Best place for ratings

ChristopherJ said:

I have given a lot of copies away or at cost on basis the recipient gives me a review online. Even the epubs, I figure if someone shares, I may not get any revenue, but have better chance of word of mouth sales. Or is this naive of me?

Is Goodreads the best place to point them? I hate to point people to Amazon, as they've done nothing to help me in my publishing quest.

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There are review groups on Goodreads, like Making Connections, but the response rate may vary widely, depending on genre. If you want reviews posted to Amazon, regardless of where the reviewers came from, it's against the rules to "require" somebody to give you a review.

Or just ask them to do it anywhere, like kobo.com as it will be picked up by all the others? Is this how it works?

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Each review will only appear on the retailer to which it's posted. None of them share reviews.

You shouldn't need to point reviewers at places to review, because they're already reviewers. They'll have the places they use and they'll post their reviews to those ones.

ChristopherJ said:

thank you Polenth. You are right of course. Just hard to get traction when you have zero reviews. I've never bought a book online that had no reviews.
And, I know this is a touchy subject, but who doesn't believe that the big publishers use their own staff to put up the first reviews, or seek out a celebrity to give one with both parties understanding there is a quid pro quo involved? I am sure this goes on all the time...
At least I give out my book without seeking any promises, even while I am hoping they will give me a review somewhere.

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Big publishers don't need staff to write reviews, because reviewers will do that for them. It's not a conspiracy. I've had a whole bunch of review copies from big publishers, because they're very willing to give out ebook copies, even to small bloggers like me. Print copies are a bit harder, but a reviewer with a proven track record can get them. There aren't any strings attached to those review copies, outside of sometimes having a review timing preference. I've never been told I had to write about certain topics, give a certain star rating, or anything of that nature.

If you're giving the book to reviewers, you would know where they usually review. Most will say so on their review request guidelines. If you're giving it to random people, the odds of review go down drastically.

Er, how often do you see "big celebrities" leaving book reviews on Amazon or GR?

Publishers use services like Netgalley to get ARCs out to reviewers. It's possible for self-publishers to use it as well, but it isn't cheap.

ChristopherJ said:

thank you Polenth. You are right of course. Just hard to get traction when you have zero reviews. I've never bought a book online that had no reviews.
And, I know this is a touchy subject, but who doesn't believe that the big publishers use their own staff to put up the first reviews, or seek out a celebrity to give one with both parties understanding there is a quid pro quo involved? I am sure this goes on all the time...
At least I give out my book without seeking any promises, even while I am hoping they will give me a review somewhere.

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I've worked in publishing in editorial, sales, marketing and promotion.

Publishers do not get their own staff to write Amazon reviews. That would be highly unethical, and might well be against Amazon's terms of service.

ARCs get sent out to anyone and everyone who might review the book. They go to prominent reviewers whose reviews are published in places potential book-buyers might read (not Amazon: big publications, national papers, etc). They go to buyers at selected book stores. They go to book bloggers. And some go to successful writers in the same genre, with a request that they provide a short blurb if they like the book.

It is not uncommon for more than 150 copies to be sent out.

At no point are those early readers offered payment or any other favour in return for their quotes.

Some writers ignore these requests for blurbs. Others are keen to oblige. I've just read a book that came with a huge band over the dust jacket which was printed with a quote from Stephen King--he endorses a lot of books.

You are seeing a conspiracy where none exists.