How to make an Amazon # 1 bestseller with one click and a credit card

If you are prepared to enter the murky waters of paid promotion there is no shortage of sharks that promise to float you to the top. Some undoubtedly deliver but is it really worth it?

Please don’t try this at home!

If you hire an outfit with access to a click farm or mass email delivery you can easily buy a number one spot. Just make your book available for 99 cents or less and let the click farm buy a thousand books or more.  It’s been done time and again and Amazon seems to be unable to stop the practice, despite constant complaints from many fellow writers.

I lodged such a claim last week when Tim I Gurung  bought himself a number one spot for THE BROKEN PEOPLE FROM GOD'S LAND  and boasted about his success on Books go Social. Neither the administrator of the site nor Amazon answered my complaint.

Again, is it really worth it? I doubt very much. In fact, it could backfire and in this instance it actually did because the dubbed readers fought back with a phalanx of one star feedback.  If we can kick Amazon awake they might actually intervene and stop the click farming once and for all. Not only is it against Amazon rules to engage in such tactics, it’s also unfair to every honest author.

PS: 22/7/17 I'm pleased to report that Amazon yesterday took down the ratings of that particular book. It looks like all our combined protests finally were heard. One small battle won, many more to fight.
PPS: 23/7/17 a lot less happy to see the book re-instated after one day - alas without ranking. Amazon will have to get their house in order or risk losing scores of quality writers who don't want to waste their time competing with the frauds on Kindle KDP.

If you’re interested in the subject, here is a superb piece from somebody who is even more frustrated than me.

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2017/07/15/scammers-break-the-kindle-store/