So there’s been some buzz in cyberspace about a gentlemen (I use the term loosely) who formed an entire business around posting stellar reviews for authors on amazon.com (for a fee, of course). Unfortunately, it appears that the venture was wildly successful, and the folks snapping up the so called “review packages” were…you guessed it…indie authors. This incident has led to some pretty heated discussion online about book ratings, specifically on amazon, and I’ve heard several calls for the website’s review system to be revamped so dishonest ratings can be minimized or even eliminated.

I don’t condone what this particular person did, and the authors who purchased these so-called “services” just make it harder for indies who actually want to improve at their craft and connect with readers on a personal level. So as a true-blue indie author who is genuinely interested on improving your craft (not just scamming folks out of their hard-earned bucks), what can you do to convince readers to take a chance on your work? Three things come to mind:

1) Get some bloggers who review books in your genre to review your book on their website. Now why is this a good move to convince readers that you’re not a fly-by-night hack who has been purchasing reviews? Because bloggers need to deliver quality content to their audience. If they don’t, their audience will bail and the blogger won’t have a reason to blog anymore. So they’re not going to give a fluffed-up review of your book to their readers, it’s not in their best interest. They’re going to be honest about it, and honesty is what we need to make us better writers.  Oh, and these folks are BUSY. So ask early and be patient!

2) Offer several chapters of your book for free on your website and leave them there—forever. What does this do? It lowers the risk for your reader and shows them that you have confidence in your work. You’re giving them a chance to sample before they make the commitment to buy. Now how much you put out there is up to you. However, the more you give the more likely people are to trust that you’re not pulling the wool over their eyes (e.g. posting a single stellar chapter that isn’t representative of the rest of your book). Also, if you put enough of your book out there to engage the reader and then end the sample on an intriguing high-note, you might convince them that they HAVE to find out what happens next (and thus buy the entire book).

3) Now and then, offer an entire copy of your book for FREE. Host a giveaway or find a blogger to host one for you. The fact is that “free” is the opposite of dodgy fake reviews, because dodgy fake reviews are meant to sell books that otherwise wouldn’t sell. So do a giveaway once in a while, and make sure you blog/tweet/Facebook about it. Congratulate the winner and if you’re truly interested in improving your writing skills, ask them if they would consider (low pressure) writing a few words about the book on one of the popular review sites.

That’s it. Now go out and write, get better, and most importantly be honest with the people. I think you’ll find that the relationships you’ll develop and the things you’ll learn about yourself (and your writing) will far outweigh any gains you might get by doing otherwise.