No BS, Complete Guide to Getting Book Reviews - Mastering Amazon KDP

About this video

This is a recording of Sean’s weekly Q&A in his free Facebook group, focused on getting book reviews. He says reviews are essential social proof and claims Amazon states a book needs at least 15 reviews for Amazon ads to be effective: aim for 15 minimum at launch, 20 to 40 by the end of a launch, and 100 over the book’s life, when he says sales and ad conversion really pick up. He distinguishes verified reviews, from people who bought or downloaded the book and which he says show globally, from unverified reviews, which he believes show only on the marketplace where posted. Paid routes are Pubby, which he says costs about twenty dollars a month and works on a snap-based review exchange he describes as compliant, and BookSprout, an ARC management service; he says a recent launch from his email list had 50 people claim the ARC, 22 reviews so far at a 4.7 average. The free route is Facebook groups in your niche: engage first, offer a free PDF copy in exchange for feedback, private-message interested readers, and follow up about two weeks later with the Amazon review link, a grind he says can mean messaging 100 or more people. His underlying system is a good book plus four touch points asking for reviews: an end-of-book page explaining why a review helps the reader too, an email follow-up, an ask inside the list-joining funnel, and a later BookSprout invitation. For low-content books, he says top publishers sometimes instead run Amazon ads very aggressively at a loss early on to gather sales and reviews.

Key takeaways

• Target at least 15 reviews at launch, 20 to 40 by the end of the launch, and 100 over the book’s lifetime, per Sean’s benchmarks.
• Verified reviews come from a purchase or download and, Sean says, display globally; unverified reviews still count toward social proof.
• Paid review routes Sean uses are Pubby (about twenty dollars a month) and BookSprout for ARC campaigns driven by an email list.
• The free method is niche Facebook groups: engage without spamming, give a free PDF for feedback, message readers privately, and follow up about two weeks later with the review link.
• Use multiple touch points: an end-of-book review page, an email follow-up, an ask in the signup funnel, and a later BookSprout invitation.

Episode details: published August 19, 2022 · 34:15 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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