What does it take to make you #review a #Kindle book?

I guess this is the eternal question that most authors would ask their readers. I've been trying to find out the industry standard rate for book sales on Amazon to reviews left, but the data is either elusive or does not exist.

It would be nice if it was 2% or even 1%, but so far I seem to get one review for every 300 or so sales. One of my books does a little better than that, but there's not a big margin of variation.

All my books feature a page at the end politely asking for a review or at least a rating, I've tried to persuade readers to leave a review in discussions on Facebook and Google+, and I've even given copies away free in return for reviews (which in the majority of cases did not lead to reviews).

Obviously, there are review sites out there, but I am dubious as to how a review generated that way would compare to one by someone who chose to read one of my books because they liked the sound of the story or read the sample chapters and wanted to go on and read the rest of it. I'm doubtful that someone who reads and reviews books in order to create content for their blog/website is as likely to enjoy what they are reading and write as positive a review. I've heard horror stories about authors getting bad reviews from people who didn't even like the sound of the book before they read it and then the resulting review damaging future sales.

I hoped I could get some of my friends to review my books, assuming they like the genre, but I've had no luck there either. Most of them are not big readers anyway.

So if you are a reader, what is the key thing which makes you want to leave a rating or write a review?

The Importance of Eye-Catching #Coverart

With the growing dominance of e-books it's tempting to thing that front covers no longer matter, but the importance of eye-catching artwork on the front of your novel is just as important as ever. Potential readers browsing through book related sites and online bookshops still need to have their attention drawn to your work and the most powerful way to do that is an impressive front cover image.

Better still, a good cover can become a marketing tool in its own right. I like to upload my best covers to art sites, picture sharing sites and now I've started entering book cover artwork competitions too. Here are my two favourite covers, which I've entered into the AuthorDB.com competition.

Vote for this cover here.
Find out more about Astronomicon: Those Left Behind here.

Vote for this cover here.
Find out more about Astronomicon: Icarus here.

Obviously to maximise the exposure gained from the competition, I really have to win it. That's a hard target considering some of the competition there. There's everything from the very poor to the truly excellent in the competition, but with the support of my readers, friends and family I believe my covers will make a good show, even if they don't win.

Which of my science fiction front covers above do you like best? Have you voted for it?