Following the Amazon Algorithm

Like all indie authors, I have heard tales of that elusive fountain of magic that will make my book sell: the Amazon algorithm. I don’t know exactly what it is or how it works. What’s more, I suspect that no one really knows, except the Amazon mathematicians who create and update it regularly from their dimly lit basement office, which has all the security of a steel bunker. I suspect you need a top-secret clearance to get in there and a PhD in mathematics to even speak to these cyber wizzes.

I do know this: it has a lot to do with how many reviews are posted for your book. I know they also take into account how many readers follow you (and the ‘follow’ button, I might add, is right next to the author’s headshot, which is right under the image of the book cover—just in case you go looking for mine), as well as how many people followed a link to your book’s Amazon page from elsewhere in the ether.

But most authors fixate on the number of reviews, as well as (although to a lesser extent) the number of stars affixed to those reviews. Shortly after I posted my first book to Amazon, This Restless Sea, I was told by someone in my critique group that ten was the magic number of reviews for catching a ride on the algorithm ship and having it steam you into the port of good sales. That didn’t sound too bad! Certainly, I could reel in that many. And, indeed, not long after I’d published the book, I hit ten reviews (and all of them four or five stars!). I held my breath. Figuratively, of course. If I’d held it literally I would have passed out and then possibly died.

Because the algorithm steam ship did not stop at my dock. Not long after that, as I was watching videos on Facebook, I saw one posted by someone who promises to get Amazon reviews for you (for a fee, of course). He said that authors needed between 15 and 20 reviews. Shortly after that, I heard that the correct number was 25. And, more recently, someone told me it was 50. He said it like he was either being completely sarcastic or utterly fatalistic, and I was afraid to ask which it was.

I’m thrilled to report that I recently hit 20 reviews for This Restless Sea, thanks to someone with the review handle ‘Fun Grandma.’ I don’t know who Fun Grandma is, but I thank her heartily. Not because her review triggered the algorithm, but because I appreciate any kind soul who leaves me a positive review.

Aside from all of this being really depressing, it has led me to one conclusion: the Amazon algorithm is aught but a shiny mirage on the edge of the book sales desert. It beckons to the thirsty author like a cool drink with a celebratory umbrella (and, perhaps, a wedge of fresh pineapple). It’s out there looking refreshing, like it will save you from the desiccation of parched sales. But like any good mirage, it’s always just out of reach. The longer you stumble towards it, dehydrated and gasping, the farther away it is. Or is it ‘further’? With a mirage, is the distance literal or figurative? I suppose it doesn’t matter, since I suspect I’ll never reach it.

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