REGARDING Reviews on Amazon.... been a long, long-standing argument as to how
important they are...how much people do or do not pay attention to them. The
often vile, personal attacks by noids and jealous people who are frustrated,
cannot themselves get published legitimately or any other way, have not figured
out how to write themselves, etc is RAMPANT on there, and few have been as
attacked by ridiculous one-star enthusiasts as I have.
The EXACT SAME book side
by side with the vile personal attack on the author goes hand in hand with
thoughtful 3, 4, and 5 star reviews. Often a RAVE review from a reader then is
summed up as the author's buddy or mother. Frankly, my mother has an opinion of
my work. She thinks it is terrifying and filled with way too many curse wrods
and OMGs and Jesuses, etc. She will hammer me on taking the Lord's name in vain.
That aside, reviews are only helpful in how they can be culled and stripped for
use as a marketing tool, so anytime anyone anywhere - not necessarily on Amazon
- has a kind word to say about your book or your skill in writing then it is
encumbent upon you to SPREAD that word wherever. whenever you can. I quote my
readers who comment on my books on facebook and twitter as well as tossing up
reviews from Amazon onto my facebook page, and I do drive twitter and facebook
friends to where they can find reviews on amazon but also on any blogs,
etc.
A review, even a 3-star, can be very helpful and enticing. I often
use the TITLE of the REVIEW and url to garner interest because many Amazon
reviewers have quite imaginative and descriptive and complimentary TITLES. Of
course the one-star titles will be awful, but I have even done this with
one-star reviews just to LAUGH in the face of them, but HIGHLIGTING them and
showing them up for the stupidity that 99 percent of them are. Yes LAUGH at it.
For instance, the idiot who judged my entire 140,000 double-novel TITANIC 2012
purely on the basis of the cover art. The reading of the book will have
explained in no uncertain ABYSS dive style that we do have the technology in the
book to make a DIVE INTO a shipwreck 3000 miles below the surface POSSIBLE. The
book explains it; the cover depicts it. The SAME for BISMARCK 2013 also some 3000 miles below the surface.
Never judge a book by its cover
UNLESS it makes you BUY mine! LOL. For that reason, make your covers sparkle and jump off the
page.
Anyhow back to reviews. You might want to do this which is how I
got a lot of reviews. I posted on my FB Wall that I would GIFT a copy of the
book to anyone willing to read and review it on Amazon. No strings attached save
that one provios. Free book, free review to me.
Not everyone who takes
you up on the offer comes through for you; some will disappoint you, but some
will come through for you and it is worth it. Worth your paying for the book to
get that review. Is it underhanded? Hell no. Every publiher sends out FREE
REVIEW COPIES by the hundreds, and they get back a very small percentage of
return on that investment but if those few revews are good to great, then you
can use them forever. Clive Cussler called my first Instinct title, Killer
Instinct "MASTERFUL" and my then publisher in NYC used that single word culled
from his remark that I did female characters far better than he could ever hope
to for years afterward on all my 11 Instinct titles thereafter.
Do feel free to leave a comment; let me know you've been by....
So GET
reviewed by going AFTER reviews.
Rob Walker
www.robertwalkerbooks.com
