Do you know the easiest way to get book reviews on Amazon?
I know that this is a pain point for most authors. So today, I want to share several tips on how to get book reviews on Amazon the easy way.
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Having a Book Review Team
I know this is a pain point that many of you are facing so I wanted to share some of my tips. What is the easiest way to get book reviews for your book on Amazon?
Social proof is so important. I share all about this in my book How to get Honest Reviews. I have over 50 books and I have launched dozens, and dozens of books, but it still a pain point trying to get reviews. So I found that the easiest way is to have your own book reviewer team.
Most authors will not do this, even after I teach them this, even after I tell them this and share with them how powerful this is. But for those of you that will take the step and set this up, this is something that can help you for a long time.
Now, you may say, “Shelley, but I’m only writing one book. Or what if I’m not planning on writing more books?” Well, I wasn’t planning on writing more books either, and here I am with over 40 books. I need to recount because I’ve just published a couple new ones.
The point is, I never thought I was going to do this full time. So whatever your book plan is, set up your book review team.
So many authors get unrealistic expectations. They think that every single person that ever offers to review their book will post a review. That’s not true.
So first of all, clear off your unrealistic expectations. And secondly, realize that it takes work. Just like writing a book, getting honest reviews is something that you can’t pay. You can’t offer any incentives for them except a copy of your book.
It takes some effort and a little bit of time, but it’s worth it. That’s social proof. And there’s something in the algorithms in Amazon that once you get so many reviews it kicks in. So it is worth it.
Setting up Your Book Reviewer Team
I want you to set up your own book reviewer team. Start with one person. Start with that one person who said they were willing to read and review your book. I started that list of 818 reviewers with one reviewer. So the point is, you have to start somewhere.
Ask them to sign up to your book reviewer team, and have it be a little more official by having a specific email subscriber list.
Once you have the list, follow-up with them regularly. Talk to them and build your relationship with them. Tell them your plans for your book or if you have any upcoming books. Talk to them and let them know about future opportunities.
I give all the steps, and I share everything about this inside my book “How to get Honest Reviews”. It’s also a bonus inside Author Audience Academy. You can get the entire toolkit and all my templates for getting reviews inside Author Audience Academy.
The Key is to Ask and Follow-up
Now I also want to share with you an overlooked tip that can give you more results.
When you’re asking for reviews it’s hard, I get it. It’s hard to put yourself out there, and sometimes it’s just hard to ask for help. Most of the people who follow me are a giver, helper, encourager and they like to give to other people. But to ask people to give to you feels uncomfortable. I know that. It’s that way for me. Sometimes it’s hard for me to ask people for help.
But the key is to ask and follow-up.
For my book Broken Crayons Still Color I have a beta group and my book review team. I’ve had a lot of people sign up for that. I have about 150 people on my beta team list, and I’ve had another maybe 18 people say that they would review my book from my reviewer list. And now, I have 38 reviews posted.
So you might say, “Shelley, that doesn’t seem like a lot of response. Just 38 out of maybe 170? Or something like that.” But you know what, 38 is more than 0, and I am thankful. I want to live a life of gratitude.
So if you have one review, just thank God for that reviewer! Thank God for that review! Just ask Him for His blessing for more. I’m just asking God for His blessing to remind the reviewers, but the tip is to follow-up personally.
What I usually do is follow-up personally with a deadline. So if I’m having a launch or a special promotion coming up, I usually give my reviewers 2-4 weeks to post the review. Then I’ll follow-up and say, “Hey, I just wanted to follow-up and see if you were able to post your review. I have this special promotion, or I have this launch coming up. If you could post your review by this date it would mean the world to me”.
If they post the review later, it would mean the world to me too. But what I’m saying is when you follow-up personally with a deadline you can get a lot more response.
Just less than a week ago I had maybe 8 reviews. I followed up personally and I have now 38 posted and I know more are going to keep coming in over the next few days and weeks. I’m excited to see what happens.
My Book Reviewer Team
To those of you who are current and active members in Author Audience Academy in November of 2016, I’m going to be featuring you and one of your books to my book reviewer team.
As of now, I have two book reviewer teams that I have built over the last few years. I think it was 2012 when I started this. So I’ve been building these teams for four years and these reviewers are very active. I always get responses, and reviews posted when I ask them to review books.
I have my Christian Reader List which for Christian books that are either fiction or nonfiction. I have 818 people on my book reviewer team list. So imagine being featured to these 818 people.
Now I also have an author list that is just for books for authors, and some business books. So if you have a business book, this would be another thing. I have about 80 reviewers on that list. This list is obviously a lot smaller, but it’s also very specialized.
If you have a book in either of those genres and an active Author Audience Academy member before the end of November, this is a great opportunity. You will be featured to my book reviewer teams.
So if you’re not an active member of Author Audience Academy yet, I encourage you to sign up at AuthorAudienceAcademy.com. You’ll need to be an active member before the end of November in order to take advantage of this special offer.
End Note
Don’t give up! Keep working at it.
Find those reviewers and get those honest reviews because it’s so important. I want to encourage you to do that. I would also love to feature you to my book review teams. So if you’re not yet a member of Author Audience Academy, join us.
If you have any questions, let me know. Until next time!
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Have Comments or Questions?
Share them in the comments below.
Yes! Yes! I have the very best intentions to review all the books I read but. . . it just doesn’t happen despite the fact that I know how important they are. Life gets in the way and I am on to the next book. I read hundreds of books a year so I treasure the joy “my” authors provide but the books I review are for the ones who- provide me an ARC, email me a reminder and even “store” my review on a google doc and send it back to me when the book goes live. I also do not post reviews if I disliked the books so I appreciate the authors who invite me to contact them with questions or concerns. At least they know that I read it and held my comments.