Other Country Amazon Sites: Part II of Harnessing the Power of Amazon Reviews for Authors

(See Part I of “Harnessing the Power of Amazon Reviews for Authors”)

Until recently the reviews of your books on Amazon.com did NOT transfer to other Amazon country sites.

While I cannot speak for all other country Amazon sites, besides the U.K. Amazon site I have checked the sites that I can read enough of the language to figure out what reviews are being offered — France (amazon.fr), Germany (amazon.de), Spain (amazon.es) and Italy (amazon.it).

Here is an explanation of what I have discovered:

As of this writing, my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT has 35 reviews on the U.S. Amazon site. But on the U.K. Amazon site at the top of the page there is only one review — a review originally written on the U.K. site. Then if you scroll down the page below that one review, you will see this:

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 35 reviews

And below this are three U.S. reviews along with a link to Amazon.com to read all 35 U.S. Amazon reviews. (Click here to see this example.)

The same thing is true for the French, German, Spanish and Italian Amazon sites: Three reviews in English with a link to all 35 reviews on the Amazon.com site.

(Note: The English reader who wrote the original review on the U.K. Amazon site was kind enough to also post her review on the U.S. Amazon site. Thus her review is included in the 35 Amazon.com reviews.)

Now for the important warning:

While you may not have very many reviews if any originating on Amazon country sites other than your own country Amazon site, you should occasionally check the other sites (if you can read enough of the language of that site.)

Here is a cautionary tale that happened to me:

The technothriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS that I wrote with my husband Mitchell R. Miller elicits a wide range of reactions, including from military people who love the story and accept that it is fiction to military people who dislike the story because it is fiction. And I can live with these opinions and the range of stars awarded to the book.

But when I recently checked the book on the U.K. Amazon site, I was shocked at a really nasty review of the book. (Although there were no swear words, the language was offensive.)

I clicked on the link to the person’s other reviews, and found he (presumably a he from the review although he did not use his real name in the review) had written only one other review and it was also offensive.

I felt justified in reporting the offensive review of my book to Amazon U.K. as an inappropriate review and I also reported the other review to help that author. The next time I checked, the offensive review was gone from LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.

To clarify the above cautionary tale, I would NOT have reported the review because of the one-star given to the book. I reported it because the language was so offensive that I did not want other people exposed to such nastiness.

The moral of this cautionary tale? Check your own reviews on other Amazon sites besides checking the reviews on the Amazon site on which you participate.

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com