The Power of Customer Reviews: You Need Them but Don’t Get Penalized for Asking
Let me set the scene.
You’re three months away from your first book’s pub date. You’re excited to finally be done with final edits, some of which happened days before the manuscript went to the printer. You love your cover. You’ve obtained some terrific testimonials that will be featured prominently on the book. The descriptive copy reads strongly and alluringly online at all the retailers now nudging potential readers to pre-order the book. You’ve officially transitioned from book-production phase to let’s-sell-the-hell-out-of-this-book phase.
The clock is ticking toward your publication date. Your aggressive media campaign grows louder every week with the help of a book publicist. You post on social media platforms and urge followers to order their copy. You pitch podcasters in hopes of gaining invitations. You’ve designed a beautiful landing page on your website with book-buying incentives. Your email list is long and the blasts to encourage your disciples to buy your book are going out.
The pub date nears. You think you’ve checked all the boxes to have a successful book launch. In the home stretch of the campaign, you’re happy to have secured some decent promotional assets—stints on a few podcasts, an excerpt in a high-profile digital newsletter, interviews with a few respected journalists and bloggers, and even a last-minute endorsement by a big influencer in your field (and the genre of your book).
The book lands. It’s pub day. Hooray! You start to watch the Amazon ranking like it’s a patient monitor showing your pulse, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. The number tics down—will the book breach the top 10,000? 1,000? 100? 10?
You think the stars are aligned for this book, but soon enough you realize something is wrong. Why isn’t it moving up in line? Days later, the book begins to fall…and fall hard. The people who’ve already bought your book have been counted—those sales numbers are baked into the system now. You struggle to find new potential book buyers. Where’s the disconnect?
Here’s the problem: No customer reviews.
Sure, you’ve got a handful of editorial reviews, but those get the party started prior to pub date. To enjoy a steady stream of sales once the book becomes available, you need real readers to chime in and post their reviews—even if they are negative!
Customer reviews of books are critical. They help maintain the proverbial pulse of your book’s life in the following ways:
Initial momentum: Reviews are kindling on that first fire—they help generate early momentum that in turn drives more sales. Put simply, reviews help refill your book’s gas tank once your initial book-buying incentives have been used up.
Social proof: Reviews build trust and signal that your book is high quality and worth reading.
Algorithmic boost: Online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble use reviews as part of their ranking algorithms. Books with more reviews are more likely to appear in search results, recommendation lists, and “Customers Also Bought” sections. High ratings can increase the likelihood of being featured on promotional lists or newsletters.
Digital word-of-mouth: Nothing beats word-of-mouth spread, and reviews amplify that process. You may even attract an influential Booktoker. Talk about amplification!
Now here’s the massive caveat: If you solicit reviews or create incentives such as offering rewards for reviews, your efforts will backfire. Amazon, for example, actively penalizes authors who solicit reviews from friends, family, or others with a personal connection. And they can easily find those connections with today’s algorithms and machine learning to detect relationships between authors and reviewers. Not only can reviews be removed, but you can lose your entire account with Amazon, and your book can be restricted in visibility and ranking.
The goal is to gain honest reviews organically—especially from people you don’t personally know. Lean into independent review platforms like NetGalley and Goodreads, as well as book bloggers. Leverage your fans and followers via your email list, social media contacts, and people you’ve sent advance copies to. Remind readers on your website to review your book and post on Amazon. But be sure to be fully transparent and state that you welcome all feedback and encourage reviewers to share their genuine thoughts—even critical ones. Don’t stress over bad reviews; they may end up helping you out in unexpected ways.
Credit: Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash