I know it happens. You know it happens. As authors, you may even do it. So maybe seeing it as ‘advice’ really shouldn’t suprise me. But I find the post, ‘Get Your Stars at Amazon.com’ by Monica Poling in the Writing Sparks Newsletter a little amazing.
Monica says:
Nothing says “this book sucks” like an Amazon.com description page that has no public reviews. Sure, psychologically readers all know that the reviews for the lesser known books have generally been written by uber-supportive friends and family. Yep, maybe a five-star ranking for a book with a typo in the description is a bit suspect.
I can agree with that to a point. I find it more annoying to have NO information on the book on amazon. No reviews, maybe I would think that odd but it would depend on the book. If a book sent out 10000 ARC’s to everyone and their mother and had few I would find that odd. A newbie author with little marketing put into them from their publisher? Not surprising. And as a reader, I pay about no attention to amazon reviews. At the same time I have started to transfer my reviews that are here onto amazon because it seems either:
A. Authors feel this helps them.
B. Authors feel this helps them in the eyes of their publisher(s).
C. Publisher wanna see it.
So to me, if it means something to someone, why not. I am making an effort to review more anyway so why not add to amazon? Why not put an honest opinion regardless of it my review gets lost in the ‘omg this rawks’ or if a review I view as a GOOD review brings down the star count to a 4 or 4 1/2.
So in that I agree. But Monica goes on to say…
If you have a book posted at Amazon.com, solicit your friends, family, teachers, veterinarian, anyone you can find to write a review or two for that book. Tell them to keep the personal stuff out of the description, and actually focus on the book. Not only do you elevate the “ranking” of your book, you also send a message to potential readers that someone thinks your book is actually worth reading.
This is the crap that make amazon reviews not count. Can your mom review your book fairly? Should an author solicit friends? And if they do, shouldn’t they be making an effort to get fair, honest reviews?
Or is that asking for too much? I get review requests. I even review for some authors I would say I ‘like’. And before I take the book I always say, only send it if you want my honest opinion. I can’t imagine having anyone, especially a friend send me something and ask me to give it a five star rating. Is that just me?
Does this sound kosher to other people? You can read the rest of their how to’s on promoting your book here.
The entire thing is distasteful to me. I’ve heard some authors say reviewing on Amazon helps, but I don’t really care for them myself, so I hardly post them. It does frustrate me when there’s nothing, no blurb, etc, on Amazon, but I can usually dig it out elsewhere if I need to.
Anyway, the thing is: If I were an author, I wouldn’t just want my family/friends to scream, “OMG THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER IN THE HISTORY OF ALL BOOKS”. I’d want them to be honest. One of the reasons I like Bloglandia so much is that (for the most part) the reviewers are honest. I don’t see that happening very often on Amazon.
You know what is more helpful on Amazon? The back cover blurb posted. Or how about an excerpt? Some books have it, some books don’t. It’s usually under the editorial section if it’s listed at all. Frankly, I find that extremely helpful as opposed to a bunch of half-assed reviews. I can count on one hand the number of helpful reviews I’ve read at Amazon….
Thanks for the conversation starter. I didn’t mean to suggest that family members should “make up” a fake “Oh my God, this is the best book ever” review. In fact quite the opposite. I guess I thought that was self-evident in the “leave out the personal stuff” part of the coment. However, perhaps, I’ll go back and tweak the wording of the suggestion.
And while you’re absolutely right that many of the reviews on Amazon.com tend to be meaningless, my intentions were pure. Even you said you might find a book with no reviews odd. (Not sure how you’d know if the author sent out 10,000 review copies or not, and you’re more savvy than the general reader.)
But I stick by my opinion. If your friends don’t find your book worth reading, why should anyone else? And from a marketing perspective, when a prospectiver buyer clicks to a book that not even one person has had an opinion about, it becomes even easier for that consumer to say “maybe, I’ll try something else.”
I’ve told my family not to post reviews, just because it feels false. In fact, if I ever find out they posted anywhere online, I’d probably kill them. I roll my eyes when I see others doing that, so I know others’ eyes must be swirling, too.
But I agree about the problem with the lack of book description — the only reason I signed up for the Amazon Connect program is because my book had a one line description instead of the cover copy in the info section. How can someone decide if they want to buy the book from that? At least in the bookstore, they can read the back copy.
Hey Monica!
I do completely see your thought process here. Honestly though I wasn’t sure if you were saying… not necessarily to lie as to only ask the friend who loved it. Or only ask the people who can’t see the forest for the trees.
I have more to say (shocking I know) but am running behind (again, tres shock). So I will be back or do a follow up post tomorrow. But I wanted to thank you for posting, if you do edit do drop me an email and I would love to make note of that.
Oh and many of my friends dislike books I love and vice versa so I don’t think anyone should hang up a book because of a friends dislike. Now if all your friends hate it or it isn’t so much a plotting, well that is something *g*.
Thanks again for posting!