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Less than two months to go now until Publication Day for Daughter of Blood — w00t!

The approach of Publication Day also means it’s review time, but not just traditional reviews via book critics. As soon as the book is out there in the wild, reader reviews cut in as well, especially on sites like Good Reads and Amazon.

My friend and fellow author, Courtney Schafer, has just released the ebook edition of Labyrinth of Flame, the third and final novel in her Shattered Sigil series.

Courtney has had to self-publish to complete the series because her publisher, Night Shade Books, failed after the second book was published. Thanks to enthusiastic readers, Courtney has had a very successful Kickstarter, but I thought her observation about the importance of reader reviews was very interesting:

“So if you’ve enjoyed the series, tell your friends! And for those of you who’ve read the book already, if you wish to leave an honest review on Amazon, that would be wonderful. If you’re wondering why reviews there are such a big deal to authors, it’s because new reviews push the book up in the ranking and recommendation algorithms, thereby helping new readers to more easily discover the series.”

I guess reader reviews are another form of word of mouth for the internet age. So I’ll be hoping Courtney’s readers will be getting in behind Labyrinth of Flame and putting a little wind beneath the book’s wings with those honest reviews.

And when Daughter of Blood comes out on January 26, I hope hordes of avid readers will consider posting honest reviews as well—to activate the alchemy of those algorithms. 🙂