My first book is a little over two months away from publication in print, ebook, and audio varieties. I know from a lot of research that one of the keys to making sure it gets out there and sustainably sells (especially if you have not much of an existing following) is to get a large number of positive reviews as quickly as possible. I've read that 50 reviews is about the point where Amazon starts paying attention and featuring your book more. So, other than just asking everyone I know to review the book, what's the best way to get people to read and review it? I plan to offer it for free for 5 days upon launch. I'm not sure what the price will be after that. How can I incentivize people? The book is about branding and communication for small business: https://brandidentitybreakthrough.com/ Gregory Edit: I'm happy to give anyone here a free copy in exchange for an honest review posted during the week of launch: May 20. Just send me an email:
Congratulations on the book! I had a neighbor who wrote reviews on and off just to get a free copy. He was fair, diligent and honest and, like I said, did it to simply get free books. Aren't there services where people constantly do just that? You'd probably be better off trying out those sites. Your post is, in a way, a request for someone to get hold of you. There could be people here interested in helping you out (for a free copy of the book, of course).
You can offer some people to review your product in exchange for your product. Or you can sell it @ $0.99 in a week or if you see enough sales
Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I'm happy to give anyone here a free copy in exchange for an honest review! Just get in touch with me:
Happy to read your book and leave you a review, but your email bounces back as undeliverable: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[173.194.223.26] said: 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.
Gregory Good luck with your book. Search out sites like goodreads.com and join similar groups. Offer fellow-members your book for review and request 'an honest' review. At the end of your book (a number of self-publishers have claimed that the start of the book is also a good place) invite your readers to post an 'honest review'. Whatever you do, though, do NOT ask them to write a 'positive' review. That's against Amazon's TOS and it will result in Amazon taking action you would not wish them to take. One or more authors have had their accounts closed as a result of this type of violation. If your book is good and the content matches the readers' expectations, the positive reviews will come. Just make sure there are no typos (they irritate the **** out of me), no spelling errors, no grammatical mistakes. Proof-read, proof-read, proof-read. Better still, get your fiercest critics to read it - I bet they'll spot any errors that there may be.
Thank you. That all makes sense. I will have the final version done soon and post it here for anyone who wants to leave a review!
There are some Facebook groups for Amazon writers where you can exchange honest reviews with other writers too.
Just search for Amazon reviews on Facebook and enter all groups. There aren't many (30-40). The more, the better.
Why not look into a business reviews platform that can help syndicate reviews across Google, Amazon etc? Big dogs are TrustPilot, ResellerRatings etc. Our platform TrustSpot does Google and is 100% free to use. Might be something good to have to grow your brand reputation.
I just wanted to let everyone interested in this know that I've finished the rough cut of the first section of the audio. It won't be released until May 20 on Amazon, but you can listen to the first section of the audio here if you are still interested. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Gregory
I'm looking at it as a consumer point of view. If I see a book released yesterday but already has 100 5+ reviews it does not make me want the book more but even suspicious. I'd say be careful and thread lightly when dealing with reviews, you are dealing with people and selling your product to people at the end of the day and do not consider your audience like Google bots.
That's a valid point, but reviews are also one of the primary ways Amazon knows to promote your book. I think my primary concern should be getting it in front of as many people as possible.
Let me tell you something which is my own personal view, first of all you had enough courage and balls to write a book (no matter good or bad, you have done a job and completed it.) and now you are promoting it so far, well done pal. Secondly you are wise enough to ask for advise and communicate through which again shows you want to succeed and again well done pal. It will be a bumpy road, difficult to achieve goals and succeed but it is possible, you are right, get infront of as many people as you can and prmote as hard as you can. Do not forget social media in this case. Good luck
Thank you. This is a new level for me to be operating on. I've already learned a lot about networking and marketing as a result.
There are a couple of group sites you may want to visit, like goodreads.com. You can also search out others on Google. I must however offer my congratulations on your book and wish you the best.
Thanks! The book is about to be sent for publication now, if you want to be one of my first readers or listen to the audio narration. Shoot me an email:
I just wanted to let everyone here know that the book is now free to download on Amazon until Tuesday. It's getting a very strong response so far from the first readers, and is currently #1 in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. I'd love it if anyone who reads it could leave an honest review on Amazon when they are done: https://www.amazon.com/Brand-Identity-Breakthrough-Companys-Irresistible-ebook/dp/B01C37VTAW