On how I became an Amazon review convert... And maybe you should too!
I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Words in Your Face came out. It was such a relief to be *finished* that I didn’t even think about what came after: people actually reading the book. ACK!
Starting in early 2008, reviews appeared in alt-weeklies and literary journals (WOW!) and I was even thrilled whenever it was mentioned in a blog (Oh Google Alerts! You sensitive creature you!), but one of the cooler things to watch was reviews pop up on my Amazon page.
It was so neat to have people giving their two cents in such a public place, and helping people to (hopefully) want to buy my little monster! I was so grateful!
But then I realized - hold on a second! I have an Amazon account! I’ve never given a single review! Not even to books I loved!
At first, I rationalized my (non)actions by saying that many of the books I read are by poets in communities I’m a part of (poetry slam, Bowery Poetry Club, etc…), and thus, wouldn’t it be wonky if I - their pal - wrote a positive review for them?
Well, as soon as I received some Amazon reviews from some of my pals and acquaintances, I was like, “Hells no! I don’t mind that I know them - that makes their endorsement even more special!”
Then I thought, “Well, my name is pretty unusual. Won’t people know it’s me? Isn’t it weird for a working author to be using the review site at Amazon to share their opinions?”
But then I thought, “Who cares? If by some minuscule chance someone does recognize my name, if it encourages them to buy a book I LOVE, ain’t that the point of a positive review?”
Then I thought, “Oh, but what about bad reviews? I don’t want to have my name so publicly attached to something nasty?”
But then I thought, “Well, what if you ONLY reviewed books that you LOVED? No harm, no foul with that!”
And lastly, I bemoaned, “But I love so many books? Will I be expected to review them ALL?”
And then my final solution was that my primary goal would be to review books that I LOVED under the condition that they had no other reviews! Thus, I wouldn’t feel the need to review every book that came across my desk which I loved AND I would be able to be that first kick ass review for that book / poet. (The added bonus was that I became a bit of veracious reader of new work! NICE!)
Further inspired by loudpoet and scottwoods -- devoted Amazon reviewers both (and ones who aren’t afraid to give ONE STAR reviews either, but knowing these guys, does that surprise anyone?) -- I started out with a few easy reviews for PSI stuff (DVDs mostly), then began scouting out my fav books and CDs that hadn’t been reviewed yet (“You mean, Jack McCarthy’s book hasn’t been AT ALL reviewed yet? REALLY?!), then began seeking out new work to review.
Now I’m up to almost 20 reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A342OSA12CRAC/ref=cm_cr_dp_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview
and it feels great to be able to share with a hugely popular book-buying community my feelings about books I Iove!
I know a lot of you guys have Amazon accounts. I would strongly suggest that if you love a book, slap a review up there! It’s a simple thing, and it does wonders to show the larger public that our community’s “page work” is more than just valid: it’s awesome!
And to further convince you of how anemic “slam” reviewing is on Amazon, here are some books from our community (which, granted, have only been realized in the last several months... but STILL) which I have seen people blog about on my LJ flist, but STILL don’t have ANY reviews yet on Amazon... ZERO!! :
Daphne Gottlieb’s “Kissing Dead Girls” (!!)
http://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Dead-Girls-Daphne-Gottlieb/dp/0979663652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141532&sr=1-1
Jeffrey McDaniels’ “The Endarkenment” (!!!)
http://www.amazon.com/Endarkenment-Pitt-Poetry-Jeffrey-McDaniel/dp/082295995X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225142049&sr=1-1
Gary Mex Glazner’s “How to Make a Life As a Poet”
http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Life-as-Poet/dp/1933368144/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225142784&sr=1-2
Derrick Brown’s “I Love You Is Back”
http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Back-Derrick-Brown/dp/097899891X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141799&sr=1-1
Derrick Brown’s “Born in the Year of the Butterfly Knife”
http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Back-Derrick-Brown/dp/097899891X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141799&sr=1-1
Victor Infante’s “City of Insomnia”:
http://www.amazon.com/City-Insomnia-Victor-D-Infante/dp/0981521320%3FSubscriptionId%3D13DX9SSZNT4MP1351CR2%26tag%3Dbook0052-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0981521320
Lea Deschenes’ “The Constant Velocity of Trains”
http://www.amazon.com/constant-velocity-trains-Lea-Deschenes/dp/0981521312%3FSubscriptionId%3D13DX9SSZNT4MP1351CR2%26tag%3Dbook0052-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0981521312
Anis Mojgani’s “Over the Anvil We Stretch”
http://www.amazon.com/Over-Anvil-Stretch-Anis-Mojgani/dp/0981521347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225142164&sr=1-1
Write Bloody Anthology “Last American Valentine”
http://www.amazon.com/Last-American-Valentine-Jack-Hirschman/dp/0978998979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141782&sr=8-1
And that’s just a selection of fabulous books that have no reviews yet! (The last bunch are all Write Bloody book - a press run by a slammer who would certainly appreciate some loving!!).
There are ton of books - new and old - that would love to have your two cents attached to them!
Patricia Smith’s “Blood Dazzler” (up for NATIONAL BOOK AWARD!) only has TWO reviews! Michael Cirelli’s awesome “Lobster with Ol’ Dirty Bastard” has one! Susan B. A. Somers-Willett's transendent "Roam" only has one!! All of Buddy Wakefield’s books only have one!! And so on!
Alright, I think I’ve made my point.
Compared to Scott (372 reviews) and Guy (109 reviews), I’m totally a Amazon review newbie at just 17 reviews, so I feel like a heel even writing this. BUT I also feel like every little bit counts!
I hope more of you will jump into the Amazon reviewing water, and have your opinions heard! I don’t like living in a world where an autobiography of BILL O'REILLY gets 382 more reviews than “Alibi School” (with just a mind blowing 2 reviews!) Let’s change this up, people! We can do it!
Starting in early 2008, reviews appeared in alt-weeklies and literary journals (WOW!) and I was even thrilled whenever it was mentioned in a blog (Oh Google Alerts! You sensitive creature you!), but one of the cooler things to watch was reviews pop up on my Amazon page.
It was so neat to have people giving their two cents in such a public place, and helping people to (hopefully) want to buy my little monster! I was so grateful!
But then I realized - hold on a second! I have an Amazon account! I’ve never given a single review! Not even to books I loved!
At first, I rationalized my (non)actions by saying that many of the books I read are by poets in communities I’m a part of (poetry slam, Bowery Poetry Club, etc…), and thus, wouldn’t it be wonky if I - their pal - wrote a positive review for them?
Well, as soon as I received some Amazon reviews from some of my pals and acquaintances, I was like, “Hells no! I don’t mind that I know them - that makes their endorsement even more special!”
Then I thought, “Well, my name is pretty unusual. Won’t people know it’s me? Isn’t it weird for a working author to be using the review site at Amazon to share their opinions?”
But then I thought, “Who cares? If by some minuscule chance someone does recognize my name, if it encourages them to buy a book I LOVE, ain’t that the point of a positive review?”
Then I thought, “Oh, but what about bad reviews? I don’t want to have my name so publicly attached to something nasty?”
But then I thought, “Well, what if you ONLY reviewed books that you LOVED? No harm, no foul with that!”
And lastly, I bemoaned, “But I love so many books? Will I be expected to review them ALL?”
And then my final solution was that my primary goal would be to review books that I LOVED under the condition that they had no other reviews! Thus, I wouldn’t feel the need to review every book that came across my desk which I loved AND I would be able to be that first kick ass review for that book / poet. (The added bonus was that I became a bit of veracious reader of new work! NICE!)
Further inspired by loudpoet and scottwoods -- devoted Amazon reviewers both (and ones who aren’t afraid to give ONE STAR reviews either, but knowing these guys, does that surprise anyone?) -- I started out with a few easy reviews for PSI stuff (DVDs mostly), then began scouting out my fav books and CDs that hadn’t been reviewed yet (“You mean, Jack McCarthy’s book hasn’t been AT ALL reviewed yet? REALLY?!), then began seeking out new work to review.
Now I’m up to almost 20 reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A342OSA12CRAC/ref=cm_cr_dp_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview
and it feels great to be able to share with a hugely popular book-buying community my feelings about books I Iove!
I know a lot of you guys have Amazon accounts. I would strongly suggest that if you love a book, slap a review up there! It’s a simple thing, and it does wonders to show the larger public that our community’s “page work” is more than just valid: it’s awesome!
And to further convince you of how anemic “slam” reviewing is on Amazon, here are some books from our community (which, granted, have only been realized in the last several months... but STILL) which I have seen people blog about on my LJ flist, but STILL don’t have ANY reviews yet on Amazon... ZERO!! :
Daphne Gottlieb’s “Kissing Dead Girls” (!!)
http://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Dead-Girls-Daphne-Gottlieb/dp/0979663652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141532&sr=1-1
Jeffrey McDaniels’ “The Endarkenment” (!!!)
http://www.amazon.com/Endarkenment-Pitt-Poetry-Jeffrey-McDaniel/dp/082295995X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225142049&sr=1-1
Gary Mex Glazner’s “How to Make a Life As a Poet”
http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Life-as-Poet/dp/1933368144/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225142784&sr=1-2
Derrick Brown’s “I Love You Is Back”
http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Back-Derrick-Brown/dp/097899891X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141799&sr=1-1
Derrick Brown’s “Born in the Year of the Butterfly Knife”
http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Back-Derrick-Brown/dp/097899891X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141799&sr=1-1
Victor Infante’s “City of Insomnia”:
http://www.amazon.com/City-Insomnia-Victor-D-Infante/dp/0981521320%3FSubscriptionId%3D13DX9SSZNT4MP1351CR2%26tag%3Dbook0052-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0981521320
Lea Deschenes’ “The Constant Velocity of Trains”
http://www.amazon.com/constant-velocity-trains-Lea-Deschenes/dp/0981521312%3FSubscriptionId%3D13DX9SSZNT4MP1351CR2%26tag%3Dbook0052-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0981521312
Anis Mojgani’s “Over the Anvil We Stretch”
http://www.amazon.com/Over-Anvil-Stretch-Anis-Mojgani/dp/0981521347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225142164&sr=1-1
Write Bloody Anthology “Last American Valentine”
http://www.amazon.com/Last-American-Valentine-Jack-Hirschman/dp/0978998979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225141782&sr=8-1
And that’s just a selection of fabulous books that have no reviews yet! (The last bunch are all Write Bloody book - a press run by a slammer who would certainly appreciate some loving!!).
There are ton of books - new and old - that would love to have your two cents attached to them!
Patricia Smith’s “Blood Dazzler” (up for NATIONAL BOOK AWARD!) only has TWO reviews! Michael Cirelli’s awesome “Lobster with Ol’ Dirty Bastard” has one! Susan B. A. Somers-Willett's transendent "Roam" only has one!! All of Buddy Wakefield’s books only have one!! And so on!
Alright, I think I’ve made my point.
Compared to Scott (372 reviews) and Guy (109 reviews), I’m totally a Amazon review newbie at just 17 reviews, so I feel like a heel even writing this. BUT I also feel like every little bit counts!
I hope more of you will jump into the Amazon reviewing water, and have your opinions heard! I don’t like living in a world where an autobiography of BILL O'REILLY gets 382 more reviews than “Alibi School” (with just a mind blowing 2 reviews!) Let’s change this up, people! We can do it!