Dear Colleagues, Fans, and Friends:

The biggest thing that can be done to get my novels noticed is to get more reviews posted on Amazon.com. For an Indy author this is a big deal, so your help is appreciated.

The trick is to have 4.5 stars or more. That, plus word of mouth (= telling your friends about books you like) is key, especially in these days of lock-downs, which hurt all small businesses.

This is a “cheat sheet” to make it easy and safe for readers to post reviews.

Barnes and Nobel (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/) is the easiest to use, so it’s a good place to practice.  The site is the land of large publishers. It can be slow to respond so be patient. All you need is an account there, which is free. B&N has one other major advantage.  You can post anonymously.

That protects you from trolls and stalkers. Thriller novels like mine are NOT politically correct, and trolls may lurk. We all know there is a lot of that in Cyberspace.

Both sites (B&N and Amazon) have “help links” with guidelines. Both sites are encrypted to allow secure purchases.  Short reviews are best, perhaps 20 to 50 words, but some on Amazon are much longer. It is the number of “stars” that matters.

Here is how to post a review on Amazon:

    1. You must have purchased goods (~ $50.00/year) from Amazon and have an open account with them. If you have not spent money there and given them a credit card, you can’t post reviews.
    2. Go to my Author’s Page or to any of my books on Amazon and sign in there with your Amazon user name and password. To find my Author’s page, just search Amazon under Books for “John Trudel.”  A search for “John D Trudel” works too. I am the Trudel with only one “L.” The one with two “Ls” is a hippy-dippy Indian activist from a different universe.
    3. Note: Alternately, you can search under books for “<book title> Trudel” – that works, as does this link. (http://amazon.com/author/johntrudel).
    4. Scroll down and click on my Book’s title. You can do one review for each book.
    5. That opens a screen. Click on the lower left where it says,  “Write a Review.”
    6.  Many people prefer NOT to have their real names floating around in Cyber Space where nasty Trolls lurk. You can Set or Change your “public name” by clicking the box at the upper right of this screen. Using a pseudonym for reviews is probably best.
    7. Here’s the step that matters the most: Click on the number of stars. 5-stars helps a lot. Anything under “4-stars” hurts serious books like mine which have high ratings.
    8. All you have to say is 20 words, but you can say more if you wish. Then pick a title for your review and fill that in.
    9. Click on, “Preview your review.” You can edit as much as you wish. And, when you are happy with what you said, click on the button that says Publish Review.