# How to Ask for Reviews at the End of Your Book



## Nick Fox (Oct 26, 2010)

I'm sure this has been covered, but a quick search turned up nothing. I'm looking for a little advice from those who ask for reviews at the end of their books. I'm planning on adding a blurb like this at the end of my short story, but I'm not quite sure how to word it. My gut wants to write "If you enjoyed this book, bla bla bla" but I don't want to make it sound like I only want a review if they loved it. Any suggestions?


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

In the back matter, I list my books this way:

The Jesse McDermitt Series
Fallen Out: Jesse McDermitt Series, The Beginning
Review this book? Fallen Palm
Fallen Hunter: Jesse McDermitt Series Vol. 2
Fallen Pride: Jesse McDermitt Series Vol. 3
Fallen Mangrove: Jesse McDermitt Series Vol. 4
Fallen King: Jesse McDermitt Series Vol. 5 (Jan. 2015)

Each is a link to the books product page, except the one that it's in. In this case, it's the back matter for Fallen Palm and links the review page.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Please do not be whiny.  Nothing turns me off faster than authors depend on reviews so go review my book.  Those get ignored.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Kayla. said:


> Don't. Honestly. This encourages hateful one-star reviews, especially if you leave a link for easy access to the comments page.
> My current bestseller (which sells a copy a day in a foreign Kindle store) doesn't have any reviews. My first book, on which I used the comments page link, has several reviews, and doesn't sell any more. The reviews are pretty good overall, but I wonder if there's a correlation.
> 
> Anyway, I'd recommend you don't mention reviews in your book.


I disagree. I've found I've gotten more reviews since asking at the back of my book, and they've been more positive than negative. Reviews are also very important if you're going to try to go for some of the bigger ads, like BookBub, because they require you to have a lot of them. If people hate your book enough to give it one star, they probably won't make it to the end when you ask in the first place. Most people would give up a book they hate far sooner.

I just have a very simple "thanks for reading" in the back that includes a link to the series landing page and I say, "if you have time to spare, a short review would be greatly appreciated."


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## Drake (Apr 30, 2014)

I politely solicit reviews on the back page if the reader liked the book, and encourage them to contact me via email if they have complaints.  It's worked pretty well so far.


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## Geoff Jones (Jun 20, 2014)

This is what I have at the end of my book, at the end of the Acknowledgements.



> Finally, I want to thank you the reader, for coming along on this ride. I hope you had as much fun as I did. If so, please take a moment to post a review and tell a friend.


I've been pretty successful at getting reviews, so I feel like it worked for me, but as always, I'd be interested in hearing feedback and suggestions.

Geoff


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Geoff and Perry have the right idea.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Here's mine, which I put at the end of the book. I specifically do not include links because (1) they violate Amazon's TOS and (2) Apple rejects e-books with links to other distributors. Kindle books have a KDP-generated last page that serves the same purpose.



> *From the Author*​
> Thank you for reading _Title_. If you enjoyed this book (or even if you didn't) please visit the site where you purchased it and write a brief review. Your feedback is important to me and will help other readers decide whether to read the book too.
> 
> If you'd like to get notifications of new releases and special offers on my books, please join my email list by clicking or tapping [email protected]
> ...


Since adding this page to all my e-books, my review count has gone up as has my mailing list.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

My latest Author's Note says:

Dear Reader, I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know the heroes and villains of (fantasy world). The adventures are just beginning, so if you’d like to follow along I invite you to sign up for my Readers List (link), where you’ll receive special email notifications as new books in this series are released. I also hope you’ll consider dropping a quick review at the retailer of your choice. Thank you and happy reading!


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

As an experiment, I put a picture at the end of some of my books of a guy holding up a cardboard sign that says "please review my novel". You know, for the ha-has. After a few months, those titles haven't exploded with reviews, but I haven't been 1-bombed either. Straight 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon, and the same sorts of ratings on iTunes and B&N.

My conclusion is that folks will review if they feel passionate about the book (either way), and while it doesn't hurt to ask, it doesn't really help much either.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

This is what I've put:



> If you have enjoyed reading this book (or even if you haven't!), please consider writing a review on Amazon, Goodreads or wherever you hang out online, to help others decide if they would like it. You can find out the latest news, find bonus scenes and background information, and sign up for the Brightmoon newsletter at http://paulinemross.co.uk. Watch out for the next book set in the Brightmoon world, 'The Fire Mages'.


There's more stuff after that about the book, the author, acknowledgements, etc, but that first paragraph, headed 'Thanks for reading', is what the reader sees after turning over the last page. I have no idea whether it helps or not, but I reckon a polite request doesn't hurt.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

I recently overcame my reluctance to out right ask, but since I did, I have received more reviews more often, but they do cover the range. Most are 4, some are 5, and yes one or two are 1stars. That seems normal for permafree especially, but I am definitely seeing more of all of them.

I do a single line: "Do you have a minute to review and support the author?"

The word review links to the review page directly on Amazon.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Al Stevens said:


> Here's mine, which I put at the end of the book. I specifically do not include links because (1) they violate Amazon's TOS and (2) Apple rejects e-books with links to other distributors. Kindle books have a KDP-generated last page that serves the same purpose.
> 
> Since adding this page to all my e-books, my review count has gone up as has my mailing list.


Assuming you include this request at the end of the book, after the Acknowledgments, do you follow that with links or reviews or excerpts from your other books?


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Carol (was Dara) said:


> My latest Author's Note says:
> 
> Dear Reader, I hope you've enjoyed getting to know the heroes and villains of (fantasy world). The adventures are just beginning, so if you'd like to follow along I invite you to sign up for my Readers List (link), where you'll receive special email notifications as new books in this series are released. I also hope you'll consider dropping a quick review at the retailer of your choice. Thank you and happy reading!


Mine is very similar to this. It goes just after the end of the book, before acknowledgements, author bio, and list of other works. Putting it there and phrasing it politely like this has increased my mailing sign-ups and number of reviews a ton.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Also, I make it the next line of text after THE END, and I edit the epub to make certain it is ON the same page, so no page turning to get to it.


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## ThePete (Oct 10, 2013)

> Also, I make it the next line of text after THE END, and I edit the epub to make certain it is ON the same page, so no page turning to get to it.


That's clever. It took me months to figure that out!

To the OP:
It doesn't hurt to add a gentle reminder to leave a review. The vast majority of readers will ignore it anyway, a few will be moved and only the tiniest subset will be offended.

There are a thousand ways to word that back matter, but in my experience, you want to keep things light. Avoid the cardinal sin of taking yourself too seriously. My example:

"I hope you enjoyed my little tale. Please don't forget to toss up a quick review wherever you bought this. Positive or negative, I'm grateful for all feedback! If you have any questions, complaints or suggestions, I'm happy to hear them all. Just shoot me a message on any of the following sites:

Links + sample of next book"


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## jegarlick (Jun 23, 2013)

Carol (was Dara) said:


> My latest Author's Note says:
> 
> Dear Reader, I hope you've enjoyed getting to know the heroes and villains of (fantasy world). The adventures are just beginning, so if you'd like to follow along I invite you to sign up for my Readers List (link), where you'll receive special email notifications as new books in this series are released. I also hope you'll consider dropping a quick review at the retailer of your choice. Thank you and happy reading!


Oh, this is brilliant! I like this! (runs to craft her own version...)


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## R.E. McDermott (Feb 16, 2011)

I beg shamelessly in the back matter. I have no pride.


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## Nick Fox (Oct 26, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it's been really helpful.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

I put:



> Thank you so much for reading #Houston69. I hope you enjoyed reading the book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. If you did enjoy the book and have the time and inclination, please consider writing a review on the book's Amazon page at:
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MV571OA/
> or
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MV571OA/
> in the U.S. and U.K. stores respectively.


Philip


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Don't ask for reviews. If you ask for reviews it is against Amazon TOS, making reviews "inorganic" and makes you a horrible person akin to Satan, who isn't really a person so much as the King of the Damned.   Just kidding. Ask away. It works. Do whatever it takes. FYI. In a lot of ways, reviews don't matter much.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Richardcrasta said:


> Assuming you include this request at the end of the book, after the Acknowledgments, do you follow that with links or reviews or excerpts from your other books?


The request is at the end; the acknowledgments are at the front with the dedication, etc. I do not quote my reviewers because I'd want their permission to cite their reviews as endorsements, and since most of them are anonymous, I don't know who to ask. It seems that using reviews in the promotional matter would carry more weight if the reviewer is someone the potential reader has heard of. Such as a celebrity or a best-selling author in the genre.


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## Sylvia R. Frost (Jan 8, 2014)

I offer the next installment free for those who review and join my mailinglist. It's gotten me about 10% review rate. None below 3-stars.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Immediately after the end of the book's text I have "_If you enjoyed My Book Name, please take a moment to leave a review._" The "leave a review" text is hyperlinked directly back to the reviews section on the book's Amazon page so the reader doesn't have to hunt around for it.


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## Book Fan (Mar 19, 2017)

I know this is a super old thread, but several people mentioned putting direct links to the review page in the back of their books. Is this allowed in 2019? Sounds like something that would violate Amazon's TOS, but I'm not sure.


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## EA Cruz (Jul 27, 2017)

Tie your CTA in to what you talked about in your book

For example, if you wrote a book about overcoming low self-esteem, refer to key points you raised and ask for a review

You can spin the CTA so only BUYERS who LIKED your book would post reviews


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## ChamomileHasANovel (Feb 12, 2018)

I very much doubt that anyone is going to be persuaded to leave a review by two or three sentences in the back of your book, no matter how well you write them. What the "please review" bit actually does is remind people that this is a thing they can do and it will help out the author to do so, and minor improvements to the contents of the reminder barely even matter. Mark E. Cooper's suggestion will probably get noticeable results, though, because it makes the reminder harder to miss.


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## Jack Krenneck (Feb 9, 2014)

I don't think it's in any way against TOS.

I do doubt that it was very successful in 2014.

Since then, readers have seen it all a million times. Chances of success are even lower. Plus, it sucks oxygen from other CTA's such as a link to the next book or new release subscription. 

YMMV.

If you're going to do it, Wayne Stinnett's approach seemed the best to me.


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## syz (Jun 12, 2021)

*Book reviews help writers to sell more books. We do free book reviews in almost all genres and not just golf. It doesn’t hurt to ask… #freebookreviews* *#writers* *#authors* *#publishers*


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## vampiregirl (Jun 13, 2021)

Nothing wrong with saying something like "hey, thank you so much for reading. If you have a chance, please review as reviews help authors tremendously." then adding the links to all the places. I also have a newsletter funnel that offers a free book in all my books to get people signed up. That has been doing pretty good so far as well. But kindle automatically asks a reader to rate the book they just read, which is helpful too.


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