How to get reviews on Amazon?

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nejohansen

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Done KDP. Are there any methods that seem particularly successful? Especially if, like me, you don't have a platform that you can use for the purpose (well, not one teeming with visitors, anyway). I gave away 800+ books on KDP, but no reviews. Not even a crappy one, which was somewhat disappointing.

Any ideas are welcome!

Nick
 
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veinglory

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You get reviews by getting readers and/or by submitting queries to reviewers. Any short cuts are either ineffective or unethical.
 

nejohansen

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A ha -- therein lies my problem. Chicken/egg scenario where you need readers to write reviews, but the reviews inspire the readers to actually buy the book in the first place.

Query letters -- I've seen some people recommend sending Amazon Top Reviewers a request to review their book. Didn't seem like they got a lot of responses, though. Any effective methods to this?

Nick
 

veinglory

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Your book will interest a certain section of readers, some of whom will be amateur or professional reviewers. You need to find a way to connect with those people. You could start by putting a tag line and link in your signature here, perhaps even offering review copies. But brace yourself for 100% honest reviews that may not say what you want.
 

leahzero

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You can approach book bloggers who review SP books and offer a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Be respectful of their time and honesty, though.
 

nejohansen

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Is there a list of those type of folks around the forums or some other writing site?

Or is it off to Google?

Oh, and any way to increase the amount of "yes" responses? What about people who buy your book -- anything you can put in the book to encourage them to write a review (other than amazing content, of course).

Nick
 
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Bulletproof

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Santa's giving you coal this year. I saw where you tried to buy reviews, and I see how you're trying to find people to cheat with you. I actually feel kinda bad for you, all earnest as you try to screw over other self-pubbers. But stop trying to game the system. Seriously.

Don't do this: trade reviews, 'gift' the book to an Amazon reviewer, buy reviews from fiverr, set up sock puppets accounts, try to bribe readers, try to buy reviews and then acting like you've learned your lesson when really you hope someone will still contact you and offer a review. Ugh.

Do this: what you were advised here to do, write more pamphlets, find another get-rich-quick scheme
 

EMaree

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You can approach book bloggers who review SP books and offer a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Be respectful of their time and honesty, though.

Seconding this. Do your research -- find bloggers who review work in your field, and contact them politely offering a copy of your pamphlet for review.

Do not tell them how the review should be written, like you did in your previous post, and keep in mind that if they're busy they're in no way obliged to review your work (even after your provide a copy).

You're asking for people's time and effort, which is a lot to ask for. Keep that in the front of your mind.

Is there a list of those type of folks around the forums or some other writing site?

Or is it off to Google?

There is no list. You should know the field you're writing in, and you should hopefully know some websites or bloggers that are influential in that field. If you don't, I'd get out there and learn -- that information is vital.

Oh, and any way to increase the amount of "yes" responses? What about people who buy your book -- anything you can put in the book to encourage them to write a review (other than amazing content, of course).

No, there's no way to increase people's willingness to review (as long as you've put out the best work that you can).

I'd heavily advise against putting anything in the book badgering people to review. If somebody pays money for your book, they don't want to open the page and find requests like that inside.
 

nejohansen

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So email people in your niche. Ok, that sounds reasonable enough. Don't harass people during your book. Ok. I figured that. I find that annoying. Does this include a little blurb at the end, though, after everything is said and done? I've seen a lot of booklet publishers do that. Seems out of the way and relatively harmless. Perhaps enough to be pointless and not worth including. Hmm.

Has anyone found guest posting/book giveaways on other blogs to be successful for garnering reviews?

Nick
 
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EMaree

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What book are you getting this advice from, out of curiosity?

I'm also going to echo veinglory's comments that you should link to your website or book in your signature. This is a very popular forum, and interested people will click to find out more about your work -- I get quite a lot of visitors to my site from here.

When you reach 50 posts, it might be worth putting a sample of your work on the 'Share Your Work' section in the forum so that people can see your work and offer feedback on why you're not getting the kind of reader response you expected. It's a private, password-protected forum that's invisible to Google so you don't need to worry about losing sales by doing that.

Amazon automatically inserts a pop-up when you finish a book encouraging readers to rate or review it. Is that the blurb you mean?

Regarding blog giveaways and guest posts, if it's a popular blog then it usually gives good results. But giveaways can result in a lot of hit-and-run visitors who just visit for the contest and leave. A good guest post is more effective, in my opinion.
 

nejohansen

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What book are you getting this advice from, out of curiosity?

[snip]

Re: thanks for the other info, I was thinking that guest posting was the way to go. I'll add links eventually, but I think some folks already think I'm here to pimp and run, so I'll wait on that. No hurry.

I know Amazon has a little pop-up, but some authors add a little bit in the text at the end that says "if you liked this book, would you mind writing an honest review" or something to that extent.

The book I'm referencing is: How to Make a Killing on Kindle, which actually is pretty good. Ethically dicey sections aside (he actually suggests to make fake accounts and just post the reviews yourself).

It struck me as a bad idea, but it's worked wonders for Tim Ferriss, John Locke (who, as I understand now, is of quite ill-repute here) and a bunch of other people.
 

fadeaccompli

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The book I'm referencing is: How to Make a Killing on Kindle, which actually is pretty good. Ethically dicey sections aside (he actually suggests to make fake accounts and just post the reviews yourself).

Frankly, I'd be suspicious of any advice contained in a book that also advises lying and cheating to get ahead. How can you trust any advice from a book like that?
 

nejohansen

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Frankly, I'd be suspicious of any advice contained in a book that also advises lying and cheating to get ahead. How can you trust any advice from a book like that?

You're right. But the rest of the book doesn't advocate anything ethically suspect.
 

Sheryl Nantus

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Re: thanks for the other info, I was thinking that guest posting was the way to go. I'll add links eventually, but I think some folks already think I'm here to pimp and run, so I'll wait on that. No hurry.

I know Amazon has a little pop-up, but some authors add a little bit in the text at the end that says "if you liked this book, would you mind writing an honest review" or something to that extent.

The book I'm referencing is: How to Make a Killing on Kindle, which actually is pretty good. Ethically dicey sections aside (he actually suggests to make fake accounts and just post the reviews yourself).

It struck me as a bad idea, but it's worked wonders for Tim Ferriss, John Locke (who, as I understand now, is of quite ill-repute here) and a bunch of other people.

Considering what the author has also written I'd dispute your "pretty good" review.

He's suggesting stuff that not only is unethical but also just plain old bad business practice, imo.

All you can do is write a good book and hope it gets noticed. I only have a handful of reviews for all of my books and they keep selling.

Yeah, I know it ain't much. But buying reviews and sockpuppeting isn't going to do you much good in the long run - people WILL find out.
 

nejohansen

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Considering what the author has also written I'd dispute your "pretty good" review.
Alrighty, fair enough.
Yeah, I know it ain't much. But buying reviews and sockpuppeting isn't going to do you much good in the long run - people WILL find out.
Devil's advocate: people found out about Locke and his book sales are still through the roof. Hell, didn't he even admit it? I guess if you're trying to be respected it's one thing, but if you're trying to make money it seems that most customers don't care. Or won't even know (unless you frequent writing blogs).

There's also massive discussion on Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body about suspicious reviews, and not only did said 5 star reviews not get removed, Amazon's publishing arm actually SIGNED him to a book deal.

Just sayin'...[and I'm not planning on paying for any reviews]
 

Sheryl Nantus

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Alrighty, fair enough.
Devil's advocate: people found out about Locke and his book sales are still through the roof. Hell, didn't he even admit it? I guess if you're trying to be respected it's one thing, but if you're trying to make money it seems that most customers don't care. Or won't even know (unless you frequent writing blogs).

There's also massive discussion on Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body about suspicious reviews, and not only did said 5 star reviews not get removed, Amazon's publishing arm actually SIGNED him to a book deal.

Just sayin'...[and I'm not planning on paying for any reviews]


In the end you're the only one you have to live with. If you feel like sockpuppeting and buying reviews is okay then there's nothing we can say.

As for Locke & Co. they may have made money - but is that what being an author is all about?
 

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I occasionally review books on Amazon and elsewhere.

If a book utterly blows me away and I feel the rest of the world needs to know (and to run out and buy the book -- yes, Stacia Kane, I'm looking at you) I'll write a review.

If I read and enjoy a book (often by an AW writer) and I PM them and say "Hey, I really enjoyed your book!" and they PM back and say "Thanks, I'd appreciate it if you were to write a review on Amazon" I'll try and get off my lazy arse and do so.

If I read a book and find it utterly awful or utterly offensive in some way, I'll generally take the trouble to share my opinions with the world.

I participate in a read-50-books challenge on another forum, where I write mini-reviews of all the books I read in a year. (Well, I try to, anyhow.)

So, really, that's it. Some of the readers who love your book will review it. Some of the readers who hate your book will review it. Some of your readers who regularly review everything they read for whatever reason will review it. Some of your readers, if you know who they are, will write a review if you ask them to. Review sites who accept your book for review will read and review your book on their blog/in their magazine/whatever.

That's how you get reviews, AFAIK.
 

nejohansen

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In the end you're the only one you have to live with. If you feel like sockpuppeting and buying reviews is okay then there's nothing we can say.

As for Locke & Co. they may have made money - but is that what being an author is all about?

Not gonna do those things. Just noting that it isn't necessarily bad business, literally speaking. Ethically speaking? Yeah, you're treading in some murky waters. Probably splitting hairs in any case.

Writing has to be at least partially about the money -- otherwise people wouldn't be looking for agents, publishing on Amazon and the like. It isn't just about the art. Otherwise I think we'd all be publishing all our work for free on our websites.

Untrue.

For example, the book advocates linking to your own books when writing Amazon reviews.

I was lumping that in with the "review your own book" tip, since they're both from the same chapter. But yes, you're right: he does advocate that. Which is a good way to get banned from Amazon.

I occasionally review books on Amazon and elsewhere.

If a book utterly blows me away and I feel the rest of the world needs to know (and to run out and buy the book -- yes, Stacia Kane, I'm looking at you) I'll write a review.

If I read and enjoy a book (often by an AW writer) and I PM them and say "Hey, I really enjoyed your book!" and they PM back and say "Thanks, I'd appreciate it if you were to write a review on Amazon" I'll try and get off my lazy arse and do so.

If I read a book and find it utterly awful or utterly offensive in some way, I'll generally take the trouble to share my opinions with the world.

I participate in a read-50-books challenge on another forum, where I write mini-reviews of all the books I read in a year. (Well, I try to, anyhow.)

So, really, that's it. Some of the readers who love your book will review it. Some of the readers who hate your book will review it. Some of your readers who regularly review everything they read for whatever reason will review it. Some of your readers, if you know who they are, will write a review if you ask them to. Review sites who accept your book for review will read and review your book on their blog/in their magazine/whatever.

That's how you get reviews, AFAIK.

Well, that's sad news to hear -- but not unexpected -- because that pretty much sums up my own reviewing practices and means there aren't any nifty tricks. Oh well -- worth asking about.

Thanks for everyone's input. It's been very helpful.

Nick
 
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Amadan

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Writing has to be at least partially about the money -- otherwise people wouldn't be looking for agents, publishing on Amazon and the like. It isn't just about the art. Otherwise I think we'd all be publishing all our work for free on our websites.

Sure, but at what point do you decide that the payoff is worth being a sleaze?

A lot of authors nowadays are jumping on the YA bandwagon, not so much because a YA novel is what their muse sang to their heart, but because YA is where the money is. So they are obviously making writing decisions that are as much about money as art, but I don't think it's unethical for writers to go where the money is.

The measures you're suggesting, though, are patently dishonest and manipulative. Maybe not illegal, maybe not even unethical in the strictest sense, but would they be something you'd be proud to admit?

That's where I'd draw the line: if it's something I'd rather people not know I was doing, or something that is likely to get you mocked on Goodreads and Amazon, it's probably skeevy. YMMV.
 

nejohansen

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You're right. It isn't worth it. I'm just trying to sort through ideas to find a way to get reviews. This was one method that has been very successful for some people. I appreciate all the feedback (some of it quite angry, haha; thanks Bulletproof).
 

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Writing has to be at least partially about the money -- otherwise people wouldn't be looking for agents, publishing on Amazon and the like. It isn't just about the art. Otherwise I think we'd all be publishing all our work for free on our websites.

You're wrong. Completely wrong.

I know several writers who write but don't submit. They write because they love it; they don't submit because they don't want the angst of it. They don't write for money.

I could give you plenty more examples.

Please don't try to paint other writers to match your own ambitions.
 

gingerwoman

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You're wrong. Completely wrong.

I know several writers who write but don't submit. They write because they love it; they don't submit because they don't want the angst of it. They don't write for money.

I could give you plenty more examples.

Please don't try to paint other writers to match your own ambitions.
He didn't say that all writers write for money, he simply said writing isn't always about nothing but art. This is kind of approaching a dog-pile. :-(
 

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You're right. It isn't worth it. I'm just trying to sort through ideas to find a way to get reviews.
IMO, the best way is to submit it to respectable review sites that focus on works in your genre/category. Frex, if you write romance, a B+ review on Smart Bitches will generate a zillion times more interest in readers than a dozen five-star Amazon reviews by people readers have never heard of.
 
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