Believe it or not, we get it. Book reviews are not a funfest to write. But it does serve a purpose and it does help out the self-published authors on their journey to share their work with the world. You see, the books you are shown when you are browsing online at say, Amazon or Barnesandnoble.com, all run on algorithms. It's the sad truth. Keywords and metadata (the words the author enters when publishing their book) only go so far. The books with the most reviews or ratings get shown first. The ones that don't have many reviews, get shoved down onto the last page or not even shown at all. While we are doing our job marketing and advertising, if we are not getting rating or reviews, the algorithms don't give us the time of day. 

Rating and reviewing a book is like telling the author, "Hey, good job. I liked it. I'm looking forward to reading another one. Keep up the good work." And the author sees that rating or review and feels like 🥰. It is a huge pick-me-up and lets us know that yes, someone who bought our book actually read it! So many hearts are flying around us at that moment. 

Here's the thing -- You don't have to write a review, but if you are moved to, you can let others know what you liked about the book, what kept you turning the pages, and what you found surprising or funny. That's it. If you don't feel like a review, clicking on the appropriate number of stars works just as well and sends love. You do stay anonymous so there's that. But how many stars should you give a book? It's so confusing! 

Well, here's a short guide just for you, based off what I've researched for ratings:   

Click ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐stars if you loved the book and thought it was amazing. You'd definitely recommend it to the entire reading world. You know this book (and characters) will be living rent-free in your mind for the unforeseeable future.

Click ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ stars if you really liked the book, thought the story was great, and would recommend it to your friends. You'll likely talk about this story and the characters for a while.

Click ⭐⭐⭐ stars if you like it and felt it was a good story and was, at times, interesting, but you've read better. 

Click ⭐⭐ stars if it was ok, but it didn't keep your interest and/or wasn't for you. This kind of rating is best accompanied by a review so it can be seen as feedback.

Click ⭐ star if it was absolutely terrible, horrible, was full of errors, and you feel so passionate about the hours you spent reading it that you can't get back . Heck, you wouldn't even give it to your dog to eat.  OR don't click anything if you hate it that much.  Sometimes saying nothing is a sign of maturity and your mother and grandmother always said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." That's always good advice to fall back on.  This kind of rating is also best accompanied by a review so it can be seen as feedback. Please be specific as the author knows you actually read it and aren't some vengeful ex.

So, be the reason someone feels all 🥰 today. Go ahead and remember to rate and/or review those books if you feel moved to do so. We appreciate you.  And people naturally follow other people so your rating or review may be the reason other readers decide to pick a book up -- because other readers like you took a chance on a currently unknown author and liked their work enough to give it a rating or review.