Reviews and likes on Amazon don't seem to count for much in the Amazon marketing / sales department. I took a look at the sales ranking of a book (Kindle format) that I would have sacrificed a gonad to write and noticed that it was far below mine. This was in spite of about eleven more reviews (mostly five and some four stars) than my own single review, and umpteen more likes.
The book is a good few months older than my own and better marketed, so there may be some aging effect on the stats. That has to be weighted with the fact that the book is still getting the occasional review.
However what this leads me to is that Amazon will probably not be giving much credence to the number of reviews and likes below a certain threshold, and that the only place where reviews and likes can create a significant difference is where the reviewers and 'likers' spread their preferences in their own social groups.
Once the book attains a certain mass (unknown), then Amazon will kick in with its own advertising real estate to drive sales further. In other words, the only thing that really counts is sales.
Trying to divine how the Amazon ranking algorithms work is like trying to divine the future by studying one's own entrails - messy, painful and doomed to failure.
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