[Adam Poe]

Recently I saw some posts where people mentioned they have a bit of back-matter in their books encouraging people to leave reviews.

For those of you that do this, what kind of verbiage do you use? Did you see an increase of reviews after doing this?

 

[J.R. Thomson]

I don't do it as I suppose you never know what kind of review you're going to get.... ha

 

[Edward W. Robertson]

For a while, my back matter said, "If you liked this book, please consider leaving a review. Those help other customers blah blah blah." I recently changed most of them to "If you made it this far, please consider leaving a review blah blah blah." I may be delusional, but I feel like the latter's a little more neutral and encourages reviews of all stripes. I don't mind if people had qualms about the book. Hopefully their reviews will help people who will like it check it out.

It's really hard to quantify whether it helps because it requires such a big sample size, but I think it's helped. I've currently got a perma-freebie in the UK where the download : review ration is about 200 : 1. My US freebie review rate (before I had the backmatter note) was closer to maybe 800 : 1. I dunno if there are cultural factors involved there--my UK rate was worse prior to that, but there are small sample size issues at play--but I feel like I've seen a somewhat improved ratio among my other books, too.

 

[George Berger]

For those of you that do this, what kind of verbiage do you use? Did you see an increase of reviews after doing this?

Sincerely, though, thanks very much for having purchased this short piece of fairly mediocre fiction. Now, while its unspeakable horrors are still fresh in your mind, would be a marvelous time to leave a review on whatever website you got this from. (I suggest two stars; your mileage may vary.) Now would also be a good time to return it for credit, if you still can, and/or send me hate mail at email-address-here, if you have a particularly pressing desire to do so. My inbox is, as they say, always open…

The very first person who bought a copy left a review (five stars, even...) on Amazon which includes "Hopefully the author's inbox will fill up with fan mail rather than hate mail after this one!", which suggests they took the Boring Author's Note (no, really, that's what it's titled; the ambiguity is intentional) to heart...

 

[Adam Poe]

Thank you for the replies thus far. We have sold around 700 books now, and given around 16k away and only have 14 reviews spread across the three books. Maybe adding something in the back would help. I honestly don't mind too much what * rating they give if they actually finished the entire book.

 

[Lyndawrites]

Amazon themselves, usually give me about a week from downloading a book before they email and suggest I leave a review. I don't know whether this happens to everyone, but I now don't bother asking for a review in the book. I wouldn't like readers to think they were being harassed. YMMV

 

[Zelah Meyer]

I have deleted this post as I do not consent to the new Terms of Service that Vertical Scope are attempting to retrospectively apply to our content.  I am forced to manually replace my content as, at time of editing, their representative has instructed moderators not to delete posts or accounts when users request it, and Vertical Scope have implied that they will deal with account deletion requests by anonymising accounts, which would leave personally identifying information in my posts.

I joined under the previous ownership and have posted over the years under different Terms of Service.  I do not consent to my name, content, or intellectual properties being used by Vertical Scope or any other entity that they sell or licence my data to.

 

[Danielle Kazemi]

It works for me. I just add in (paraphrasing myself) 'Please leave a review whether good or bad. Your review helps people find this book.' I've gotten quite a few and when I was testing to see if people read it, I added in some odd questions at the back of book 9. People answered them so it proves people do read the last page. lol

 

[B.A. Spangler]

I've pasted my back matter page below. For my first book, Superman's Cape, I didn't include one. For my second book, Coffee and Tears, I added a page with the links and saw an increase in readers stopping by to my page, leaving their contact information. I've since added a similar page to Superman's Cape. The one below is from my next book, Gray Skies.

Thank You
​

Thank you for reading Gray Skies.

If you liked Gray Skies, please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon. It would be very appreciated.

If you want to see what is coming up, or just read what I've jotted down, visit my site WrittenByBrian.
You can also signup to receive my email newsletter when new books are coming out. Click to add your name or navigate to http://writtenbybrian.com/contact/.

Look for some of my other novels and upcoming novels & novellas:
Superman's Cape
An Order of Coffee and Tears
The Devil Orders Takeout
Fallen Pages
Glass Horses
Cradles In Prison
The Sound
Even Monsters Need Love

 

[Mathew Reuther]

FWIW I too have a back matter page:

A Request

Let me cut to the chase: I need your help.

Authors-particularly those of us at the beginning of our careers-need their readers' support. While big A-listers like Steven King, James Patterson, and George R.R. Martin may not need you to tell people about their work in order to pay the rent, the majority of the authors you read can probably use your assistance. (But still, make sure you support those guys if you enjoy their works too.)

So, if you liked this story and want to ensure that I'm able to keep putting my work out there for you to read, please consider doing any or all the following:

• Did you know that most readers choose new authors because of suggestions from people they know and trust? Tell your friends, family, colleagues-and maybe even the mailman-about this story, and my writing. Word of mouth is a big deal. Or, surprise someone with a gift copy of my work.
• Leave a review of the book anywhere you can. Do it where you bought it, on your blog, through a Facebook update, on Goodreads, or anywhere else that strikes your fancy.
• Sign up for my mailing list (eepurl.com/skNdr), where I periodically update my readers on the newest releases. I also occasionally offer list member exclusives, and it is a great source of information on promotions.
• Join in with the community on mathewreuther.com, where I answer reader questions directly on the boards. (Plus, I put free stories up every once in a while.)
• Do whatever else your stunningly creative mind comes up with to let people know about this author you enjoy. I assure you, he really appreciates it.

Thank you very much for your efforts in making it possible for me to continue writing.

Mathew Reuther

[/list]

 

[Quiss]

"I hope you enjoyed this story. If you did, perhaps you will return to the place where you downloaded it and leave a short review so that others can find it, too. If you did not, then I thank you for making it all the way to the end! "

I got a very bland 2-star yesterday, disliking my book for the things that others like it. Ouch.
So maybe I should just try to avoid reviews all together...

 

[Caddy]

Along with other information I end up with:

All fair and honest reviews are appreciated.

 

[Adam Poe]

I will definitely have to put something in the back -- It seems like a pretty common practice that we have never done. Now to decide which of yours to base ours off of