Authors are always at their most vulnerable when they read reviews about their books and those reviews are at their most powerful when they are written by the direct target audience; the reader.

 

Whilst it is easy to ignore critics who may simply “not get” a book, readers are who a book was written for in the first place and, as a result, their words can send an author to self-acclaimed heaven or the darkest Purgatory you may imagine.

 

This morning, for me, it was the former over the latter as one of my book’s readers took the time to write a review on Amazon which simply thrilled me and made my day. Under the title of “SEO help that does what it says on the cover” the review is good enough for me to personally want to contact the reader and offer to buy her coffee at least. What really thrills me however is the fact that she ‘gets’ SEO Help exactly the way I wrote it.

 

When I set out, two years ago, to plan the writing of a book on search engine optimization I was conscious of the fact that all the theoretical knowledge I have about search engine development, the progression of the web, where and how it started and where it is, quite possibly, heading are of no use to a person faced with the simple need to optimize their website in order to make some money. It was clear to me, back then, that what was necessary was a book which was easy to read, practical, almost without any theory, which took a person with a real need and gave them a real solution. I wanted to produce a guide which would act like a professional SEO guru and be there for you whenever you needed to check something.

 

I wrote the book in just three months of driven writing and it has, since, been on the best-seller charts of both Amazon.com (No 9 position at the time of writing against over 1,400 competing titles) and Amazon.co.uk (No 4 position at the time of writing against over 10,000 contenders) almost every day (they change hourly depending on sales). As you can imagine this, in itself, is gratifying but it only shows that the book’s marketing is working. Reviews from readers show that the book itself works as intended.

 

So far, I have been blessed in only having had to read positive reviews which have been, in most cases, glowing. Whether in the US or Britain, the book has clearly worked. Possibly, I will, at some point also get some not so glowing (though I obviously hope this won’t happen) and then, provided they have been written with the same honesty and enthusiasm, they will also be useful.

 

An author, in order to write anything, sets themselves up as a reader. In their heads they are their own cheerleaders and critics. The cheerleader part is necessary because writing is an incredibly difficult, solitary activity which, in order to be done well, needs constant positive reinforcement. The critic is required because writing, as a solitary activity, is also incredibly easy to do really badly.

 

Once the writing process is over however, the book has been edited and it’s gone to print, the author is always left wandering just how well they have done.

 

The fact that SEO Help is living up to its name and is working exactly as planned is good because it also helps me improve. It allows me to see just how good (or bad) my inner critic is and this helps me, as a writer, sharpen and hone my craft and that is a win-win situation no matter what.