Colom Newbie

Knowing that any successful book must make use of online media to boost sales is one thing, but where do you start? If you are a writer or any other creative, a widely published review is one of the most logical methods of appraisal for your product. An online review can potentially be reflective of the high quality of your product, or it could expose any hidden blemishes.

An observation of market history shows that there are various correlations between product reviews and product sales - depending on the nature of the review and where and by whom it is written. A good review often boosts product sales and a bad one, has a respective effect. Let's take a moment to look at an example...

Written by David Mercer, "Building powerful and robust websites with Drupal 6" , is a comprehensive guide to using Drupal. With regards to sales, the title performed rather steadily upon its release and averaged a sales rank of approximately 1300 on Amazon for its first month. Later, on April 30th, Drupal received an 8/10 review on Slashdot.org by Michael J. Ross. Here are a few of the quotes that were pulled out the review...

"It [the book] provides a generous amount of information about Drupal, and discusses the material at an even pace that should not overwhelm even the most inexperienced programmer."

"...the book does an excellent job of covering all the important topics that would be of interest to beginning and intermediate Drupal programmers."

"The author clearly has a genuine passion for Drupal, and frequently encourages readers to contribute to the Drupal community and its growing body of knowledge. 'Building Powerful and Robust Websites With Drupal 6' is a comprehensive, approachable, and valuable guide to making the most of Drupal - easily recommendable."

So now that you know what the reviewers' comments were, have a look at the following RankTracer sales analysis for the mentioned period:

During the period of April 29th - May 3rd, an almost instantaneous "Slashdot effect" can be noted. Recall that the Slashdot review went up at the end of the 30th of April, this corresponds to a sharp drop in sales rank at the start of May 1st. A close viewing of the sales figures defines how the sales of the book were driven up and the sales rank down. It must be noted that while the sales rank only dropped by 2/3rds, the number of sales required to take a book from a rank of 1300 to 400 is far greater than taking a book from 100 000 to say 2000 even though the absolute drop in sales rank is far less.

It should also be noted that the estimated sales for this period, as determined by RankTracer, is 151 - no doubt with the bulk of these coming in the period of May 1st to May 3rd.

With the Slashdot effect in mind, it is safe to say that online reviews hold immense power, especially in relation to boosting sales. It is thus essential that your book receives good, honest reviews which are published as widely as possible and on the most respected, quality sites possible - this is fundamental to outshining competitors.

While being reviewed on Slashdot is up to the people at Slashdot, it is possible (and helpful) to write your own editorial reviews for your book or product and put them up on any number of different sites. Increasing the online visibility of your book is an important step in marketing and promoting it.