Twelve years ago, long before he became a bestseller novelist, Ashwin Sanghi was just another writer, struggling to get his books read. Fully aware that space in newsprint would be hard to come by, the self-published author turned to e-commerce platform, Amazon.com. "I would look for people, who had reviewed certain kinds of books [same genre as his], and reach out to them, asking if I could send them a copy, and if they'd mind reviewing it for me," he recalls. "Obviously, there were no guarantees in terms of whether it would be a good or bad review, but the initial traction that I got was primarily on account of the fact that I could reach out to these reviewers. It was of tremendous value, because it enabled me to sell somewhere between 500 and 1,000 copies," adds Sanghi. Soon after, he was signed by publishing house, Westland, and the rest was history.

Not too long back, author Karan Bajaj, who wrote the bestselling novel Keep Off The Grass, had also blogged about how "150+ genuine reviews of the book on your Amazon page on Day 1 of launch" is what actually helps drive book sales. With Amazon and other e-commerce platforms ranking these reviewers—some are even being showered "hall of fame" accolades—the publishing world now has new friends in the industry. And, they all mean business.