When I began the self-publishing process for the first time, I had no idea how much of a struggle marketing would be for a first-time author with no public persona developed. Amazon frowns upon selling things to your friends and family, and having a pseudonym doesn’t help with social media discovery. I did some sleuthing to try to figure out the best way to show up in Amazon’s algorithms, and aside from Amazon ads (which I am also using), the best ways to be seen are to sell books and get reviews. Before then I hadn’t really thought about reviewing the books I was buying. Sure I liked the books, but if I wasn’t the New York Times, what good was it doing? Turns out reviews are part of what tells Amazon that people are reading your books, which means it then shoves it in front of more people while they’re browsing. Do I think it has any actual bearing on how good a book is? Nope. Does it help the authors succeed in getting their book read? Indeed. So now I stop to slap a few stars and maybe a comment on a book I bought and liked. I hope that it helps to explain WHY authors are always asking for you to review their self-published books on Amazon.
And now a shameless plug for reviewing my book, Standing in a Field With Horses on Amazon. Hehe. Link here. Thanks so much. Use this knowledge to help other authors too!
Maeve Birch Home 