An author friend once told me that when you get to 50 reviews on your book, Amazon will start promoting your book to it’s millions of subscribers. Other authors said they didn’t notice a difference once they reached or … Read the rest →]]>

An author friend once told me that when you get to 50 reviews on your book, Amazon will start promoting your book to it’s millions of subscribers. Other authors said they didn’t notice a difference once they reached or surpassed 50 reviews. At the time, I was a newly (self) published author, so I filed this information away for a later day.

For my first published book, The Many Lives of June Crandall, that day has arrived.

For several weeks now, June has been sitting at 49 reviews. Oh, it got to 50, but then suddenly that 50^th review was removed! So I ran a promotion for the book, which usually generates a few reviews.

And it did. I got up to 51 reviews. Woot! Now we’ll see how the power of The Zon really works. Right?

Wrong. With a few days, both of the new reviews were taken down. Again! I was outraged! I’ll bet they would never do this to James Patterson or Nora Roberts!

These were honest reviews from total strangers who received no encouragement or compensation from me for leaving their reviews! They did so out of the kindness of their hearts.

To put it mildly, I was not happy with Amazon. For a millisecond, I considered removing all of my books from Amazon and taking my business elsewhere. But, considering that 99.9% of my book sales come from The Zon, I quickly reconsidered.

So instead, I wrote them a letter asking them nicely why they keep removing the reviews for this book. Here is how the communication went:

ME:

Dear, Amazon. I noticed that every time I get to 50 reviews on my book, The Many Lives of June Crandall, the 50^th review disintegrates into Fairy Dust and once more leaves me with only 49 reviews the review gets removed.

 Is there some secret society you get to join when you have 50 reviews that only traditionally published authors get to join? If so, how much do you want to let me into the club? Would you kindly stop doing this? I fully understand your review policies and can assure you that none of the reviews you removed violated them. And by the way, can I have the FOUR reviews you stole from me back?

Sincerely,

Author Suzanne Whitfield Vince

AMAZON’s RESPONSE:

Hello Suzanne,

Customer Reviews are removed for the following reasons:

• The review violates our Customer Review Creation Guidelines (http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines).
• A customer can decide to remove their own review.
• The review is on a page that incorrectly links multiple items. We remove these reviews when we separate the items.

To learn more about this policy, please see our Customer Review Creation Guidelines (http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines).

Best regards,
Yorwin P

So, obviously there IS something to the 50^th review. Maybe once a book gets 50 reviews they have to spend money to help promote my book. And maybe they don’t really care about helping little peons independently published authors whose sales are, well, not enough to retire from the day job on. Yet.

Either way. We all know reviews sell books. And the more the better. They help people like me get ads on sites like Book Bub, who want a minimum of 50 reviews before they will even consider your book for their site (some say the minimum is 100, but I know some authors who got in at 50+).

And so, I am launching full scale war against Amazon a massive campaign to blow right past the 50 review mark. Whaddya say, are you in?

Let’s BLOW past that 50 review mark!!

Here’s how you can help:

Step 1: Download the book, which for a limited time has been reduced to ZERO AMERICAN DOLLARS. To download your FREE copy, just click on the image below.

Note: Free offer also available on Nook, Kobo and iTunes.

Step 2: If you can find it in your heart, please leave an honest review. You can do so by clicking this link. Note: you may need to sign into Amazon.

From the bottom of this author’s pea-picking heart, I salute thank you.

Sincerely,

Author Suzanne Whitfield Vince

When I was a girl, I would curl up anywhere I could find a quiet spot (not easy … Read the rest →]]> Without words, without writing and without books, there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity. Hermann Hesse

When I was a girl, I would curl up anywhere I could find a quiet spot (not easy to do with seven siblings) and flip through the pages of the latest Nancy Drew novel. Later, my mother introduced me to Danielle Steel and I tore through each new book with the anticipation of Christmas. And I’d feel the same letdown when I finished as I would on Christmas morning after all the gifts were opened and the anticipation was over.

When I finished, I would call my friends and tell them about the book. If they were a good enough friend, I might even lend it to them.

Things were simpler in those days. In many ways. Not the least of which was being an author.

Back then, if an author was lucky enough to secure a contract with a major publishing house, their careers were made. They would write the book, send it to their publisher, and collect a fat advance check, then sit back and wait for the royalties to pour in while the publishing house handled the author’s publicity tours (which usually included book signings in major booksellers across the country).

Today, whether an author is traditionally or independently published (ie an “indie author”), we are tasked with sole responsibility to market our books and ourselves.

For first time novelists like myself, this can be a daunting task. And for introverts (like me), it can be an even scarier prospect. But if we are to succeed, we must step bravely into cyber space and invite new friends, like you, to read our work. And ask you to share it with your friends.

“But wait,” you say, “nobody uses an actual telephone anymore, so how do I spread the word?”

I’m glad you asked.

It’s true, the medium by which we share information has certainly changed since I was a girl. This is the good news for authors and readers today. It allows us to connect with each other in ways we never could’ve imagined five years ago when I was a kid. Okay, twenty five years ago (or so).

Anyway, here are three ways that you can help:

Reviews Sell Books:
It’s true. They really do. When you read a book you love, write a review (on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other forum for book reviews). It doesn’t have to be a long one. “Dear Author, loved your book!” would suffice.

Tell Your Tweeps:
Shout it out on Social Media. Authors are happy to provide their Twitter handles (mine is @SuzanneWVince). Tell the universe about the great book you’ve just read. And Retweet (or Share on Facebook) when one of your friends shouts out.

Share the Love:
When you read a blog posting (like this one) that you enjoy, click the little share buttons at the bottom and spread the word to all your Facebook Friends or Twitter Peeps.

So go ahead, tell the world (and me) about the last great book you read! I’ll even start. The last amazing book I read was CHASING KATE, by Kelly Byrne.

Okay, your turn!

Photos via Google Images