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In the last few weeks, there have been scandals about so-called sock puppet reviews, when authors have paid for fake reviews or even created them under false identities. Whatever your thoughts on this type of thing, there's no doubt that having great reviews can help your book sell.
Personally I give away books and ask for reviews if people enjoy them, and I consider reviews to be critical in the sales process online, so I will continue to seek them out (ethically) for my own books. Today, guest blogger Laura Pepper Wu provides a handy guide to getting Amazon's top reviewers to review your book.
We all want more book reviews but until you have a huge readership waiting for organic reviews can be… well, a long wait!
One way to get more high quality, (usually) well-written and highly regarded reviews is to ask the ‘Amazon Top Customer Reviewers' to take a look at your book.
Why target the top Amazon reviewers?
While I've seen some reviewers with 7,000+ reviews, the Top Customer Reviewer award is not only about the number of reviews one person has churned out. At the time of writing, the #1 top customer reviewer on Amazon has only (!) 671 reviews under his belt.
As always, Amazon uses a complex algorithm to determine this ranking – this top spot is also determined by the number of “helpful” votes the reviews have received (our #1 guy has 39,414) and “percentage helpful” (97%).
Since that #1 spot is highly coveted, and quite the achievement, you can be sure that the Amazon top customer reviewers put a lot of thought and energy into their reviews. That’s good news – these are the best and most compelling kind of reviews!
As a result, aiming at the Top Customer Reviewers is a good strategy to curating well-written, meaningful and thorough reviews for your book. Here are some more pros for putting in the time and energy to solicit these:
1. These reviewers have proven themselves to be fast, consistent reviewers who read fast (often a few books a week) and will therefore most likely have a quick turn around
2. They understand what makes a good, helpful review
3. They may also have a book blog/ large social media following or other online presence that can bring you additional exposure
4. An endorsement by one of these guys looks GREAT on your Amazon page. Remember the whole third party validation/ social proof thing from your Economics class? Well this is it exactly! Validation from someone who takes reviewing seriously and is therefore 100% objective. Here's how the review listing will look on your Amazon page:
In fact, according to the results of the recent self publishing survey by Taleist.com, Authors who submitted to popular reviewers on Amazon received 25% more reviews than average and earned 32% more revenue for their latest release. Not necessarily a case of cause and effect but a good sign nonetheless.
With the positive there are some potential downsides, and it's only fair to mention those as well:
– Doing this research, and doing it well, DOES take time and energy. You’ll be led down some dead ends, and some reviewers explicitly state that they don’t like to be pitched.
(But if it was easy, everyone would be doing it right? This is the kind of stuff that gets you ahead of the game!)
and…
– They may well be more critical/ harsh. That's why it's super important to really do the research and only target those who would be interested in your book. Otherwise you're asking for trouble!
How to contact Amazon's Top Reviewers
Here are some step by step instructions on how to contact Amazon's Top Customer Reviewers to offer your book for review:
1. Head over to http://www.amazon.com/review/top-reviewers
2. Click on any name or reviewer profile that takes your fancy!
3. Look at the books she/ he has reviewed in the past (be aware that some of these reviewers will not be book reviewers at all, some may focus solely on electronics, clothes etc)
4. Look at his/her interests for relevant info (if this section is filled out):
5. Look under their profile picture to see if their contact information is public (I have blacked it out for privacy reasons here). Also look to see if there are any common interests or a location that you can mention when contacting them.
6. Send them a short, brief pitch stating:
– How you found them
– Why you think they'll enjoy your book (mention other books they loved or genre preference)
– Offer a free copy of your book
– Thank them for their time, whether they decide to take up your offer or not.
Don't forget these people are busy (as everyone is these days!), and most likely receive hundreds of requests. Keep your pitch short and sweet to make sure it’s read.
7. Aim to contact at least 3-4 times more reviewers than the actual number of reviews you are looking for since some will pass or you won’t hear back from them.
8. Wait for your replies 🙂
High quality and plentiful reviews can go a long way to driving book sales.
It does take time and effort though but the payoff is big.
Have you tried contacting Amazon’s Top Customer Reviewers? Why not share your experience by leaving a comment below.
*** UPDATE: Comments are now closed – Jan 2015 **
Laura Pepper Wu is a writer and the co-founder of 30 Day Books: a book studio and Ladies Who Critique, a critique-partner finding site. She has successfully marketed several books to become Kindle and print best-sellers.
Laura has recently released Authorlicious, a premium WordPress theme for authors including tutorials, so if you want to maximize your blog success, check it out here! (affiliate)
Laura’s latest offering is ‘Fire up Amazon & Leave it on Autopilot!’, a video tutorial course on how to tweak Amazon to it’s full potential. When she's not glued to her laptop you can find her walking her dog, practicing yoga or “testing” out coffee shops in Seattle. Connect with her on http://twitter.com/LauraPepWu and say hi!
Images: Top Bigstock Customer Survey or Review, the rest provided by Laura Pepper Wu
John Beresford says
Thanks for a great tip Laura! Having spent the last week ploughing (slowly!) through the top 500, discarding all those with no contact details, or bad genre fit (SO many paranormal romance lovers), or who only review tai chi exercise bikes, I finally sent out 19 emails and have had (so far) 2 replies. One “I’m behind with my reading but interested so please remind me in a month” and one really nice guy who actually apologised that he wouldn’t be able to get to my book until the 22nd. Of THIS month!
I actually think that’s a pretty good hit rate. And half of those emails only went out yesterday or today, so in some cases they’ll probably only just be waking up around now. Fingers crossed for another couple anyway, and thanks again for the great advice. I’d never have tried this under my own steam.
John Beresford says
Five months on and I thought I’d pop back and offer a progress report. Of the two replies mentioned above, the “really keen” guy didn’t follow through with a review, and the lady who asked me to remind her in a month ignored my reminder.
However I did get a reply – and a review! – from another of those 19 emails, and as a result of my research I also discovered “Big Al’s Books & Pals” site, and was lucky enough to receive a very favourable review from Al which he syndicated to my book’s page on Amazon.com, .co.uk, Kobo AND Goodreads, as well as his own site.
I’m now considering repeating the process. The top 500 will have churned quite a bit since my first attempt, and I may also take the good advice from elsewhere in these comments of starting at the bottom and working up rather than the other way around.
While it’s very fulfilling, in an abstract sense, to have a couple of good reviews from notable people, the bad news is – in my case at least – these have so far translated into zero extra sales. Nil. I can say that with certainty because my sales numbers are very low and I can account for them all. So as a marketing strategy… I need a new one! :\
janette says
After posting on this forum as a reviewer, I have received four great book to read and review. One was fast tracked and is on my site already, and also went live on Amazon yesterday. Great networking.
Jason Aydelotte says
This is an interesting idea, and one that I hadn’t previously considered. As the owner/executive director/marketer/book layout designer/everything else guy for my company, I’m always looking for new ways to market our books and to get the all-important reviews.
I’m not sure I’d have the time to go to all the Top 100, or even 500, especially given that they likely would reject the pitch out of hand given their busy emails. That said, starting at 501 might be worthwhile.
We also offer our customers the ability to leave reviews on our own webstore (store.greygeckopress.com) as a way to increase exposure as well. Most valuable are the Amazon reviews, of course, but increasing our word of mouth in any way isn’t a bad thing.
Best of luck to all those struggling to publish great books! You’re not alone in the fight, and there are some publishers (like me) who are looking for new authors. Keep the faith!
Jason Aydelotte
Executive Director
Grey Gecko Press
Sonia says
Thanks for this tip for getting reviews. Only wish there was a way to search or sort the Amazon Top Reviewer list by interests, genre or by tags they used so you can find reviewers that would be more likely interested in your book topic.
janette says
Sonia,
e mail me at janettebookreviews@gmail.com with details of you book to get it considered for review. I am a genuine independent reviewer and my website is
http://best-book-review.co.uk
D. A. Metrov says
Thanks for the great article and tip, Joanna. But I need some clarification. I’m happy to send my books to reviewers, but I’ve noticed that Amazon only lets someone post a review IF THEY’VE ACTUALLY PURCHASED THE PRODUCT. This is especially true for Kindle books. They won’t even let you post a review until you’ve actually downloaded the Kindle book to a Kindle device or app. Is this policy new since this article was written? How do we get around this if we send out free books to reviewers? Thanks
Joanna Penn says
Hi DA, You CAN leave a review without purchasing the item you are reviewing – I did this just yesterday with a free book I received from a publisher. BUT, if you do purchase it, it gets a little “Amazon Verified” green tick, so it is worth more if you did buy it.
So reviewers can still review as usual.
Jason Aydelotte says
As Joanna said, but with one caveat: you do have to have purchased *something* from Amazon in the past to review anything.
D. A. Metrov says
Okay, well thanks for the help on that.
Deborah H. Bateman says
Thanks for sharing this post. As author’s we are always looking for great ideas about how to get more good quality reviews.
Blessings,
Deborah H. Bateman-Author
Becky says
Your best tip is to look at the reviewer and make sure they review your type of book BEFORE you send out email. If the person asking me for a review can’t be bothered to take ten minutes to see if I have ever reviewed their type of book it says they are just sending out random requests to anyone and everyone.
Lara Schiffbauer says
This post had excellent timing for me. I’ve been wondering how to solicit reviews, and was starting to feel absolutely lost. Thanks for the great information!
janette says
The last post I put here I said I had been sent four book to review from writers subscribed here, now up to six and they are all on my site;
http://best-book-review.co.uk
and Amazon and a couple have also been posted on Goodreads, so again, great networking.
(First novels given preference.)
Toaster says
Speaking as a current Top 25 Reviewer on Amazon (and a former #1 Reviewer), I would offer a few additional tips:
*In your message, be sure to address the reviewer by name rather than sending a generic message–if you can’t bother to take the time, why should they? (Oh, and this should go without saying, but spell their name correctly!)
*Including a link to your book in your email request. I always research the books before saying yes or no, and this simplifies the process for me.
*If a reviewer says in their profile “I only review fiction,” don’t send them a request to review your non-fiction book about gardening because “I saw that you’ve reviewed a lot of gardening items.” People tend to get a bit annoyed when you assume that YOU know what they want better than they do!
*Finally, don’t just concentrate on the Top 10 or even the Top 100 reviewers. I currently get about 2-5 requests per week (occasionally 2/day), and I probably turn down 99% of them. Lower-ranked reviewers are more likely to be flattered and accept your request, but those of us on the higher end are overwhelmed–we’re not looking for more free products!
Mycroft Magnusson says
Laura,
Your article is exactly the thing I was looking for—I just finished my first novel, and I want to do what I can to gain attention for it on Amazon. I appreciate the thoughtful tips you put in here, and the step-by-step instructions.
Much appreciated,
-Mycroft
septemberlynngray says
I’ve actually been working on this, so I feel I might have some valuable information to share. I decided a couple of weeks ago to research how hard it would be to get a top reviewer to review my kindle book, so I’ve been going into the top reviewer forums on Amazon and checking out their thread posts on the subject. Okay, it feels like stalking or eavesdropping, but I thought it was a good idea to get a feel for how they felt about being approached rather than spamming them. What I found is that the ones who don’t mind list their email in their profiles. Many of them say they’re so swamped they won’t respond to request, but some do if they read that type of book. They get down right insulted if the author request a review for a genre they aren’t into via mass emails, as they do list their interests in their profiles. I believe the easiest way is to start from the bottom of the list and work your way up. Hope this helps.