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Readers: why is important to have "verified purchase"?






Before three years I gave a lot of free books. I don't remember the number, maybe over 100. Did you guess how many reviews I got? About ten, not more. Also, some of my reviews were deleted by Amazon. The reason was: "there is no track of the book."

What does it mean? When you see a mark above the review, that says "verified purchase", it means that your reader bought a book or got it with Kindle Unlimited.

If your reader is outside of the USA, his review will appear also in one of the Amazon countries (16 in total), depending on which state he is in. Mostly my readers are from the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany. 

When you ask for a review, as an author, you will offer ARC copy. That is a double-cross because you don't know will you get a review. If your reader is buying your book, it means you will probably get a review sooner or later. 



Why is a verified purchase important?

Amazon will not delete your review if this is a verified review.
You are giving respect to the author.
Indie books are priced at 0.99 $, 1.24 $, or 3.74, and these are small coins.
Indie book is valuable about 100 $. Yes, if you count editing and cover, it is the smallest price how much your indie book is worthy.
Many indie books are discounted. Just follow the notifications about discounts.
If you buy the book, you are helping authors to be noticeable and to sell their books further.

Also, what you need to have on your mind:

The indie author will pay promotion of his books, and this is a big cost.
Many spammers will try to cheat indie authors, by offering them paid reviews or promotions that are not useable. 
Some trolls will try to ruin a book with negative ratings.

Every indie author is happy if his work is readable, noticed, and praised. Even if you don't like the book, you can express your review and help the indie author to progress. 
My reviewers helped me to fix my mistakes and do it better.

Comments

Eva Pasco said…
I always make it a point to purchase the book. Standard procedure is for me to read and review. It's my show of support for fellow Indies.

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