Book Promotion | Self-Publishing Review

Why It’s A Bad Idea For Authors To Do Review Swaps On Amazon

So many times authors join a social media group called “Review Swaps” or “Author Swaps.” These groups have been set up quite innocently so that authors can get free Amazon Customer Reviews. Unfortunately swapping your book for a review on Amazon is actually a pretty bad idea – and I have found a lot of authors still don’t understand why. Let’s take a look.

If you can be proven to be connected or you are directly in touch with someone who leaves a Customer Review, this is against Amazon policy and can result in that review, or worse, that person’s […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:34:25+02:00July 2nd, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion|

35+ Alternatives to BookBub – UPDATED

This post was first published in February 2016. Because Amazon clamped down on affiliate-linked services using free or discounted books to garner affiliate fees from Amazon in May 2016, we have added a new column below that shows which services use an affiliate tag to profit from the book’s sale and could affect your book’s campaign. Note this is probably only affecting free books, as then Amazon was paying out on a loophole into the negative, but we advise to proceed with caution with any service that uses an affiliate tag system.

So let’s move on to the information.

As […]

Lysa Grant2020-02-21T04:34:55+02:00June 23rd, 2016|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Promotion, Newsletter Campaign|

How A Professional Reviewer Reviews Your Book

At SPR we’ve been reviewing books for nearly a decade. Here, we talk about how we review a book, and answer some of the most burning questions authors have.

Book Policy

When a book comes in for review, the first thing we check is that it meets our book policy. We do this by reading the synopsis and then scanning it for keywords that might flag up any issues against our guidelines. Since 2013, we have rejected books that titillate using triggers, such as harsh violence, hate crimes, religious or political hate, or child abuse outside of a survivor account. […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:31:36+02:00June 2nd, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion, Book Reviews|

How To Build A Perfect Amazon Book Page

Once you have taken the plunge with Amazon KDP and opened your account, the front end (what the customer sees) is going to be incredibly important to sales. In this article, we go into the look and feel of your Book Page and what some of the sections are and how to maximize their potential selling power.

Book Description

The book synopsis on Amazon KDP is basically the product description field for any other product on Amazon
It should be less than 4000 characters long by Amazon specification, and should describe succinctly the product. If you think about that, we

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Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:34:34+02:00May 27th, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Book Promotion|

Mythbusting The Amazon Algorithm Part II: Amazon Lists, Products, and Sales

There has been a fair outrage from certain authors and bloggers who claim that my last piece about the Amazon Algorithm did not consider the way lists (often referred to by the author community as “poplists” although this is not an Amazon term) work. There has also been some whispering about BookBub’s sales being left out of Amazon results, and a high misunderstanding perpetuated by crowd mentality and myth online.

I called myself a “search expert” in the last post. Clarification: my entire adult working life has been spent in publishing, marketing, and search for multinational banks, automobiles, telecommunications […]

Cate Baum2019-12-16T08:35:48+02:00May 7th, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Book Promotion, Mythbusting|

Mythbusting The Amazon Algorithm – Reviews and Ranking For Authors

How to get the best out of your reviews and sales to rank high on Amazon without the myths from former search expert and COO of SPR, Cate Baum.

Despite many educated guesses that seem to have passed into urban legend in self-publishing communities online, there are no secrets to the Amazon ranking system.

I have spent the last few months tracking down programmers, algorithm experts, and reading technical documentation about Amazon’s algorithm, and the documentation that is provided online by Amazon at Amazon Seller Central and KDP. What I didn’t do was talk to any authors or bloggers, because […]

Cate Baum2019-12-16T08:36:06+02:00April 30th, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Amazon Algorithm, Book Promotion, Mythbusting|

Amazon KDP Pre-Orders – Worth It Or Not?

Often authors ask, “Is it worth it for me to stick my book on pre-order?” Here’s why it’s worth it, and not worth it, depending on where you are with your book, your series, and your goals for ranking and sales on Launch Day.

What’s KDP Pre-Order?

Amazon gives authors the opportunity to put their book on pre-order when they upload their title details. “You can make your new books available for pre-order in Kindle Stores worldwide. Setting a pre-order allows customers to order your book as early as 90 days before your book’s release date.* When you make your […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T04:32:45+02:00April 24th, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Book Promotion|

Six Ways You Are Ruining Your Book Marketing Campaign

There’s a great deal of information out there to be sifted through to market your book well – but there’s also a lot you could be taking on board that could do your book more damage than good. Cate Baum busts some of the myths of indie book marketing and what you should do instead.

1. You are joining author groups to share your book, hoping for sales

If you join an author group on Facebook or Linkedin expecting to gain sales by posting your book release news, you’re looking in the wrong place. You will see these groups are […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:01:12+02:00March 21st, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing, Book Promotion|