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I am not sure whether Amazon treats free/promo downloads as verified purchase or not.Many authors say that they run ebook giveaway on Amazon but I didn't found any giveaway link on any of my Kindle title while those are on KU too.
Yes, once they are bought during free promos, they are indeed verified purchases and reviews left would be considered verified reviews as well.
Prakash wrote: "I am not sure whether Amazon treats free/promo downloads as verified purchase or not.Many authors say that they run ebook giveaway on Amazon but I didn't found any giveaway link on any of my Kindl..."
Hi Prakash, they're indeed marked "verified" (from self experience) and you can run it from the KDP titles page.
See info: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/top...
Thanks Joni. I know about KDP promo and Amazon giveaway for paperback but they say ebook giveaway at Amazon is also there.
Prakash wrote: "Thanks Joni. I know about KDP promo and Amazon giveaway for paperback but they say ebook giveaway at Amazon is also there."I think that is only the KDP ebook free promotions that can list your book for free. I have never seen it through Amazon otherwise, but maybe I'm ignorant of something.
You can start a giveaway for an ebook on Amazon. The thing is that those giveaway do not have search so your ebook will be mixed with TV, baby products, toys, books, clothes etc. The visibility for Amazon's giveaway is minimal. I mean you can advertise it but it is not very likely that total strangers will see it, unless someone checks the hundred of pages filled with mixed giveaway. :/
Hello everyone,I was curious to know if there was a specific time or specific days to place your book to be given away free on kdp. I did this already and only 60 or so people picked it up and i only received one review of 5 stars. I thought maybe, there might be a time or day that reviewers might be more likely to see it and review it.
Thank you, JB
G.G. wrote: "You can start a giveaway for an ebook on Amazon. The thing is that those giveaway do not have search so your ebook will be mixed with TV, baby products, toys, books, clothes etc. The visibility f..."
She is correct. I was referring to the KDP giveaway, not through Amazon... I don't think Amazon giveaway would even mark you as "verified purchase"... not sure. anyone?
J.B. wrote: "Hello everyone,I was curious to know if there was a specific time or specific days to place your book to be given away free on kdp. I did this already and only 60 or so people picked it up and i ..."
I think during the weekend so people are relatively free to do it, maybe starting Friday that way people who do stuff like that from work can still see it
The most important thing is to pump it in many places: fb, tweet, goodread forums. People won't just find out about it, unless you direct them there.
Joni wrote: "J.B. wrote: "Hello everyone,I was curious to know if there was a specific time or specific days to place your book to be given away free on kdp. I did this already and only 60 or so people picked..."
Thank you for that info. I appreciate it.
J.B. wrote: "Joni wrote: "J.B. wrote: "Hello everyone,I was curious to know if there was a specific time or specific days to place your book to be given away free on kdp. I did this already and only 60 or so ..."
most welcome. As an exmaple see J.B.'s new listed giveaway here, to understand what I'm refering to, when I say use free platforms.
I will add my two cents, if that's all right :)Joni wrote: "1) Amazon reviewers do not have to buy the book on Amazon - while "verified purchase" reviews may carry more weight, I have not encountered cases where Amazon started deleting non verified reviews. An author had asked me this , and I do not know the source of the misconception, but many services rely on Amazon accepting ARC or out-of-amazon purchases
reviews. "
Yes Amazon has been deleting reviews for at least a year. They changed their rules to allow reviewers to post a maximum of 5 non-verified reviews per week, and some reviews are deleted (it seems) randomly. Amazon is moving to the vine verified purchase system, so it is impossible for customers to see non-verified reviews from the past, unless maybe the review has so many helpful votes that it stays at the top. Notice that when you want to see reviews on the product page, there used to be an option that said, "see all reviews, newest first" which you could use to view all reviews. Now it only says "see verified purchase reviews, newest first", so the non-verified reviews eventually become invisible after other reviews are posted.
You can then ask all the reviewers you know that have posted a review on Amazon to download the book again and re-submit their review, so they will become "verified"
I don't think you can post a review of an Amazon product you have already reviewed though ?????
3) Make sure you know what are your KDP terms. I am on KDP SELECT and still I had a giveaway for reviews both on Goodreads and BookGobbler.com at the time. But this practice is frown-upon by Amazon. Nonetheless, If Amazon find out you can just take down the giveaway and re-enrol to KDP SELECT once the "felony" is removed. Besides since these are professional services from professional reviewers you can always claim innocence, and remove the giveaway, I doubt there would be any repercussions towards your title (but please do so on your own responsibility).
If you are enrolled in KDP Select, you are agreeing to a 90-day exclusivity contract with Amazon. It is a violation of the contract to offer your ebook for sale or free on any other platform. However, your print book is not subject to these terms, so you could have as many paperback Goodreads Giveaways as you want.
(I had 460+ downloads in 3 days, this is bound to generate some reviews eventually!)
Unfortunately the average review ratio as a result of free downloads is about 1:1000 (1 review for every 1K free downloads). So you might not see any reviews, or you might see some, but some people are disappointed when their hundreds of downloads don't result in reviews. Using ebook promotional sites to advertise free promos can help a lot in getting download numbers to a thousand and beyond (and hopefully some new reviews).
if while getting there you'll give 100 free copies, nothing bad is going to happen to you financially, you'll be 200$ poorer - a justified scrifice!
Why would you lose $200 on giving away 100 copies?
J.B. wrote: "Hello everyone,I was curious to know if there was a specific time or specific days to place your book to be given away free on kdp. I did this already and only 60 or so people picked it up and i ..."
My best KDP free days are on Sundays, but other authors have different favorite days. It takes trial and error to find the best way to do these promos. For me, I will not use the free days consecutively because I have seen that kill the momentum of a promotion. I spread the 5 days out over the 90 day KDP Select period to get the best results. Most importantly, I advertise the promotion with ebook promo sites (the kind with newsletters sent out to their audience of readers). Without the promo sites, I might get only a few dozen downloads total. With the promo sites, I can get that number to hundreds or thousands of downloads. It takes a while to find what works for your particular book and genre. Good luck :).
Marie Silk wrote: "I will add my two cents, if that's all right :)Of course it's all right! happy that this discussion is progressing
Yes Amazon has been deleting reviews for at least a year. They changed their rules to allow reviewers to post a maximum of 5 non-verified reviews per week, and some reviews are deleted (it seems) randomly. Amazon is moving to the vine verified purchase system, so it is impossible for customers to see non-verified reviews from the past, unless maybe the review has so many helpful votes that it stays at the top. Notice that when you want to see reviews on the product page, there used to be an option that said, "see all reviews, newest first" which you could use to view all reviews. Now it only says "see verified purchase reviews, newest first", so the non-verified reviews eventually become invisible after other reviews are posted.
That's not true, it's still there, you just need to change the filter, and show "all reviews".
Click "show all verified reviews" -> change filter to "all reviews" and hey presto! seen a lot of non verified reviews (only not on the top) on your interesting "Davenport House 2: A New Chapter (Volume 2)"
Also, Not sure about the validity of the claim that Amazon randomly deletes reviews. I read also that amazon allows only 5 non verified per week on geekwire - but I am not sure where they got this from... We should really not speculate and send Amazon an inquiry
... any volunteers? ;)
BTW - for non book products, 3rd party sellers in Amazon have the option to opt-out of non verified reviews...
You can then ask all the reviewers you know that have posted a review on Amazon to download the book again and re-submit their review, so they will become "verified"
I don't think you can post a review of an Amazon product you have already reviewed though ?????
Of course you can. Just click on "review" product of something you had reviewed in the past, and it will show you an editable mode of your own review. another way is going on Amazon black bar to "username's Amazon" -> Your Profile (white bar) where you can edit all your reviews.
If you are enrolled in KDP Select, you are agreeing to a 90-day exclusivity contract with Amazon. It is a violation of the contract to offer your ebook for sale or free on any other platform. However, your print book is not subject to these terms, so you could have as many paperback Goodreads Giveaways as you want.
I think that's exactly what I said, while it's a felony, it's a well worth felony to do in my humble opinion.
Unfortunately the average review ratio as a result of free downloads is about 1:1000 (1 review for every 1K free downloads). So you might not see any reviews, or you might see some, but some people are disappointed when their hundreds of downloads don't result in reviews. Using ebook promotional sites to advertise free promos can help a lot in getting download numbers to a thousand and beyond (and hopefully some new reviews).
Again not sure where you get this statistic, but okay.
Why would you lose $200 on giving away 100 copies?
was a mere example of alternative revenue lost, if in an Utopian world one would get 2$ per copy sold. So meant to write "I rather lose revenue on 100 books and offer them free, for the potential reviews."
Sorry, this point should have been clearer.
Thanks!
Re: the 5 verified purchase rule...it is not speculation, it is from the Amazon guidelines. However, it looks like they recently added that it will not apply to ebooks:https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...
From the link:
"If your review is removed or rejected because it does not comply with our guidelines concerning promotional content, you may not resubmit a review on the same product, even if the resubmitted review includes different content.
Reviews may only include URLs or links to other products sold on Amazon.
Customers in the same household may not post multiple reviews of the same product.
Customers can submit 5 non-Amazon Verified Purchase reviews each week. Non-Amazon Verified Purchase review counts are calculated each week from Sunday at 12:00am GMT through Saturday 11:59pm GMT. This policy does not apply to Vine reviews or reviews on digital and physical books, music, and video.
When we find unusually high numbers of reviews for a product posted in a short period of time, we may restrict the number of non-Amazon Verified Purchase reviews on that product.
You may not manipulate the Amazon Verified Purchase badge, such as by offering special pricing to reviewers or reimbursing reviewers."
Thank you Joni, I did not realize that you could change the filter to "all reviewers". Unfortunately the default is for verified so most Amazon customers won't see the other reviews.
The ratio I mentioned about 1:1000 for reviews is not set in stone, just an average that I have experienced personally and other authors have confirmed from their experience.
The ratio I mentioned about 1:1000 for reviews is not set in stone, just an average that I have experienced personally and other authors have confirmed from their experience. Cool, I am glad to get other people's experience in that matter (eBooks:reviews ratio) , my own is very fresh and insufficient (book out in Aug).
I do nag anyone I know that had read the book to review it, so I checked the non verified bit, to see that I'm not wasting my time.
Thanks Marie.
Joni wrote: "Hi all,I wanted to share a couple of tips, running Bookgobbler.com I'm getting many questions from authors, especially indie, regarding the validity of Amazon "non verified" reviews, so I wanted ..."
'It's true that Amazon tracks down fraudulence reviews' you say, but I question their tracking system. They removed one of my reviews from one of their OWN Top 500 Reviewer List! How is a review from people they're promoting considered fraudulent?
Paula wrote: "Joni wrote: "Hi all,I wanted to share a couple of tips, running Bookgobbler.com I'm getting many questions from authors, especially indie, regarding the validity of Amazon "non verified" reviews,..."
Not questioning the fact that they are idiots lol :-)
I had seen perfectly legit reviews taken down. Only god and these algorithm "geniuses" know :-)
I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games, was not a verified purchaser (and my books are only available through Kindle) and wrote such mean and nasty things on both books that it beggars belief that he would read one of my books, hate it, and read the other one. I did ask Amazon to take the down; I haven't looked because it's too upsetting but I'm fairly sure they haven't.
It would be one thing if he read my books and honestly didn't like them. But it bothers me that I have all five star reviews and then this one star review, so like someone else pointed out on another thread it looks like all my friends gave me a five star review and then the one star review is the honest one. Maybe I'm overthinking it. It's just, our books are our babies.
Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games, was not a veri..."I know a book that got TARGETED for bad reviews from hundreds of people who had never read the book merely because they didn't like the science in the book. The book was a pop-psych book that had a chapter on a well documented, but unpopular psychology phenomena.
We should be thankful that only a few trolls will diss most books.
Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games, was not a veri..."Yeah I see what you mean, but that's why we're striving for a lot of reviews. Among 50 4-5 stars reviews, the weight of one bad review is a negligible.
Have you tried reaching out to Amazon to have it deleted? Especially when it's not verified?
Do me a favour try looking at http://www.bookgobbler.com - to increase your reviews count you can get as little as 2 extra reviews and one author has got 11 as a result. Don't see the downside!
Seaby wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games..."I understood that if you get a lot of "NO's" in answer to the question; "Was this review helpful to you?" it will get down on the list and no longer visible as soon as you get enough reviews.
Tessa wrote: "Seaby wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever ..."That's true for when you filter it by "top reviews" I think
Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games, was not a veri..."Joni wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games..."
If Shannon agrees - let's put it to the test and let's all matk the "troll" reviews unhelpful for both her books and see how Amazon treats them.
Shannon is it okay? If so, can u provide the links please?
Joni wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever reviewed games..."Sure thanks!https://www.amazon.com/Playground-Sha...
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Gods-Big...
Shannon wrote: "Joni wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've had the experience of having a troll review both my books on the same day just to trash me, It was a man who had never ever reviewed a book before, had only ever r..."Done.
Guys can we mark the two 1 star reviews on each of Shannon's books "unhelpful" as an experiment to see if it gets amazon to delete them?
I wanted to share a couple of tips, running Bookgobbler.com I'm getting many questions from authors, especially indie, regarding the validity of Amazon "non verified" reviews, so I wanted to share, from what I know.
If anyone here thinks that I'm mistaken - please don't shy out of correcting me.
1) Amazon reviewers do not have to buy the book on Amazon - while "verified purchase" reviews may carry more weight, I have not encountered cases where Amazon started deleting non verified reviews. An author had asked me this , and I do not know the source of the misconception, but many services rely on Amazon accepting ARC or out-of-amazon purchases reviews.
It's true that Amazon tracks down fraudulence reviews and if you post on many accounts from your IP address - Amazon would delete them, pretty quickly too.
2) If you want your reviews "verified" make sure to run a free download KDP campaign for KDP SELECT members (5 days each 90 days). I know authors who are not on select and make an effort re-enrolling just to use this feature. You can then ask all the reviewers you know that have posted a review on Amazon to download the book again and re-submit their review, so they will become "verified"
3) Make sure you know what are your KDP terms. I am on KDP SELECT and still I had a giveaway for reviews both on Goodreads and BookGobbler.com at the time. But this practice is frown-upon by Amazon. Nonetheless, If Amazon find out you can just take down the giveaway and re-enrol to KDP SELECT once the "felony" is removed. Besides since these are professional services from professional reviewers you can always claim innocence, and remove the giveaway, I doubt there would be any repercussions towards your title (but please do so on your own responsibility).
4) Build a data base of followers and use MailerLite to send bulk emails. Don't exaggerate but a message a month to people who like and support your work is fine, keep nagging for reviews and for people to download your free KDP giveaway. (I had 460+ downloads in 3 days, this is bound to generate some reviews eventually!)
5) use free services. NetGalley is expensive if you don't have the backing of a big publisher. Goodreads is free, BookGobbler.com is free, Maxine's Book Catlady group on FB is very open-minded to new titles, also reach out to top reviewers, and incognito blogs, search for book-groups also on FB and LibraryThing. There are many places you can list a "giveaway" for free so use them! Don't be shy from doing your own leg work!! And don't be stingy, we're all aiming to be a best-seller, if while getting there you'll give 100 free copies, nothing bad is going to happen to you financially, you'll be 200$ poorer - a justified scrifice!
Hope this helps,
Any questions, please reply, PM or send me an email admin@bookgobbler.com