There are some mysteries in life that just can't be grasped by the mere mortal .....B. W. wrote:
Hey, Canuckster1127 — you work with Amazon? Can you explain their ranking system???
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There's a pretty complicated system for ranking reviewers based on what I've observed and what I've seen from other reviewers who have looked at it more closely. I've been reviewing there for about 3 years. I have about 180 reviews up (they don't count my vine reviews in my total on my profile page). I'm just about to 1,500 positive votes on my reviews and I'm ranked about 2,000 nationally. As best I can tell you get some sort of bump from the system once a review reaches 3 positive votes or 10 positive votes. Most of my reviews are for fairly low rated books and so I don't get a lot of votes. The exceptions are a review I did on a Bart Ehrman book which made the spotlight (top 3 reviews on a book) and some regarding Hallelujah Acres which even though I gave the material low scores, seems to have hit a nerve with some.
I got caught up on the rankings early on and it was exciting to rise up the ranks quickly as I put up more reviews. Now I just read what I enjoy, only accept free copies of things I'm legitimately interested in, and I don't worry too much about it. I figure if I do what I enjoy and review things well, over time I'll see results and anyway, really, how much prestige is there being a reviewer who isn't paid and doesn't have a large following? I've seen some people really go after it like it's a job for them and in the end not many see a lot of results. I do have some friends though who have said that credential has led to a job offer or two based upon their writing abilities and demonstrated grasp of the field they review. Hasn't happened for me yet and I'm no holding my breath.
Anyway, I hope that was the right answer. If you're asking about ranking of books that's simpler. It just goes by total sales and rate of sale recently as far as I can see and I think it's based on Amazon sales only.
