Amazon's Top Reviewers

Here's a link to the Amazon top reviewers list along with a few useful tips and observations on the pages. I covered the importance of book reviews for the marketing in an earlier post. I want to take an in-depth look at the Amazon list and go over the nuts and bolts of working with it since you will spend days on these pages alone. No one mentioned what a fun bunch of interesting people book reviewers are. This makes the endeavor a joy.

Working with the website has its challenges. There are ten reviewers featured on each page. They're ranked according to algorithms that are constantly under revision. You may find one of the reviewers who was listed on page 10 featured on page 12 by the time you get there because of a shift in the rankings. This does of course mean that it's possible to miss some who was listed on page 12 because they've been moved to page 5 in the meantime. It may be a good idea to go through the pages more than once. Just know that you cannot make references with ranking numbers.

The site doesn't have a search box to help you find listing by name or number anyway. There's also no way to skip to a selected page number except pages 1 and 1000. The only other choices are to click to the next or previous page. Each page does have a separate URL. If you stop your research for the day on say page 500, you can copy that URL and paste it onto a document. Then copy it from that doc the next day and paste it into your address bar to return to that page instead of clicking the "Next Page" button 500 times.

The reviewers names or monikers are listed to the right of their chosen avatars. Roll your mouse pointer over a name until it is underlined to reveal a sneak peek at the profile. Many of these will list the products or genres of literature each is interested in viewing. Some, however, do not. Then you have to click on the name to see what comes up on the profile itself. Check first for contact info. Then look at the “About Me” section and “Interests” to see if your book is something this person reviews. If nothing is listed there you'll have to scroll through the items to see what they've written about. Many are focused on music, movies and TV, photography, electronics or other products. Everything from vehicles to tissues get reviewed. You'll have to find someone who lists your literary genre. Then take a look at what they've posted about something in that category and decide if this is someone who may see your work in a favorable light.

The Amazon guide suggests contacting their reviewers with a brief note stating where you found their information. Offer a free copy of your book with a polite request for a review. Leave out any guilt trips or pressure tactics. Then thank the person for their time whether they choose to accept or not.

Remember these are people you're calling upon. Notice the avatar each reviewer has chosen and the writing style of the profile. Most of them are every bit as creative as the authors I know! Naturally they're intelligent, they entertain themselves by reading. These are in fact the very people we write for. I would suggest contacting each one with a personal note instead of simply copying and pasting your standard request. You have an opportunity to learn a lot from someone who reads your material, and you may establish a relationship. At the very least you may want to ask this person to review another one of your books. Enjoy the exchanges. This is some of the most fun I've had so far.

Thanks for stopping by
 - Jonra Springs