Reviews – Getting what you want!
I have a confession to make. I’m a bit of an internet snoop. I troll, stalk, errh check-out dozens of author blog sites, and when I say AUTHOR I mean that in every context, traditionally published fiction & non-fiction author’s, self-published, aspiring, New York Times and Major Prize Winning author’s and the little guys.. In other words, I’m interested in everyone from traditional to hybrid, to self-published to as-yet-unpublished.
All of these sub-groups of authors have numerous things in common, especially “getting-word-out” marketing needs. And lately I’ve been seeing a lot of“How do I get my book reviewed” tweets, questions on LinkedIn and on Blogs. And it’s a fair enough question. If you don’t have an agent, and/or a medium to larger publisher, you’ll need to do a lot of marketing yourself.
Let me repeat that. Even with a publisher behind you. Even with a decent sized publisher, you will have to do a lot of marketing yourself…
“OK” I hear you saying, “But how?”
Here’s the truth, ideally your marketing started LONG before you signed a publishing deal. Yes, it’s true you DO NOT need to have a public/social profile presence to become a NYT Best Seller. But here’s a reality check, not many authors will be NYT Best Sellers, at least not with your first novel. It DOES happen, but not often. So your job is not only to write a killer novel and drop-dead-gorgeous submission, you also have to be prepared for the day you’ll need reviewers.
Now, I’m going to assume that you’ve got a Twitter and/or Facebook, LinkedIn (etc.) profile and that you’ve been interacting with agents, editors, other authors, friends and the general public and have a ½ decent following and a few loyal friends that you’ll be able to call on first as BETA’S and then as Reviewers. (If you don’t … get on to it and if you’re really stuck, leave a message and if I get enough messages I’ll post a blog update on developing a platform and social profile at another time).
For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to assume you have signed with either a small-ish publisher or are self-publishing… and therefore will be expected to do a lot of marketing yourself. First thing to accept is: With few exceptions, major news publications do not review Self-Published books, even though 100s of 1000s of self-published titles have been published and some of them have become Best Sellers. Even so, the lack of coverage in traditional media outlets has not stopped SP authors from their rise.
According to the New York Times, “Self-published titles made up roughly one-quarter of the top-selling books on Amazon last year.”
And according to Digital book World in May 2013, at least ten self-published books were best sellers. Books like Rachel Van Dyken’s The Bet, Katy Evans’Wool Omnibus Edition and Abbi Glines’ Twisted Perfection.
Further down, I will add some KNOWN REVIEWERS but for now, let us assume you are one of those who may struggle to find accredited reviewers. So what do you do?
Let’s look at time-lines first. Most professional reviewers need to receive a copy of your novel AT LEAST 3 months before Launch-Date, therefore you should be contacting EVERYONE 5-6 months before hand.
Types of reviews: There are three basic review types for a book.
(i) Cover Reveal/Book Launch. This is the simplest and often is the most popular for other authors with blogs as you’ll provide a cover, a blurb, a brief bio, a list of links (with the link) where the books are available and often a discount voucher that people reading the review can use.
(ii) Q&A & Cover Reveal. This is more detailed and usually involves reading some or ideally all of the novel, or knowing the blogger/reviewer quite well, and they you, (hence all that work you’ve been doing on social media) where they’ll pose a list of questions about you, your writing process and your novel. It’s much more in-depth, time consuming for both parties and much more intimate for the reader of the review. You’ll still provide a cover, a blurb, a brief bio, a list of links (with the link) where the books are available and so on.
(iii) Full review of the Novel. This can also mix *(ii) but is always completely honest. The reviewer will be given a copy of your novel to read and in return they will write an honest and frank REVIEW of the novel. You will also supply links & a jepg cover of your novel as well as a brief Bio and often a photo of yourself. The reviewer will decide what to write ,what to omit and have a free hand – and they will also post a review on (for example) Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords, etc.
How to decide who to send what? That’s up to you, but remember this, the bigger the name/following of your reviewer, the more people will read the review… good or bad. I tend toward an initial email to all (non-professional) reviewers, that is to say, Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn friends that feature books & authors on their blogs. The initial email should be something like:
Hi there,
As you know my novel (TITLE) is due to be launched mid November 2015 and I am looking for people who might be interested in (List all three options). If you’re interested in being part of the launch please reply email me.
If your launch date is November 2015, you should be sending your first email out in June 2015, with a follow-up at the end of July to those who have not replied. NOTE one follow-up is more than enough, don’t become annoying! For those that have replied they want to do *(ii) or *(iii) send them a copy of the blurb, cover and/or book, thank them for their time and ask them to let you know “If we missed something” – I’ll let you in on a secret, everyone misses something and 5-10 extra sets of eyes are awesome!
NUMBERS:
Ideally you should be looking for (min):
5-10 in the (i) section
10 in the (ii) section
And at least another 10 in the (iii) section
Though that’s not always possible, it should be your min. aim. You also want to stagger the Launch.
In August, after you’ve heard back from those people who’ve read the novel and fixed the last of those annoying little errors, you (or your publisher), will now be ready to confirm a launch time-table. And if you don’t think reviews work, read this:
One best selling book that was boosted by an online book review was Colleen Hoover’s Hopeless. Maryse Black, whose blog reviews mostly S/P chick lit and contemporary romance, was one of Hoover’s early fans. Hoover self-published her third book, Hopeless, in December 2012 and it became a New York Times best seller. Black wrote a rave review of Hopeless around the time it was released, and within a few hours over 20 people commented, many saying they had purchased the book and were excited to read it.
For Self-Published, Hybrid and authors with Small Press, word-of-mouth marketing is key, that’s a big-deal. Having those early, positive reviews was the first step into making Hopeless successful as it helped direct readers to the book, who then bought copies, and in turn posted their own reviews, creating a snowball effect that advanced it best seller status. FYI, after self-publishing several books on her own, Colleen Hoover is now with a traditional publisher thank-you-very-much. Hoover has also sold the movie rights to some of her work. Johanna Castillo, VP and senior editor of Atria Press, first learned about Hoover from book blogs.
And that’s how momentum starts. Funnily enough IT IS and IS NOT about numbers. You only need ONE GREAT REVIEW that is read by many to start a momentum but you might need to have 50 people review your novel in order to get that one great review.
So, it’s the end of August, you have your super-dooper-polished book ready to go. You have your reviewers ready to rock & dates booked in. Some *(i) & (ii)* will happen in Late September through to book-launch date and *(iii)* will start in October with IDEALLY one reviewer per week, every week from Mid October through to mid December.
Now you are ready to approach PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS.
First, there is nothing wrong with sending copies to the New York Times. Yes it’s unlikely they will review your book but what the hell right? And should you make it the NYT Best Seller list, it would be kind of cool to be able to give interviews where you say “Well NY Times didn’t want to review my book when it first came out, that goodness for…” (and name those that DID help!)
Other people worth approaching:
Firstly, you MUST approach these people in August or at the latest September if you want their review to coincide with your launch. No, that is not a RULE however; many reviewer’s like to be “the first” to have found the next big thing, rather than hashing over what others have said.
Second, approaching does not equal a YES answer. I have prepared a list of some of the best international ones that are happy to cater for self-published and/or small-press authors. As you can imagine, they are all getting 100’s if not 1000’s of requests. Still, it CANNOT hurt to send a quick email.
Maryse Black http://www.maryse.net/
Black said she posts on average three reviews each week and that about 80 percent of the books she reviews are Self-published/ Indie authors.
We Fancy Books http://wefancybooks.blogspot.com.au/
“We Fancy Books” has five reviewers and focuses on YA fiction, contemporary, sci-fi, and paranormal romance. Approximately 20 percent of the books reviewed on We Fancy Books are Self-published/ Indie authors.
Dear Author http://dearauthor.com/
Jane Litte, the founder of romance review blog “Dear Author”, said her site posts 12 books each week, two per weekday and two on the weekend. “Dear Author” has eight reviewers, over 170,000 visitors each month, and it receives around 300 review requests each month from authors and publishers.
Chick Lit Central http://www.chicklitcentral.com/
Melissa Amster from “Chick Lit Central” said the website usually reviews two to three books per week, and they have a balanced mix of traditionally and self-published books.
indieBRAG http://www.bragmedallion.com/
“IndieBRAG” has a program called B.R.A.G. Medallion that reviews all genres of self-published print and digital books. Readers tell “indieBRAG” their preferred genres and then choose from a short list of titles which books to review.
Building Relationships with Book Reviewers
Some book reviewers try to stay in touch with authors after reading their books. Though in a few cases this helps an author get reviews for subsequent books, most reviewers said they decide whether or not to read new books by previously reviewed authors based on the content and quality of the book, and not by their relationship with the author.
Online Book Review Sites
Here’s a couple of additional sites worth considering:
– Blog Nation, http://www.blognation.com/blogs/book-reviews
– The Indie View, http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/
– iDreamBooks, https://idreambooks.com/
And don’t forget to post something on sites like LinkedIn, on Facebook, on your Blog. Also join sites like Scribophile (http://www.scribophile.com/ ) where you can not only get feedback & honest critique on your WIP, Query Letters & Synopsis, but you can also let people know you need reviewers and announce a publication.
And because we are an Australian organisation, I could not have a post without at least a few links to Aussie reviewers/options!
– The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books
– Australian Book Review https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/
– Aussie Reviews http://aussiereviews.com/
– Aussie Authors http://www.aussieauthors.com/reviewers.htm
– Aussie Bookworm Express http://aussiebookworm.wordpress.com/
– The Age Entertainment http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/type/book-review
So there you have it. More work – Sorry!
Don’t forget to talk to all your author, musician, artist and entertainment friends as well as anyone who has worked with you on your novel, from BETA’S to editors to illustrators, to CP partners… ask how they did it/are doing it. Share information, and knowledge and contacts.
And IRL you work as an accountant when you’re not bashing the keyboard? GREAT! Ask your friends at work to review your novel and give it a rating on Amazon & Goodreads. You volunteer at the local primary school tuck-shop every other Friday AWESOME! While you’re cutting sandwiches let the other parents know you have a book coming out… and when. Your local community centre as a small hall that can be hired out for events? WONDERFUL – arrange a book signing and drinks/BBQ/Meet-and-greet afternoon. Free food and/or free drinks will bring many along!
You need to be as active and as creative in your marketing approach as you were in writing your novel, even if that means stepping out of your comfort-zone and asking for help. Also, if anyone has anything to add to any of the above, any hints or suggestions, things that worked or did not work, I’d love to hear from you, as I know many, many others would 🙂
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