'Toss a Coin to your Writer, O Valley of Plenty...' (Amazon Ratings and Reviews) (Patreon)

... with reviews! Amazon reviews, especially.

I appreciate feedback, in all forms, be it e-mail, Patron comment, Reddit reply, DeviantArt favorite or watch, Twitter likes or retweets, and whether it's gushing praise or constructive criticism. I get sensitive to criticism sometimes, and want to get better at receiving it, but I need it all the same. It makes me think critically about my writing, and it makes me better in the long run. The more feedback I get on my stories, well... think about it like honing a blade on a whetstone. The more you hone, the better it cuts. The more feedback I get, the better I write, even if I don't always like the feedback. 

Now, all that being said, I need Amazon ratings and reviews especially. Ratings more than anything, but reviews, too. Honest ones. Good or bad. Ones which make use of the numbers between 1 and 5, too, lol. Ones which are critical, and praise the things they like about a story and point out things that they didn't like or would like to see improved in other stories.

Amazon ratings and reviews are critical currency for an independent writer, because they directly translate into new readers. A book with stars by its title, no matter how many, is more likely to attract readers than ones without. Even a one star rating will attract some eyes, if only to find out what the reviewer hated so much about the book. Some readers will come to Amazon and search for books based on how well reviewed they are. Obviously five star ratings are the best, but I want honest reviews, which means that if you think a book only deserves 3 stars, or 2... or even 1... then I'd prefer that to you inflating my ego with stars I didn't earn. A book with an honest 3.5 star rating will sell better than a book with no rating at all, and a book with a bunch of 5 star ratings it didn't earn will attract a bunch of negative reviews in short order. So please--if you do leave a review or rating, leave it honestly. 

If you don't have time to leave a textual review (anything more than the bare minimum required by Amazon) that's fine! The stars are really what I'm after on Amazon. The stars equal more views, more sales, more readers, and hopefully, more feedback from a wider variety of readers as well, helping me make my stories better and better in 2020 and beyond.