The Story of Q Reviews? It’s like pulling teeth
It’s amazing how difficult it can be to get peeps to review books. How many times have I heard, “Wow, loved your books and my kids did too”, which is followed by, “Gee, thanks. Would you be willing to write a review?” And of course the answer is always a definitive yes, yet…
It’s like pulling teeth.
I don’t think most readers realize that reviews are our bread and butter, especially if you’re a self-published author. We don’t have publicists, or big publishing companies pushing our products. We don’t have the money or resources for advertising, and therefore we’re very reliant on word of mouth and yes, those all-important reviews. It’s the ratings game. It’s how Amazon and other companies determine if and how your book is worthy of promotion. Books with few reviews will not climb the ladder. Here are a few words regarding the strategy.
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Get Reviews Before You Start Selling
Reviews are key to a book selling. On Amazon, some readers will completely ignore your book if it has zero reviews, because there will always be 5 other books for them to choose from. Getting the first early reviews is hard, but don’t get discouraged, and whatever you do, don’t cheat, Amazon will find out. You are permitted to politely ask people to review your book, but you can’t pay them to do it. One tried and true technique for getting reviews is to run a giveaway, gifting copies to the winners. Once the giveaway is over, you can politely ask the winners to review your book. There’s no guarantee that they will review it (or review it positively), but it’s a good way to get started. Sound like a pain? You can always have us do the legwork for you with our Giveaway Package.
Understand the Rankings Game
Amazon sales are all about rankings: The higher you rank in the Amazon popularity charts, the more new readers will discover your book. Nobody knows precisely how the Amazon ranking algorithm works, but we do know that it’s highly correlated with volume of sales over short periods of time. This means that in order to rise in the ranks, you need to try to sell lots of copies over a brief period of time. You cannot ‘game the system’ but understanding that high volumes of sales leads to better rankings can help you plan a successful marketing strategy.
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I’ve just about given up on Facebook. I’ve been on bended knee begging for reviews. I even ran an event this month – offering a free copy of my next book to a lucky winner. All they had to do was write a review to enter the contest. Guess what? Yup, not a single soul. You’d think I was asking them to give me a kidney.
So, wanna do me a huge favor? I need five minutes of your time. Simply review one of more of my books on Amazon, or if you don’t have an account, just jot a few words in my guestbook. It would mean the world to me.
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