The Unknown Author's Ultimate Guide to Getting Amazon Reviews

Short & sweet (booklet rather than book, really), does what it says it'll do. And I know it works, because the system is how this review came about. (I could see that I was being worked from first contact, but it was charming enough that I didn't care!)

That being said, the system is quite limited in terms of *how* to do it--it uses very specific tools, without equal time for those of us who might use other tools. I wish it had had sections that addressed other common tools.

I also wonder if the reviewer responses will diminish once reviewers get used to receiving these emails--or are inundated with authors trying it out. If I could see the pattern of form letter with clever inserts upon first receipt, you can be sure they're going to pick up on it after a dozen.

And finally, this system truly does rely heavily on the person at the keyboard. The author pulls it off with aplomb, but many of us are keyboard hermits because we, er, rather lack that same aplomb.

Nonetheless, the booklet does outline a clever and entirely inoffensive, legitimate way to encourage reviews, and I think there are points of interest even if you don't dive into the whole system. I'm glad I had the chance to read it. (Obviously, I received a free/reduced price copy of this book with no obligation to post a review.)

As a general rule, 3 stars is typically my minimum rating when an author is generous enough to give his book away for free. But in this case, I feel a little snookered and went below my minimum.

I understand how difficult it is to plan, write, and publish a book. But that said, I wouldn't be able to recommend this book to someone I care about. This book didn't provide valuable content. Sadly, Book Review Bonzai is an example of the adage you get what you pay for.

I've found more valuable content with a google search and free webinars by Alinka Rutkowska. This book is written like he was afraid to give away his best stuff or revealing too much. The ultimate purpose of the book was to convert readers to buys of his course. Jason missed the mark. For an example of authors who provide excellent content and still convert readers to students masterfully, he'd be wise to check out Michael Hyatt's Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World or Jeff Walker's Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams.

Jason tries to entice people to purchase his book by holding back the good stuff. Michael and Jeff use their books to establish their authority and credibility. After reading Michael's and Jeff's books, you want to learn from them because you know they're experts. See the distinction?

I feel a little better about my review because it still counts towards his book's review total.

As an indie author, how do you get your book into the hands of as many people as possible? With book reviews. This book will show you how to use a laser-focused, in-depth technique to accomplish that one aspect of your book promotion: getting those coveted reviews. And you don’t have to be a first-time author to use the technique; it will work for any author who wants to increase their number of reviews.

Although written with humor and levity, the author is very sincere and gives examples from his personal experience. Aside from his priceless advice on how to garner reviews for your book, he also gives us a lesson on how to write a book: with no editing errors, hyperlinked chapters, footnotes, a review request at the end, e-course signup link, email signup link, links to other books by the author, and testimonials. Flawless!

Be warned, this system is not an easy fix; you will need to put in some effort. But, tell you what ... it worked on me. I replied to Jason's review request email in less than five hours!

Don't forget to check out the e-course! As the author states, "I want to make it even easier. I want to show you exactly how to do it all click by click. That’s what I’ve done in the Book Review Banzai e-course. The e-course is loaded with content and bonuses designed to make your banzai as easy and successful as possible. Instructional videos. Swipe copy. Email templates. Resource guides. Checklists. It’s all included in the e-course."

I received this book in return for an honest review.

I was asked to read this book pre-publication by the author in exchange for an honest review and have received no payment or incentive.

Reviews are marketing tools that are necessary if your books are to sell and extend their shelf life beyond a few weeks. As an Indie author I am well aware of the challenges that we all face in a competitive market place without a substantial budget. There was barely any Internet book marketing when I started 18 years ago with my first book; but thankfully today there is as much opportunity for exposure as any mainstream author, and it does not have to cost you any money, just time.

There are two factors about this book which I feel are important to comment on. The first is the identification that time and effort spent on marketing your book is key. Also, within that, is the necessity to persevere with the focus on the book for an extended period of time, not just for the few weeks pre and post publication. In the book Jason Ladd shares the various strategies you can employ to keep your book in the spotlight as long as possible, and across as wide an audience as possible.

This leads me onto the second factor that I feel should be highlighted. There are some technical aspects to these strategies that not all of us are going to be entirely comfortable with. However, if you as an Indie author, have completed the self-publishing processes that have enabled you to upload your book to the store in the first place, you should not find installing and utilising the suggested applications a problem. For those of you who are not as technically inclined, then you can still apply most of the suggested marketing programmes manually, by spending additional time and effort on the process.

The main concept of the book is identifying and contacting book reviewers for your particular genre in substantial numbers. Without, I might add, spamming or contravening the various website's code of ethics. Jason Ladd walks you through how to accomplish this in detail.

If you feel that the book itself has not given you sufficient confidence to tackle the project of obtaining substantial reviews for your book, you can sign up for an E-course that will take you through it step by step. This book is obviously an introduction to that course and details of how you can sign up for that are in the book.

It is a short read at 50 pages, but I do think that every Indie author will take away something positive that they can apply to their own book marketing. The main one being that a shotgun approach to marketing is not effective and that it needs to be a well-planned and genre focused extended process.

Personally having read the book, I will be starting my mailing list for book reviewers for the genres my books fall into, and will apply the strategies for my next book. At the end of the day it will only cost me time and effort and might yield far greater rewards than I have so far encountered.

Well, the scheme must work because I received an email about this book when it was free and am now posting a review!

As an independent author, I know how difficult it is to find readers to review my work, and that is one of the reasons I am a reviewer, too; especially for other independent authors who need the support.

This book is packed with a vast amount of information, which is relevant and inspiring. The style of writing is fast-paced and easy to follow with touches of humour.

I am definitely going to try some of these ideas, although, maybe the more technical stuff will take me a while to understand. Using Excel is a great idea to note down lists of book bloggers and to include personal info.

Let's hope it works for me, as I am about to launch my twenty-sixth book and would love to have recognition at last. Fingers crossed (after I typed all those emails) ;)

Oh yes, I only found one typo...you instead of your - those dratted gremlins!

Recommended tool for authors struggling to find reviews for their hard work.

It was interesting reading this book. I have been reviewing books for over a dozen years now. I have written reviews for 7 publications, and almost 1500 book reviews on my own site or on the store. I have been approached by numerous authors and publishers about reading books and then reviewing them. This book gave me a lot of insight into the indie author, or author trying to gain some traction. I have also had the privilege of working with a few new authors. I believe they would benefit from this book.

Jason writes from a place of personal experience. Launching his first book, and then learning how to do it better and relaunching it. He learned what it took to get on book promotions and how to gain traction as a new author. He lays out very clean plans of what will work and how to work the system. He also is very adamant about sticking to the rules of the different marketing and sales organizations that publishers will use.

It will be a good tool for new authors or authors wishing to extend their influence.

Book Review Banzai does exactly what it claims to do. It is short and to the point. The publishing industry has changed, and writers need to know how to market their books in this new paradigm. Book Review Banzai precisely targets one important area of modern book marketing: how to get reviews.
While reading this book I realised that I had already, independently, come up with the same intentions as the author in order to achieve my own marketing goals. However, Jason has managed to automate the process to a large extent using free tools that are available online. It's a method that anyone who is reasonably computer literate could use. I would have given this book 5 stars if the technical instructions had been a bit more detailed.
There is a lot more than this to book marketing - but what Jason has provided will give you a BIG step up.

When I first opened the book, I honestly thought; "here we go again, another this book will tell you all the secrets of book publishing," and wasn't really expecting much. Once I dug into it however, I changed my mind. The book gave concise information on how to obtain reviews, and still remain in the store as well as other online blogs good graces. It was organized so that the reader/author can go to the information they need at the point in the publishing process where they need it. As a newer author, reviews seem to be the elusive 'golden ring', but are so necessary for readers to find you. This gives an almost perfect formula for doing just that. I would recommend this book to not only new authors, but any author in need of reviews for their works.

"I received a free/reduced price copy of this book with no obligation to post a review."

It had some interesting ideas on promoting your book that I never thought of before. The first few chapters described me to a T. The poor, unknown, indie author that can't even get his own mother to read his book, never mind write a book review (not that the store allows that anyways). I loved the way Jason writes. He got me all excited about getting into book promotion--which I normally hate. The one disclaimer would be the size. At 55 pages, it's a very short book. I could have used a lot more info on getting email contacts. The technique of using GMass could be especially helpful but only if I have the email contacts. Is there anything like GMass for other social media like Twitter and Facebook?
Flight of the Cosmonaut

Book Review Banzai is an engagingly written approach for helping authors to garner numerous the store reviews for their books. Jason’s technique combines a strategic use of automation with a thoughtful attempt at personalization. After reading how Banzai works, it became immediately clear that this was the technique Jason had used to draw me into his circle. Not only did I agree to write a review for Jason, but the process did indeed create a very real connection.

While I am definitely planning to try Jason’s technique, one comment I do have is that his explanations of how to get the automated aspect of Banzai up and running is sometimes confusing. Also, his explanation for how to use Excel was very much focused on the Apple version of Excel. The controls are not the same for a PC machine. Having said all this, I give Jason high marks for his resourcefulness in coming up with a method that produces results, and helps create a genuine sense of community among bloggers and indie authors.

I received a free/reduced price copy of this book with no obligation to post a review.

Book Review Banzai: The Unknown Author's Ultimate Guide to Getting the store Reviews is written in a very engaging way, one that often made me smile while at the same time nodding and thinking "he's absolutely right!".
I have never published a book before, even though I've had several ideas laying around half-written for years. But if I ever come to the point where I decide to be organized enough (and brave enough) to publish something, Book Review Banzai will be my go-to guide for the launch strategy. Because if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right - both successfully and ethically.
In Book Review Banzai all the tools available to improve authors chances to get reviews are described in detail but also in a way you can easily grasp. And if writing is not your goal in life and you just love reading (like me, at least for now), this is still a great book to get an insight of how the publishing business really works today and the difficulties new authors face.
And hopefully you will also understand the importance of reviewing all the books you read, even if a couple of lines are all you have to say - an honest review will help both author and future readers alike.
Book Review Banzai dwells on book reviews (obviously) but in my opinion it also goes a bit beyond that because it shows that if you really want something and you're willing to work for it, you'll find a way. There may be no quick fixes - not for publishing books, apparently - nor, as I see it, for anything else in life. But commitment and hard work will get you there. And in this case, if your problem is publishing a book, Book Review Banzai is already saving you a lot of effort by pointing you in the right direction.
Overall, Book Review Banzai is interesting, quick and easy to read and goes straight to the point - all great qualities. Five stars.
I was provided for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been in the industry for some time, and I knew reviews were important in selling your book. The author again pointed this out to me, and it finally clicked that it wasn't going to be a magic pill. If I want reviews, I'm going to have to work for it(with his way or any other way), just like everything else in life. Yes, I can pay for review blogs, but that can add up pretty quickly. He does give some very concise information about achieving reviews. I'm somewhat techno, so I was able to understand much of the information, but several parts were lacking in my opinion.

The downside and something that bothered me a bit, probably because I'm not a big seller is that, he was trying to upsale for his e-course at the end of his book.

If you're a relatively unknown author, you know how difficult it is to get reviews for your book. Maybe you've done some research and have an idea where to start: book blogger lists, the store top reviewers, etc. But in his book, Book Review Banzai, Jason has done the research for you. It lays it all out in a step-by-step approach, describing in detail how to use spreadsheets, data extraction tools, and mass e-mailers to send personalized requests for book reviews to the people who want to read and review your book. Learn how to extract and compile names and email addresses and add a personal touch to each email, and then contact hundreds--even thousands--of reviewers with the click of your mouse. This is hands-down the best book on anyone looking to get more reviews for their books. You need to read it.

Easy to read but packed with information. As an author who struggles like every other with how to get the word out, I appreciated how Ladd has written a fabulous how-to book that provides easy-to-follow instructions on finding those elusive reviews. While he doesn't promise the process is easy (it's work, after all, to find just the right reviewers), he does offer steps to make it as painless as possible. Highly recommend to all "unknown authors" who are looking to take their books to the next level.

A thorough guide on getting reviews for authors.
It takes hard work. This isn't an easy work-free book, you have to put the time and effort in.
But if you are serious about your career as an author and want to get more customer and blogger reviews - this is it.
I used the strategies laid out in this guide and received a few reviews for one of my novels.
Like all things, it doesn't work for everyone. But you've gotta start somewhere.

A widely held view in the book publishing world is that book reviews help to sell books. In the case of self or ‘indie’ publications, this is even more so the case as mainstream publishers have both the budgets and access to promotional and publicity outlets that are less available to self-published writers.

‘Book Review Banzai’ is a valuable guide for writers keen to get the store book reviews and boost their book sales. The rather elusive (at least to me) title comes from the Japanese word ‘banzai’ meaning ‘for the next 10,000 years’, with a link to a ‘charge or ‘attack’ - so that’s what the book advocates; a full-scale military style campaign to obtain book reviews (of course, the quality and content of your book will determine the quality of such reviews! Crap books equals…).

The guidance in this book is written in a clear and punchy, ‘no-nonsense’ style (I mean, Ladd is a marine!) and if followed will lead to more reviews and thus sales growth. However, I don’t think it is for the faint-hearted and in fairness Ladd makes this clear. He writes about his approach: ‘It’s time. It’s work. It’s effort. But it works…That means you’re not afraid to roll up your sleeves and get to work.’ He also stresses the importance of its inbuilt adherence to spam-avoidance and the store’s Terms of Service.

I intend using Ladd’s techniques to swell my own reviews but I might shortcut some of the more technical stuff (probably to my detriment). I found some of the ‘techie’ detail about spreadsheet analysis and extraction of data a bit off-putting but the principles behind his ‘five steps’ technique make a lot of sense.

For anyone seeking to get many more book reviews, influence their the store ranking algorithm and ultimately sell more books, I strongly recommend Jason B. Ladd’s Book Review Banzai.

I received an advance free copy with no obligation to give a book review.

The author is a good writer and makes one want to read more even though it is kind of a technical topic. I appreciated how he mixed in humor and examples throughout the book. I imagine Ladd's method would work if one was dedicated to the process (hey, it worked on me). I would easily recommend this book if one was looking for the store reviews.

On a small note I like the name of the book too... Banzai!

It has the indie author situation down in the opening chapters: he lists off all the trouble any indie author has faced trying to get their book noticed, so he absolutely knows his audience.

It also takes about the first half of the book simply building up to the actual technique he keeps mentioning over and over. Gives the feeling that I'm being sold on a book I already bought, and I kept wishing he'd get to the point already. At least he's explaining the situation from every possible angle before settling in I guess.

I haven't tried any of these techniques yet, so I don't know if they work first hand, but the book is encouraging if nothing else.

The Banzai program is a very organized and direct in telling an Author what he/she needs to do in order to obtain dozens if not hundreds of reviews; it just depends on how far you want to take it. Jason Ladd has really done his home work and research in this area of marketing. I also have watched some of his videos and he is a master when it comes to working with Excel. If you invest in his Apprentice Package, it won't be long before you will want to upgrade to the Samurai or the ultimate Shogun Master Course.

The book offers valuable advice on how to solicit reviews: specifically, target your reviewers and personalize your pitch. The technical jargon was above my head and I don't think I have the skill to internalize and apply it. But this looks like a valuable book for those who are computer literate and determined to learn new techniques.

The 300 reviews I managed to accumulate for my HOW I SOLD 80,000 BOOKS: Book Marketing for Authors (Self Publishing through the store and Other Retailers) might seem like a lot but I'm positive I can add another 300 using the review banzai method.

One of the cardinal sins I see new authors make is to promote their books without any reviews, that's such a waste of resources. Those authors who do understand the importance of customer reviews struggle at finding viable ways to get them.

Jason Ladd's high integrity approach and fun writing style will arm you with a strategy that will allow you to get a respectable number of reviews - if you're willing to put in the effort (or have someone on your team - like a Virtual Assistant - who will support you).

Go for it!

This is by no means a silver bullet for getting a lot of reviews. Reaching out to reviewers and book bloggers takes time and commitment to do right. Jason Ladd lays out a very sensible system for making the most of your time. You still have to work, but by following his process you will be 10X more effective.

An informative book, filled with useful tips on how to punch up your book sales by acquiring a large volume of reviews. Jason B. Ladd takes you through the steps and illustrates each in clear and concise language that ultimately makes it easy to memorize the process. Some of these tips I have seen in other places, and some I have used on my own novels and such. The thing is, as with most DYI initiatives, this is a hands on process that requires time and diligent application. To achieve the desired results, you have to work for it. Even with tips as concise as these, not much will happen if you give it a lick and a promise.

Book Review Banzai was an enjoyable read as well as highly informative on the subject of receiving more reviews. The author walks you through the process and the process really works for receiving more reviews on your own products. I highly recommend reading this book to enhance your reviews which in turn helps your personal publicity.

Really enjoyed the great info and fresh take on getting book reviews in this book. Valuable info for new authors and authors needing more reviews.

I received a free/reduced price copy of this book with no obligation to post a review

So, it all seems very logical, and is a useful approach with appropriate tools. I'm going to try putting it into practice and see how it goes. If I have a concern, it's that this is only part of the picture and you need to purchase the course to get the rest. No way to tell until I try it though. If you're in KU and an indie author, it's a no brainer - give it a read!

I thought this was going to be a lot of fluff, but it's actually packed with a lot of technical (and actionable) info on setting up a system using several pieces of free or inexpensive software. It's basically a guide to putting your 'get book reviews' system on digital steroids. I look forward to trying it out.

PS - It's also well-written, relatively short, and concise.

I'd like to give it a 3.5. As a techno dinosaur, some of the computer suggestions went over my head. Also, it took a while, 25% of the book, to get to the actual steps of getting reviews. That said, it seems a system that could work not just for getting reviews but for finding customers or clients when starting a new business of any kind.

I've got to tell you, I really enjoyed Book Review Banzai. It's easy for new authors to get lost in the marketing process, not knowing what to do next or how to make people aware of a book they may have spent years writing. With Marine-like efficiency, Jason provides clear instructions on how to get over a major hurdle in the marking effort - getting reviewers to read and comment on their works. I will be using Book Review Banzai to enhance my marketing efforts. Thanks Jason!

For indie authors getting book reviews can be time consuming and frustrating. What the author lays out in this book is a systematic method of boosting your chances of achieving those all important few lines that, when accumulated, can be the difference between success and failure. While Jason's approach is somewhat techy, none of the technology he suggests is overly daunting and can be learned regular usage. A worthwhile read for self-publish authors.

I just finished reading Jason Ladd's book, and it is definitely something to have at your elbow when you are ready to begin marketing your book. Well written, interesting, and factual, Jason tells you exactly how to gain reviews, which will increase your book sales.

Ladd's book is not only helpful for writers seeking reviews, this is an interesting and well-written book laid out in such a way as to make it delight to read and follow. And Ladd teaches you a method for keeping track of your efforts. --Pat Frayne, award-winning author of Topaz and the Green Fairies

This book does not show you how to get instant reviews without doing anything for them, but, if you are prepared to put in a good deal of work to obtain reviews, it certainly shows the way. The author's technique certainly worked on me!