1. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    Book Review Questions

    Discussion in 'Self-Publishing' started by Kstaraga, Oct 13, 2022.

    I can't say how frustrating it is to try and get reviews for my self-published book >_< a lot of people don't seem to want to have to pay for a book. We definitely live in a culture of "free is best."/"Don't pay for it now. It will be free eventually." type of mindset.

    What are the best way to get reviewers to review your book? I have one rating of 4 stars on Goodreads, but no written review.

    I also had a few questions, as this all gets a bit confusing to me:

    From what I understand, you cannot give out a free copy of your book for an Amazon review. That's what I've come to read and see.

    Although, is it still against Amazon's policy if you were to offer a free copy of your book to an individual person (not mass distribution) for a review or review-for-review on a place like Goodreads or for your own personal website?

    I don't see this as an issue with Goodreads and don't see in any of their terms or guidelines where it's against the rules. It seems like authors ask often on the communities on Goodreads if someone would review their book. Although if your book is also for sale on Amazon, is this a big problem to ask for a Goodreads review in exchange for a free copy of your book?
     
  2. Lili.A.Pemberton

    Lili.A.Pemberton Active Member

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    So according to Amazon:

    “You may provide free or discounted copies of your books to readers. However, you may not demand a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review. Offering anything other than a free or discounted copy of the book—including gift cards—will invalidate a review, and we'll have to remove it.”

    And according to Goodreads Author Guidelines:

    "Don't attempt to influence reviews of your book. You or your publisher may provide free or discounted copies of your books to readers ( giveaways are a great way to do this), but you may not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review. Please note that we also prohibit paid reviews and reviews that have been incentivized in any way."

    So in short, yes you can give your book away for free and hope they review but you can't give away your book for free and demand a review or ask for a review-for-a-review. It would be against their terms or guidelines, (although I'm sure people still do it regardless).

    To me, it sounds like you need to work on your marketing plan more.
     
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  3. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    I think we've always lived in a culture of 'free is better'. I know I have. One possible way to market your book, especially if you intend to write others, is to make it available to those of us who use Kindle Unlimited. As I understand it, you may make a little something based on page views, and you give readers a taste of your style and writing ability. I read six books of a popular series for 'free' on Unlimited and bought the next six, which were not available for free.
     
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  4. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    Thanks for directing me to the Goodreads Author Guidelines. I was looking at Review Guidelines instead earlier and saw nothing on the topic. So now I see the right place.

    Sadly, I do not seem to qualify to do the giveaways on Goodreads because I must have an author profile on Amazon, which I do not. My book is sent to Amazon by Draft2Digital.

    So sad...so many rules about getting reviews for your book. It's so ridiculous. There are so many people on the communities on Goodreads that ask for reviews for a free copy all the time. To say, "I'd like a review and will give you a free copy," shouldn't have such constricting rules considering you wrote the book and should be able to do whatever with it.

    The problem is that I don't have much time for marketing and I don't have much money...and if I can't sell copies of my book, the marketing money will never be there to help it along more and on the flip side, if I can't find a way to put money towards it, I can't sell copies. So stressful =(
     
  5. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    I have used Draft2Digital in order to publish to Amazon. To my knowledge, this does not make it available through Kindle Unlimited and there's no option to do so through D2D.
     
  6. Lili.A.Pemberton

    Lili.A.Pemberton Active Member

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    I mean in the same way that you can do whatever you want with your book, Amazon and Goodreads can do whatever it wants with its review website to ensure that all the reviews are quality assured and won't lead their consumer base astray with bribed reviews. Which, if you offer a free copy with the expectation of a review, I feel like that's a bribery.

    A lesson for next time then. Draft2Digital's good for getting into everywhere EXCEPT Amazon. According to Reedsy:

    "These are some of the reasons why Reedsy’s suggested ebook distribution plan doesn’t recommend selling on Amazon via Draft2Digital. Instead, you should set up your own KDP account and use D2D for all the other retailers."
     
  7. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    Yes, which is always a down side. Amazon can list your book as free with KU and then review it, but forget it if you want to give your own book away for free and get a review. It's backwards.

    Is it bribery for a bakery to give out free samples so you buy the whole dozen? Perhaps in some ways, but many times, it secures a sale or someone might say through word of mouth, "Oh, this bakery has such good products!" or they might come back on a pay day and buy some or for a birthday or something. It's part of marketing as well. Shouldn't be a problem for authors to do the same if they'd like.

    Amazon isn't my target market. I'm listed on there, I have a link, good enough for me. I don't want to get into KU or anything like that. I'm happy with D2D, and I don't think that's the problem. My book is over so many retailers that if someone heard about it and wanted to find it they seriously could. I've done so many website listings and such that were free that I could do - ones that had good followings.
     
  8. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    That's entirely different. The equivalent would be if you offer a free sample of the book in hopes people will like it enough to buy the book. That happens anyway on Amazon, it's called Look Inside—people get to read the first few pages to decide if they like it or not.

    But giving a few people the book for free in return for a good review is more like a beauty pagaent contestant sleeping with the judges. You're looking at it only from your own perspective. Try thinking it through from Amazon's side. People get pretty angry if it's discovered that shady practices are allowed, and that's what we're talking about really. I mean you're talking about giving people free stuff in return for a good review. That's trying to coerce the whole process of reviews. They're supposed to be unbiased and unsolicited.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2022
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  9. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    I think it is, really, or should be. Most estimates I see say Amazon has 70% of the ebook market. I'm not sure why any author would eschew that many possible sales.

    If you consider all the other books in your genre to be your 'competition' (and they are), there's some comfort in the knowledge that everybody has to play by the same rules.
     
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  10. Lili.A.Pemberton

    Lili.A.Pemberton Active Member

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    It's also how the website works and has worked since...well, I assume since Kindle Unlimited was released in 2014. If you go exclusive with KU you get to list the book for free for KU users. I'd have more sympathy for you if this was a new thing but it...isn't a new thing at all. 'Giving free books in exchange for reviews is considered bribery and is a no-no' has also been in the guidelines for years, if not already common sense, and this probably should have been something you considered/researched before you published your book.

    I find two things kind of off about this statement:

    1) Earlier you said that you don't have much time or money for marketing, so how are people meant to hear about your book? I know you said you had it listed on a bunch of website listings, but those don't stand out that well, so genuinely how are people meant to hear about your book? In my opinion, having so many retailers holding your book only works if your book has enough marketing to warrant being in so many retail locations.

    2) As Earp said, Amazon is BIG in the ebook market. It and Goodreads are also the biggest book review sites I can think of. If someone had heard about your book and wanted to check it out, even if they PREFER brick and mortar book stores or some other retailer, chances are they'd check either Goodreads or Amazon first to see if its a worthwhile purchase before heading to their preferred retail. That's where most of your readers will first find/search for your book. Not on Apple Books or Barnes & Noble or Scribd, just Amazon and Goodreads, searching for reviews to see if it's a worthwhile purchase.

    And so while Amazon might not be your 'target market', (which I don't know what your target market is, if they're not using one of the biggest ecommerce companies in the world), in my opinion, it is absolutely essential if you want to make money off of being self-published author.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2022
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  11. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Rotten Tomatoes and other movie/television review sites are getting raked over the coals lately because so many of the so-called professional reviewers are really nothing more than industry shills pushing a narrative, and apparently companies can pay them for good reviews of terrible products. I won't mention any names, but there are a couple of newly-released shows that are getting lambasted across the board by actual viewers, and praised to the high heavens by 'professional' reviewers. And there's even talk that the numbers are being adjusted behind the scenes, making terrible shows look far more popular than they actually are.

    This is horrible business practice, and if it's proven that they're actually doing it, they're done. At the very least they'll have to ensure that the practice doesn't continue, and quite likely they'll have to pay out millions of dollars for lawsuits. Trying to influence reviews is serious stuff! As bad as plagiarism on a school paper, only there's a lot of cash riding on it, so it gets a lot more attention and brings legal action.

    This is why Amazon doesn't allow pandering (if that's the right term for it?) for reviews. As shady as Amazon is in many ways, apparently it's still holding its ground in that regard, and that's the reason it does so well in the ebook market.
     
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  12. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    Yes, the look inside is there for my books on Amazon as it is for most retailers.

    Not sure if people are even getting that far to view the page, which is a problem.

    Ha ha, sleeping with judges is like giving away a free book. A bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but all righty lol.

    Amazon itself is already shady lol. Although, I'm not necessarily interested in breaking their rules - it's not something I plan on doing.

    It's so interesting how authors can go, "Get my book for free on Kindle Unlimited!" then, people get the free book and often times leave a review. What's different about having a free book on KU and then getting a review as opposed to giving one away for a review? Oh, right...Amazon's wallet.
     
  13. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    I'm aware...the 70% and whatnot.

    My book is on Amazon. It is there. Two books, actually. Four out of my five sales were Amazon.

    It's not that I didn't put it on there at all, but it won't be on KU or whatever the other one was. I've also heard such bad things about authors getting ripped off on KU that I didn't want to even go there.
     
  14. Kstaraga

    Kstaraga Active Member

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    Considering I'm a new author still learning all the ins and outs, rules, laws, and other legalities of getting a book out there, that's why I'm posting here for more insight.

    The bribery thing still gets me. Not sure if it will ever make any sense to me. I'll keep in mind. I already know not to give out free books for Amazon reviews...was more focused on if Goodreads reviews was the same, but I got my answer on that earlier this thread.

    I heard about the Amazon thing before I published my book, but not the Goodreads thing since I didn't know what Goodreads was until after I published.

    Couldn't have accounted for every little detail, I suppose. Still learning.

    1) Yes, it's true. I don't have much money or time for marketing. I stated my conundrum as:
    "The problem is that I don't have much time for marketing and I don't have much money...and if I can't sell copies of my book, the marketing money will never be there to help it along more and on the flip side, if I can't find a way to put money towards it, I can't sell copies."

    I get that part.

    Doing as much marketing on my own as I can...the free marketing when I have time. That's all I can do for now.

    2) Yes, Amazon is giant. Goodreads is huge. I get it. It's a sea of books out there, it's hard to stand out in the crowd. That's the hardest part and the market is awfully saturated. My books are on both websites because of their popularity.

    I'm about to give up at this point, honestly. Not sure how I can make it work. Basically leave my books in online retailers to rot, I guess. Fortunate are the authors that actually have money to spend on such an endeavor as marketing.
     

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