Gothic Readers: Why Your Goodreads and Amazon Reviews Matter, Part 2
I'm back from my break. In August, I dedicated a few posts to the topic of writing reviews, focusing on Amazon and Goodreads, since they are the most popular places to share your thoughts. I encourage you to leave reviews of books you love on either platform. But what you might not know is that these two platforms serve different purposes, which means your review will have a different impact on each.
Goodreads and Amazon both matter as reader review sources, but they help gothic romance authors and readers in different ways.
Two Platforms. Two Purposes. (Even for Gothic Romance)
Goodreads works like a large reading community. Think of it like an extended book club (within which are many book clubs) on algorithm steroids. The Goodreads people have programmed the platform to enable readers to connect with other readers. That reader-engagement and interconnectedness are the keys to how Goodreads works.
When you write a review on Goodreads, whether you post it on your account alone or within groups, you help the book enter more conversations, which can connect to even more conversations, further amplifying the book. This network effect increases the chances that more people will see the book.
Amazon plays a different role. Many readers use this platform when they are closer to buying a book. They're ready for a transaction. So, reviews on Amazon nudge a potential reader to click “Buy."
And I'd like to clarify something about writing reviews on Amazon: If you purchased the book through Amazon, your written review gets a special badge. If you didn't purchase the book through Amazon, you can still leave a review.
You've got two-fisted power
Posting in both places gives your review more reach. On Goodreads, you help with discovery. On Amazon, you help with decision-making.
If you only have time for one, leave one. But if you can copy a version of your review to both places, even better. Go you! You'll reach more readers.
Take action today
Click through to Goodreads or Amazon today, find a love story that wrecked you, a horror tale that still haunts you, or a how-to that moved you to mastery, and leave a review. A few honest sentences will make a lasting difference.
If you believe in my work, I hope you'll leave a review for BLOOD & WOLF:
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