My mentor and colleague Ed Rivis has written 3 books, and his first one gained him a 5 star rating on Amazon. (The other 2 have had 4.5 star ratings.) This has not happened overnight, and the material he publishes is of high quality – he is an expert in what he writes about – but you can’t help but be impressed with such a high rating.
And this process hasn’t been difficult.
Okay, so his first book took him a while to write, but that was down to not having accountability and a firm plan in place, so it kept getting pushed down the ‘to do’ list. However, as soon as he reinstated these – and got a book coach on board, (who helped him with his planning) it got finished and out into the world within 3 months.
And almost like children, the second one wasn’t long to follow! ‘Email Marketing Dynamite’ was quickly produced within 2 months, and then ‘Massive Traffic’ which took just a week! Once you’ve written your first book, the others follow instinctively. This is because the seemingly complicated process is de-mythed and strategies are implemented to make the process easy.
As Ed says himself…
“I know it sounds like a cliché, but becoming an author has changed my life.
In 2003 I was just another ‘web developer’ churning out website for whatever clients were willing to pay. They were forcing me to compete on price with other web design agencies in my local region of North Yorkshire and it was tough winning jobs.
However once my book appeared on Amazon, all of a sudden I found that people were coming to me, rather than the other way round. They were asking if I would kindly develop them a website, and although I won’t say they had an open chequebook, I would certainly say it changed the way they spoke to me. They understood, just by the simple fact that I had a book – a 5 star rated book on Amazon – that I was an expert and they presumed my pricing would reflect that fact.
Once my first book was written (incidentally I used a book coach to help me, as my first draft kept being left ‘on the shelf’) and with her help, it became a well thought out book, containing great advice and help – and once it got into the hands of prospects – reviews were naturally left on Amazon. You can of course go one step further, and ask for your readers to leave reviews, but you should do so carefully. Don’t ask for ‘good’ reviews – ask for their honest opinion, and secondly, if you are going to ask a group of people, then stagger the requests.
One issue I had with my second book – Email Marketing Dynamite – one person didn’t believe the reviews that were left about that book (there were about 30 or so, all in a space of a few days) instead he thought I had written them, which obviously wasn’t true. So do be careful in your strategy of obtaining reviews for your book.
Having a 5 star rating on my book, does indeed compel people’s belief that I am an expert. If you can at least say you are an Amazon 4 star rated author, or Amazon 5 star rated author, that’s obviously going to give you kudos in the minds of your targeted audience.”
Hopefully you can now see why this accolade could really help you achieve the kudos associated with being available on sites like Amazon.
Feel like you need help, or perhaps you don’t know where to start? Why not get in touch. Just fill in the comment box below, or head over to my coaching page and fill out an enquiry form.
I’ve helped over a dozen business owners (including Ed!) get their books onto Amazon and I could help get your book on there too. Just get in touch, and we can have a quick chat on how I can help YOU get your book written and onto Amazon in less time than you think!