Your Reviews Matter—and Help Keep Civil War Publishing Alive

By Theodore P. Savas · Originally published November 2017 · p. 25

We love reading about the Civil War. We save our hard-earned money and buy books on the subject we love. Sometimes we check them out from libraries. Other times, we borrow them from friends or family members. However, the vast majority of book readers never leave public reviews of the titles they read. Not on blogs, not on Facebook, and not on Amazon. Not in newsletters, or in magazines, or in newspapers. Most readers don’t think twice about not having done so. It’s understandable. Most people are busy, and/or they don’t think they write well enough to leave a public review. Many folks admit the idea doesn’t often cross their mind, or don’t believe a review is really all that important, or could possibly make any difference. They could not be more wrong. Here are a few reasons why you should pen a review, however brief or long, however general or detailed. Why? Because it matters – in more ways than you can imagine. First, authors need your feedback. They labor alone, often for many years, send a manuscript off to the publisher, and wait for a long while until it is published.

Reviews are one of the few ways they get feedback from the end user: You. Trust me, authors do not write for the money. They write for the joy of researching and writing, and to enrich your lives by providing you (hopefully) what you love. Share your honest opinion with them. Your reviews matter to them more than you know. Second, publishers (at least those who care) need your feedback. It is important to let us know what you like, and what you don’t like. Some publishers are exceptionally engaged with the reading public and very much look forward to hearing from those who purchase and read their books. We scour the web for reviews to learn whether what we did worked – or didn’t work. If we don’t hear from you, how will we ever truly know? How was the writing? How was the overall editing? Did you like the footnotes, or do you prefer end notes? Why? What did you think of the quality (or lack thereof) of the maps? Were they helpful? Were there enough of them? Were they placed properly? Ditto on the images. Interested publishers seek out fair and honest reviews and trust me, we pay attention. Publishers publish for many of the same reasons authors write. Speaking for myself, it certainly isn’t for the money, but the love of the game. The concept of adding enjoyment to the lives of others and enriching them in a unique way is truly satisfying; so is leaving something worthwhile for posterity. Your reviews matter. Third, other potential readers rely upon and need your honest opinion. Marketing blurbs and jacket copy are important sales tools, but interested readers are more influenced by your opinion. Think about it. Don’t you like to read what others think about a new book in which you have an interest? If Book X is released and the first several reviews are very negative – no maps, terrible writing, no index, etc., aren’t you glad you didn’t shell out thirty bucks for it? Sure you are. On the flip side, if early reviews are glowing, doesn’t it help you make an informed buying decision? Your reviews matter. Fourth, most book readers don’t take into consideration that booksellers and wholesalers follow reviews carefully. Here is a simple example outside the Civil War that makes my point. The fascinating memoir Steel Boat, Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman’s Life

Aboard U-505, by Hans Goebeler (with John Vanzo) has been very successful, but not because of anything the authors have done (Hans is deceased, and John does not do events), but because some of our promotions triggered a wave of reviews. As the number of positive reviews climbed, more booksellers and wholesalers stocked it, more libraries picked it up, and more readers discovered this little gem. Foreign rights agents sought us out, as did a major audio rights company. Thousands of readers around the world would never have heard of this gem except for your reviews; they climbed in number from 19 to … 498. Your reviews matter. Fifth, Amazon, the uncomfortable elephant in the room today, uses reviews and page hits to determine which books are popular, how many to stock, and how to match them with other similar interests. Many people check Amazon first to see how a book has been reviewed. I know many of you are nodding your head, right? How many of us have glanced at a star rating and thought, “Only a two-star average with 10 reviews? I’ll pass.” Or, “Wow, this has 22 reviews and a 4.5-star rating average. I will get a copy.” Your reviews matter.

I can hear some of you shouting, “But Ted, I am not a good writer!” This is something I hear often. Here is a secret: It doesn’t matter. Just write what you liked, or didn’t like, about a book. Post it on Amazon, Facebook, or maybe in a series of tweets. It can be as simple as, “I liked this book because the subject is interesting, it was easy to read, there were lots of good maps, the footnotes were informative, and I learned a lot.” If you feel comfortable, go in-depth and write several paragraphs. Reviews help keep authors writing, publishers publishing, and readers reading. Your participation with reviews is critically important and likely much more so than you realized. Help shape YOUR reading future. Your collective opinion matters. Theodore P. Savas is the owner and managing director of Savas Beatie publishing. The recovering attorney and widely published author appreciates red wine, good cigars, expensive gin, wreck driving, and Mozart. A classically trained pianist, he plays bass (Rickenbackers only) in the hard rock band Arminius. Ted lives in El Dorado Hills, California.