Revisions, updates & reader feedback for Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors
Contacting Amazon Top Reviewers
Recently I’ve received several messages from authors who have tried to recruit Amazon “Friends” to review their book. (The process I outlined in “Plug Your Book” is recounted here.) Apparently, this no longer works because Amazon no longer passes along the text you type into your friends invitation. Not only that, but Amazon has even stopped notifying people at all [via e-mail] when they have a pending Friends invitation!
A reader alerted me to this situation:
I tried this – sent 10 messages to 10 potential reviewers, but none of my “friend invitations” have had any response. However, when I used an email address that an Amazon reviewer provided [on their Amazon profile page], I got a positive response 4 out of 6 times. Apparently no one ever checks their “friend invitations” — or there is some other problem. Do you know any tips for contacting someone who doesn’t have an email address listed who is a reviewer?
If Amazon isn’t going to even pass along notification of the Friends invitation — let alone the text you enter into the pop-up form — then the whole thing is a waste of time. Unless you happen to already have a list of Amazon Top Reviewers’ e-mail and postal addresses, you’re out of luck. Unless, of course, you or your publisher subscribe to Amazon Vine.
Updated on 5/19/09: Amazon has totally eliminated the messaging function. But there are alternatives, such as Googling reviewer names. More details here.
Amazon Vine
Since “Plug Your Book” was written, Amazon has launched its Vine review program, which supplies Advance Reading Copies of participating books to customers who’ve received an invitation to be an Amazon Vine reviewer.
Exactly how you might enroll your book in Vine has been a mystery to many small publishers and self-publishers. Apparently Amazon is operating the program in the “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” mode. I’ve always assumed there was a hefty fee to get books enrolled, and this recent comment from a reader confirms it:
I contacted our publisher (NAME WITHHELD) and they said that in the past some authors they work with have paid for inclusion in Amazon Vine, and that it’s about $15,000 to participate.
Holy Crap, Batman.
Here’s my take: Amazon Vine is a big advantage for those who have that kind of money to waste on it. I can guarantee you, though, it’s not worth $15,000 per title. Better to have people who are really (really) interested in your book read and review it on Amazon, instead of people who are reading it only to get a free book.
Author Web sites
For authors who want a Web site but don’t want to pay for one, a new option is Filedby. Authors with a book published in the U.S. or Canada can join free, add material to the site, and post links.
Do you have a suggestion for an update to “Plug Your Book”? Click “Comment” at the bottom, or e-mail me at Feedback (at) WeberBooks.com
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7 Comments
Of course it's too good to be true. If the so-called bestseller campaigns work, why don't these clowns have bestsellers? It's all a scam, and it draws in suckers the same way all online scams do: People take it as an article of faith that there must be a secret technique or program that will carry them to glory if only they can find (or buy) it. It has to be, because "all things are on the Internet." Right.
And, not incidentally, traditional advertising DOES work for books. See this article in Publishers Weekly:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6415358.html
The book has made the New York Times extended bestseller list, and the Wall Street Journal and Business Week hardcover bestseller lists. 45,000 copies sold in three months, and still going strong.
–Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com
Hi Steve:
I have to buy your book Plug Your Book. First time I have heard about it. I intend to buy it immediatedly from Amazon.com given that I always buy books that can help me market my books, especially on the Internet.
In regards to Amazon.com best-seller campaigns, I am not a big fan and have stayed away although I have had several pitches made to me.
I believe something original always works best. Years ago I cut defective copies of my first book The Art of Seeing Double or Better in Business in half and sent either the top half or bottom half to organizations with a creative sales letter. This resulted in great publicity and extra revenues of over $15,000.
Lately I have used a variation of this scheme to market my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. I actually give away over half of the book – the top half – on my webpage Creative Free E-books at the Real Success Resource Center.
This has helped this How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free to sell over 75,000 copies even though it was turned down by over 35 publishers and largely ignored by the media. I intend to sell over 500,000 copies and I am sure that your Plug Your Book will help.
Ernie J. Zelinski
Author of:
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 75,000 copies Sold and Published in 7 Foreign Languages)
and
The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies Sold and Published in 17 Languages)
Steve,
I wouldn't give Amazon a dime, let alone $15,000.
To my way of thinking, they appear desperate to shoot themselves in the foot–repeatedly.
I love your book, by the way.
Mari Bushman–author
editor-Jigsaw Press
http://www.jigsawpress.com
Steve,
Great Book.
I tried to contact Amazon using the url you provided on page 26, in order to correct a typo in the Product Description section advertising my novel, The Flamingo Room
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/typographical-errors.html
I filled in all the details and submitted, only to get an automated email back saying that email address is no longer available. Instead I was to go to the Catalogue Update section in Product Details and click on the link, then click the relevant boxes and add correct information. There is no relevant box, and nowhere you can correct or draw attention to typos. Not very efficient. Fortunately, the typo is not too serious, just one letter added (by Amazon) in error. If there is a way of contacting the faceless monolith it would be useful.
To Jerold:
If you are also the publisher of the book, you can make the changes this way. Of course, if you aren't the publisher, you can ask your publisher to do this.
Go to this URL:
http://www.amazon.com/publishers
You will see a list. Hit the "Add Descriptive Content" link.
Then you wind up on a page that says "Add Descriptive Content"
Where it says the following bit, hit the part I have put in quotation marks (there is a link a little hard to see):
Our "Book Content Update Form" is the fastest way to add descriptive
content for up to ….
This will get you to the page that starts you on making the changes that you would like to make.
Ernie J. Zelinski
Author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 110,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to
Work in Corporations
(Over 15,000 copies sold and published in 3 languages)
More for Jerold:
I had to make a change for one of my books using the above procedure.
After I made the corrections this message appeared:
"Thank you for submitting your content! We appreciate your providing our customers with this information, and we look forward to enhancing your product's page. Generally, content is posted on our site within five business days, but it can occasionally take longer. If your content has not appeared online or you experience any difficulties, send e-mail to book-typos@amazon.com. Be sure to include the ASIN and title of the item for which you have submitted material."
So perhaps you can have your small typo changed by just e-mailing Amazon.com at this address:
book-typos@amazon.com
Hope this helps since Amazon.com is getting trickier and trickier.
I could tell you how it took me 3 weeks of contant frustrating e-mailing to various people to get Amazon.com to finally change from the edition one of my books that was no longer available to the edition that is available but it would take much too long.
Ernie J. Zelinski
Author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 110,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)
Does anyone know how to notify Amazon if you want your book listed in other categories? There is no place for that on the form!
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[...] My article at Amazon.com discusses tactics for getting Amazon book reviews. However, there’s no longer a mechanism to contact people directly through Amazon because the “friends” feature no longer works. But with so many people belong to Facebook, etc., nowadays it’s pretty easy to contact someone by Googling their name. I discuss the changes regarding Amazon Top Reviewers here. [...]