# Frustrated that you're NOT getting enough honest reviews? I just got 40+!!!



## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

So, before I share this, I want to be clear that Amazon approved of my gifting of books and it is by now way paying for reviews. I legally bought my .99 cents novels, gifted them to fan club members (Amazon emails them the gift -more legitimate to me ala kdp freebie with now I know WHO'S READING MY FREE READ, which is worth .99 cents to me). I asked them for a quick read & HONEST Amazon review...no matter how good or brutal, although they aren't obliged to review. The results: 40+ reviews over 3 novels ranging from 2 to 5 stars since September 20, 2013 with nearly 150 books bought and gifted. Here's the detailed chat with Amazon:

3:18 PM Initial Question: Hi. Question with content gifting. 
3:18 PM Stella (CSA) : Welcome to Amazon.com. I am Stella from the kindle support team. I'll be happy to help you. 
3:19 PM Sean H. Robertson : Hi Stella. Can I use the amazon gift feature to gift my books to interested readers? 
3:20 PM Stella (CSA) : You want to gift the books to your friends? 
3:21 PM Sean H. Robertson : Yes. I'm an author and I want to gift books to interested readers in my fan club using your gifting button on my book pages. Is that okay with Amazon policy? 
3:22 PM Stella (CSA) : Yes, Absolutely Sean. 
3:22 PM Stella (CSA) : You can gift book one at a time. 
3:24 PM Sean H. Robertson : Yes, great, just didn't want to get in trouble gifting one book at a time, because I have hundreds of interested readers. That's okay or is there a limit? 
3:25 PM Stella (CSA) : Yes, There is no limit on gifting a book. 
3:26 PM Sean H. Robertson : Awesomeness. 

Further results: No Panties Fridays went from 13 reviews on September 20th to 50 reviews this moring. To Be Loved went from 5 reviews to 11. The Cries of Vampira went from 3 to 5. Overall, I'm very pleased with this outcome, my fan base has expanded and I still get 35% commissions paid back to me by Amazon from the books I gifted & I have 150 new friends/emails for extended contact & feedback from them. I thought outside the box, gave away my books and my readers probably felt COMPELLED to read & honest review because I bought something for them. Free for them but not for me, but of so WELL WORTH MY INVESTMENT!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

My only question would be was this the regular Kindle customer support?  Or something to do with KDP?  Because a Kindle customer support agent would probably be looking at it from a customer point of view, and yes, you can gift as many books as you want.  (I know that you explained it to her, but the nuance may not have meant anything to her.)

I don't see why it would be a problem anyway, authors send out free copies all the time, don't they?  Anyway...

Betsy


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> My only question would be was this the regular Kindle customer support? Or something to do with KDP? Because a Kindle customer support agent would probably be looking at it from a customer point of view, and yes, you can gift as many books as you want. (I know that you explained it to her, but the nuance may not have meant anything to her.)
> 
> I don't see why it would be a problem anyway, authors send out free copies all the time, don't they? Anyway...
> 
> ...


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:



> Hey, Betsy, I agree that most of us give freebies away anyway, so paying for them as gifts to readers shouldn't make a difference at all. It was Amazon.com customer service at [email protected] who spoke with me.


Yeah, I wouldn't take that as a definitive response applicable to Amazon's author ethical standards. I'm pretty sure they were just spouting the standard "yes, customers can give as many books as gifts as they want" response, based on what you posted.

Betsy


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Yeah, I wouldn't take that as a definitive response applicable to Amazon's author ethical standards. I'm pretty sure they were just spouting the standard "yes, customers can give as many books as gifts as they want" response, based on what you posted.
> 
> Betsy


Well, I mentioned twice I was an author and since it's only a free book gift with zero additional payment, I can't find a conflict with their author policy. I requested a copy of the chat transcript for my records, just in case, but I'm certain this is no different than giving my reader a freebie, but in this case, Amazon profits from the exchange.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> Well, I mentioned twice I was an author and since it's only a free book gift with zero additional payment, I can't find a conflict with their author policy. I requested a copy of the chat transcript for my records, just in case, but I'm certain this is no different than giving my reader a freebie, but in this case, Amazon profits from the exchange.


Unless Amazon explicitly states it in their Terms and Conditions it's not really official. Customer service agents can and have been wrong.

Not saying what you did is wrong, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you wake up one day to find those reviews all gone with them having reversed their position. I hope it doesn't happen, but reviews are a touchy subject and their views on what is and what isn't legit are always evolving.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Rick Gualtieri said:


> Unless Amazon explicitly states it in their Terms and Conditions it's not really official. Customer service agents can and have been wrong.
> 
> Not saying what you did is wrong, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you wake up one day to find those reviews all gone with them having reversed their position. I hope it doesn't happen, but reviews are a touchy subject and their views on what is and what isn't legit are always evolving.


Rick, I'm with you but that's highly unlikely given that: (A) They're verified purchases that I made on Amazon and gifted to people. (B) The reader was promised nothing in return and the review was requested, not paid for by me nor guaranteed to me. I took all the risk (Just like with kdp freebies which are given away by the tens of thousands by authors daily...in hopes of receiving reviews from those free downloads).

My gifting books & requesting honest reviews is perfectly legal according to the Amazon Community Standards. What's not allowed: • Reviews written for any form of compensation other than a free copy of the product. https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?ie=UTF8&topicId=APILE934L348N


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

What am I missing here? You are the publisher. Why is it not permitted to simply send to your fans review copies of the .mobi you uploaded to KDP? Why is it necessary to purchase and send them as gifts? How is this any different from sending epubs and mobis to blog reviewers?


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## Maya Cross (May 28, 2012)

Aside from what was already said about KDP support chat not being binding, the problem is you left one thing out of your discussion with the rep - the fact that you were planning to ask for reviews. What they frown upon is people who have been gifted copies leaving reviews. They don't always react to it, but from my understanding they removed plenty of reviews that were generated in that way.

Anyway, I hope that isn't the case for you, but I'd be leery of suggesting anyone else do that.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Maya Cross said:


> Aside from what was already said about KDP support chat not being binding,


My concern is that it wasn't a discussion with KDP support, as far as I can tell. It was with the general Amazon customer service. Even though Sean was very clear with what he planned to do, all Amazon CS reps would be familiar with is the rules for buying stuff. Not with the rules for authors with respect to reviews. As a consumer, I don't see it as any different from gifting review copies in general. But I'm not Amazon.

Betsy


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm still foggy on why you would pay to send them copies of your own book. Why not just email them directly for free?


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Interesting approach.
I just did giveaways at Booklikes, LibraryThing and I used Bookgrow for a grand total of two reviews each at Amazon and Goodreads. 

Never hurts to try a different angle.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

When you purchase them yourself... Doesn't that still affect rankings? That's the only part I think Amazon would really frown upon, IMHO.


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## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

PamelaKelley said:


> I'm still foggy on why you would pay to send them copies of your own book. Why not just email them directly for free?


Unless I'm incorrect, I think the goal is that the reviewers would be listed as people who bought the book when they leave a review. I could be wrong, but that seems (at least to me) to be the only positive result of doing this rather than the way you mentioned.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

Are you certain that they are _verified purchase_ reviews? I was recently gifted a kindle book and I left a review. It doesn't show that it was a verified purchase.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

It's a different approach but not illegal, but I've got no time to reply to every post. Amazon is sending me a clarification email now. Will share here!  

Hello sean,

Thank you for contacting CreateSpace regarding the distribution of your book./

As the author, you own all rights, title, and interest to your book's content, including all patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or service mark. This also includes distribution rights. As the author we encourage you to distribute your books in any way that you feel fit. This includes buying your book on Amazon.com and supplying them as review copies. I want to assure you that you are not doing anything against Amazon.com's policy and you are welcome to continue distributing these books as you would like.

I hope this information is helpful, please contact us with any additional questions.

Best regards,

Kaitlin
CreateSpace Member Services


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Hard to tell what went on here since the thread has been scrubbed (weird), but one potential issue with gifting a book is that the user can choose not to accept it and the moola converts into a GC. It could be seen as payment for a review.


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## WordSaladTongs (Oct 14, 2013)

David Stephens said:


> Buying and gifting the book inflates (artificially) the sales rank.


Didn't a few WC members test this theory and find it not to be true--or am I misremembering?


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Monique said:


> Hard to tell what went on here since the thread has been scrubbed (weird), but one potential issue with gifting a book is that the user can choose not to accept it and the moola converts into a GC. It could be seen as payment for a review.


I don't want to lead you ladies and gents astray, so I temporarily took down my comments until I received a second verification from Amazon that buying & gifting your own books and offering them for free to potential reviewers is perfectly legal. See my previous post for the email from Amazon/Createspace. It's not seen as paying for reviews as it's only a free book. Amazon said we can buy thousands of our own books and give them away for review if we like...it doesn't constitute as a payment for review. Their words not mine.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

David Stephens said:


> Buying and gifting the book inflates (artificially) the sales rank.


A sale is a sale is what Amazon just told me. We could buy thousands of our own books and go, number 1 (LOL), the agent told me they don't care because we're making the purchases and they are legitimate sales through Amazon...their words. She told me to proceed with as much paid gifting as I like. Read her email below. This has been game changing to me and I have a closer connection to my fan base. What reader doesn't like a free gift from a new author they may potentially enjoy? I've already made dozens of new fans and with Amazon's blessing, I'm not stopping now!


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## Just Browsing (Sep 26, 2012)

Amazon does want them to put "I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review" or something like that with their review--they might not know that, so you should let them know.

Net Galley reviewers seem to be very good at that, I've noticed. Library Thing and Goodreads reviewers do it sometimes, but not always. At least on my books. And I don't really have enough reviews to claim a statistically significant sample. 

Nice surprise off Net Galley--one of the reviewers turned out to have an Amazon Top 500 Reviewer tag next to her name. Score!


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2013)

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> Rick, I'm with you but that's highly unlikely given that: (A) They're verified purchases that I made on Amazon and gifted to people. (B) The reader was


Well, you're soliciting.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Greg Strandberg said:


> Well, you're soliciting.


Amazon just said it's perfectly legal. How is it different from giving away books for free via kdp select and hoping for an honest review? Amazon just told me...IT'S NOT and it conforms with their ethics. Plus, the people I'm gifting are members of my own fan page, not complete strangers. How is that solicitation by offering free books to people already following me for being an author?


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

Why are you buying your own books to give away? Don't you have the original mobi file you can email to these bloggers/reviewers?


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Amazon has been consistently inconsistent on this front. Hope it works out for you, but I would not be at all surprised to see the reviews purged.


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

Monique said:


> Amazon has been consistently inconsistent on this front. Hope it works out for you, but I would not be at all surprised to see the reviews purged.


This. They can say all they want that it's acceptable, but the fact of the matter is that the purging seems to be done by bots that don't differentiate between whether or not you gifted a copy to a reviewer or whether you gifted a copy to your mom.


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## Paul Kohler (Aug 14, 2013)

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> It's a different approach but not illegal, but I've got no time to reply to every post. Amazon is sending me a clarification email now. Will share here!
> 
> Hello sean,
> 
> ...


So, did you contact CreateSpace to answer the question that KDP should be answering? I would think asking KDP directly will get the best answer on this topic.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

RM Prioleau said:


> Why are you buying your own books to give away? Don't you have the original mobi file you can email to these bloggers/reviewers?


I prefer gifting as it comes from Amazon (whom readers trust), it shows I believe so much in my work that I'm buying it and giving it away; it also, in my opinion, feels better to the receiver when they know that it was FREE for me to gift it. No one has to try this at all, just sharing what's working for me. If any reviews are purgable by bots, there's nothing any of us can do about that, but my gifted readers are certainly more excited to honest review my books than the 20,000 who received my kdp freebies the last 2 years. It's working for me. Please keep doing what's working for you...just thought I'd share my success to all who'd listen. To each his/her own....Amazon is not against me, so that matters to me most.


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2013)

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> Amazon just said it's perfectly legal. How is it different from giving away books for free via kdp select and hoping for an honest review? Amazon just told me...IT'S NOT and it conforms with their ethics. Plus, the people I'm gifting are members of my own fan page, not complete strangers. How is that solicitation by offering free books to people already following me for being an author?


Sorry, I just don't see this working out for you. First of all you're buying your own books when there's no need. The only reason I can see to do this is to artificially boost the rankings. I'm not even sure if you can do that.

I don't think a gift is a verified purchase, myself, so I don't think Amazon should put that line next to the review. Hey, that's just me!

I guess it's just a review trade, really. You give them the book for free and they give you the review. You don't have to say something for it to be implied. I don't know, things like this just make me feel dirty and I only want people who actually bought my book to review it.

Like the other people say, to each his own.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

Sounds like a good plan. Go for it.


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## J. Tanner (Aug 22, 2011)

WordSaladTongs said:


> Didn't a few WC members test this theory and find it not to be true--or am I misremembering?


If I recall, Krista and a small group tested it with a few books that were slow sellers and repeated tests showed zero sales rank change at that time. (2011ish?)


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## AworkInProgress (Sep 5, 2013)

I've been wondering about this as I take notes for my future business plan.  There are some readers who absolutely prefer the physical copy.  And if I want to get the book in front of them for review I'd have no choice but to buy it myself and then ship it to them.  This doesn't seem much different from gifting it to them through amazon.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

D.L. Sharp said:


> I've been wondering about this as I take notes for my future business plan. There are some readers who absolutely prefer the physical copy. And if I want to get the book in front of them for review I'd have no choice but to buy it myself and then ship it to them. This doesn't seem much different from gifting it to them through amazon.


Exactly, D.L.! There's absolutely zero difference, so I really don't understand the negative responses. I did exactly what you're considering doing with my only paperback book, The Cries of Vampira, The Horror of Gaad Grey. I ordered copies through amazon & create space and physically shipped them to readers. Check my Amazon profile for that book which now has 37 reviews from recipients of my paid/gifted books. Either way, it's working for me already....40+ new & honest reviews of my works since September 20...2 more in the last hour. I'M SOLD!!


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

L.L. Akers said:


> I hope this doesn't feel like a pile-on. I think what *most* people are trying to do is analyze this for pros and cons--that's what happens here, and it's always helpful to others in the end--thank you for sharing an out-of-the-box way to overcome an obstacle many, if not all have... the needed reviews. I hope it turns out okay for you. If it doesn't, it's no different from throwing money at an unproved promo that didn't garner reviews/sales, in the end, you'll have either paved a new path for us all, or learned there really was no ROI. I hope you'll come back to share the long-range results; good or bad


I appreciate you, L.L.! I'm only trying to do just that...help us all get more reviews while staying in bounds in Amazon. 42 reviews in less than 30 days....and counting!


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## Susan Lohrer (Jun 11, 2013)

I've gifted a book on occasion, especially when the person who wanted to review it had no clue how to side-load a book onto her Kindle (apparently my books appeal to technologically inept people  ). It's certainly more affordable time-wise than explaining the side-load thing or money-wise than paying for postage for a print copy. And a gift copy sent via Amazon has a greater perceived value than a free mobi file or even a free download from Amazon does, even though it's the same file. People do love getting gifts. The OP stated that warm feeling possibly encourages the recipients to be more likely to review his books; when such a small portion of people requesting review copies actually get around to writing a review, any help in that area is a good thing.

If the rankings go up a bit and the book gains visibility and takes off, hurray. If the rankings go up and slide back down... the author is out whatever money he spent gifting books.

Regarding it being a verified purchase: To some people, that might matter a lot for a variety of reasons. I used to think it mattered to me as a reader using reviews to decide whether to buy a book. But I came to realize it doesn't matter very much at all. The reviews that I find most helpful as a reader are the long, well-thought-out ones. As an author, I get a little thrill when I see that tag on a review; as a customer, I don't pay attention to it.

Hm. Let me be silly and suggest that Amazon needs an optional "verified gift" tag for reviews.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Greg Strandberg said:


> Sorry, I just don't see this working out for you. First of all you're buying your own books when there's no need. The only reason I can see to do this is to artificially boost the rankings. I'm not even sure if you can do that.
> 
> I don't think a gift is a verified purchase, myself, so I don't think Amazon should put that line next to the review. Hey, that's just me!
> 
> ...


Feel dirty for giving away a free book? Greg, I guess you've never given away one single book, not even with kdp select, in hopes of receiving a review because you only want reviews from those who buy your book first? I've never met an author who hasn't given away one free copy....you're the first?


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Susan Lohrer said:


> Hm. Let me be silly and suggest that Amazon needs an optional "verified gift" tag for reviews.


THAT is a great idea!!


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## thesmallprint (May 25, 2012)

Sean posted in good faith and appears to have attracted a fair amount of flak in return. I can see nothing wrong with what Sean is doing. Amazon's TOS say that reviews must not be paid for but that giving a free copy in exchange for a review is acceptable (that's my interpretation).

As for buying your way to the top of the charts, it seems to make little sense to me to attempt that. How many copies would you need to buy to move your book from number 32,000 into the top 20? 5,000? 7,000? At an overall loss of 65%, that's a big risk to take for brief period of visibility. How much would you need to spend each week to keep it there? At some point the book would need to stand on its merits. I'm not advocating the manipulation of figures, I'm laying out my reasoning on why Amazon are not worried about such behaviour.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Susan Lohrer said:


> I've gifted a book on occasion, especially when the person who wanted to review it had no clue how to side-load a book onto her Kindle (apparently my books appeal to technologically inept people ). It's certainly more affordable time-wise than explaining the side-load thing or money-wise than paying for postage for a print copy. And a gift copy sent via Amazon has a greater perceived value than a free mobi file or even a free download from Amazon does, even though it's the same file. People do love getting gifts. The OP stated that warm feeling possibly encourages the recipients to be more likely to review his books; when such a small portion of people requesting review copies actually get around to writing a review, any help in that area is a good thing.
> 
> If the rankings go up a bit and the book gains visibility and takes off, hurray. If the rankings go up and slide back down... the author is out whatever money he spent gifting books.
> 
> ...


Wow, Susan, you're spot on the money. Thanks and the verified gift tag made me smile too!!


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Steeplechasing said:


> Sean posted in good faith and appears to have attracted a fair amount of flak in return. I can see nothing wrong with what Sean is doing. Amazon's TOS say that reviews must not be paid for but that giving a free copy in exchange for a review is acceptable (that's my interpretation).
> 
> As for buying your way to the top of the charts, it seems to make little sense to me to attempt that. How many copies would you need to buy to move your book from number 32,000 into the top 20? 5,000? 7,000? At an overall loss of 65%, that's a big risk to take for brief period of visibility. How much would you need to spend each week to keep it there? At some point the book would need to stand on its merits. I'm not advocating the manipulation of figures, I'm laying out my reasoning on why Amazon are not worried about such behaviour.


Thanks, Richard, I and Amazon agree with you that a free book in exchange for a POSSIBLE review is fair, legal & in bounds with their TOS. As for gifting thousands of books and going #1 overnight, Amazon is fine with that too...when I hit the lotto, maybe I will be too, LOL!


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## WordSaladTongs (Oct 14, 2013)

J. Tanner said:


> If I recall, Krista and a small group tested it with a few books that were slow sellers and repeated tests showed zero sales rank change at that time. (2011ish?)


I thought so--thanks!

As to the reviews thing, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me since you can send the mobi file directly to a potential reviewer for ... uh ... free. As for a verified purchase--that matters in a review because it shows the reviewer has skin in the game. They're going to hold the book/item to higher standards because they parted with their cheddar in order to get it and that makes a difference to other consumers (or should, in theory). In an author gifting situation that's not the case, which is why they (IMO) should not get the VP label and why they're required to note that they received the book in exchange for a review.


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## Paul Kohler (Aug 14, 2013)

For what it's worth, my reply was not voicing an opinion against Sean.  It was just adding to the discussion.  Also for what it's worth, I have gifted a number of ebooks through Amazon, but I was not looking for anything whatsoever in return.  If I get a review out of them, great.  It did bump my sales data the day I did it, but the number returned to the normal 1xx,xxx slot I have been hovering!

My opinion is that it should not matter if the book is gifted or not.  Amazon got their money.  If the person you gifted to actually redeems the gift for the book you sent, then great.  If they redeem it for somebody elses book, you miss out on the review/the sales bump/the royalty.  On that note, suppose you did gift an ebook, but the recipient redeemed the credit for someone elses book.  I would assume that the other book would log it as a verified purchase.  Why would it not do the same for the book originally gifted if it were redeemed?

I would be interested to hear what KDP would have to say about all this.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Sean, go for it. It's an accepted practice throughout the industry. I've done it now for 3 years and never had a problem. It gives readers a 'legitimate' copy of the book AND I don't have to send out an unprotected pdf file to people I barely know.

Why anyone would think this is a bad move, I don't understand.

As a general rule, though, this is not the place for marketing strategy. 

You had a great return rate on your 150 gift copies. 40 is pretty good ime. Better than Netgalley where you would 'gift' 200+ copies for maybe 10-20 reviews. Assuming you were gifting at 99 cents, it's much cheaper than Netgalley too.

The only suggestion I would give you is to ask reviewers to say they received a review copy from the author (if you haven't already). That disclosure is important.

M


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Paul Kohler said:


> For what it's worth, my reply was not voicing an opinion against Sean. It was just adding to the discussion. Also for what it's worth, I have gifted a number of ebooks through Amazon, but I was not looking for anything whatsoever in return. If I get a review out of them, great. It did bump my sales data the day I did it, but the number returned to the normal 1xx,xxx slot I have been hovering!
> 
> My opinion is that it should not matter if the book is gifted or not. Amazon got their money. If the person you gifted to actually redeems the gift for the book you sent, then great. If they redeem it for somebody elses book, you miss out on the review/the sales bump/the royalty. On that note, suppose you did gift an ebook, but the recipient redeemed the credit for someone elses book. I would assume that the other book would log it as a verified purchase. Why would it not do the same for the book originally gifted if it were redeemed?
> 
> I would be interested to hear what KDP would have to say about all this.


I don't know on this one because the couple of books I have been gifted, I got the correct book.


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

I do this all the time. A few notes:

1) Gifted books do NOT boost sales ranking. Other authors have experimented with this and have reported their results here on KB. And back when I had very few sales and gifted books to reviewers, my rankings never budged.

2) The recipient doesn't have to accept your book. They can also take the equivalent amount in Amazon gift certificates. There have been some scams out there around this fact (people asking for books to be gifted and then using the money for something else). It should be kept in mind.

Why do I gift books rather than email them?

1) It's MUCH easier for the reader to access the file. They don't have to learn how to side-load the file onto their device.

2) It will be on ALL of their devices. When it goes through the Kindle servers, it shows up in all of their readers. This isn't always the case with side-loaded files.

3) I'm pretty sure it shows up as a "verified purchase" on the review afterward.

4) It only costs me 30% of the retail price to send the file, but the recipient sees that they got the thing for free, and equate its value at 100%. An e-mailed file doesn't have the same sense of worth, which could factor into whether or not they bother to read the thing and also how much they might enjoy it.

This isn't to say everyone should do this, only to support the OP in gifting books. There are good reasons to do so.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

It's been a few months since I've gifted anything beyond a book here and a book there, but I always saw a rank boost with gifting.

Now before everyone goes 'you stole my spot in the rankings' I gifted like 10 copies. They were my only sales in the first 24 hours and seemed to kickstart ranking.

WHY I do not know, but it was a consistent effect.

However at the 10 copies level, I ain't stealing nothing from nobody.

M


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I can tell you that gifted books do not show up as verified purchases.


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## 71202 (Jul 17, 2013)

RM Prioleau said:


> Why are you buying your own books to give away? Don't you have the original mobi file you can email to these bloggers/reviewers?


This is what I wondered. You can send review copies to whomever you want. Might as well do it for free?


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## Just Browsing (Sep 26, 2012)

cinisajoy said:


> I can tell you that gifted books do not show up as verified purchases.


True. They do not. And OP's reviews do not show up as verified purchases. Of course, neither do my reviews via Net Galley or Library Thing or any other sort of ARC program.

I have not had such a great return with Net Galley reviews. However, I will say that I've gotten very high quality reviews, by which I mean long, thoughtful ones that I felt were accurate. Some of those people turn to be book bloggers, too, which is nice, because if you can tell what sort of book they'd like, you can send invitations to them to choose another one of your titles. I've also been contacted (as publisher) via Goodreads by two Net Galley reviewers who asked if a certain author would do an interview on their blog (well, of course!). But I'm not getting 40 reviews, by any means.


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## BEAST (Mar 31, 2012)

Why anyone is responding to this idea negatively is beyond me. The only issue I have with this plan is the fact that the reviews don't have the "Amazon Verified Purchase" tag. Heck, Sean will likely get a nice word of mouth bump from this too. I can imagine readers saying, "This author sent me this book and it was amazing!" Great PR and a solid rec. Problem


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## jdcore (Jul 2, 2013)

I do reviews on my blog, and will repost to Amazon. One value for the writer doing it this way is that it will probably say that the review is a verified purchase on the review. 

One writer has emailed me twice with a gift certificate, but I never agreed to review the book, so I am not using the gift certificate - which means the author wasted $2.99 twice to send me two unused gift certificates.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Hugh Howey said:


> I do this all the time. A few notes:
> 
> 1) Gifted books do NOT boost sales ranking. Other authors have experimented with this and have reported their results here on KB. And back when I had very few sales and gifted books to reviewers, my rankings never budged.
> 
> ...


Wow, thank you, Hugh Howey....one of my inspirations; since you've done gifting, I rest my case. Thank you so much for supporting me in this thread. I'm humbled, sir. I wish you a billion book sales. Live long and prosper, Hugh!


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## David Thayer (Sep 7, 2012)

Go Sean, Hugh has spoken!


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

> Why anyone is responding to this idea negatively is beyond me. The only issue I have with this plan is the fact that the reviews don't have the "Amazon Verified Purchase" tag. Heck, Sean will likely get a nice word of mouth bump from this too. I can imagine readers saying, "This author sent me this book and it was amazing!" Great PR and a solid rec. Problem


Even if the reviews disappear one day, its still a positive effect.



> One writer has emailed me twice with a gift certificate, but I never agreed to review the book, so I am not using the gift certificate - which means the author wasted $2.99 twice to send me two unused gift certificates.


So now Amazon gets to use the money for whatever they want.


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## Aducknamedjoe (Apr 25, 2013)

Sean, you mention you send these out to "fans" but also that sending gifts has netted you new followers?  How are you finding the people to send these to?  Are you using an existing mailing list of yours or something in addition to that?


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## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

The one reason is that he's getting sales rank this way. I remember a while back gifting like 3 books at once on something that wasn't selling, and it jumped in sales rank. I wonder if gifting a book with another book would even generate also bought behavior.


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## Jan Thompson (May 25, 2013)

Hugh Howey said:


> This isn't to say everyone should do this, only to support the OP in gifting books. There are good reasons to do so.


Gifting books is one thing if authors don't expect reciprocity. As an avid reader, I love getting free books from my favorite authors. But what about gifting books in exchange for reviews? That wouldn't be a gift anymore, if a "payment" is expected in return?


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

JanThompson said:


> Gifting books is one thing if authors don't expect reciprocity. As an avid reader, I love getting free books from my favorite authors. But what about gifting books in exchange for reviews? That wouldn't be a gift anymore, if a "payment" is expected in return?


It's an unenforceable request. Keep in mind out of 150 review copies only 40 reader left reviews. I gift a lot of review copies and never hear a peep from people.

There's no negative consequence or coercion to leave a review. Nor does the author control the content of the review.

People do know that authors and publishers have been giving out review copies for at least a century, yes? It's standard publicity for books.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Aducknamedjoe said:


> Sean, you mention you send these out to "fans" but also that sending gifts has netted you new followers? How are you finding the people to send these to? Are you using an existing mailing list of yours or something in addition to that?


facebook.com/seanhrobertsonceo
Facebook.com/npfseries

I post on my own fan pages which expands through friends of friends. Most organic, some from paid Facebook ads.


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## Jan Thompson (May 25, 2013)

mrv01d said:


> It's an unenforceable request. Keep in mind out of 150 review copies only 40 reader left reviews. I gift a lot of review copies and never hear a peep from people.
> 
> There's no negative consequence or coercion to leave a review. Nor does the author control the content of the review.
> 
> People do know that authors and publishers have been giving out review copies for at least a century, yes? It's standard publicity for books.


Exactly. When an author asks me for review, they usually send me an ARC that they want back or want me to destroy after I'm done reading it. I usually return the book to the author. ARCs can't be distributed to anyone, not book clubs. But paid published copies can.

I'm sure lots of bloggers get review copies too.

But what I was wondering was whether the OP asked the book club recipients for reviews specifically. Obviously you can't make peopler review, but I am curious as to whether the gifts were made with the expressed request for reviews. That's all I want to know.


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## Maggie Dana (Oct 26, 2011)

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> It's a different approach but not illegal, but I've got no time to reply to every post. Amazon is sending me a clarification email now. Will share here!
> 
> Hello sean,
> 
> ...


Sean contacted *CreateSpace* with a question about gifting his e-book, when he should have contacted *KDP* about it. These two Amazon divisions are entirely separate.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

JanThompson said:


> Exactly. When an author asks me for review, they usually send me an ARC that they want back or want me to destroy after I'm done reading it. I usually return the book to the author. ARCs can't be distributed to anyone, not book clubs. But paid published copies can.
> 
> I'm sure lots of bloggers get review copies too.
> 
> But what I was wondering was whether the OP asked the book club recipients for reviews specifically. Obviously you can't make peopler review, but I am curious as to whether the gifts were made with the expressed request for reviews. That's all I want to know.


I don't know what the OP did, but I do offer a limited number of 'review copies' to my mailing list and explain they are ARCs given for the purposes of writing a review. Still doesn't mean anything though. You can't make people review ime.

And the books don't have to be returned to me.

(I happen to keep all my hard copy ARCs from authors. They are my little treasures.)

M


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

I think the way Sean did it is very smart. He gifted the books to his fan club on Facebook. These are people who like his work or at the very least, they're interested enough in his work to be part of it. That should limit the number of folks who would use the gift for something else. Even if they don't have the "verified purchase" badge, that's still 40+ reviews in 30 days, that's pretty sweet. I do believe Amazon wants the reviewer to indicate when the book was free, so you might want to let them know to do that.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

As a former Amazon reviewer, may I throw my comments into the ring on where I think the disconnect is that has led to questions about Sean's process?

In reading the entire thread, I am still not clear what type of "books" are being given to the potential reviewers.  If Sean is purchasing physical (paper) copies of his own book and having them sent to readers, then I see it as no problem.  If that's how he chooses to spend his advertising dollars and it is working for him in increased reviews, great!  Of course, the reviewers should be indicating they have received the book for free per the standing rules and laws and there would be no AVP tag because Sean paid for the book, not the potential reviewer.

If the digital book is being "gifted" through Amazon, however, the reader is not actually receiving the book.  They are receiving the equivalent "gift card" amount which can be credited to their account and used for anything Amazon sells.  If the reader does use the "gift" to purchase Sean's book, an AVP tag can be attached because the reader bought the book with the "money" Sean sent them.  In the past Amazon has considered reviews like this to be "paid" reviews and has deleted some reviewing accounts entirely because of it.  It doesn't really matter whether this was the intent or not, it is what has happened (not to me, but to several I know - I don't review for entirely different reasons).

So Amazon has told Sean it is okay to gift as many books as he wants to whomever he wants to gift them.  The question that would be nice to have Amazon clarify is whether the people who receive digital gifts to purchase a book can now review them without risk of having reviews or even their entire account deleted.


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## Maya Cross (May 28, 2012)

Wow, this thread got big overnight. I wasn't intending my post as an attack at all, so I apologise if it came across this way. I was just pointing out that it might not be the best advice for everyone to follow. As Crebel just said, regardless of what Amazon support's take on the issue is via email, the fact is that some gifted reviews HAVE been deleted in the past. It could turn out totally fine, but there's definitely an inherent risk to gifting copies.


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## Jan Thompson (May 25, 2013)

mrv01d said:


> I don't know what the OP did, but I do offer a limited number of 'review copies' to my mailing list and explain they are ARCs given for the purposes of writing a review. Still doesn't mean anything though. You can't make people review ime.
> 
> And the books don't have to be returned to me.
> 
> ...


I like those ARs. Kind of special to get a copy before anybody else gets it.

When I get an ARC directly from the author, I tend to be nicer in my review... If I got the book on my own or even from Netgalley, I tend to be more objective. Not sure why.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

mrv01d said:


> People do know that authors and publishers have been giving out review copies for at least a century, yes? It's standard publicity for books.


Absolutely. I used to do book and product reviews for the computer industry. I have a large (8' x 20') wall with floor to ceiling bookcases filled with review copies the publishers sent me. It's a comprehensive technical library. If you're into 1990s technology, that is.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I've tried different things of this sort and some things work, others don't, others I've never tried because they didn't "smell right" to me at that time.

In my first year as a writer, I joined LibraryThing (or some site like that) as a way to legitimately hook up interested readers with copies of my books, Most Likely and Shada.

In accordance with following all of LT's ethical rules, I sent review copies to something like 200 interested readers.

In exchange, MOST LIKELY has 11 reviews as of today, and SHADA has six.

So, I stopped doing LibraryThing after that.

I've found book promo tours to be more effective, though a bit spendier. (Because book tour organizers typically charge a fee, though not always.)

I never tried paid reviews, and won't. (Thanks, KB of two years ago, for warning me away from THAT idea.)

I tried gifting with a handful of people (less than five) and got maybe one review out of that, but ultimately decided it was easier to just send people like that a .mobi or .epub file.

Because ultimately I decided it's not really a gift if I only give gifts to those who "promise" to write a review, honest or otherwise.

So now, instead, if I want to give out some copies to friends or fans, I just send them the free .mobi or .epub or whatever and don't even mention reviews. Unless someone offers of their own accord. Or if someone asks because they want/need a free book and they offer to review the thing anyway.

I've found reviews are more satisfying when they flow in of their own accord, not as the result of some pre-arrangement. (Book tours and sending book bloggers review copies is an exception to the rule... the rest I just let come in.)

Because really, I'd rather be working on the next WIP. Not sending out 100 review copies to LibraryThing subscribers who DO have to promise LT a review for a physical book, but DON'T have to make such a promise to LT for an eBook.... just saying, that's a bit double-minded on LT's part.

My last couple books, Under Contract and The Devohrah Initiative, were just tossed out there by me without all that LT effort, and UC is already doing as good as Shada on the review front, and TDI is already halfway there. So... *shrug*


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## Jan Thompson (May 25, 2013)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Because ultimately I decided it's not really a gift if I only give gifts to those who "promise" to write a review, honest or otherwise.
> 
> So now, instead, if I want to give out some copies to friends or fans, I just send them the free .mobi or .epub or whatever and don't even mention reviews. Unless someone offers of their own accord. Or if someone asks because they want/need a free book and they offer to review the thing anyway.
> 
> I've found reviews are more satisfying when they flow in of their own accord, not as the result of some pre-arrangement. (Book tours and sending book bloggers review copies is an exception to the rule... the rest I just let come in.)


That's excellent. I think that's a great author attitude. When I grow up as a writer, I hope to keep that attitude in mind.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I am the exact opposite of Jan.  If an author asks me to review their book, I will give an honest opinion because I figure that is what the author wants (although it may not be what they want to hear).  I will not be nicer to someone just because they gave me a book.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> I am the exact opposite of Jan. If an author asks me to review their book, I will give an honest opinion because I figure that is what the author wants (although it may not be what they want to hear). I will not be nicer to someone just because they gave me a book.


I think most authors want honest opinions, Cin.

The point of my post is, I don't solicit reviews as much as I used to... I don't go begging for them. I certainly accept them when offered (as you have a couple times) but giving out 200 freebies on LibraryThing and getting about a half-dozen reviews at best, a couple years ago, kinda cured me of going to great lengths over it.

My feeling is, if I'm pushing too hard to get reviews, they could possibly end up being less-than-honest reviews anyway. Possibly. (Not always.) Because I'm out there asking.

Do I welcome reviews when offered? Sure. Do I tour and do promotions and interviews and such? Yup.

But I'd rather use a KDP free day and hope a few readers decide on their own my book was worth a review... because the odds aren't much different; a LibraryThing giveaway doesn't result in more reviews than a KDP Free Day.

So, I do promote and tour and stuff. But I've stopped letting seeking reviews rob me of writing time. Reviews will come on their own, in time.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

GavinFletcher said:


> Why anyone is responding to this idea negatively is beyond me. The only issue I have with this plan is the fact that the reviews don't have the "Amazon Verified Purchase" tag. Heck, Sean will likely get a nice word of mouth bump from this too. I can imagine readers saying, "This author sent me this book and it was amazing!" Great PR and a solid rec. Problem


Since I was the first one to raise a question, let me reiterate thatI never had a problem with the concept (and said so in my first post). My only concern was that Sean seemed to be taking a general Amazon Customer Service rep's word for the fact that it was OK to do so. And, given that I've seen numerous reports of reviews disappearing, I thought he should get a more definitive response. And it sounds like he has.

Betsy


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## kdarden (Aug 23, 2012)

When I first started publishing on Amazon, I used to gift books a lot. Over time I reduced the gifts to just people I knew would be interested. One day while going through my orders I saw several gifts that had not been redeemed - something like 20 or so. 

If you contact Amazon, they will return the unused gift funds to you in the form of a credit against your own future purchases. While I would have preferred that my gifts were used (especially for my own books, lol), I was glad to get the nearly $40 back for my own use.


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## Paul Kohler (Aug 14, 2013)

kdarden said:


> ...One day while going through my orders I saw several gifts that had not been redeemed...


How do you tell if they have been redeemed or not? I have gifted a number of books, but it just says Order Placed. Is there a toggle to show which have been redeemed?


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## Paul Kohler (Aug 14, 2013)

Never mind.  Found it!


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## Nikki Pink (Jan 23, 2013)

I have no problem with the idea of offering either physical or digital books for free, for almost any reason. If you're doing it to simply increase your reach, or you hope some of the recipients will give you reviews, or you're just benevolent and want to share your own personal brilliance, or any other reason - I don't care and I'm definitely not offended. I don't think any author should be criticized for giving their works out for free if that's what they want to do. It does me no harm, and y'all should do as y'all want.

I will, though, criticize the _wisdom_ of doing it, in terms of selling books.

My question is: why do you want reviews? And why do you want to give your _work_ away to get them?

I think there are certain situations in which reviews are useful. For example, if you have NO reviews, but your book is suddenly visible for some reason (I was just on ABC!) then having at least one honest-looking review can probably help - it'll give you a star rating next to your name at the least. If that's your situation then 1 review or 5 or 858 probably won't make a big difference (assuming similar ratings.)

But, in general, why do you want reviews? If your goal is simply to have "17", or "42" or "789" in parentheses next to your star rating I'd question your focus. A higher number next to your name will not achieve much in itself.

In my somewhat humble opinion you should focus on sales, not reviews. Generally, reviews are a reflection of sales. The exact numbers no doubt vary from genre to genre, but I bet within each genre you could make a pretty neat graph with "number of sales" and "number of reviews". The only outliers would be at the fringes, where you get a crazy breakout book no one has even got around to reviewing yet, or at the other end an author who has managed to acquire a ton of reviews (through review focused promotion tactics) without the sales to match. Most people will be in-between.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Nikki...advertising venues like Bookbub require a certain review count and star average so reviews are important. Your marketing options are limited without reviews.

M


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Now at 60+ reviews from book gifting my ebooks to my fan page followers via Amazon since September 20, 2013. I got accepted for an ENT free promo tomorrow for 'To Be LOVED'. I expect thousands of downloads (free and paid for my other works due to the exposure) over the next week! Thank you, Hugh Howie, for your approval of this type of promotion. I'm following your lead, sir!


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

mrv01d said:


> Nikki...advertising venues like Bookbub require a certain review count and star average so reviews are important. Your marketing options are limited without reviews.
> 
> M


Coveting BookBub ads (and Bookbub's "review count, star average" expectations) are why some indies get shamefully drawn into the dark paths of shortcuts, like paying for positive reviews.

It's never wise, but sites like BookBub certainly don't help... I mean, most Stephen King books don't average over 4.0 stars if they've been out long enough, and whatever his deficiencies, King's a modern master.


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