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How Can I Get Reviews On Amazon?
message 51:
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Abigail
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Apr 16, 2013 11:17AM
Find a book like yours on Amazon. Find the reviews. Click a reviewer's name.
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I just did that and found three new five star reviews from the past week. All unsolicited and all verified purchase. Woo Hoo! http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews...
as to Abigail's advice, I suppose I could start clicking reviews and find someone that has a lot of reviews but Richard's post indicated there was a list of top reviewers available.
Miles wrote: "There really is no tactful way to solicit reviews.My humble advice is to simply focus on getting your book "out there." Reviews are the product of readers, and (of course) the more readers, the g..."
I agree with this advice. Try a giveaway here on GR, and you will get a handful of reviews from that. I think your time is better spent writing your next book.
Reviews will come as people read it. JMO, FWIW :)
You might put a plea at the end of your book. I thank the reader for their attention and ask, if they liked the book, to leave a few kind words where they bought it. I explain that independent authors live and die by reviews so their effort is appreciated.When I have reviews I try to go back and reply or comment. I figure staying in touch with those who gave you reviews is money in the bank for future books.
Stumbled across this thread while looking for the same answers as many of you. Just published first novel, available for free here:http://www.amazon.com/Greegs-Ladders-...
This was the best advice I've found so far:
Google: "Amazon top reviewer + science fiction +e-mail site:http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile"
Simply pop that search string into google and adjust for your genre, and it will give you a great variety of precisely targeted, active Amazon reviewers with their emails made available. Read their profiles and look at their history first and don't be spammy, and you should get some results. At least I'm hoping so!
But as a friend pointed out.....simply writing your next book is not enough...if they don't know your book is out there...then what.Reviews seem to be the holy grail....some sites like BookBub and I believe Book Blast won't let you advertise unless you have like ten reviews four stars or higher? So visibly is key and reviews are even more key!
I'm glad I looked at this thread. I've picked up that the best way to promote, increase reader numbers, get more reviews, is a good book 2 followed by a good book 3. Too much time on promotion of book 1 is going to dilute book 2 and erode motivation. So onward and upward to chapter 32.
Paid reviews are a really bad idea... indies get a bad enough press as it is without those.Reviews should be honest, even if they are negative. How does a paid for review help? It doesn't help readers make an informed decision and it doesn't help authors. There are plenty of ways to get honest reviews.
There are quite a few groups on GR who read and review.:)
I've had some of the same problems with Amazon. If you ask for reviews a lot of times people don't really want to read it, plus Amazon picks and chooses which reviews they publish. They seem to favor negative a lot of the time. I'm starting to realize that I care much more about reviews here. I've seen books on Amazon with a handful of reviews and they might have a hundred of them on Goodreads. Plus, this sight is nothing but authors and readers. I value your opinion more than the ones on Amazon.
Spring, I just hear this same thing, so I feel bad, because I've been concentrating all my efforts onto Amazon's reviews and a lot of time at facebook, but I'm reevaluating that derision because of insightful comments such as yours. Thanks so much.
Amazon are certainly more...picky about reviews. May people don't like to review or in some cases don't want people to see what they've been reading :)Reviews are tricky creatures - one readers says they love it, then next one that they hate it. Some reviews have a lot of info some have none. There is no hard and fast rule for reviewing, which is a good thing, but does make them a bit of a minefield. There are certainly occasions of people getting dishonest reviews, both positive and negative.
I would agree GR are probably more balanced.
Amazon doesn't really "pick and choose" but they are very cautious about what they think are genuine reviews, especially ones that are not "verified purchase". Scroll up to message 69 if you wonder why.
Indeed. I suppose one of the downsides of a verified purchase is the book might have been a gift, not necessarily from the author.
And they don't remove all reviews that aren't "verified purchase", but they're clearly a lot more cautious about them, particularly if the review is not detailed.
I published my debut five weeks ago and so far have one review, with one on the way. The first one came from a book review request I left here on Goodreads, and the other is coming from a blogger I contacted after finding her name on a list. I've also done Booklikes & Librarything Giveaways of ebooks and am still waiting for reviews to trickle in from that, though I did receive one on Booklikes and a few ratings here as a result. I'm also running a giveaway here now (from today until January 3) in hopes that will get my book some exposure and maybe a review or two. And I'm looking into a blog tour service that has a reviews only tour. Hope all this helps!
I suppose Amazon does have to try and focus on the verified, trying to weed out the ones that aren't genuine. I agree it's a tricky business because you might have one review that's genuine and well thought out, but they might leave it out because it came from someone you know. Yet, they'll leave bad, two sentence reviews up simply because that person bought the book from them. It can be a frustrating road, especially when just a couple of bad reviews can drive people away from your book, even if they aren't quality reviews.
Some bad reviews aren't very detailed, but neither are some good reviews, and if the person did buy it, and didn't like the book, their opinion is valid, even if they're not very articulate. I once had a very eloquent two star, from someone who was clearly taking my story on a more serious literary level than I had intended, and it was interesting to read, but I've also had a couple of very terse and kind of silly one-stars, but even though the writers of the reviews aren't articulate, they clearly didn't like it. I'd prefer a more detailed explanation than "it's too short" but it's still valid.
It probably depends a lot of genre. YA books do they get a lot of reviews? Erotica doesn't.
I wish Amazon would weed out ALL reviews that are NOT verified purchases and allow ALL reviews that ARE. It would certainly even the playing field. Sorry... sore point.
Who knows why Amazon does what Amazon does...
A free book giveaway on Goodreadsis a good idea. I got a review from one right away! I'm still waiting on some more!Children of Stone: Voices in Crystal
Mary wrote: "A free book giveaway on Goodreadsis a good idea. I got a review from one right away! I'm still waiting on some more!Children of Stone: Voices in Crystal"
Mary, that's very interesting. I just had my Free days at Amazon, and got around 1000 downloads and some sales for my other books, but as of yet, no new reviews. I don't understand that.
Mary, that's very interesting. I just had my Free days at Amazon, and got around 1000 downloads and some sales for my other books, but as of yet, no new reviews. I don't understand that.
People don't always read a book immediately. I have books I've had for ages and haven't read. Also a lot of people download free books BECAUSE they are free. If you get a review in 6 months it could easily be from a sale you made now, or a week beforehand. Free promotion rarely means reviews. A giveaway on GR is more targeted and folks here are more likely to leave a review.
Some people simply don't like reviewing.
Lisa wrote: "I wish Amazon would weed out ALL reviews that are NOT verified purchases and allow ALL reviews that ARE. It would certainly even the playing field. Sorry... sore point."This would mean you'd get no reviews from people who bought your book elsewhere. One question for people looking for reviews, is do you leave reviews for every single book you read?
If a book honestly moves me or insults me, I'm more likely to leave a review. If it was ok, meaning not too good and not too bad, I'm less likely unless there is something specific that jumped out at me that I want to praise/warn about. I do try to leave reviews more often than not, time allowing, but there you have it. I wonder how many other people feel similarly.
I am trying to review all the books I have read since joining GR, but I haven't gone back and reviewed the hundreds if not thousands over the years except for a few specific titles. If the book is a self-pub or indie I always try and review. The trad press have their own professional reviews but the indi and self pubs need reviews. My problem is I tend to only review now on GR not Amazon, but I have the opposite issue with my own work, plenty of reviews on Amazon but not on GR. Discount all my comments regarding my third book which has so few reviews, sales, readers that it may as well disappear.
Reviews on Amazon actually help with ranking, so its good for your book to have them posted there. I'm in a couple of groups where we review each other's books. One is Book Review Depot. It's on Facebook. After your book gets on the active list it stays until it gets ten reviews. Also Read & Review here, which didn't get me any reviews so far. When I first published my book I did a lot of one-on-one swaps. Got a lot of reviews that way. Also group review swaps worked for me.
✵❇❅❄ⓗⓘⓒⓒⓤⓟ+ⓑⓡⓔⓝⓓⓐ❇❅❄✵ wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I wish Amazon would weed out ALL reviews that are NOT verified purchases and allow ALL reviews that ARE. It would certainly even the playing field. Sorry... sore point."That's so str..."
I've never had that issue. You're not trying to review your own books, are you? Because they won't let you do that, even just to comment. I review with some frequency, occasionally even things that I did not purchase on Amazon, and I've always had them post promptly, whether positive or negative.
I use my real name for review writing, and as far as I know none of the reviews I've written have been deleted. I have done review swaps in the past, but only for books I would read anyway. So I review sci-fi, paranormal, erotic romance, historical, chick-lit, that sort of thing, anything with a bit of spice.
Gordon wrote: "I'm glad I looked at this thread. I've picked up that the best way to promote, increase reader numbers, get more reviews, is a good book 2 followed by a good book 3. Too much time on promotion of b..."Saying paid for reviews doesn't help is a bit of a misleading statement unless you define a "Paid for review." Kirkus has a program that you can pay to have your book "chosen" for a review. BUT, they do not guarantee a good review, just a review.
That out of the way. If you are buying good reviews, as a SPA, then stop. It is not fair to the readers and not fair to yourself. First, if people find out you have purchased a single good review all your reviews become invalid in their eyes. They will also assume your book is no good if you have to buy reviews.
So buying a good review does two main things. 1) potentially misleads potential readers, and 2)can harm your reputation and sometimes that is more important being a SPA than most anything else.
Abby wrote: "Reviews on Amazon actually help with ranking, so its good for your book to have them posted there. I'm in a couple of groups where we review each other's books. One is Book Review Depot. It's on Fa..."This is actually how I'd love to do reviews. Thanks for the link because I really like the idea of doing book swaps. I've literally just unpublished a book because I'd never had honest reviews from anyone, thought it was a pretty good book, and I guess it was horrible going by the reviews I have now that it's published. I like the idea of writers doing reviews because, at the risk of annoying people, they know what they're talking about.
Lisa wrote: "I wish Amazon would weed out ALL reviews that are NOT verified purchases and allow ALL reviews that ARE. It would certainly even the playing field. Sorry... sore point."Even those that are reviewed by people who won the book in a Goodreads giveaway?
Authors don't love bad reviews. I know I don't, and some of them are not very helpful, but some bad reviews can tell you a lot. Just for starters, it lets you know that someone didn't enjoy your book. Sometimes the reviewer isn't telling you why, or their reason either doesn't make a lot of sense to you or isn't something you're going to change (subject matter, for example), but sometimes it's helpful, particularly if different readers are saying substantially the same thing. We all get comments that leave us scratching our heads and going "Really?", but if six people say the ending is abrupt, or you have a grammar issue somewhere, or you need an editor, or a plot twist makes no sense, it makes sense to pay attention to that, and to fix the issue. I've met too many writers who just dismiss that kind of commentary as bashing and ignore it. I love good reviews, and I hope that they steer readers to my books, but I also need to do the best job as a writer that I can, and bad reviews can help me find things that I've missed, even with critiques and careful attention.I published a short story recently that was clearly very polarizing, and I got reviews and ratings all over the place. It was obviously a "love it or hate it", BUT even some of the love thought the back story was thin, and it was clearly an insurmountable issue for some of the hate. I'll probably revise it at some point, because I have plans to reissue a bunch of related stories together, and fiddle with it a little. It also alerts me to a potential pitfall with a series of related stories. Some of the haters didn't like either subject matter or tone or both, and I'm keeping those, but I always want to be alerted to a technical flaw.
'Negative' comments on a book can sometimes be a plus in a review. For example one review on my paranormal erotic romance said 'strong story but too much sex for me.' As the central character is a succubus, it is rather like claiming they didn't like a horror book because it was too horrible. if you're looking for horror, would such a review make you more or less likely to buy the book?
Some good points here. I tend to agree that some negative comments can be helpful. Ok yes it might be just someone's opinion that they couldn't get on with a book. It happens. If several make similar comments then just maybe there is an issue. No book is perfect but making a book as good as it can be is important.If a book is selling then don't unpublish. Some folks simply don't review. There are a ton of groups who offer read and review, or perhaps there is a local reading group in your area who might oblige.
I think unverified purchase on Amazon is fine - people get gifts, win prizes or buy it elsewhere but still want to review.
E. wrote: "'Negative' comments on a book can sometimes be a plus in a review. For example one review on my paranormal erotic romance said 'strong story but too much sex for me.' As the central character is a..."
And it's the kind of comment that's extremely helpful to readers, because some people like a lot of sex and some like a little.
This is true. If someone doesn't like a certain level of violence or sex then it is good that it is listed. Better to avoid a book then get caught by surprise.
A.L. wrote: "Some good points here. I tend to agree that some negative comments can be helpful. Ok yes it might be just someone's opinion that they couldn't get on with a book. It happens. If several make simil..."Personally, I was just taken by surprise as I'd been told in the past that the book was really good. But since publishing it on a larger scale, the reviews have been downright nasty. I think it might be that people were expecting something other than they got. It's a light hearted, treasure hunting romp, more akin to National Treasure than Da Vinci Code and I think people had been expecting something more hard hitting. Perhaps it's the description/marketing I need to change?
Having title/blurb/cover all match the tone of the book is important and often overlooked, and I know it can be hard for SPA's to get really good cover images, but authors should never be surprised by bad reviews. Everyone gets them, and it can be difficult to read them, but it can be a learning experience. And a thick skin is a great asset for any writer. I always say, if you think reviewers are harsh, wait until you see what a publisher and editor who like your work and have accepted it have to say.
Lisa wrote: "I wish Amazon would weed out ALL reviews that are NOT verified purchases and allow ALL reviews that ARE. It would certainly even the playing field. Sorry... sore point."Stop and think: do you make every reviewer buy your book from Amazon? Even the ones with review websites? I don't think so, and I don't think anyone else does, either. I send review copies directly to the major review sites. There'd be no point to most of the review sites if they didn't cross-post to Amazon or B&N.
As for evening the playing field: I have no idea how this would do any such thing. All it would do would be to lock yourself into sales ghettoes. Should Kobo stop posting GR reviews on its site if the books weren't bought through the Kobo store? Should people who bought the book on B&N not post their reviews on Amazon too? It's bad enough that reviews on non-US Amazon storefronts don't spread through the whole Amazon ecosystem.
Perhaps we could ban 'Zon reviews on books obtained through mass giveaways. That would even the playing field for authors who don't give away hundreds or thousands of copies of their books.
Amazon has a ranked list of its reviewers. I emailed all of the top reviewers I could (some didn't have email addresses) and got a response from about 10% of them. A couple went on to give my books good reviews, showing of course that they had excellent taste (ha ha! a little joke thrown in there). These reviewers ranked high because their prior reviews had been deemed "helpful" by a vast majority of individuals, giving the reviewer a bit more credibility than those more poorly rated. John Rachel, Author of . . .
http://amzn.to/122cnyF
Getting reviews are not in our choice. Whether good or bad, take it in its stride. Thank the person who given a good comment and ignore the person who gave a bad comment. Never, ever react to negative comments.
K. wrote: "Thank the person who given a good comment and ignore the person who gave a bad comment. Never, ever react to negative comments."I appreciate all the reviews that I've received, but don't think it's a good idea to respond even to good reviews. I saw one author who was thanking everyone who left a review, and it makes it look like he's . .. I don't know . .. hard up? I think it's better to just accept all reviews without comment, gracefully, and get on with writing.
what do you-all think?
John wrote: "Amazon has a ranked list of its reviewers. I emailed all of the top reviewers I could (some didn't have email addresses) and got a response from about 10% of them. A couple went on to give my books..."Where can I find Amazon's "ranked list" of reviewers? Thank you so very much for your time!
Janette
We are currently giving away 50 free review copies of What's in Your Surname? by William Lewis.If you would like to review this for Amazon and Goodreads send me a message with your Kindle address and I will send a FREE copy.
The authors of the completed reviews (buy March 20th) will then go into a draw at the end of March.
The prize of a signed hardback copy of the book will be dipatched to the winner in April.
Limited to only 50 copies so be quick!
Janette wrote: "John wrote: "Amazon has a ranked list of its reviewers. I emailed all of the top reviewers I could (some didn't have email addresses) and got a response from about 10% of them. A couple went on to ..."http://www.amazon.com/review/top-revi...
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