Today’s post comes off the back of a question from a paid subscriber: How do you get more reviews?
Reviews are so important in book publishing for a number of reasons:
They show social proof that other people have read and enjoyed your book - readers really do look at reviews (even if you might not) to decide whether or not they think a book will be for them. That means that having both 5 star and 2-3 star reviews is helpful, because it gives the reader different perspectives.
They give you a way to talk about your book using the language readers themselves use (ie: it can help you see the things that really connected with them, and then use those points in your other marketing).
You can share the reviews in your wider social media marketing / advertising, and it gives you a way to show people why they too might like your book.
Word-of-mouth is still the number one way people find out about new books, and reviews are word-of-mouth recommendations, whether they are on social media, on a retailer website or when they spill offline into people’s IRL conversations.
It helps the Amazon algorithm understand your book and potentially encourages it to promote your book more to readers they think will like it.
There is a theory that after you have 50 reviews on Amazon, the algorithm kicks in and starts promoting the book more, but Amazon’s algorithm is a constantly shifting black box, so while it does seem that books with more reviews get more support from Amazon, those books are also being bought more. So, reviews are likely not the only factor coming into play here.
That said, more reviews is definitely beneficial, and it’s definitely worth both encouraging your readers to leave them, and seeking out other ways to get your book reviewed by genuine readers is a good plan.
I say genuine readers because paying people to leave 5 star reviews is extremely bad form and also illegal. If found out, you could find that your entire account is shut down, so - steer clear!
Here are 5 different ways you can encourage more reviews for your book on Amazon:
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