Want to know how I got 50 book reviews on Amazon? Well, I'm going to tell you. :)
Authors asking how to get book reviews, begging for book reviews, and so
on, are fairly common out there. I did the same thing until I found out
how to do it. Now I rarely ask for reviews, and they’re appearing
without me even asking for them!
But it took me a long time to
get to 50 book reviews on Amazon, and I’m writing this so maybe you can get here faster
and with less money spent.
What did I do?
I didn’t just ask anyone. I asked bloggers who specifically said they were looking to review books in my genres. I asked my friends and family. I asked on social media and forums: Facebook, Twitter, Reddit. I asked everywhere I could think of to ask.
First I’ll give you the bad news.
If you Google “book
review sites,” you’ll find a slew of sites, lists, and people willing to
take your money to either review your book or find others to review it. While I'm sure there are great
services out there, I haven't found it worthwhile to pay for anything to
do with getting a review. Plus, direct pay-for-review is against Amazon's TOS and they will penalize you.
Let’s
be honest here. Anyone can and will put up a site saying they’re going
to review your book. They may actually want to help you! But …
I don’t say these things to slam reviewers. I love reviewers!! Good reviewers are worth their weight in gold.
However, this is the reality out there for an author, and authors should know this going into it. I wish I had.
BUT
(and this is an important but) the good news is that the people who
legitimately WANT to (and actually DO) review are out there. You just
have to find them! That’s where the fun begins.
(and when you do find them, cherish them)
You don’t. But here’s what I found helpful:
I made up a text file with some information everyone seems to want:
I also got together my cover images in one place, so I could find them quickly if I needed to.
I
used to copy and paste this long spiel about my book, which is okay if
it’s not out yet. But if it is out (and on Amazon) I just say hi, I’d
like a review, here’s the link to it on Amazon, go take a look. If you
want to review it let me know and I’ll send you a copy. It’s easy on us
both.
This is a legitimate fear. But the standard is to send at least a
digital copy of your book to reviewers. If you want book reviews, you’re
going to have to send reviewers the book so they can read it. Try to
have as many formats available as you can, but at least a PDF and a mobi
(Kindle) version. You can download these from wherever you're
publishing it.
Whether you send a print copy is up to you. With
postage these days, the cost can become significant, especially sending
overseas. I just found out about a place called Book Depository which
will ship your book worldwide for free. You still have to buy the book,
but even so, this can be a huge savings, depending on where you’re
sending it.
(some reviewers insist on buying the book themselves which is very cool)
Now,
suppose the worst happens and they just take the book and never review,
or worse, try to pirate it? You get new readers! So don’t waste
time/energy worrying about that.
Asked: 201
Never replied (some even to multiple inquiries): 107 –
this doesn’t mean they were bad people or rude. It could be they didn’t
have the bandwidth to reply. Imagine you got 20 emails at once asking
you to review a book, and your kid was sick or something. I used to ask
if they got it but I ran out of bandwidth for that so it could be they
never got the email. It’s not a big deal.
Responded with a form letter: 4 (to me this indicates they're overwhelmed: none of these did a review)
Responded with an actual email/FB message, etc: 90
Of those who said they'd review it:
But we're talking about 50 book reviews on Amazon, not 34. So where did the other 16 come from?
People like your book. They want to help. But a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of leaving a review. They’ve never done it before. They don’t want to look stupid. Perhaps they’re dyslexic, or don’t spell well, or this gives them flashbacks of having to write essays in school.
So you have to encourage them. A lot!
How?
Once you begin getting book reviews that you didn’t ask for, you’ve won! Woo hoo! Keep going. Write your next book!
Any questions? Comments? Contact me. I read every email.
This blog post is partially underwritten by my Patrons.
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Amazon, Audible, the Amazon logo, and the Audible logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. The Apple logo and iBooks are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Patricia Loofbourrow is an independent author and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.
A portion of sales from the Red Dog Conspiracy series go to non-profit organizations which help domestic violence and child abuse survivors.
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