Lynne Stringer – Author & Editor

reviewsNow it’s time for the third point raised in the meme ‘What every reader needs to know’.  It is as follows:

  • Amazon will only recommend a book if it has at least 25 reviews posted. The 3-5 minutes it takes to post a review is the life or death of that book and determines if it is a suggested read. No matter how great a book is (or isn’t) Amazon will let it die a slow death without reviews.

I can’t stress how important reviews are to an author, particularly Amazon reviews. Yes, I know a lot is said on how we must fight against Amazon’s stranglehold on the industry, etc, but the fact is, if you’re an author, it’s something you have to work with, and there’s no denying that having a high profile on Amazon will do an author good. As much as we might not like it to be so, that’s the way it is.

What I’ve quoted above is the truth. Actually, I thought it was more than 25 (more like 50 reviews) a book has to have before Amazon really paid attention to it. If it’s only 25 that’s reassuring to me, as The Heir, my debut novel, currently has 18 reviews on Amazon US. That means I only need seven more before they start suggesting my book as a possible read where people who don’t know me might actually see it. This is the lifeblood of an unknown author, like me. Exposure is everything. Without it, I will never do anything more than sell a handful of copies to a select few who just so happen to encounter me at a small event.

So if you’ve read The Heir, please leave a review, particularly on Amazon US. In fact, I’ll give you an incentive. If you review The Heir on Amazon US over the next month, let me know via the contact form on this website (or post a comment below) and you will go into the draw to win autographed copies of the completed trilogy. I don’t care where in the world you are, I will post you a set, but only if you’re in the running by posting a review on Amazon. You can buy a copy of The Heir on Kindle at Amazon for only $2.99 US. Here’s the link to the US Amazon page for it. There will be other pages on your local Amazons if you want to search for it. The best way to search for it on any Amazon site is to use the ASIN number: B00BS1O2RW.

Don’t just do this for my books, either. Think of all your favourite authors and of that book you loved. Let the author know just how much you enjoyed it by leaving them a review.

Are you an author? Have you seen any difference to your sales figures when you have more reviews? Are you a reader? Do you review regularly? Have you noticed other readers ‘like’ing your reviews? Let me know in the comments section below.

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2 Responses

  1. Thanks for sharing how important those Amazon reviews are Lynne. If someone has already done a review in one forum (e.g. Goodreads), it’s easy to do a copy and paste into other sites like Amazon, as long as it meets Amazon’s guidelines. I think some people might feel that they don’t have the skills or time to do a review, but a review can be really short. I think the Amazon reviews only have to be a minimum of about 20 or 25 words from memory. It’s always good to give specifics, but the reviews don’t have to be essays. Just a simple, “I liked this book because of X, Y and Z” is enough.
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