A topic we authors must always make their readers aware of. I know I have done before, as have many of you, but there are always new readers who don’t know, so repeat often, and don’t feel embarrassed to do so.
If not, why not?
I don’t have time
The author probably spent a heck of a lot more time writing the story than you took to read it, no matter how slow you think you are, so why not take a few minutes to record your feelings about it.
I can’t write long fancy reviews like those I see on book review blogs
You don’t have to, Amazon, for example, only ask you to use a minimum of 25 non repeating words.
I can’t express myself very well
No-one is asking you to produce a literary masterpiece, start off with things you liked, didn’t like or a mix of both about the book, e.g.,
I liked this book because –
it reminded me of –
it made me think about –
it made me so scared I couldn’t sleep for –
it made me feel homesick for –
it made…
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deborahjay 
Oh, what a brilliant post. Must share everywhere. Thank you Deborah.x
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Good suggestions, Deborah. I write a lot of reviews and tend to get wrapped up in the writing experience, understanding how much work went into creating the book. That usually ends up with at least one extra star.
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I think it works the other way around for me 😦
I really notice the writing, unless it’s awesome, and usually that detracts from the reading experience for me; I can’t turn off my internal editor unless the book is so good it enthrals me. That tends to bring me down a star, particularly when I feel the writing issues could have been easily fixed.
Perhaps I’m just too much of a perfectionist.
I do like to leave considered reviews, unless I feel I would be too negative, when I refrain from reviewing at all.
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Thank you for the post, Deborah. Yes, it’s disappointing to an author when people tell you they love your book–and you know they do–and yet they haven’t put that down in an Amazon review.. But as much as an author would like to ask them for a review I think that isn’t appropriate and I would never do it. But authors reciprocate. I wrote a good long review for an author who asked me to, not asking her for anything in return. She surprised me by writing a glowing review of one of my books and has done many nice other things for me. .
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No question about it, other authors write fabulous reviews, I’ve done the same for author friends because I have genuinely enjoyed their books.
I am not, however, above asking readers to leave a review, especially after they have gone to the trouble to tell me how much they enjoyed a book. More often than not, when I do ask (assuring them there is no pressure to comply), the usually say either, “I hadn’t thought about doing that,” or, “I don’t know how to – please explain. ” I’ve never yet offended one, or lost a reader.
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