Book Agreement Seal
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NEWSFLASH: I've also published a shorter version of this article to medium.com! Please support me by adding a "clap" at: Using a Book Agreement Seal to get more Amazon Book Reviews |
A Book Agreement Seal is a sticker or a simple sleeve of paper stuck over your book that makes some request of the reader ahead of them breaking the seal to read your book. If you love gifting copies of your books but are frustrated that almost nobody leaves you reviews, consider adding a book agreement seal (around the book) and a little insert book (inside the book) to encourage and remind people, respectively. I came up with this idea in 2023 and it's already helped, hence I'm documenting the process.
Backstory
So I absolutely love self-publishing books and gifting away copies to friends and community members without asking for anything in return. While this has brought me great joy, in 2023, a friend suggested that I was foolish to gift away something of value for nothing. More importantly, I was shocked and a little let down when I realized that from the thousands of books I had gifted, I had very few of my friends leave reviews.
It's not that my friend are not great. They are! But you friends won't just randomly feel complelled to write you an Amazon review unless (a) you ask for it in a strong way and (b) you follow up in good fashion.
People especially have loved Limitless Questions, which I published with my friend Ann, and yet for probably >700 copies gifted away we only had 7 reviews. Ouch! Often when I gift books away, I lightly say a review would be helpful, and when I publish a book I post to Facebook to ask for reviews... but this is not enough. I spoke to others and they say <1% is a fairly normal "conversion" for reviews, and if for $10,000s of books I've gifted away, I really wanted reviews I should probably be a little stronger in my approach. Why? Well, people might intend to write a review, but they will usually forget. If you want reviews you have to really chase them down. In July 2023 it occured to me that I needed something special to be printed around every book I gift away. I came up with the "Book Agreement Seal".
A Book Agreement Seal
The first time I used a seal was for The Little Book of Dance Inspiration which I coauthored with my friend Sam Kennedy. I designed the seal in Google Slides (for designing) and Google Docs (for printing):
If you can't read the image, the most important thing it says is:
A FREE BOOK?!!
Yes, but please only take this gift & break this seal if you promise to:
... (1) Read at least 3 pages. (else it’s wasted paper!)
... (2) Leave a review on Amazon
... *and/or* buy a copy for a friend if you love it....
... gift it away if it’s not for you. (save a tree!)
I feel like that's very reasonable. This is a homemade job where I was able to fit two of these per page, print them in color, cut them out, and then simply use some sticky tape to wrap it around the fore-edge of the book (opposite the spine) in such a way the person can't open it without breaking the "seal". I wanted it to be large enough to write about the book, but not too big that you can't see the book underneath! Here's what it looks like on the front and back:
I imagine there are many other ways you could do this. If you printed on a large enough piece of paper you could have it potentially wrap all the way around the book so it could slip off, but personally, it gave me satisfaction to watch people semi-awkwardly remove it. Usually, they wanted to remove it without damaging it... although I'm sure others could simply tear it. It felt like it was treated with some revelry.
Using Book Inserts to Encourage Reviews
To follow this up, on the first page of the book I have what I will just call a "Book Insert", which I also designed in Google Slides, and was small enough to print four per page.
The insert roughly reads:
Enjoy the book ?!
Please help support me as an amateur author by leaving a review on Amazon via this QR code. ☺
(bonus: order a copy for a verified review)
Here you’ll also see my other titles: ... ♥ Andrew
This insert is important because, by the time they have read some of the books, they might forget they "agreed" to write a review. This insert they are likely to just leave in the book, so weeks later or when they find the book again they are still (perhaps) more likely to follow the QR code to my author page. You can generate a QR code to any URL with Adobe's Free QR Code Generator.
For all my future books, I will make sure I also include a page asking for reviews + a QR code, because sometimes people require repetition and reminders to do something. Between the Book Agreement Seal, colored Book Insert, and a call to action at the end of my book, my hope is I get many more reviews.
Importantly, some people have never left an Amazon review and most will have no idea that without buying a copy manually, their review will not be verified. To help them out I will try to make a Kindle version of all future books at the lost possible price point to encourage them. Also, I price my books very low in the first place because I don't yet write books for money - just for the love of writing.
The Principle of Consistency
I read the consistency principle in a book once and it really landed with me. People don't like to contradict themselves, so you can get someone to tell you that they are a generous human... then you follow that up by asking for money from charity... well they are far more likely to actually donate than if you didn't. I don't like to think of people as lazy or unreliable... they are just very busy and can easily forget that they agreed to write a review. When they open the seal, however, it can kind of lock into their minds that you are hoping for something in return. Generally, I love gifting without expecting anything in return... so I have no regrets about gifting away so many books for free, *but* it was a wonderful friend Reese and others from the Atlas Project that told me my books were too awesome to just gift away for free. People would probably be willing to buy them or at least leave a review. Ultimately it was Reese that suggested a seal, and inspired me to create one. In my dream life, I would write books for a living, but that day might never come. At least when I collect more Amazon reviews from people, there's a chance more people will discover my books online (that's how their algorithm works - books can trend) and be inspired to buy one.
The Value of Reviews
You could have the most amazing book in the world, but nobody will buy it when they see it has been published a year ago and has not had a single review. It just doesn't feel right. It's like a restaurant with zero customers - people would rather wait in line next door in the crowded place because "probably the food must be good". Sometimes I wish I was better at marketing myself, maybe one day I will get better at it. For now, this is my effort to try to get some reviews... because ultimately if my books are successful, it inspires me to write more books, and it is my love. If nobody buys your books, and you have zero reviews. Well, it simply feels sad.
Following Up
If you really, really want reviews, I would suggest something I haven't done before, but I might consider it. Create a People Map then turn it into a spreadsheet and make a note of who you have (a) messaged to ask for a review, (b) gifted a book to, and (c) who has actually left a review. If you keep politely pinging people each month to leave a review, eventually they will. It seems like a lot of work, but compared to the effort you put into writing the book it might just be worth it. My hope is that with a Book Agreement Seal, I won't really even need to follow up with text or emails... the reviews will come. ♥
Sincerely,
Andrew Noske
Related Pages
- Publishing - My master page on publishing.
| Acknowledgements: Reese Zecchin for suggesting I find a way to get more book reviews!... that or make people pay for my books! Hahaha. |
