Why Do You Lack Amazon Book Reviews?

Authors are bewildered, angry, and sad that their books fail to garner a substantial number of Amazon customer book reviews. Many authors struggle to get at least 40-50 reviews. Why?

It is a good question.

Assuming your book is decent, and you have asked for reviews from dozens of friends, family, work colleagues, neighbors, church members, alumni, and even your favorite Starbucks barista, you may want to pull your hair out when you see only three people left reviews after the book’s launch two months ago. So why don’t people that we know post a review?

Here are the reasons or excuses that you must contend with:

* Your book seems too long to read
* Not their kind of book
* They don’t like the book
* They never read books
* Don’t know what to say
* Never left a review before
* Don’t want to be the first one to leave a review
* Feel rushed for time
* They leave a rating instead
* They don’t like you so much

The percentage of people who read a book that they purchased on amazon who leave a review is tiny. Some authors have thousands of amazon reviews, but they are the exception. Even authors who may have sold millions of copies of a book may only see that two percent of their readers left reviews.

Authors simply need to ask, beg, trade, and pray for book reviews. Some will even pay for them.

Get anyone you know — and anyone they know — to:

* Make a validated purchase on amazon

* Post the book review

* Ask for them to recruit friends, spouses, relatives, and colleagues.

* Show everyone the few steps needed on how to actually post a review.

Harass them until they do it. Book reviews are vital to a book’s success, so do all that you can to get readers to post them.

Do You Need Book Marketing & PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over four million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2024

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog