The Importance of One Line Reviews

Several of you asked why I thought one-line reviews were so important, so, as always, I am here to answer your questions!

I have talked several times about the importance of a broad audience to an artist’s viability, but for those of you just joining us, I’ll reiterate that particular lesson because of the 1000 True Fans thing floating around. The True Fan theory goes like this: “You don’t need millions of fans. You only need a thousand fans willing to really, really like you (read: spend lots of money on you).”

People love the 1000 True Fans theory because acquiring a thousand fans seems more do-able than finding a million. The problem, though, is that that thousand have to be willing to spend a lot more money on you than any of those millions. And if you lose one of those thousand fans, it hurts you a lot worse than if one of those million wanders off.

I feel like I am a lucky person, in that I have a lot of True Fans. *salutes you all* But finding you has taught me that true fans are like true anything: friendship, love, etc. They’re rare and precious and honestly, it's often easier to find millions of occasional fans than even 200 people like you awesome folks reading this now. And making a living off True Fans is rough. You can’t afford to lose any of them, because they’re a larger percentage of your income than any thousand people only paying you a few bucks. Keeping them requires a lot more work on your part, because they expect—and deserve—more out of you than the person buying your book on a whim and a sale. And even finding them is rough, because it requires someone to be seriously passionate about your work. There are so many things to be passionate about. Having someone devote that kind of energy to any one artist is remarkable and special. It's certainly not anything I expect out of my average reader, and having as many of you as I do is humbling.

Nevertheless, I didn’t start making ‘earn a living’ money until I broadened my appeal beyond my true fans and into the general market. My bread and butter money doesn’t come from my true fans. It comes from strangers who buy my books because they happen to run across them, and then read them when they get around to it. Those are the people who land on Earthrise or Mindtouch because some mailing list told them it was on sale, glance at the fact that it’s got a few hundred starred reviews, and think ‘good enough, guess I’ll pick it up.’ Or maybe they don’t have anything else to read and I’m not their favorite author but I’m good enough. Those are the people who pay my bills.

They’re also the people who leave one-line reviews.

So let’s back up a second and think about in-depth reviews. The kind of reviews authors re-read when they’re depressed and need to be reminded why they’re doing this. The kind I honestly love and pet when they show up, and think 'wow, what a lucky author I am.' Two kinds of people write those reviews:

• True fans who love the author’s work and want to gush/convert other people.
• People who self-identify as readers, and who pride themselves on thinking about and sharing what they think about books.

Of these groups, the true fans are not likely to need other people’s reviews, because they’re already poised to buy whatever’s coming out next. They’re here on Patreon, or on my mailing list. They are my steadfast rockstar awesome posse and they write those reviews to help me, but they don’t need them for their own sakes.

The core-identity-readers, if they haven’t already converted to true fans, are going to be a small group… because if they don’t love my work, they’re not going to buy another book from me. They’re invested in a fantastic reading experience, and they won’t waste time on anything less. I’ve got one chance to convert them—maybe two or three if they decide they need more data to make up their minds—but once they’ve decided they’re either sticking around or moving on.

Neither of these groups is going to show up in the numbers I need to pay the bills. The group I need is the broad, general audience that thinks I’m good enough entertainment that if they remember to buy whatever I’ve got, they will. And these are the people who, if they thought I was good enough, leave a review like ‘liked it, bought the next.’

Why is this important? Because that same group, when they show up on a book’s landing page, use the wisdom of the crowd to decide whether to take a chance on something. They aren’t going to spend a lot of time making this decision. Very few of them are going to scroll down and read the reviews. They just want an impression of what everyone else thought so they can decide whether it’s worth 99 cents and ten minutes of their time reading the first few pages. And they form that impression by looking at the average star rating and the average number of reviews. Those two pieces of data tell them a great deal, for very little investment on their part. You can probably guess that information yourself, because most people's rubric is similar:

• Low star rating, low reviews – not just a bad bet, but one you couldn’t even trash-talk about with friends, because they won’t have heard of it.
• Low star rating, lots of reviews – don’t bother. Or bother because you want to be able to trash-talk it with lots of other people.
• Average star rating, few reviews – meh, not worth the time.
• Average star rating, lots of reviews – has lots of buzz, probably worth checking out to see what’s the fuss.
• High star rating, few reviews – someone’s friends liked this. Probably pathetic. (Or possibly so new it doesn't have any reviews yet.)
• High star rating, lots of reviews – hot stuff, good bet.

Most of these people won’t scroll down to read the reviews. If they do scroll down and see lots of one-line reviews, their impression will be ‘lots of people read this, even people who aren’t big readers’, which is a good thing. It meant the book appeals even to people who aren't super into books.

I suppose some people might think it’s awful that we-as-humans rely so much on other people’s judgment of things. But I don’t think of it that way. Trusting other people’s judgment so that we don’t have to exhaustively research every decision we make is a vital human social skill. It keeps us from wasting time. It builds trust in society, which we use to survive. It gives us common touchpoints to discuss. If a book is popular and awful, I will still enjoy discussing it with other people who’ve heard of it. Reading a book that no one's heard of (great or terrible) is a lonely experience. It’s not a surprise that we try to convert people to things we love. Sharing those things is a great pleasure.

So to bring myself back to one-line reviews: they’re important because they appeal to the broader audience that helps keep me financially afloat. They’re not aimed at my super-fans, or core-identity readers, and they’re not intended for people who want to know if they’re about to fall in love with their next favorite author. They’re aimed at people who want to know if a book is worth a Saturday afternoon.

I love your long reviews. I really, really do. But not leaving one because you think you’re not going to do me justice is unfair to you, because seriously, it's just a review you don't have to be so anxious about it! And incorrect in general, because the lack of a review is worse than a poorly written one. A single ‘this kept me up until 3 am’ or ‘I needed tissues’ or ‘another great book from my fav’ review that adds to that review count and star rating does more to feed me than your long, carefully considered, 1000-word magnum opus. 

Writing a book is art. Selling a book is psychology. And in my case, and in the case of most authors, the psychology of 'lots of people liked this' is a far more powerful tool to sell books than 'only a few really impassioned people liked this.' Which means you can help all your favorite authors for the least amount of effort on your part, just by stopping by and jotting down stuff like 'yay, got to spend time with Alysha and the girls, so fun'. You are actually doing the most useful thing possible in this case by leaving that short review, over your other possible choices (long review, or none at all).

Having said that, I really do love your long reviews, so if you love to leave them, by all means, do so! There's a very narrow segment of the buying population that does read them, and I'm more likely to find my next true fans in that niche. You long-reviewers are sifting my audience for my next true fans, and that's a valuable service in itself. But if you ever think 'I don't know what to say, I don't want to say the wrong thing,' then I'm here to tell you: the very best thing to say is stuff just like the customer in my graphic up there. 'liked it. Bought the next.'

This is so important it bears repeating: lots of short reviews on retail sites are a better tool for selling books than only a few long-and-wonderful ones.

If you have ever asked, 'how do I help the jaguar best', that's your answer.

I hope this helps? And doesn't make any of you feel undervalued? Because you really are awesome. My true fans are the best. But part of the reason I'm so dedicated to cultivating that wider audience is to take the pressure off y'all. I don't ever want any of you thinking that you have to do things to help me because otherwise I'll be reduced to feeding my family ramen. I want you to be here for the fun and joy of it. Arm-twisting is not my thing. :)

Questions, comments, observations welcome!