Thursday 29 May 2014

Amazon Reviews



I have been very intrigued by the thought that the Angel Mountain Saga now has total sales well over 70,000 (around 35,000 for "On Angel Mountain" alone) but has very few customer reviews on Amazon.  So what does this tell us about me, the books, or Amazon?

Well, for a start, it shows that there are obviously people out there who like the books enough to want to buy them.  Secondly, the level of sales shows that there is a relatively buoyant book market in West Wales, where the books are set, since this is inevitably where most of my marketing effort is concentrated.  And thirdly, it tells us that very few of my readers are getting their copies of the books from Amazon -- so most are buying physical copies of the books (rather than Kindle versions) from bookshops and other trade outlets.  That's nice -- the power of Amazon is being resisted........ and it clearly does not yet dominate everything!

That having been said, I do supply Amazon with books on a pretty regular basis -- one or two orders a week, usually for very small quantities.  I make no money out of these sales -- their discounts demanded are so high, and the postal costs are so high, that having sent off an order there is no margin left for a small publisher like me.

So I use the Amazon web site as an advertising medium, and there is no doubt that it is very good at informing readers what a book is about and encouraging a purchase.  Amazon customers can literally do it with one click of the mouse these days.......

Bottom line -- I need more customer reviews!  So if anybody likes a particular book enough, and is happy to spend a few moments putting a brief (or long!) review onto Amazon.co.uk, I'd be very grateful indeed!  Whether we like it or not, one of the things which gets books moving is the number of reviews featured on Amazon, and the average rating given to a book by readers.  So even if you didn't buy your copy of the book from Amazon, please post up a review, or two, or three.......  or do it on Goodreads instead.

Thank you!

Here are the direct links through to the Amazon web site, for all 8 of the novels:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Mountain-Vol-Saga/dp/0905559800
http://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559819
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Angel-Part-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559827
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebecca-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559835
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flying-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559843
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardian-Angel-Vol-Mountain-Saga/dp/090555986X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacrifice-Tale-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559908
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conspiracy-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559932

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