How important is a review? In today’s publishing world, especially on Amazon.com and its international sites, a good review (four or five stars) is worth quite a bit. Dozens of them are priceless.
Shock Totem does most of its sales—nearly 400 a month and rising—through Amazon. The bulk of which are digital sales. That’s a great thing, particularly for our authors. Readers are their lifeblood. Ours as well, but while readers keep us afloat on a pride level, we need revenue to sustain us for years to come. Priced at $0.99 (the magazine) and $2.99 (The Wicked), four hundred digital sales comes out to, roughly, $150 a month. We’ll take it. There was a time, after all, when we were making much less.
But each of our issues costs around $1,500 to produce. Upfront, out of pocket. As any business owner will tell you, we’d love to pay for an entire issue using profit from sales. Self-sustaining. That’s the goal.
Now, this post isn’t intended to come off so oh-woe-is-me. We knew all of this going in, and we’re committed to continuing to produce quality fiction in our magazine and other products. But you can help us. Greatly, in fact.
The debut issue of Shock Totem is our biggest seller. Thus far in August, it’s outselling all of our other releases three to one. This is typical for every month. On Amazon, where it matters most, our debut has 21 reviews. That’s twelve more than the closest second, which is issue #2, with nine reviews.
Why does this matter? Because Amazon has a ranking algorithm, among other things, that helps authors sell books. One of the biggest theories, and it’s a good one, is that the more four- and five-star reviews a book has, the more it is shown to potential buyers.
Again, our debut issue has at least a dozen more reviews than any of our other books. Signs point to Yes, the algorithm is real.
So how can you help? By posting reviews of our work. They don’t have to be long or have literary flair; they just need to be honest. (And preferably four or five stars.)
The more our sales increase, the longer we’ll be around. When so many publications are using Kickstarter to fund their projects, we’d like to earn people’s money. So if you’d be so kind, please consider reviewing anything of ours that you have read. We’d be very grateful.
In parting, and this applies to not just our books but any book, please note the difference in ratings between sites.
Three stars on Goodreads is not the same as three stars on Amazon. (There is another theory that any review given with less than four stars on Amazon seriously impacts a book’s rankings—kicks it right into the gutter, in fact. Again, this is a theory, but based on authors’ experience, it’s a good one.) For instance, a two-star review on Goodreads should be a three-star review on Amazon, as both mean it was “okay.” Therefore, a three-star review on Goodreads should be a four-star review on Amazon, which helps the author quite a deal more. Again, in theory.
And finally, thank you! This month marks the four-year anniversary of when John, Nick, and I started Shock Totem. It’s been a hell of a ride so far. Help us keep the wheels on!
I’ve posted 5-star reviews for ST #2 and 3. Nothing fancy, just my honest opinion. Hope it helps!
Thank you, sir. Very much appreciated! =)
Interesting comments about the ranking algorithm and the effect it can have. I’ll share this post around.
For some reason I feel like I’ve seen the issues priced at $2.99 previously, but if not, have you considered doing that to capitalize on the 70% royalty? Each issue has enough content to justify the cost. Plus, you could always run special promotions where you make the issues 99 cents. Just a thought.
At one time, yeah, they were $2.99. We made money, but sold less copies. Maybe I was impatient and those sales would have continued to increase. Not sure. I’ve thought about raising the price again, but I’m torn. What’s more important, less sales and more money, or more sales and (possibly) less money?
I could argue for each. Yes, we’re a business so profit is very important, but we also started with the desire to promote and support small-press authors. There’s a bit of altruism in that. Which of course rarely mixes well with business. Haha.
I don’t mind pricing the magazine at 99 cents, though. It’s done well. With a little help from our readers, I think we can make enough money through sales to fund each issue.
Or maybe it’s time we turn ourselves into an antho-mill and churn out shitty anthologies and half-assed reprints. BIG DOLLAZ!
“Or maybe it’s time we turn ourselves into an antho-mill and churn out shitty anthologies and half-ass reprints. BIG DOLLAZ!”
Ha! Not that you’d ever do that but if you did I would kick you in the balls.
Haha. Noted.
Thanks for those reviews, Lee. Really appreciate it.
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Four years! That’s crazy. Congratulations!
I will gladly share this post with the world. It’s so important, and I’ve found that there are those who just patently don’t understand. I always put a “please leave a review” request in the back of my books, but recently I got a complaint about doing so from a reader (of a free download, no less). Obviously the mysteries of Amazon need to continue to be espoused to Readerdom. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. A review takes only moments of one’s time. Maybe there should be a monthly “leave a review day” or something.
There are sites that give certain reviewers more weight (like Yelp’s Elites), but Amazon has a pretty good system already in place. You have an upvote/downvote option with the “was this review helpful to you?” and you also have the ability to comment directly to the review. Bad reviews from idiot readers typically get bumped down by the fans.