Have You Ever Wondered How Amazon’s Algorithms Work?

Amazon has always mystified me, not just how they rank books but how some people who seldom promote manage to sell thousands of copies of their books, and others who seem to promote just as much languish at the bottom of the sales ranks. Today I learned two things.

1) A study done at Harvard Business School shows that Amazon customer reviews have as much weight as professional reviews. Other studies have shown that the number of reviews makes a difference, not just the rankings. In other words, any review helps, even low starred ones since readers tend to discount the five star ratings, especially if all the ratings are five star.

2) Amazon has two lists, a bestsellers list and a popularity list. The bestseller list reflects the number of sales in the past 24 hours, while the popularity list reflects the number of sales plus the price of the book for the past 30 days. Which is why giving away books might put you high on the bestseller lists but keep you off the popularity lists. Being high on the popularity lists can account for thirty to forty book sales a day. (You can find the entire article here: Updates to Amazon’s Book Ranking Algorithms: The Death of 99-Cent Ebooks? An End to KDP Select Perks?)

I still haven’t learned how to get on the lists, though. Obviously, selling a ton books helps, but that skill eludes me.

[Thanks to Christine Husom, fellow Second Wind author, for providing both the link and the information about the Harvard Business School Study.]

Tagged: Amazon book ranking, Amazon sales rankings, Amazon's alogrithms, importance of book review