Reviews are more
important than just getting feedback about your book. It’s common
knowledge that Amazon figures reviews in their ranking system. So the
more reviews you have, the better ranked your book could be.
Please
stay with me until the end of the post where I’ll divulge a super
million dollar secret for book promotions (I’m not selling anything,
just in case this sounded like an infomercial.) Okay, maybe not a
million dollars, but it sure helps.
Reviews
are one of the best methods to generate buzz about your book, without
you being the one shouting from the rooftops. We’ve all spent countless
conversations begging our friends and relatives to “post a review,
please!” It’s frustrating and many times, a fruitless endeavor. So, how
do we go about getting reviews?
First,
let me say NEVER PAY FOR A REVIEW. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.
Countless entities out there can’t wait to take your money. Don’t go
there. So, where do you go?
Book Blog Reviewers—your
best friend in the world. Book Bloggers love to read books and make
recommendations based on those books. Imagine reaching millions of
readers. They are not paid to do this, they do it for fun, which leads
to a timing drawback which I’ll address later. They can literally change
the success of your book and put you in the fast lane.
Here’s
how it works, once you’ve identified an appropriate book blogger, you
look under “submission requirements” or “review policy” and find out
what format they’ll take and what they are willing to review.
However, that doesn’t help us find them, does it? Here’s a little secret *looking side to side, whispering*
Bam,
there ya go. Click on that baby and away you go; type in your category,
and out pops thousands of book review sites that would be happy to
review your genre. Follow these few steps and you’ll be on your way:
1.
Research - take the time to find out that their site is interested in
your type of novel. They will spell it out for you in the policy
section.
2.
Don’t mass email them. Pick out something of note in each site that you
visit and comment on it in your email. They want to know that you
really looked at their site and are interested in their opinion. Use
their real name in the email, not the blog name.
3.
Be patient - I alluded to this above. Some of the more prestigious ones
that you run across may have a waiting list of months. Make sure you
are okay with this before you go through the trouble of asking for a
review. Most will spell this out in the “policy” section.
4. Be Polite - Don’t email them every week asking for your review. They’ll get to it and most will notify you when it’s posted.
Many will post to Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads and B&N, not just on their blog site.
Here’s and example of an email that I wrote to a potential book blogger, feel free to copy it and use it for yourself:
Hi Chrystal,
I
am so glad that I found your blog. I love what you are doing for the
young adult population. It’s great to find someone that not only does
blog reviews, but does so with a real passion for books. It is apparent
that you love what you do. I have recently completed a first-in-a-series
Young Adult mystery/suspense novel. I’ve included a brief summary and
bio, and I would be honored if you would choose it for a review.
Thank you for your interest,
Jim (and then the synopsis and bio would follow which included a picture of the cover)
Once
they agree to review, get them the book in whatever format they
request. Of course, they do not promise a great review, just an honest
review. I have had wonderful experiences with book bloggers and consider
some of them friends now. Meanwhile, I’ve developed a database of
outlets for when my next novel comes out.
If
anyone would be interested, I would love to share my spreadsheet with
you that is comprised of over 100 different YA blog reviewers. Please
contact me in the comment section. One thing though, you will get it in the raw form, with all my notes and stuff.
Okay,
now for the super secret thing I found. Here’s the million dollar
take-away. Hopefully it’s new to you as well, otherwise, I’ll look like a
fool. There’s this site…
This
is a hidden treasure. Once you sign up, you can fill out a promotion
where you specify exactly who you want to review your book, genre, age
group, even left handed bloggers if you want. You can fine-tune it to
the number of Twitter and Facebook followers the reviewer has and even
specify an Alexa ranking. Once your “promotion” is approved, bloggers
COME TO YOU to review your book. You can choose who you want to send it
to and then you wait for your review, which you can specify when, one,
two or three weeks out. It is a gold mine for getting reviews. I’ve just
recently found out about this and have my first promotion under review
by the staff, waiting of it to go live. Imagine having 50 blog reviewers
contacting me to review my book. I know—Crazy!
Good
luck with both methods of review generation. As in any type of
promotion, it takes time. While you’re waiting for your reviews—KEEP
WRITING!
* * * * *
Jim Devitt
is a Contributing Author for Indies Unlimited. The author of the #1
Kindle Bestselling novel, THE CARD, has recently moved on to the second
round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. A version of this post appeared at Indies Unlimited on March 3, 2012
