I finished my book and went back to the Guild in full force. This week will be dedicated to final tweaking and preparations for the launch of the "3-in-1 Review Toolkit" for the Guild members. One of the tools in the kit is the special offer from BookVillage for the Guild members: - The first 30 days are free - Performance guarantee (description below) - The next 2 months are 25% off ($15 a month) - A fixed price of $20 forever, as long as the subscription is active. Even if the price is raised for other users. To get the special conditions register by the link: https://bookvillage.pub/?via=guild What is Performance guarantee: "If at the end of your free trial there is a net difference between all the reviews you have posted and the ones you have received, and you have followed the guidelines BookVillage recommends, which are essentially based on requesting paid verified purchases as much as possible (for your safety), then BookVillage will extend the free trial". BookVillage invests significant effort in researching best practices for Amazon reviews and shares them with its users. It's really worth reading messages from the service and acting on its guidance. The second and third tools from the toolkit will be discussed at the online meeting on Friday, February 6th. Stay tuned.

It seems we have a big shift in "authors-helping-authors" review services. Until yesterday, moving from one such service to another posed a risk, since a new service had no data about your reviews, and a cross-review situation could arise. And now we have a solution to minimize such risks. Yesterday, BookVillage presented its browser extension. It imports your existing reviews and allows the service to correctly configure your profile to prevent situations where two users may end up reviewing each other's books. Have you already tested it? What is your experience? A brief reminder: Guild members can access BookVillage under special conditions: - The first 30 days are free - Performance guarantee (if you didn't get enough reviews in the first month, you can ask for one more free month) - The next 2 months are 25% off ($15 a month) - A fixed price of $20 forever, as long as the subscription is active. Even if the price is raised for other users. To get the special conditions register by the link: https://bookvillage.pub/?via=guild

We had a great, deep conversation yesterday. @Christian Kursch asked very important question about getting out of authors' bubble to get reviews. There are answers ready, but we will announce it next week. The full video recording for Premium members is available in the Classroom. And those are my takeaways from the meeting: Amazon’s Aggressive Review Sweeps - Historical Context: While Amazon typically increases scrutiny during the holiday season, the recent "swipe" was exceptionally aggressive, with some publishers reporting 30% to 50% of reviews deleted. - Algorithmic Targeting: Amazon's systems have become almost entirely algorithmic, searching for "outliers" from normal human patterns rather than specific individuals. - The Virtual Assistant (VA) Problem: A primary cause for recent account terminations is the use of VAs from platforms like Upwork or Fiverr who post fake reviews using flagged or low-activity accounts. - Risk Indicators: A key indicator of a flagged account is the "pending approval" time. While the standard is three days, accounts under scrutiny will see longer wait times. Adriano suggests never having more than two reviews pending approval simultaneously. Best Practices for Review Safety - Prioritize Verified Paid Purchases: Verified purchases (at price points like $0.99 or $2.99) are the safest way to show Amazon a real transaction has occurred. - Avoid Unverified and KU Reviews: Standard unverified reviews and Kindle Unlimited (KU) reviews are currently heavily targeted. - KU Limitations: Kindle Unlimited reviews often do not show as "verified" unless the book is read on an official Amazon device or app; reading via the Kindle Cloud Reader (web browser) will not trigger verified status. - Natural Review Timing: Reviews should ideally be posted between 5 and 7 days after purchase to appear natural.

One of the most important parts of the Q&A with @Adriano Ferrigno last week was the explanation of coin inflation. Many publishers experienced this on different platforms: first, everything works well, and we can get many reviews quickly. After some time, we had earned a lot of coins but could not get even a few reviews a week. This clip explains why it happens.

We’re looking forward to seeing many of you there. Feel free to come prepared with as many questions as you’d like, I’ll do my best to answer everything and walk you through some behind-the-scenes aspects of what’s currently happening that I’m sure you’ll find interesting. A big thank you to @Igor O for the opportunity. I hope this will be the first of a series of valuable contributions we can bring to this community.