This is a side post to a comment from Barb Bettis on the previous post regarding the number of reviews and ratings. So, I thought I would comment on ways you accomplish this, too.

Before I pulled Enchanting the Earl, (and this was difficult) there were 1,077 rating/reviews, and the book’s rankings remained between 800 and 2500 the entire year it was available. Believe me when I say it was painful to let that go. But Skye said the series wasn’t doing as well as it should be, so, I pulled the plug.

When a reader reads your book, you have their undivided attention at that time. Let me repeat: YOU HAVE THE READERS UNDIVIDED ATTENTION WHEN THEY ARE READING YOUR BOOK!!

So, what can you do with that? Decide what is most important to you when they get to the end of the book. There are several options to consider:

1. Sign up for your newsletter
2. See your author bio with your social media links
3. See your entire backlist
4. Rate or review the book they just read
5. Have a dedicated space for the next book in the series. This can include:
   1. the first chapter of the next book, or
   2. just the blurb

What did I do? All of the above, but not in that particular order. Below is how the back matter of The Earl’s Error is organized. First, I thank the reader for reading the book and ask them to consider reviewing. Below is for TEE:

Thank you for reading The Earl’s Error – please consider leaving a review

Read ahead for a preview of The Marquis’s Misstep

One

Out of mourning. It was difficult to fathom—she, Lady Virginia Maudsley was finally officially out of mourning. Well, officially it would be another month. Still, she was a widow and thrilled to be so. Ginny squelched the pinch of guilt slithering through her. Joy that her late husband was dead. Worse? She wished she’d been there to see the light go out of the blackguard’s eyes. A little shudder skittered up her spine at her venomous thoughts. But then… she’d come a long way from the naïve little fool she’d been a decade before.

Ginny ached to believe she’d matured into someone philosophical yet focused in her long-range goals. Goals that weren’t solidly fleshed out. She was the first to admit her single-minded determination when it came to her two young daughters, Irene and Cecilia. It was well known those of the upper echelon nobility spent little time with their children. Boys were sired for the purpose of carrying on a title, and girls for contracting a profitable marriage. Deep down, Ginny felt differently. Lord knows, with the love that filled her heart when it came to her daughters, she’d willingly kill to protect them.

And so on, and so on….

For Apple or D2D or B&N or Kobo, I modify the review statement:

Thank you for reading The Earl’s Error. Please consider reviewing on BookBub or Goodreads. And I use the actual link for BookBub and for Goodreads and it looks like this:

Thank you for reading The Earl’s Error. Please consider reviewing on BookBub or Goodreads

If you were to click on BookBub or Goodreads, it will take you to that book page specifically for the reader to at least rate.

As it happens, I do have a book scheduled in the series coming out March of 2023 which means I already have a buy link (this is important, if somewhat stressful), Captivated by His Countess. So what did I do for this book? I wrote the blurb and put in the pre order link.

So the actual order of what I do for my back matter is as follows:

1. Rate or review the book they just read
2. Dedicate the space for the next book in the series with the first chapter of the next book, or the blurb
3. My author bio with my social media links
4. A sign up link for my newsletter at the top of page of my entire backlist

This is how you up your ratings and reviews.

Rankings fall in here too. Because the reader likes the book, they might click on the next one in the series, and voila! They are already on your book page, and this ups the rankings.

This may sound like a lot of work, but I keep pages with all the info I might need quickly. So it really is just a matter of taking the time, up front, to organize. Then everything is right at your fingertips (providing you remember where you stored in on your computer… 🥰 )

I hope you found this helpful.

FYI: The covers are included to add color. Brightens the page. The word here is opportunity. That is a good title for this post. Opportunities.