Hi there,
It’s been a hot minute! How are you all doing?
We may have been off the boil with our BookRoar newsletters recently, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy beavering away in the background, tinkering behind the scenes as we do. It’s a short update today, but the changes we are introducing are some of the biggest ever and require everyone’s attention. We hope everyone will find this as exciting as we do.
Let’s get on with the goss! Don’t forget to read to the very end of this newsletter for even more exciting news which can help you get the most out of BookRoar.
Major Changes Incoming — Be Aware!
One of the main frustrations people have with BookRoar is having to wait for Amazon to finish processing their reviews before submitting them to us. We hear you, and feel your pain. Well, those days are soon to be long gone thanks to a major change to how the submission process works.
In short, reviewers will soon be able to submit reviews to BookRoar the moment they submit to Amazon and Goodreads, and it will be the receiving author’s responsibility to keep checking their book’s Amazon listing and to notify us when the review is Live. We have made some modifications to the site to reflect this, and the authorization timer has also been extended to seven days to allow time for the review to be processed.
This change will mean that reviewers can get on with selecting and reviewing their next book straight away, and will no longer be held up while Amazon does their thing. It will now be the responsibility of the receiving author to keep tabs on the review and alert us when it is Live.
We understand that this is a pretty major change and there may be some apprehension, but we hope it will be for the better. We strongly advise our members to check out our Medium article for full details on how this will work. The new process comes into effect on the 1st October and we will pay close attention to your feedback during this period.
Verified Reviews Only? Take Part in Our Poll
We have had a discussion within BookRoar recently (and also with a lot of our members) on going for a ‘Verified Reviews’ only approach, meaning we will only accept reviews if they have the Verified Purchase checkmark next to them on Amazon. For those who don’t know, these reviews are more trusted by Amazon and are more prominently displayed on a product’s page, and they also go across all marketplaces (so a review posted in the UK will display in the US, Australia, Germany etc.). It will also stop the few bad eggs out there who don’t purchase the books or read them on Kindle Unlimited, which deprives us all of royalties.
But what are your thoughts? We have to weigh this option up very carefully, as we know that a Kindle Unlimited subscription is the most cost effective way to use BookRoar and grants readers access to a whole range of books they may not select otherwise. But it does leave BookRoar open to be abused. If we do go for this approach, our members will still get back a proportion of what they spend back in royalties whenever their book is chosen, while having all the benefits of a Verified Review.
This one is open to our members, and we are really keen to hear your thoughts. Take part in the poll and also reply to this email with your thoughts.
BookRoar Extra and Credit Sale
You may have noticed that BookRoar has become a lot more stable and reliable recently, with less downtime and a more responsive interface. These recent changes are all thanks to the contributions made by our BookRoar Extra members, whose donations have meant we can finally afford to upgrade our servers. Thanks as always to those who have supported BookRoar and continue to help us grow and expand.
And that’s not all. We are now in a position to start selling a limited amount of Credits again. BookRoar Extra members get first dibs on the Credits we do release and also a discount on all purchases. If you are not yet an Extra member, sign up on KoFi today and get a whole host of benefits, such as access to our prize drawers and Credit sales, AI and plagiarism protection, and listing critiques.
(Credits are sold at $25 for regular members and $18 for Extra members. Please note that there is a waiting list to purchase Credits which anyone can join by sending us an email, however Extra members will have priority access. We can only release a select amount each month and will contact you when you can make a purchase of a maximum of three Credits).
Well, that’s it for now. Please do send us your feedback or any of the above so we can keep trying to make BookRoar a better experience for everyone.
The BookRoar Team
