Interesting! When anyone goes to the Amazon Forum and questions ‘why’ selling/marketing (their) books is so incredibly difficult, immediately those making money (largely from self-help books it seems) rise to the defense of Amazon self-publishing. Perhaps some of that defense is justified and the ‘advice to create a series and give away the first book in the series’ may be good advice. However, I am 83 years old and I don’t have time to create a series. My individual circumstances are of no difference to anyone….but, Amazon’s willingness (if not eagerness) to accept the ‘less than acceptable’ books, (perhaps knowing the writers of those books in utter futility ‘buy ads’) and make books readily available for free helping to defeat those of us who would like to (mindlessly) make a bit more in royalty than it costs to sell (ads) the book. So, it seems that simply writing a good book is the easy part. Marketing the book is the wall….and without extraordinarily good fortune…hitting it is inevitable. I believe that if Tom Sawyer’ was written today it would fall into the abyss of Amazon and disappear.

Logic should dictate that if we sell books, Amazon benefits as well as the writers. Isn’t that what their business is all about, after all? Selling our products?

I’m starting to suspect that the reason they make it so difficult is so that we’ll spend more on ads; that Amazon is primarily an advertising agency and the commissions are just cream to them. It seems the last thing they want is for us to sell without spending a small fortune on advertising.

Hey Martin, Yes it’s a common issue to have a hard time getting reviews on Amazon. You basically have to hope that your readers have purchased enough other items before your book that they are eligible to leave a review. It’s always a great idea to ask for reviews in your book’s back matter, and, if you have any email addresses of your readers, you can email to ask that they review your book.