Come to think of it,
are you relevant?
This afternoon, a friend told me she had just finished reading Chick Stories. She related a story in her own life that was similar to one of mine.
“One of the reasons I wrote the memoir,” I said, “was to encourage readers to connect with the adventures lived, laughter shared, and lessons learned in their own lives.”
Then, with a wave of trepidation, I exchanged my writer’s hat for my marketing one.
“Would you write a review on Amazon?”
Why, you ask, should that be so hard? Because all a writer wants to do is write. Yet, without a publicist or marketing manager to drive sales, we do everything, it seems, except write.
We scrounge for marketing and sales opportunities as if they were pennies hidden in an old sofa. We schlep boxes of books to and from festivals, hoping to make a few sales. We enter contests for bragging rights, then we post the award on social media or publish it in a newsletter. We call each other with small success stories. A fellow writer told me the other day that her window washer turned up with a copy of her book, looking for an autograph. I told her I sold two books while sitting in a hot tub!
Then, we beg for Amazon reviews.
Reviews on other platforms are great, too. But with its two-trillion-dollar sales platform, Amazon owns the market, especially for independent writers. And its magical, mystical power is driven by the Amazon A9 algorithm.
Magical Numbers
According to SellerSprite, an Amazon product research company, the mysterious A9 is so named simply because there are 9 letters after the letter A of “algorithms.” A major component of A9 is customer experience, especially as measured by review ratings. Ninety percent of shoppers read reviews before buying anything.
As few as 10 reviews can trigger sales. Here’s how, according to Marshall Associates:
- 16–25 customer ratings increase sales 25% over a baseline of zero reviews;
- 101–200 ratings increase sales by 320% over the zero-baseline, and 85% from the 16–25 review bracket; and
- 501–1,000 ratings increase sales by 856% over the zero-baseline, and 128% from the 101–200 review bracket.
Although other researchers estimate that customer ratings above 4.3 stars increase sales by up to 270%, book launch and marketing strategist Rob Eagar preaches that quantity trumps quality.
“An author’s worst enemy isn’t negativity or piracy,” he says. “It’s obscurity.”
Eagar reports you need at least a hundred reviews to engage the power of A9.
Social Proof
Higher review counts drive up conversion rates by providing social proof. According to The Decision Lab, an applied research and innovation firm, social proof is a psychological phenomenon in which people look to the actions of others to determine how to behave. In other words, if a lot of people are reading a book, maybe I should read it too.
Additionally, higher review counts trigger Amazon promotional tools, like featuring a book prominently in search results, and populating the “Also Bought,” “Frequently Bought Together,” or “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…” sections.
A flurry of reviews usually accompanies a book’s publication. Then the importance seems to wane. It shouldn’t. Getting reviews should be an ongoing campaign for relevance.
At a recent meeting of the Gulf Coast Writers Association, a member suggested we read each other’s books with the express purpose of writing reviews. It was a brilliant suggestion. It reminded me of lyrics written by Ringo Starr and memorialized by Joe Cocker: “We get by with a little help from our friends.”
Ask your friends to write a review.
The review needn’t be long or glowing. In fact, short, modest reviews are authentic. If you haven’t reviewed any of my books, please take a minute—a minute—to do so now. Help me hit a hundred on each.
If you have already reviewed one of my books, please review another. Or check out books by other independent writers. For some of my favorites, visit What the Cats are Reading.
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