All The Things I’ve Done to Get Over 400 Reviews on My Kindle Book

Although two through four are basically the same thing

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Several years ago, I published a Kindle book that has now sold more than 10,000 copies. It occasionally makes it onto the bestselling-in-category lists on Amazon. It also has more than 400 reviews. Here’s everything I did to get them.

1. I used a book launch team – drawn from my mailing list – and sent out advance copies to them with the understanding that they would leave a review when the book launched. I believe there are now sites that help you with that, such as Book Sirens and Booksprout. If these existed when I launched my book, I didn’t know about them. But I’d certainly consider them if launching now.

2. I asked for them on the last page of the book – with a simple request and a link. It says something like: “Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon. Here’s the link.”

3. I asked for them via my mailing list – because my mailing list is packed full of action takers and lots of my readers had bought by book and read it. I still remind my list from time to time that I have a really useful book they can buy if they want – and if they’ve already read it a review would be really appreciated.

4. I asked for them on social media – because why wouldn’t I? I tend to post snippets from reviews I’ve already received, with a reminder to my followers that they can review too if they’ve bought the book. Double whammy. This tends to increase sales as well as reviews.

5. I gave free copies of my book away – to people on my email list, through KDP free promos, and through a site called Story Cartel that used to offer free books to potential reviewers as part of a launch or re-launch. I don’t think it exists any more. These days I’d use the above mentioned sites, or maybe Book Bub.

That’s it. Five simple actions. Decent results. How do you get more reviews? Please share in the comments to inspire others. No idea too wild.

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Some thoughts from others I’ve been enjoying this week

• What Toni Morrison Said About Writing Matters More Than Ever by

  Linda Caroll

• I Spent 100 Hours Trying These 23 Substack Features. Here's What's Worth It (and What's Not) by

  Wes Pearce

• The Mel Robbins Book Launch Case Study by

  Dan Blank

• Writing from Both Sides of the Brain-Some New Discoveries by

  Mary Carroll Moore

What else I’ve been up to this week

Reading: Writing for Busy Readers: Effective Communication (one of my top 18 books for writers)

Watching: A YouTube video that summarizes 33 Life-Changing Books in 20 Minutes

Learning: Italian with Duolingo (Trip to Rome planned for next month - at this point I can just about order coffee, croissants and ice cream. Going to be a fun trip.)

Thinking about: This quote from James Clear:

"Success is largely the failures you avoid.

• Health is the injuries you don't sustain.

• Wealth is the purchases you don't make.

• Happiness is the objects you don't desire.

• Peace of mind is the arguments you don't engage.

Avoid the bad to protect the good."

This week’s Medium post

Friend link as always, so you can read for free if you’re not a member.

• How I Produce My Weekly Newsletter Consistently, Efficiently and Joyfully

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