# How are all of you getting all those Amazon reviews?? Help!



## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

I see all of these indie novels with 100+ reviews, and the books read and seem pretty standard (in other words, they aren't exactly "Wool" by Hugh Howey)

My 4 books only have 30-40 reviews on Amazon altogether, and I've been publishing since 2011. I admit, I don't spend as much time marketing as I should. And as far as quality goes, my reviews on Goodreads are more numerous and mostly positive.

But how are you guys doing it? How are people with just one or two novels getting 100-200 reviews on Amazon??

My mailing list has around 120 people, and they've left reviews, but not en masse. So I've tried that route.

I've tried Goodreads giveaways, but those mostly result in Goodreads reviews (where I have 100+ stars marked and decent ratings).

Can anyone suggest ways to get more Amazon reviews? I know they're necessary for a BookBub acceptance. 

Help!!


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

I have low numbers too, but I did notice an increase since January, when I started my ARC reader list. I offer readers free books in exchange for honest reviews via that newsletter. they have to sign up if interested, and so far, I've received 5 reviews...not crazy horse numbers or anything, but for a couple weeks, not bad. way better than before.

not sure this helps, but it's  a great question..


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## HezBa (Jan 24, 2012)

Almost all of my reviews have come from Librarything giveaways. They usually give a review on Librarything and amazon, and sometimes goodreads too.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Most of mine have come from a BookBub ad. But I've got a bunch from Librarything, Netgalley, and submitting to book bloggers. I know some others have had success with Story Cartel.

Hope that helps!


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

theaatkinson said:


> ...I did notice an increase since January, when I started my ARC reader list. I offer readers free books in exchange for honest reviews via that newsletter. they have to sign up if interested, and so far, I've received 5 reviews...not crazy horse numbers or anything, but for a couple weeks, not bad. way better than before.


Awesome idea. I give 1-2 books away from free when someone joins my mailing list, but I didn't think to have a separate ARC list. I'll have to give that a shot.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

HezBa said:


> Almost all of my reviews have come from Librarything giveaways. They usually give a review on Librarything and amazon, and sometimes goodreads too.


I don't even use LibraryThing! But I should! Thank you, HezBa. I'll upload my books there right away and do some giveaways.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

ruecole said:


> Most of mine have come from a BookBub ad. But I've got a bunch from Librarything, Netgalley, and submitting to book bloggers. I know some others have had success with Story Cartel.
> 
> Hope that helps!


This definitely helps, ruecole. Thank you. I'd never even heard of Netgalley or Story Cartel.


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

MeganBryce said:


> So, you're asking those with 100+ reviews how they did it and also vaguely insulting indies who have 100+ reviews? I'm being a bit touchy this morning, so I'll assume that is not what you intended.


Have you had your coffee yet?


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## I&#039;m a Little Teapot (Apr 10, 2014)

MeganBryce said:


> Coffee, check. Chocolate... Ah, I see the problem now.


Somebody get the woman chocolate--STAT! 

I do quite a bit of advertising on my permafree, so that's where the bulk of my reviews come from.


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## scribblr (Aug 20, 2010)

Normally, people will only leave a review if they either love a book or hate it. One exception is other writers, who understand the importance of reviews to writers just starting out. I use the old tried and true method of posting a request for a review at the back of every book.


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## bethrevis (Jul 30, 2014)

I'm up to 62 reviews since publishing in early October.

[list type=decimal]
[*]I started with a platform and people who wanted to read my book, which can't be ignored and definitely helped.
[*]I have an expansive social media platform that I used to my advantage, and ran several contests using that. (There's a thread here talking about the specifics of what I did.)
[*]I sent out about 50 ARCs to people--physical copies mailed at my cost.
[*]I joined a NetGalley co-op.
[*]I did a book review blog tour.
[/list]

The last two have been the most helpful. Now that I have 60+ reviews with an average above-4-star rating, I've applied for a BookBub. I did do some paid promo before this, but don't think it netted me more than a few reviews (it should be noted I didn't discount then, either).


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## Jake Kerr (Aug 6, 2014)

I pretty much assume that some absurdly small number will leave reviews, like .5 to 1%. This the case for my one book that has sold about 600 copies and has 17 reviews. So my question to you is ... how many books have you sold. If you want 100 reviews, have you sold 1-2 thousands copies of the book?

Note: You can work hard for solicited reviews, but even that generally won't get you bulk of over 100 reviews. I've used Story Cartel, Net galley, Goodreads, Librarything, and multiple giveaways, and I solicited over 200 book bloggers, and in two months I have 11 reviews.

In short: My experience is that sales begets reviews.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I think Jake's figures are accurate.    If you want reviews you have to market/advertise your book.
People can't read it if they can't find it.  They shouldn't review without reading it.


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## vkloss (Sep 22, 2014)

I'm closing in on 100 reviews and I've sold / rented (KU) close to 4,000 and given away about 7,500 since my book came out at the end of August last year.  That gives you some idea of the numbers needed.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

I had about 40 for Gastien: The Cost of the Dream when I got my first Bookbub. I now have 158. Most of those came from Bookbub. The 40 I did hard work and contacted book reviewers and bloggers.

Oh, and as far as reviews go, I didn't have a 1 star the first 2 years of publishing. That's from contacting reviewers who read my genre and marketing to readers who read my genre and paid full price for the book.

Once I went into Bookbub I started getting more reviews, and the 1 and 2 stars started. THen I made it permafree and continued with promo and Bookbub. So, expect that, even more if you go free for the promo. People download your book because it's free, because they like the cover, etc and don't read the blurb, don't read the reviews, etc. So, my rating fell from over 4 stars to now about 3.4. I would say about 95% of the 1 stars are because of the sex. Had they bothered to read the free sample, the other reviews they would have known but free is just so easy to download. It comes with the territory. The other 5% hate my style (omniscient). Again, fair enough. It's kind of funny to read one review saying how bad the writing is and then the next review will say they'd buy it for the writing alone and give it 4 or 5.

Am I complaining? Nope. I knew all along it would happen as readership expanded and hit people who aren't necessarily my target. It's a book that people either love or hate, and when they get it without checking it out first they react stronger (in either a positive or negative way). So, if you have also written a book that creates strong feelings and reactions, pushes the envelope, etc...expect the same. Along with those one stars I've gotten some 5 stars and readers who would do anything to help me become more successful.

*And know it's NOT true having less than a 4 star rating means your book sucks. Or that you won't get into any promo's. Know your book, understand your marketing and what it might do, both good and bad, and embrace it.* I still get into Bookbub because I have quality reviews from reviewers. Some won't take me, but they are much smaller and it doesn't matter to me. And I'll put Gastien up against any book out there for quality of story, editing, etc.

If you want a lot of readers and a lot of reviews, and you're not writing in a genre where you don't take a lot of chances, grow a VERY thick skin.  Buckle up and enjoy the ride. It gets very interesting!  I love all of my reviews. They give people who bother to read them an interesting read in themselves! (And don't forget, some people's reason for 1 star are other people's reason to buy.)

I am having my best month since I started in August 2011. You wouldn't necessarily know it looking at my book in Amazon. Bookbub helped me grow readership on B&N, kobo and I-tunes. Man, did THAT take a long time. But now I make enough sales in those places every month to pay some bills. Which is why my novels will never go into Select. After so long building anywhere else, I'm not going to implode the progress I made. I'm on target this month to pay ALL of our expenses for the month...and that feels good. Very good.


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## Walter Spence (Nov 22, 2014)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> I've tried Goodreads giveaways, but those mostly result in Goodreads reviews (where I have 100+ stars marked and decent ratings).


Have you tried emailing your Goodreads reviewers and, after thanking them for taking the time to leave a review, asked if they would consider forwarding their review to Amazon?

I've had luck doing a Google search for websites which specialize in books from the same genre I write in and then asking if they'd be interested in reading and reviewing mine.


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## ShayneRutherford (Mar 24, 2014)

Walter Spence said:


> Have you tried emailing your Goodreads reviewers and, after thanking them for taking the time to leave a review, asked if they would consider forwarding their review to Amazon?


If I had reviewed someone's book on GR, and they then sent me a request to review them on Amazon as well, I think I would feel they were being pushy. Like, 'what, reviewing on GoodReads wasn't good enough for you?'


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

ShayneRutherford said:


> If I had reviewed someone's book on GR, and they then sent me a request to review them on Amazon as well, I think I would feel they were being pushy. Like, 'what, reviewing on GoodReads wasn't good enough for you?'


I agree. Goodreads is a place where you want to tread very lightly. Much better to join some groups there. Some of them even have posts where you can ask for reviews.


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## Walter Spence (Nov 22, 2014)

Well, all I can say is that I had good luck when I did it. I agree that a request like that can come off as pushy (or worse), so when I did it, I did my best to phrase the request in such a way as to minimize the chances of that happening. YMMV.


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## Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer (Aug 10, 2010)

I agree that more sales equal more reviews - and it takes time. I only recently passed 100 reviews on the first of my cozy series. I've sold more than 50,000 of those three books and have 221 reviews on Amazon (and 100+ elsewhere). That's a grim average. If I was batting for a ball team, I'd be warming the bench.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> Can anyone suggest ways to get more Amazon reviews? I know they're necessary for a BookBub acceptance.


Not necessarily. I just got a Bookbub-promoted book that has only 15 reviews. I think it had fewer when the promo was published. But it has a very good blurb and cover, and the first few pages read well.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

When I made #Berlin45 free for the Select 5 days last month, it resulted in 2,364 downloads, 7 new subscribers and 5 new reviews - a very good result for me.

Now that the promo is well over, the new subscribers and reviews have dried up, but it was thrilling to have them come in so rapidly over just a few days and as a result of an easily identifiable strategy, i.e. a 5-day Select free promotion with paid ads.

Philip


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## Colorwheel (Nov 21, 2014)

MeganBryce said:


> 1) Those indies have given away and sold a LOT of copies. I have three books with close to 200 reviews; my (Amazon US) review rate is .002 so that means I have given away or sold just about 100,000 copies of each of those books.


I had no idea the reader-to-reviewer rate was so small! I guess I kind of assumed that everyone who reads leaves a review (1:1), and that my lifelong habit of reading and not reviewing makes me an antisocial creep. Apparently there are a LOT more lurkers than I realized. Learn something every day.

So thanks for mentioning that tidbit in passing, seriously.


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## Accord64 (Mar 12, 2012)

ruecole said:


> I know some others have had success with Story Cartel.


How is Story Cartel working these days? I was thinking of giving them a try.


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## Jessica R (Nov 11, 2012)

So my first book has 23 reviews. The second has 363. Honestly I think it's just one of those things. When it comes down to it you can make a lot of efforts to figure out why a book resonates with readers, why they pick it up, but it seems like a guessing game to me. Of course reaching readers is a big one, as is cover, blurb, genre etc. I have to admit I don't think I gave my first book the same chance. I haven't done as much promoting with the free giveaways. With the second I alerted a lot of blogs and did fiverr promos, gave away a lot of books, got a lot of reviews. Later I got a Bookbub and gave away even more. I also put a reminder in the back to leave a review. So it might be all those efforts, or maybe its something else. I honestly just feel like even though I'm proud of my first book, it's probably never going to be very successful. But that doesn't mean I'll give up on it completely. And you never know, I've heard from people who've had a book pick up sales rather suddenly.
Sorry if you've addressed this, but I'd consider doing a give-away on Amazon. And put the word out there like crazy. There's a list somewhere on this site of sites to notify, and you could pay for some if you want. There are lots of suggestions here about which ones to chose. I can get you that list if you need it.


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## Jake Kerr (Aug 6, 2014)

re. Story Cartel.

I guess it depends on your expectations. I spent $30 (I believe it is now $25) on their basic one month thing. It got me three reviews I think. Spending hours and hours and hours researching book blogs and mailing out print copies and emailing ebook copies to over 200+ bloggers got me about five reviews. I also spent double what I spent on Story Cartel for a Netgalley co-op and got one review. So in my opinion Story Cartel is well worth it on an ROI basis.

But if your hope or assumption is that you spend $25 on Story Cartel and you'll get 20+ reviews? I just don't see that happening. Probably the only way to get a ton of reviews without a ton of sales is to pay people to review your book. 

After putting in dozens of hours of work on this, I've pretty much resigned myself to the following:

1. Assume you won't get any significant reviews until you get a ton of sales. So don't even worry about it.
2. Do what you can, with low expectations based on point one.
3. Send out review copies to your email database of fans
4. Pay for a month of Story Cartel
5. Do a Goodreads and Librarything giveaway
6. Skip Netgalley
7. Solicit bestselling authors for a review/blurb
7. More than anything, don't worry about it. Reviews result from sales, not vice versa.

This is for a middle grade/YA book, so the usual genre caveats apply.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

I suppose it depends on how much you're paying for Netgalley. Use Patchwork Press's coop. It's only $45. Mine was in November and I got 3 reviews (for sure) from it. I noticed those who did a coop in December didn't get as many reviews. But that may be due to the holidays. Also, Beth Revis mentioned having reviews show up even a couple months after the coop.

Rue


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Actually sell books. People feel more invested in something they've paid for and are more likely to review. Run sales.

I don't know what you meant by "standard" but yeah, I kinda choked on my coffee, too. I hope you don't intended that to sound as much as a put-down as it does.


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

Caddy said:


> I am having my best month since I started in August 2011. You wouldn't necessarily know it looking at my book in Amazon. Bookbub helped me grow readership on B&N, kobo and I-tunes. Man, did THAT take a long time. But now I make enough sales in those places every month to pay some bills. Which is why my novels will never go into Select. After so long building anywhere else, I'm not going to implode the progress I made. I'm on target this month to pay ALL of our expenses for the month...and that feels good. Very good.


Excellent! I think your route is the way to go.


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## Jake Kerr (Aug 6, 2014)

I used Patchwork in December. It wasn't really effective, and I'm kind annoyed with them as i haven't received any summary of the month. I wanted to give them some time, but now it's closer to February than December, so I guess I'll email and ask them to let me know how it went.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

I got an email with the summary about three weeks after the end of the month.

Hope that helps!

Rue


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> I don't know what you meant by "standard" but yeah, I kinda choked on my coffee, too. I hope you don't intended that to sound as much as a put-down as it does.


My apologies, indies. Didn't mean to sound like a pompous jerk or put anyone down. What I meant by "standard" (a terribly vague term, I realize) was that many of the indie books I've seen with hundreds of reviews did not appear to be best-sellers, and yet the review time-history showed one review after another, on a consistent basis.

So if they weren't coming for Amazon sales, I figured they must be coming from promos run on BookBub. But did those books have a ton of reviews in order to get accepted by Bookbub? Or did BookBub result in tons of reviews?

I'd like to add 20-30 honest reviews to each of my books. But I've gone through periods of extensive marketing and soliciting of book bloggers, and it didn't amount to much.

It's possible my books aren't all that compelling. But I take the approach of never blaming the books themselves. I'll always blame myself for not being as efficient or as effective as I could be.

Plus, I know I'm crap at marketing and self-promotion.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Caddy said:


> If you want a lot of readers and a lot of reviews, and you're not writing in a genre where you don't take a lot of chances, grow a VERY thick skin.  Buckle up and enjoy the ride. It gets very interesting!  I love all of my reviews. They give people who bother to read them an interesting read in themselves! (And don't forget, some people's reason for 1 star are other people's reason to buy.)


Great post overall, Caddy, and very helpful. Thank you. I'd love to pick your brain regarding how you sold to your market after identifying it - the nitty gritty stuff, I mean. I have a tough time with this, mostly because one of my books is horror, one is fantasy, one is sci-fi, and one is post-apocalyptic survival. The only thing they really have in common are teenage protagonists, so I lean toward the YA market as far as my target.

Competition there, and for the attention of these youngsters, is fierce, so I hear.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Walter Spence said:


> Have you tried emailing your Goodreads reviewers and, after thanking them for taking the time to leave a review, asked if they would consider forwarding their review to Amazon?


It's a good idea, Walter. I'm thinking, once I have a new book ready to release, I'll offer a free, advanced copy to anyone on Goodreads who liked my book, left a review, and might consider posting it elsewhere.

I probably wouldn't use this approach unless I had something of value to offer apart of what they received from reading (hopefully after purchasing) one of my other books.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Al Stevens said:


> Not necessarily. I just got a Bookbub-promoted book that has only 15 reviews. I think it had fewer when the promo was published. But it has a very good blurb and cover, and the first few pages read well.


That's really good to hear, Al. I've only tried once with 3 of my books to get into BookBub. No excuse for such lack of persistence, though I thought it was from my lack of reviews. I'll definitely try again.


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## Graham C. (Oct 19, 2014)

> That's really good to hear, Al. I've only tried once with 3 of my books to get into BookBub. No excuse for such lack of persistence, though I thought it was from my lack of reviews. I'll definitely try again.


A Bookbub ad is a guaranteed way to get reviews so you should definitely start pursuing them. I had less than 10 reviews when they accepted me, and it was for a young adult placement. I think I got at least 40 reviews from that promotion in the following months, when it had taken me 18 months to get 8 reviews on my own just by slogging along, doing free runs, Goodreads giveaways, combining with other authors to do giveaways, soliciting bloggers. Ugh. I felt like I was constantly banging my head against the wall. In fact, I think it was out of pure frustration that I just threw caution to the wind and applied to Bookbub with my ridiculously low number of reviews, figuring that I was already completely frustrated so what did I have to lose and I could not believe when they accepted me the same day.

So, I firmly believe that with Bookbub the benefits are so great that there is no downside to filling out that form as many times as you have to. And actually, they have one of the easiest submission forms out there, no need to rewrite your blurb and pare it down to fifty words or something annoyingly time consuming like that, so get up tomorrow morning and apply first thing.  Good luck!


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

I did blog tours through a tour company when I was starting out in order to get credible, articulate reviews. Not too pricey. Book bloggers will be honest, however, and if their opinion is "meh," they'll post it. 

I asked for reviews in the back for a while, but it didn't make a difference and I didn't like how it felt, so I took that out.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I think some of it is genre. Or just certain books generate more reviews. No Good Deed gets the most reviews, by far, of any of my books, but it has also sold the most and had the most given away. At the back of my books, I have politely suggested a review, but I do that in all my books, and for the most part, only NGD gets regular reviews. It's a little different, especially in the genre, so that is probably why it gets a good number of reviews. But, even though it has over 400 reviews, I was just looking at KU thrillers last night, and there are so many that are fairly new books, with way more and it makes me wonder how they did it? 

I published a romantic suspense in late May. Sales have been moderate and I did have one good free run with it in June, so that probably helped, but it has 53 reviews so probably the best review to purchase ratio of any of my books. I never submitted it to any review blogs or presented it to romance readers, did any type of promo giveaways--basically nothing but the price-matched free run. I just think romance readers tend to be the most likely to review.

My second book, which has sold at least 10,000 copies, only has 67 reviews in four years. I think people tend to not bother because they already reviewed No Good Deed, or they just move right to the next books.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Graham C. said:


> So, I firmly believe that with Bookbub the benefits are so great that there is no downside to filling out that form as many times as you have to. And actually, they have one of the easiest submission forms out there, no need to rewrite your blurb and pare it down to fifty words or something annoyingly time consuming like that, so get up tomorrow morning and apply first thing.  Good luck!


I will do that, if not tonight, then tomorrow morning before work. Thanks, Graham. Just curious, what was your "star" rating when you were accepted? All but one of my books is at four out of five. Regardless, I'll happily give it another shot.


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## Walter Spence (Nov 22, 2014)

Also consider, Richard, that Bookbub's decisions are not entirely based on how many good reviews a given book gets. Based on the blurb they wrote for mine, I'm convinced that they read at least some (if not all) of the entries. So if you are confident about the particular work you submit to them, I suspect that confidence will be rewarded.


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## Leslye Penelope (Mar 10, 2014)

I used the Patchwork Press Netgalley co-op in December as well and received 14 reviews so far on Goodreads. So it all just depends. More seem to still be trickling in, and I just started receiving the emails from them a few days ago. 

As a Netgalley user I get requests from publishers all the time to cross post my Goodreads reviews on Amazon. I don't have a problem with it. I've started contacting reviewers and asking them, only a few have posted theirs to Amazon, but no one has responded angrily.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

A lot of books that don't look like best sellers have hundreds of reviews because they sold stronger at some time in the past - or because they were free for awhile and collected a lot of reviews then. My books with the highest number of reviews are (not surprisingly) the ones that've been most visible, advertised the most, and sold or downloaded the most. To give some idea of the ratio of free downloads to reviews, one of mine has been downloaded over 300,000 times and has collected not quite 800 reviews. So it's a very small percentage of downloaders who review. If you feel like you're not getting a good number of reviews compared to the number of copies you're moving, you can increase your reviews by giving away free review copies and including a "please review" message at the back of your books.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Give away 50,000 or 60,000 copies of a book and you'll end up with more than 100 reviews. I think volume is the main way people end up with a lot of reviews -- one way or another, they move a lot of copies.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Becca Mills said:


> Give away 50,000 or 60,000 copies of a book and you'll end up with more than 100 reviews.


How, exactly? What works best?


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> How, exactly? What works best?


Permafree and Bookbub


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## Darryl Donaghue (Oct 9, 2014)

There's a group over at Goodreads called Making Connections. You can post your books details over there and readers can request review copies if they're interested. I've found two readers who are willing to review my book this way in the past two weeks. Hope this helps.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> How, exactly? What works best?


Well, I did a couple big Select runs back in 2012, when Select was more awesome than it is now. Then it was just for sale for a while on all platforms, doing nothing. Then I set it permafree about 14 months ago and added another 10K downloads on Amazon and 10K on Google. These later downloads were without promotion -- permafree is pretty powerful. Promoted permafree is even better -- Bookbub, if you can get it; periodic ads with ENT and other places. 

ETA: I'd just suggest making sure that permafree fits into your larger plan in some way. Doing it just for the sake of reviews wouldn't make sense to me, since past a certain point, I don't think chocking up more reviews does much for a book.


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## HezBa (Jan 24, 2012)

Thanks for the link Darryl!


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

M R Mortimer said:


> My experience has been around 1 review per thousand copies sold.


That makes me feel a _*lot*_ better about some of my review counts.


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## Revolution (Sep 17, 2012)

My rate is about .5%, which seems to be quite good.

I wish more would leave reviews, but I don't. Haha


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## chele (Jun 5, 2013)

Richard, I've been having the same problem. I've tried putting the book on free, I've done giveaways, I've advertised like crazy and.... yeah, still in the early double digits. 

One thing I found somewhat useful for my newest release:

I listed a Goodreads Giveaway for 3 advance copies. These have to be print copies, and I can't afford to send out hundreds of those, so 3 was a good number. I made it global too, so no holds barred on entries. On Goodreads, you can't list on the giveaway that you're also offering eBook copies for reviews as they edit it out when approving your giveaway. However, I also put the following message on the actual book page (at the top of the blurb in italics): "I am currently looking for reviewers for Teeth. If you would like an eBook advance copy for review, please send me a message."

I had a dozen messages from readers I had never had contact with asking for a copy of the book for review. Now, it's not a lot, but it's a start and it's a bit of social proof for me to start offering more copies for reviews. The reviews are going up slowly but surely, and when I emailed copies, I specifically asked for them to be posted to Amazon too. 

- Now, the reason I'm mentioning this: So far, all seven reviewers who have posted have requested that they be kept in mind for reviews when I release my next book. So, building an ARC list, pretty much.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

My reviews have just built over time. It's taken 3 years and counting to get less than 200 so far. A permafree will increase the rate, but I find I get less than 1 per 1000 sales even so.


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## GeorgeMahood (Jan 9, 2014)

I seem to average about 1 review for every 35 sales for my first book (it has nearly 2000 reviews on UK and US combined), which seems way above average and I'm not really sure why. For the first few months I did ask anyone who sent me a Facebook message, tweet or email about my book if they would mind posting a review, but I haven't asked for one for over two years.

I have a short bit at the back of my book asking if people would consider leaving a review. I also mention being self-published which might help readers realise how important their reviews are.
It says something like... '_self-published authors rely almost exclusively on your reviews and recommendations to friends and family, so any way in which you can help spread the word would be greatly appreciated. Thank you._'

I hope this helps.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

GeorgeMahood said:


> I seem to average about 1 review for every 35 sales for my first book (it has nearly 2000 reviews on UK and US combined), which seems way above average and I'm not really sure why. For the first few months I did ask anyone who sent me a Facebook message, tweet or email about my book if they would mind posting a review, but I haven't asked for one for over two years.
> 
> I have a short bit at the back of my book asking if people would consider leaving a review. I also mention being self-published which might help readers realise how important their reviews are.
> It says something like... '_self-published authors rely almost exclusively on your reviews and recommendations to friends and family, so any way in which you can help spread the word would be greatly appreciated. Thank you._'
> ...


That is amazing! And now of course we all have to go look


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Taking notes on all of this. My book is on pre-order, and I'm trying to drum up some review before release date. I've listed some giveaways and contacted some bloggers, so here's hoping.

Also, Mark, I just bought Rune Gate because the cover in your sig caught my eye. It sounds right up my alley!


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

According to one of my reviewers, I paid everyone on here to write a review.  

Seriously though, it takes a lot of sales to get a single review. Reviews come at a rate of about 1% of sales, probably less. These are organic reviews and while a good many may be five stars, you'll get quite a few three and four star reviews and the occasional one or two star. These are real. These are people you've never met or heard of who took the time to write a review of your work. These are gold.

Soliciting for reviews, or giving away freebies for them, will pump up the numbers, but they're not 100% real. My advice is to not worry about it. Put your energy into something productive, like writing and selling more books. The organic reviews will come. It's not a sprint and there is no finish line.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

chele said:


> I listed a Goodreads Giveaway... I also put the following message on the actual book page (at the top of the blurb in italics): "I am currently looking for reviewers for Teeth. If you would like an eBook advance copy for review, please send me a message."
> 
> I had a dozen messages from readers I had never had contact with asking for a copy of the book for review. ...when I emailed copies, I specifically asked for them to be posted to Amazon too.
> 
> ...all seven reviewers who have posted have requested that they be kept in mind for reviews when I release my next book. So, building an ARC list, pretty much.


This is brilliant, Chele!


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## Graham C. (Oct 19, 2014)

> Thanks, Graham. Just curious, what was your "star" rating when you were accepted? All but one of my books is at four out of five.


I had eight reviews, and I think the ratio was five 5 star and three 4 star so maybe 4.6. The five star reviews were very thoughtful and enthusiastic and from strangers. I also had a blog review (which was so annoying in the way that it analyzed my book incorrectly that I really regretted soliciting it).



> Also consider, Richard, that Bookbub's decisions are not entirely based on how many good reviews a given book gets. Based on the blurb they wrote for mine, I'm convinced that they read at least some (if not all) of the entries. So if you are confident about the particular work you submit to them, I suspect that confidence will be rewarded.


I have also thought that might be what happens for some books. In my case I first submitted to BB in its early days when it was just becoming the powerhouse it is. The same day I submitted my application I also registered a daytime sale for my book, and I was selling about 5 copies per month so I had the feeling that BB bought it that day. Then, when I got my rejection, the email suggested very nicely that I reapply after I got a few more reviews. It felt like a personal note, and not a generic rejection. Then I didn't reapply for 8 months, but when I did I got accepted the same day. That made me think they had a file on my book, as if someone had done the legwork on it already, and thus the fast response turnaround. IDK, this could all be speculation on my part and I could just be completely wrong about it, but I have also felt that they do read some of their submissions.



> I listed a Goodreads Giveaway for 3 advance copies. These have to be print copies, and I can't afford to send out hundreds of those, so 3 was a good number. I made it global too, so no holds barred on entries.


I did a Goodreads Giveaway to get reviews and ugh, I would never do one again. I made the mistake of not limiting the giveaway to America, and I am convinced that if you include foreign countries Goodreads purposely does a separate drawing for those foreign countries. I had something like 900 entrants to give away five books, and opened the giveaway to two foreign countries. So my winners were three in America and one in each of the foreign countries, which did not seem like representative random winners. I had to pay for international shipping at the post office for those two winners and then, of course, never got any reviews from them. And one of the American giveaway winners put my book up for sale immediately, turns out he had a book selling business on the side. It was such a ripoff. I am still angry about it to this day, and it was a few years ago. Complete waste of money. Better off doing a select free run and spending the postage money on tons of ads.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I thank people by their review name on my Facebook Page and blog for leaving a review whenever my ebooks reaches a multiple of 100. It always seems to generate a few more reviews. I mention how important reviews are in the practical and emotional sense.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> According to one of my reviewers, I paid everyone on here to write a review.


Speaking of, your last check bounced.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Perry Constantine said:


> Speaking of, your last check bounced.


The $1000 one, right? 

C. Gockel, I am totally doing that when I hit 50 reviews! 

Rue


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Darryl Donaghue said:


> There's a group over at Goodreads called Making Connections. You can post your books details over there and readers can request review copies if they're interested. I've found two readers who are willing to review my book this way in the past two weeks. Hope this helps.


That definitely helps. I'll put that on the "To Do" list.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

chele said:


> I had a dozen messages from readers I had never had contact with asking for a copy of the book for review. Now, it's not a lot, but it's a start and it's a bit of social proof for me to start offering more copies for reviews. The reviews are going up slowly but surely, and when I emailed copies, I specifically asked for them to be posted to Amazon too.
> 
> - Now, the reason I'm mentioning this: So far, all seven reviewers who have posted have requested that they be kept in mind for reviews when I release my next book. So, building an ARC list, pretty much.


This is awesome advice, chele. Thank you.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Soliciting for reviews, or giving away freebies for them, will pump up the numbers, but they're not 100% real. My advice is to not worry about it. Put your energy into something productive, like writing and selling more books. The organic reviews will come. It's not a sprint and there is no finish line.


Wayne,

While I agree, this is the method I've been using now for the past two years. Sales have been steady, and I'm working on the next book, so that'll be out soon.

But I feel like I'm running in place sometimes. I know "exposure" is a real factor in all this; without it, your book gets buried in obscurity before it even has a chance to shine.

Reviews are part of it. I think they're hugely important, and I personally am more likely to buy a book with 100+ positive reviews than one that has only a handful. (Assuming the genre is the same, both authors are unknown to me, and the covers are similarly intriguing).

Sales is a huge part of what we do as publishers. I feel I neglect that part, and it's hurting my business.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Graham C. said:


> I did a Goodreads Giveaway to get reviews and ugh, I would never do one again. I made the mistake of not limiting the giveaway to America, and I am convinced that if you include foreign countries Goodreads purposely does a separate drawing for those foreign countries. I had something like 900 entrants to give away five books, and opened the giveaway to two foreign countries. So my winners were three in America and one in each of the foreign countries, which did not seem like representative random winners. I had to pay for international shipping at the post office for those two winners and then, of course, never got any reviews from them. And one of the American giveaway winners put my book up for sale immediately, turns out he had a book selling business on the side. It was such a ripoff. I am still angry about it to this day, and it was a few years ago. Complete waste of money. Better off doing a select free run and spending the postage money on tons of ads.


I think the main point of a Goodreads giveaway is to get eyes on your book, so there's really no point in giving away more than one copy. I got that advice here on KB when I ran my first giveaway, and I think it was sound.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

GeorgeMahood said:


> I seem to average about 1 review for every 35 sales for my first book (it has nearly 2000 reviews on UK and US combined), which seems way above average and I'm not really sure why. For the first few months I did ask anyone who sent me a Facebook message, tweet or email about my book if they would mind posting a review, but I haven't asked for one for over two years.
> 
> I have a short bit at the back of my book asking if people would consider leaving a review. I also mention being self-published which might help readers realise how important their reviews are.
> It says something like... '_self-published authors rely almost exclusively on your reviews and recommendations to friends and family, so any way in which you can help spread the word would be greatly appreciated. Thank you._'
> ...


I like the idea of asking for a review, but if I see self-published or indie or independent in the plea, I will not review. All authors depend on reviews. Don't label yourself. Also some reviewers will give lower star counts to "amateurs". If a reader can buy your book, you are an author. No qualifications or clarifying needed.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> My reviews have just built over time.


THIS. 4 years and 10+ books in I'm at 799 reviews on Amazon. Build a readership, however slowly, and they will come.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> Wayne,
> 
> While I agree, this is the method I've been using now for the past two years. Sales have been steady, and I'm working on the next book, so that'll be out soon.
> 
> ...


Wayne gets organic reviews because he does market his books. 
I am going to abuse him for a moment. 
First, he writes a great story. Then he has them professionally edited. His covers are always great. And most importantly, he spends time and money marketing his books. 
I'm not sure if I have reviewed his books.

Key lesson should be if you want to make it as an author, you have to remember this is a business. So invest the time and money in yourself. 
Now I will sample your book.


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> My apologies, indies. Didn't mean to sound like a pompous jerk or put anyone down. What I meant by "standard" (a terribly vague term, I realize) was that many of the indie books I've seen with hundreds of reviews did not appear to be best-sellers, and yet the review time-history showed one review after another, on a consistent basis.
> 
> So if they weren't coming for Amazon sales, I figured they must be coming from promos run on BookBub. But did those books have a ton of reviews in order to get accepted by Bookbub? Or did BookBub result in tons of reviews?
> 
> ...


I am on the other end of the spectrum, I was on the dystopian best seller list for top 100 paid sales, my book has 25 reviews mostly one stars and some other reviews thrown in to give me a average of two stars. My book stayed on the best sellers list for three months and sold very well, I was side by side with Wool and many here can witness it happened. Some said it was because the other michael who has the same last name but that was proven false when D2D messed up my profile and my books had the other Michael's picture and his books on my page, all sales stopped for over a week until it was fixed, people knew who I was and they knew I was not the other Michael. After my books and my picture was fixed my sales took off again. I had a good three month run with no book bub or anything an a one star rating at the time. I had something different and the readers went with it. That was "Billy, It's time."


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Sampled your book.  Please pm me.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Please excuse the newbie question as I'm preparing to publish my first book but is there a mechanism on Amazon to 'give' an ebook away?  How do you get one of those ARC into someone else's hands in a kindle ebook format?


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Please excuse the newbie question as I'm preparing to publish my first book but is there a mechanism on Amazon to 'give' an ebook away? How do you get one of those ARC into someone else's hands in a kindle ebook format?


Some people gift books via Amazon but, for various reasons, I don't recommend it. I email reviewers the book or send a link to where they can download it (helps if you include instructions for side-loading it to their Kindle). Free Smashwords coupons are also an easy option, allowing them to download in the format of their choice.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Please excuse the newbie question as I'm preparing to publish my first book but is there a mechanism on Amazon to 'give' an ebook away? How do you get one of those ARC into someone else's hands in a kindle ebook format?


Unfortunately Amazon has no mechanism for sending out ARCs. iTunes gives you a certain number of ARC coupon codes you can give out, Smashwords allows you to set up coupons to give to people and DriveThru Fiction lets you send out complimentary copies. You can also download your own ebooks from Smashwords and D2D.

If you create your own epub/mobi files, then you can give them away easily. The only downside there is people need to know how to side-load them onto their device, but this is a pretty painless process.


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## Maggie Dana (Oct 26, 2011)

Perry Constantine said:


> The only downside there is people need to know how to side-load them onto their device, but this is a pretty painless process.


Not always. Lots of readers have no idea how to sideload and you end up "talking" them through it, over and over via email. I spent so much time with one reader who'd won a free book from me that I finally sent her an Amazon gift card. Who knows what she bought with it.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Maggie Dana said:


> Not always. Lots pf readers have no idea how to sideload and you end up "talking" them through it, over and over via email. I spent so much time with one reader who'd won a free book from me that I finally sent her an Amazon gift card. Who knows what she bought with it.


Of course there will always be people who just don't get it. My mother still needs my father to come over and select Play Movie from a DVD menu because she doesn't know how to do it. But the process of side-loading is still pretty simple, even if there are some who can't figure it out.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

Have you tried Netgalley? You have to pay for a membership, but you book your book up and anyone who wants to read it has to leave a review or something like that. Also, I didn't have any reviews until I did a Freebooksy ad, so yeah, what other people said about marketing.


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## GeorgeMahood (Jan 9, 2014)

cinisajoy said:


> I like the idea of asking for a review, but if I see self-published or indie or independent in the plea, I will not review. All authors depend on reviews. Don't label yourself. Also some reviewers will give lower star counts to "amateurs". If a reader can buy your book, you are an author. No qualifications or clarifying needed.


You're probably right that I don't need to mention being self-published. I do agree that some reviewers will give lower stars to "amateurs", but being self-published does not automatically make the writer an amateur. Conversely, readers might be pleasantly surprised when they discover at the end that a book is not traditionally published. Or perhaps they might be more inclined to overlook the couple of typos that they spotted? Who knows? I was just saying what seems to work for me.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Perry Constantine said:


> If you create your own epub/mobi files, then you can give them away easily. The only downside there is people need to know how to side-load them onto their device, but this is a pretty painless process.


Just tell them to use this. I do http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/pc


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Speaking of sending free copies, has anyone used this website: http://www.instafreebie.com/

It appears that you load your file, email the link to your reviewer, and then they download the version they'd like. Has anyone used this?


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

Cady, that site looks awesome.  I wonder what the catch is- how do they make money?  Ads somewhere, I guess.


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## hell4heather (Mar 30, 2014)

Hi Richard, Just wanted to say, don't be downhearted! I ran a KDP free promotion in December, which resulted in 29,000 downloads in three days. I was stoked of course - all that potential new readership. The reviews seem to have slowed now and I ended up with 100, out of 29k downloads! The fact is, so many people read and don't review. I read a piece of advice from a more experienced author than I, who said 'ASK for them on the last page of your book.' In other words, write a small paragraph beseeching people to leave a review, stressing how much it helps you. It's a great tact and one I plan to adopt next time for sure! 

If you need to know a little about a KDP free promotion - great idea by the way - I blogged about my experience here, giving ideas on what to do: http://hell4heather.com/2014/12/08/the-rollercoaster/

Good luck!


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## MorganKegan (Jan 10, 2013)

Immediately after 'the end', I have a 'thank you' page, the idea and format of which I blatantly stole ripped off borrowed from Debora Geary, where I politely ask for reviews. It goes like this:



> I hope you enjoyed reading Siobhan and Katie's story, the first in the Faerie Changeling series.
> If you'd like to be notified when I release the next book in this series and others, click this link to sign up for my New Releases email list at http://eepurl.com/v0fbb. I promise I won't spam you!
> This e-book is lending-enabled. Please, share it with a friend!
> Tell others what you liked about this book by writing a review. If you do, please send me an email at [email protected] I'd like to gift you with a copy of the next book in the series as thanks.


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## AnonWriter (Dec 12, 2013)

CadyVance said:


> Speaking of sending free copies, has anyone used this website: http://www.instafreebie.com/
> 
> It appears that you load your file, email the link to your reviewer, and then they download the version they'd like. Has anyone used this?


Cady, that site looks awesome. One question: do you know if it conflicts with Kindle Unlimited's terms? I don't see why it would, but you never know.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

GeorgeMahood said:


> You're probably right that I don't need to mention being self-published. I do agree that some reviewers will give lower stars to "amateurs", but being self-published does not automatically make the writer an amateur. Conversely, readers might be pleasantly surprised when they discover at the end that a book is not traditionally published. Or perhaps they might be more inclined to overlook the couple of typos that they spotted? Who knows? I was just saying what seems to work for me.


I agree that being self published does not make you an amateur, trust me I know several authors that are self published that make oh just 7 figures a year. But and here is the catch...they NEVER bring the self published to the general public. They treat this like it is a business. They do not put themselves in a box. 
One in particular works 12-15 hours a day on his many books. He started out self-published and is now a co-author with a very famous writer. My mom who is very picky about who she reads, halfway through the book was going find out if there will be another one.

Other thing all these authors have in common is they have several books in their chosen genre or genres. Not just one here and there.
They all advertise and I think they all have or have had (I know this for sure except for 1but he is in a niche genre) a free book to act as a funnel to their other books in the same genre. Note they also had more than one book out before they started promoting heavily.

They also invested both their time and their money in their books before they published. 
That is why I recommend being professional. Look and act the part.

So you can think what you want but I know what I have seen. I knew some of them before they hit it big.


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## GeorgeMahood (Jan 9, 2014)

cinisajoy said:


> I agree that being self published does not make you an amateur, trust me I know several authors that are self published that make oh just 7 figures a year. But and here is the catch...they NEVER bring the self published to the general public. They treat this like it is a business. They do not put themselves in a box.
> One in particular works 12-15 hours a day on his many books. He started out self-published and is now a co-author with a very famous writer. My mom who is very picky about who she reads, halfway through the book was going find out if there will be another one.
> 
> Other thing all these authors have in common is they have several books in their chosen genre or genres. Not just one here and there.
> ...


That's all fair enough, but the OP asked about how to get more reviews. I've got nearly 2000 reviews for one of my titles so I thought I would share what I do. It might not work for everyone but it seems to be working OK for me. And believe me, I treat it very much like a business too.



Emily Wibberley said:


> Cady, that site looks awesome. One question: do you know if it conflicts with Kindle Unlimited's terms? I don't see why it would, but you never know.


Good point! I think using www.instaFreebie.com would violate the the T&Cs of KDP Select. It is mentioned in clause 3.7 http://www.instafreebie.com/about/terms


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

GeorgeMahood said:


> That's all fair enough, but the OP asked about how to get more reviews. I've got nearly 2000 reviews for one of my titles so I thought I would share what I do. It might not work for everyone but it seems to be working OK for me. And believe me, I treat it very much like a business too.
> 
> Good point! I think using www.instaFreebie.com would violate the the T&Cs of KDP Select. It is mentioned in clause 3.7 http://www.instafreebie.com/about/terms


Which book or are you adding US and UK reviews together? I saw one of your books had 823 in the US alone. Also what genre are you? That can also make a big difference. 
Oh and you have good covers and I can tell at a glance your books fit together.


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## GeorgeMahood (Jan 9, 2014)

cinisajoy said:


> Which book or are you adding US and UK reviews together? I saw one of your books had 823 in the US alone. Also what genre are you? That can also make a big difference.
> Oh and you have good covers and I can tell at a glance your books fit together.


Yes, sorry, that's US and UK combined for Free Country (823 in US, 1163 in UK). A few reviews will overlap but the vast majority only post to one site. The books are non-fiction, mildly-humorous, travelogue type books if that's even a genre 
Thanks re: covers!


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

katrina46 said:


> Have you tried Netgalley? You have to pay for a membership, but you book your book up and anyone who wants to read it has to leave a review or something like that. Also, I didn't have any reviews until I did a Freebooksy ad, so yeah, what other people said about marketing.


I'll definitely try Netgalley and Freebooksy. Thanks for the tip.


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

hell4heather said:


> If you need to know a little about a KDP free promotion - great idea by the way - I blogged about my experience here, giving ideas on what to do: http://hell4heather.com/2014/12/08/the-rollercoaster/
> 
> Good luck!


GREAT read. Thank you!


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## RichardDenoncourt (Dec 15, 2014)

MorganKegan said:


> Immediately after 'the end', I have a 'thank you' page, the idea and format of which I blatantly stole ripped off borrowed from Debora Geary, where I politely ask for reviews. It goes like this:


YES. I hope you don't mind if I steal rip off borrow this too!


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

RichardDenoncourt said:


> YES. I hope you don't mind if I steal rip off borrow this too!


It's perfect. I'm snagging it as well.


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