Post a review for Island of Fog Box Set 1-3 and help make the next Box Set free!

Posted on December 8, 2018 (Subscribe to Blog)

Would you like Island of Fog Books 4-10 for free over the next couple of months?

This isn't a competition. I just need a favor in return -- a small favor from each of you that will make a massive difference to me (and therefore to you).

I'm talking about reviews.

The individual books already have plenty of reviews between them, each with an overall 4.5+ star rating. I'm very happy with that. But although the Island of Fog Box Sets contain the same books, Amazon sees them as different products, so I have to start from scratch with reviews. The first box set has just 5 reviews in the US right now. The first 4 were very nice, giving me an overall rating of 5 stars. You can't get better than that!

Then someone posted this:

Clearly, this is someone who likes the books enough to buy a paperback edition for her daughter as a Christmas present. But she accidentally bought the Kindle box set instead of a paperback -- a mistake on her part, and nothing to do with the stories or the product she received. Maybe she got her refund and bought the paperback in the end, but her review is still there.

This review caused the overall rating for that Box Set to drop from 5 stars to 3.8 stars:

When there's only 5 reviews in total, the impact of one negative review is huge.

Now, I don't have a problem with negative reviews per se. It just bothers me a little bit when people leave poor ratings for the wrong reasons. I realize reviews can be for a variety of things, so if a book is damaged in transit or formatted poorly or something like that, then a negative review is warranted. But to penalize the author because of a purchasing error just seems wrong. What do you think?

Maybe there's some confusion as to whether this is the print or Kindle edition...

The image for this Kindle book shows three 3D book covers that look like paperbacks. But frankly, ALL box sets on Amazon contain 3D images of the books even when they don't exist in reality. I questioned a large group of writers about this a while back, saying, "Isn't it misleading showing what look like print editions in a box set when they're really just ebooks?" However, literally everyone agreed that "studies suggest readers prefer to see 3D book covers in box sets" and that those kinds of images tend to sell more.

Maybe you'll tell me otherwise?

As a customer I'm usually very careful when I make my purchases, and I don't think I would ever mistake a Kindle book for a printed edition -- and besides, the box set shows THREE books, not one.

Anyway, since this negative review was posted, I've noticed a definite drop in sales, proving that reviews matter.

So, I'd like to ask all of you who have read and enjoyed Island of Fog to pop along to Amazon and post a review and rating on the Box Set. Your review is valid as long as you've read at least one of the books in that set. "Verified purchase" or not, readers will understand.

Click one of these links to go straight to the review page:

(Note: You can only leave reviews if you're logged into Amazon and meet their minimum order history. Naturally they want to make sure reviewers are verifiable Amazon customers.)

Remember, your review doesn't have to be more than a sentence or two. Quick and simple is fine.

So where do free Island of Fog books come into this?

Great question! Okay, so maybe you've downloaded and read Book 1 but not read Books 2 and 3. Or maybe you've read all three. Either way, you're qualified to review the first box set. This is where you can get the second box set for free.

Amazon doesn't allow authors to directly reward people for leaving reviews, and buying reviews is definitely against policy. But there's nothing to stop me from suggesting that if I can get 20 reviews of Island of Fog Box Set 1-3 in the next week, I'll be very tempted indeed to make the second box set free in time for Christmas.

So:

The goal: 20 reviews for Box Set 1-3 by December 15
Result: Box Set 4-5 will be free shortly afterward

After that, the same deal -- pour the reviews on for Box Set 4-5, and the third box set might just become available for free... and so on..

If you want to help, please go along to Amazon now. And email me afterward to let me know so I can identify which reviewer is you and thank you personally.

I appreciate you all!

Comment by GRAEME JENKS on Tuesday, December 11, 2018...

Review posted Keith!

I have to say I have never mistaken an ebook for a print or vice versa. It usually tells the buyer in the format section which I always check in Amazon as they sell many formats.

Could you not contact Amazon and have it removed since it is not a review of the product but a query on fixing an incorrect purchase?

All the best

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Tuesday, December 11, 2018...

Thank you Graeme!

I could contact Amazon, but I'm reluctant to rock the boat and have them sniffing around. Anyway, I now have 15 reviews on the US edition — 14 good ones, 1 poor one, and the rating is up to 4.6, which is great. In fact, it's almost more "realistic" somehow to have one bad one.

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