Ready, Set, Review!

Book two has been out for three months now, but sadly, it has not received many ratings and reviews. To help encourage readers to leave reviews/ratings, I've decided to set some goals for 2026.

My hope is for When Darkness Blinds to get 16 more ratings and 12 more reviews by the end of the year. Additionally, I hope to see When Shadows Fall get 14 more ratings and 10 more reviews.

I tried to keep these goals low enough that achieving them proves feasible, though I will dance and leap for joy if we exceed any of these numbers!

How it Will Work

Each month, I will share the updated progress trackers (shown below) in my newsletter, on my website, and on social media. I will use the rating/review count on either Amazon OR Goodreads, based on which one has the higher number. My hope is to see the numbers go up in both places!

How can you help?

• Leave a rating and review for both books if you haven't done so yet.

  (NOTE: You can do this even if you borrowed the book from a friend/library or received it as a gift!)

  
  

• Copy and paste a review you wrote for Amazon and put it on Goodreads or vice versa if you've done a review/rating in one place but not the other.

  
  

• Leave a rating/review on your kid's behalf if they read the books but are too young to leave their own review/rating.

  
  

• Spread the word to others who have read the book!

Why do reviews matter so much?

There is a lot to say on this subject, but I'll try to boil it down to the main points!

Reviews and ratings do all of the following (and more):

• spreads the word to other readers

• makes a book look more trustworthy (readers are far more likely to take a chance on a book with a high number of reviews/ratings)

• builds hype and momentum for the book

• encourages and motivates the author

• boosts the book's rankings on Amazon

• tells Amazon that this is a book people are interested in

• boosts the book's performance on search engines, making it easier for readers to find

  
  

Almost all of the above points are direct contributors to a book making more sales. There is a feedback loop where the more reviews/ratings a book has, the more readers it will get, and the more readers there are, the more reviews/ratings it will get.

Think about the pebble that starts an avalanche! A review may feel like a small thing, but it has real, tangible effects on an author's career.

Some things to keep in mind:

Many people find writing a review intimidating, but reviews don't need to be super long or perfectly written. In most cases, the number of reviews matters more than the exact wording of those reviews. It is enough to just share a few honest thoughts about the book!

If you need some inspiration, you could do any of the following:

• share one or two things you loved about the book

• describe how reading the book made you feel

• share one or two things you think could have been improved

• name a favourite character or story element

• mention other books it made you think of

Thank you for your support!

For everyone who gets involved in this endeavour, thank you so much!  And obviously, if you have already left a review and rating for both books, thank you, thank you, thank you! (Seriously, thank you!)

It is also worth mentioning that reviews/ratings are not the only way to support an author, and I know many of you have gone above and beyond in recommending my books to other readers, posting about them on social media, buying them as gifts for people, and so on. If you've supported me in any way, please know I appreciate you. ❤