Effectiveness of Amazon's Reviews

How effective are Amazons' reviews?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by B.J. Whittington on November 16, 2011 at 3:07pm

I have to say, I am an author and I have difficulty writing a good review without ending up in the spoiler zone. I read a lot of books, and since I now see the importance of reviews on Amazon, I try to put together a review for the ones I complete.
Maybe it is just me, but I cannot seem to come up with a review system that will allow me to impart my thoughts on the book, without telling too much.
The reviews I have received on Dragon Soul, my fantasy kindle novel, sound so much alike that they are almost cookie-cutter of each other. LOL maybe it is a ‘good thing’ that they all found the same positives.

Yet, I only ‘know’ one of the reviewers, and she is someone I submitted my book for review through here, at book blogs.

The first 5-6 reviews came in pretty quick, but I do ask (at the end of the book file) that if they enjoyed the book to please consider doing a review on Amazon.

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Permalink Reply by Nell Gavin on November 16, 2011 at 6:23pm

Duh! What a great idea! Putting a request for reviews at the end of your book! I swear that thought never occurred to me, and some readers just don't think about writing reviews - apparently until you nudge them, right? I may need to try that too.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Lee Beers on November 18, 2011 at 2:36pm

Its the combination of reviews with sales rank that tell the difference. We have a member here with a book listed at #161 in sales rank with an appropriate number of reviews. A significant percentage of book buyers know the difference between phony and real when it comes to the review process. Just like those of us who check out the price per ounce when shopping in the super market, they check both figures.