When I was writing my first ebook, I wondered “How can I get some good ratings on my book?” So I did some research, and this is what I found.
Here is the short answer:
The best way to get good ratings for your ebook is to simply ask them at the end of the book. Also try and have good content and encourage people you know to rate it. Promoting your ebook also works.
Yes, it really is that simple. Just ask. But if you want some tips on other ways and how to actually make your book good, read on!
Why are good ratings important?
Having good ratings is incredibly important for your ebook’s success. Having a healthy Amazon page requires at least some good reviews.
Having good ratings means that people trust your book more. Therefore your conversion rate (the number of sales per views) is higher, so you get more sales. More sales gives you more ratings and higher rankings, and so on.
It becomes an endless cycle of ratings and sales. It’s a little bit like extra free marketing, and after you’ve set everything up, you don’t need to do anything extra.
It can sometimes be the key to success for an ebook.
So we’ve established why you should have good reviews, but how can we get better reviews?
What are some different ways to get good ratings?
There’s a multitude of different ways you can do this, so I can’t list them all. Here’s a few different ways that you can (hopefully) get some extra positive ratings on your ebook:
1. Ask. Asking at the end of your book makes it more likely that a reader will do so. If it doesn’t feel like it, you’re wrong, as data has shown that people prompted to do something such as reviewing, subscribing, following, liking, etc. are twice as likely to do so compared to those that aren’t asked to do so. So even the data is telling you to ask your readers. Don’t be shy!
2. Encourage those you know to rate your ebook. Your friends and family can be vital for your reviews, as they can start your book’s journey to success. With no reviews, you are unlikely to get any sales. And then you get no reviews. So all you need to start off the process is a few people to give it a good rating. And guess who is perfect for that job? Your family members!
3. Have a good ebook. If you think about it for more than two seconds, you have probably thought of this one. You need to have good content. This is much easier said than done. Most people, probably including you, have a half-decent ebook, but it usually isn’t much better than that. Get the most honest person that you know and get them to tell you how good it actually is. Also, below are some tips to make any ebook better.
4. Promote your ebook. If you have more sales, you’ll get more ratings, right? Therefore, just doing a little bit of promotion when you launch the ebook will make a huge difference to your ratings. More ratings makes your ebook far more trustworthy, even if the actual star score suffers a little.
There are many more ways that you can do this, but these are the ones that give you the best bang for your time. After all, you don’t want to spend ages on this with no results.
How can I make better content?
There are, mainly, about three different ways to make your book better. Here they are:
1. Don’t use AI. AI usually created low quality contect made from other content it found on the internet and in its database. It has real difficulty trying to make anything new. So if your customers are only hearing things they can find on the internet (and probably already know) then you are not going to get any positive reviews.
2. Edit your book. This includes both line edits and deep edits. Line edits are just changing words to make it sound better, while deep edits are when you move around the storyline to make it more easily understood.
3. Add other forms of media. Adding images and icons can make your point clearer and decorste the page. Add page numbers for easy page-finding.
Overall, a better ebook almost always gets better reviews, as that’s literally what the system is designed for. Amazon wants for your ebook’s reviews to mirror how good it is.
How to get people you know to rate your book
Here’s a good tip for you: just get on with it. You may think that it’s embarrassing, or that they’d certainly say no, but you’ll find that even strangers are usually willing to give you a bit of help.
Here’s the gameplan:
1. Put the link on WhatsApp (or your preferred messaging app). Send it on your chats with a short description of what it is. Try to add some intrigue. You could also try putting it on your status (it worked for me).
2. Answer their questions, even if you find them embarrassing. Some might be rude, but take no notice if they are particularly mean about it. Hopefully they won’t, because they are your family and friends.
3. Ask them for some feedback about it. Try to get everyone who downloaded it to do it because it also means that they will read the ebook.
4. After they have given you some feedback, you can do one of two things. Either, you can ask them all to put their feedback as a review, or (if you want more positive reviews), you can DM just the ones that answered particulary positively to your question.
This approach usually means that you’ll at least get a few reviews. If you only ask the positive ones, you’ll probably have five stars reviews all round, but you may have less reviews total. Also, if you have too many 5 star reviews with no other reviews, it can look fake.
Thanks for reading this, and enjoy your day!