The Truth about review swaps is a touchy subject around most indie authors. There are a lot of misunderstandings as well as would-be ‘gurus’ spouting off misinformation. So in today’s video, I’m going to share the truth about review swaps as well as give you one of my top book marketing secrets. So stick around.
Be sure to stick around to the end of the post because I have a huge announcement that I can’t wait to share with you, but first.
Nothing irritates me more than when someone who is looked at as an authority in an industry, such as self publishing books and they take advantage of their viewers by spouting off KNOWINGLY WRONG information.
Now I’m not talking about making a simple mistake. After all, we’re all human and we all make mistakes. What I’m talking about is people who blatantly lie to their viewers, teaching them the wrong way to do things, knowing that it could get their accounts closed down by KDP.
That said, I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus, instead, I’m going to make sure that I give you, my amazing viewers the truth about review swaps.
And Remember to stick around to the end for the big announcement I have.
Just so we’re all on the same page, let me explain what are book review swaps.
Simply put, a review swap is when one author reaches out to another author and they agree to review each other’s books. This is similar to the whole sub for sub tactic here on YouTube.
So, are review swaps legal? Now I’m not a lawyer but as far as I know, from a legal standpoint, yes, review swaps are legal. That said, that doesn’t mean that doing a review trade is fair.
With how review swaps work, it’s just as unfair as having a relative or friend leave you a book review. They will most likely give a glowing review, even if it doesn’t necessarily deserve it.
So, while it may not be against the law to do a book review trade, if you’re self publishing on amazon, it definitely goes against their Terms of Service.
The truth is, it’s not so much that another author reviewed your book, it’s the fact that as far as amazon is concerned, you’re misleading their customers. When they read the glowing review in your customer review section, they can’t tell if that person is a normal customer, your sister or another author. So, of course, they’ll assume it’s just another customer. Again, misleading.
Does this mean you can’t have another author read and review your book? Absolutely not!
In fact, one of my top book marketing secrets that helps me sell more books is to use those author reviews as Editorial Reviews on my books sales page. In the Editorial Review, I include the authors name AND the name of one of the books they’ve written. This is something that is actually suggested by KDP when you’re self-publishing on Amazon.
If you need help setting up Editorial Reviews, check out this video right here.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the big announcement. The self-publishing course that helped me quadruple my profits, just announced that they’re now offering monthly subscriptions for less than $10 a month. Start whenever, cancel anytime. Check it out by going to: http://kwheelerbooks.com/pubcourse