Turning the Tables
Reader reviews + an author interview on how she took matters into her own hands
Not So Secret Agent is an email newsletter all about the inside scoop on cookbook publishing from senior literary agent, Sally Ekus. Make sure you never miss an email. Subscribe!
Dear Not So Secret Agent readers,
Wow, you certainly had a lot of love for the video on trends with my sister, Amelia Ekus. The conversation felt like an appropriate follow up to the post all about when to start marketing and promotion. Hint, hint: start now!
One question that often comes up around book marketing is how much authors should be asking readers to leave reviews for their books (hint, hint, you should!).
But what happens when someone leaves a less than favorable review? There are many reasons you might receive a poor review. When my client Phoebe Lapine was faced with a one, she took matters into her own hands.
Today, I am delighted to bring you this interview with Phoebe.
***Not So Secret Agent Side Note: this interview mentions reviews that are specific to a large online retailer that rhymes with “shamazon.” In no way am I suggesting this is where you should be putting your precious dollar$. Reviews can help drive discoverability for an author. I leave it to you to decide where to buy your books!***
NSSA Sally: Please introduce yourself and give a bit of background on your publishing career.
Phoebe: I’m Phoebe Lapine, the blogger behind Feed Me Phoebe and a 4x published author—in large part thanks to Sally, who I was lucky enough to meet in a coffee shop over a decade ago. She overheard me talking to a friend about my first cookbook (In the Small Kitchen, 2011), introduced herself, and the rest is history. After that Meet Cute, Sally has been an essential advisor as my outlook on food has pivoted in tandem with my health journey.
After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and dealing with other fun bodily hurdles, my food writing shifted to focus on how we can maintain maximum pleasure while dealing with restrictive diets. My debut memoir, The Wellness Project, was named by Women’s Health Magazine as the top nutrition read of 2017.
SIBO Made Simple was my next book about a GI condition that nearly every publisher thought was too niche at the time. Of course, it has sold better than anything else I’ve ever written.
Most recently, I came out with CARBIVORE, which is a pro-carb health cookbook that helps people understand how to incorporate pasta, bread, potatoes, and other comfort food into a balanced diet. Ina Garten said, “I love this book!” and I hope everyone else out there who has been bombarded with bad carb press feels the same.
NSSA Sally: What is an Amazon book review? Do you need to have purchased the book through Amazon to leave a review?
Phoebe: Like any product on the site, customers have the opportunity to rate a book and leave a review. You can simply leave a star rating without writing anything. And what many people don’t realize is that you don’t ever have to have bought the book to do so.
On the plus side, this means you can buy a book at an independent bookseller and still leave an Amazon review if you want to support that author. On the negative side, it also means that anyone can troll an author if they have a viewpoint they don’t agree with.
Amazon does designate reviews as “verified purchases” if they have purchased the book on their platform, which helps differentiate true customers.
NSSA Sally: Do Amazon book reviews matter? How can they help authors?
Phoebe: The Amazon algorithm is a murky beast, and like any search engine, it is always changing. So it’s hard to say if the number of reviews or rating has a direct impact on where your book shows up in an Amazon search. However, I do think it has an indirect impact by positively impacting customer behavior.
Especially if someone is searching on a topic (i.e. not looking for one particular title), comparing the ratings of various books on that topic might be the reason why a customer clicks on that title. If a customer scans reviews, the substance of the feedback could be what encourages them to pull the trigger to buy it.
For my SIBO cookbook, being one of the top-rated books on the topic has kept me high up in the search rankings even years after the book came out. And I do believe that those reviews have really inspired people not familiar with my work to buy it.
As a side note, I’m also competing with several titles published by Amazon itself on the topic. I know the platform will always push these titles before mine, so it does feel like amassing an undeniable number of positive reviews is the one piece I have control of in standing out from the pack.
NSSA Sally: You had a challenging experience with one of your books getting a negative review. Can you tell readers what happened and how you handled it?
Phoebe: So many authors never read their reviews, and I completely agree that this is HEALTHY! I am a much too flawed human to stay away. And while I can’t say that negative reviews don’t hurt, I like to use them as ammo for getting my followers to leave positive reviews to offset them.
Turning Amazon troll lemons into lemonade.
A lot of bad reviews are a result of someone receiving a damaged book. I also get a handful every book from people complaining about fonts / type size. I don’t think these make much of a difference in the long term, though they are just as likely to tank the overall star count as a bad review with substance.
Recently, on my SIBO book, I got a review that was quite ignorant, claiming that certain ingredients I include are “bad for people with SIBO.” This is the type of comment that might deter someone, so I used it as an opportunity to post a call to action on Instagram, asking my followers to leave a review if they hadn’t already. You can also ask people to mark the bad review as “unhelpful” which helps ensure it won’t show up on the homepage as a “top review.”
NSSA Sally: Please walk us through HOW to leave an Amazon review.
Phoebe: Scroll to the bottom of the book’s Amazon page. On the lefthand side, you’ll see a chart that breaks down the percentage of various stars. There will be a button to “Write a Review” – click on that and have at it!
If you own a copy of the book, there’s an opportunity to upload a photo of the cover or a dish you’ve made – always helpful!
NSSA Sally: What other book review sites are helpful to cookbook authors?
Phoebe: Goodreads has a big impact for fiction and nonfiction books. I don’t think people use it as much for cookbooks, but the ranking is now aggregated right below the Amazon ranking, so it’s helpful to make sure you’re getting positive reviews over there too.
NSSA Sally: Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the NSSA community. How can people connect with you and support your work?
Phoebe: Follow me on Instagram @PhoebeLapine!
You can find my recipes at FeedMePhoebe.com.
And of course, check out and buy my recent books, including SIBO Made Simple and CARBIVORE!
Per this very long diatribe, an easy way to support my work is to LEAVE AN AMAZON REVIEW! Carbivore has some catching up to do in that department, so any love is much appreciated.
I will also note for anyone who has favorite bloggers they love, that leaving 5 stars on a recipe you’ve made is also a very easy and helpful way to support their work across other search engines.
Happy reviewing!!
I hope you found this interview helpful as you think about ways to engage with your readers. If you’re wondering how many reviews “matter” (the answer is 50+) head on over to another publishing newsletter, Writerly Things with
. She just wrote about The Top 10 things authors authors should know about Amazon.Reviews often happen in a flurry right around the time of publication but remain just as essential throughout the life of your book. So, consider this your prompt to hop on social or reach out to your community and ask for reviews!
Not So Secret Agent is a newsletter that yours truly writes late at night when Maybs is sleeping and I am fired up about all things agenting.
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Thank you!
~Sally~
NOT SO SECRET AGENT resources and ways to cross paths:
For those interested in cookbook publishing, The Everything Cookbooks podcast is re-releasing episodes. Check out the interview I did back before our agency merged with JVNLA and before I had this newsletter.
Do you know about Creatively Speaking? It’s a podcast all about the behind the scenes of custom publishing projects. LeAnna, from Weller Smith Design, interviews Caroline Chambers about her path to publishing (the interview covers traditional publishing even though LeAnna is an expert in custom products). Caroline’s story of how she landed her first book deal versus her second is gold for aspiring cookbook authors. For anyone looking to turn a rejection into motivation, this episode is for you. Also,
publishes the most popular food newsletter on Substack, nbd.***
Come see me IRL:
IN PERSON WORKSHOP April 4-5 in Nashville, Tennessee M.F.K. Fisher Symposium for Women in Food & Storytelling. This weekend is designed to be specific and practical professional development for food writers.
IN PERSON April 12th in NYC Cherry Bombe’s Jubilee.
IN PERSON in NYC September 17th: The AALA People of Publishing Conference (this is an industry event for agents, editors, and publishing professionals
Love the Meet Cute! Just goes to show you never know when or where opportunities will find you. Very helpful about reviews, thank you, Phoebe and Sally!
My agent said to me not to read the reviews but it’s near impossible for an author not to. The ones that bring down ratings are from those who receive damaged copies and such but the ones that hurt my heart are from folks who seem not to have read it. I’ve not pushed much for folks to leave ratings or reviews and the books continue to do well but perhaps I will. Thanks to you both for this interview today.