures to boost your chances of success.

You’ll notice that a lot of the advice is about the period before and directly after release, which is the best time to start harvesting reviews. Once you get that momentum going, you’re more likely to get more reviews over time.

Make a good product.

Obviously, you’ll get more reviews if people really like what you’re putting out. A breathtaking, amazing book is going to compel people to leave reviews. A ‘meh’ book isn’t going to get many.

Do not slapdash something up; take your time and ensure everything is absolutely perfect before you hit publish.

Learn writing, do your practice one million words, and commission a good cover so people are curious about your book before they decide to purchase. Your blurb is essential, so spend a fair bit of time refining it and getting second opinions.

Plan your release date.

Don’t just publish whenever. This is important because you want to ensure that you get reviews shortly after your release. I did not do this with 9 Years Yearning, and it struggled to get traction because I wasn’t advertising it to anyone.

Amazon boosts new releases for 30 days after publishing, and it will boost them more if you have some reviews right away; the algo assumes your book is good if it’s already attracting attention.

You should also plan your release date based on what the general public will be doing at that time. Writers Helping Writers has a good explanation of what will do well and when.

Do not release things, especially fiction, in December. It’s the worst month for book releases, as I personally learned. Ideally, get everything ready to go for November at the very latest.

I will be releasing my fourth book, What Is Cannot Be Unwritten, on November 7, 2025. If you want some sneak peeks at it, sign up for my Monday Missive newsletter!

I’ve also learned that April is a shitty month to publish. Everyone’s insanely busy in April, what with Spring Break and preparing for summer. Do March or May instead.

However, be cautious with preorders.

I ran into this problem with Pride Before a Fall. See, I wasn’t aware that the preorder period is also the automatic 30-day boost period for Amazon. If you don’t get a bunch of preorders in that period, which is pretty challenging to do for a newer author, then you’ve wasted your boost period.

For Funeral of Hopes, I did a seven-day preorder. This isn’t necessarily because I expected a lot of preorders, but because I went through Draft2Digital and it sometimes takes a few days for books to get processed through the different channels.

Run an ARC campaign before you publish.

So, how to get those insta-reviews right on release day. You can hope for some reviews from preorders, but these are not guaranteed. What you need is an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) campaign.

ARC campaigns are when you send out a finished version of your book before its official release date. You can technically do an ARC campaign whenever you want, but it’s best if you do it ahead of time. There are plenty of platforms that help you do this, so don’t think you have to personally reach out to everyone you know and beg them to read it.

I use the Booksprout platform for my ARC campaigns, which is far more affordable than Netgalley and has a really easy dashboard.

Ensure that readers leave the review as soon as possible after release. They can leave reviews on Goodreads before publishing, but Amazon generally frowns upon reviews placed before the release date, so ensure readers know they shouldn’t do that.

Booksprout lets you put reviews on Goodreads before release day, which can build hype as long as the reader puts a disclaimer that they got the book through Booksprout.

If you are going through Kindle Select, you also shouldn’t enroll your book in Kindle Select before your review campaign is over because Amazon doesn’t allow you to publish e-books on other platforms when you have Kindle Select. As soon as your campaign is done, click that “enroll” button and you’re good to go.

Kindle Select does not allow wide distribution, and it does not work well for every genre. It’s primarily for romances and other light reads that people aren’t going to want to keep forever. So just keep that in mind.

If you’re just starting out, go for the most limited number of review slots, which is 25. You are very unlikely to fill up 50 whole slots with your first or second novel because you have not built up enough of a fanbase yet.

You can add people to your team if they seemed to like the book based on their review, and these folks will be notified when you open up another review campaign. This way, you can develop a group of dedicated reviewers rather than starting from zero every time.

Be sure to follow up with any readers who have not published their review shortly after getting the last reminder email. A politely worded message on Booksprout can usually get them to do it. Say something like, “Hello, I noticed you have not left your review on Amazon yet. Can you please complete this as soon as possible? Thank you!”

If they still ignore you, you can get a bit firmer and remind them that they have an obligation to do so if they want to continue to use the platform. This usually gets them motivated.

Post about reviews.

As I mentioned in the first post about this topic, a lot of readers genuinely do not know that their reviews matter to anyone. They think it’s just a way for them to express themselves, particularly on Goodreads.

By explaining how important they are and offering your preemptive gratitude for their help, you may be able to get more reviews.

Whenever you ask for reviews, explain why you want them, and make sure it’s not about how it will make you feel good. Give a basic explanation of how algorithms work and how more reviews = more visibility. You can even just say “it really helps me out” and be done with it.

Share the most positive reviews on your social media.

Be sure to remove the user’s name before you post. You also cannot use reviews in blurbs or covers unless you get the reviewer’s permission, but you can definitely screenshot and share them without asking because these are publicly available.

For example, here’s one of my favorite reviews of 9 Years Yearning from over on Goodreads:

Do not share negative reviews to dunk on them. This makes you look petty, defensive, and rude. Report them if you think they were a personal attack, but otherwise leave them alone.

If you can’t handle negative comments, you shouldn’t be publishing in the first place. Every author will catch a few strays from time to time. You need to learn how to handle these with grace – by simply ignoring them.

This is different from the advice that companies receive, which is to engage with negative reviews in an empathetic manner. That’s because companies are continually selling products and services to consumers, but you’re only selling one or two products. Engaging with the reader on this personal level is not going to help you and may make you seem creepy.

Put a call to action at the end of your book.

Keep this short and sweet. That little nudge can gain you at least a few reviews, especially as Kindle will prompt them after they finish the book.

Something simple like “If you enjoyed this, please consider reviewing on Amazon” can be a nice prompt. You can also include a link to your website (which you should have) to get readers invested in the next steps of your journey.

And that’s it! There’s plenty of other advice out there about how to solicit reviews and market more effectively. I hope this gave you a jumping-off point for the rest of your research.