Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "language"
Proceed With Caution When Choosing a Review Service
If you are an unknown author and spending money on advertising, here is some invaluable advice. When you're shopping for companies that offer legitimate reviews by readers who are genuinely interested in your book, ask these questions:
• Where are they located
• What is the members’ average age, and which genre are they interested in
It may not seem like these things have anything to do with the quality of the service, but they do. First of all, if your book is going to be offered to people worldwide, you must make sure that there are enough members of the community who speak fluent English (or whatever language your book is written in) so that you can be sure of getting accurate reviews.
Age is also important, because depending on your genre, the company may not be able to get anyone interested in reading your book. That recently happened to me when I did a secret shop: my book is historical fiction. It’s a murder mystery/romance set in 1600s England, and it is definitely not a Beach Read. Rather than being heavy on sex and weak on plot, it’s the exact opposite. It’s heavy on the plot and character development and it’s full of historical facts.
For this reason, my demographic is typically people 35 years of age or older who live in the UK or America. This ensures that they are mature enough to be interested in the book and can fluently read it in the language it is written in. Naturally, there are people all over the world who speak English, but if your book is written in English, you’re better off marketing to America and the UK simply because there will be a greater number of English speakers in those areas.
The Independent Author market has been flooded with fantasy and science fiction over the past 10 years. For this reason, many “review services” have communities made up of young adults who are interested in this type of book. That’s fantastic if that’s what you’ve written. For someone like me, it equates to spending a lot of money to get very little interest and not many reviews. So always check with the company to determine if they have members who are interested in your genre, whatever it may be.
I recently had a disastrous experience with the review service that I did the secret shop on. I found out to my dismay that the company was located in Egypt. Well, it was no small wonder that they couldn’t get much interest in my book. I wouldn’t choose a book either if it was in a language I didn’t speak! That’s not the members’ fault, that’s the person’s fault who signed me up for not disclosing that the company was located overseas. So asking those two simple questions can help immensely when you’re searching for legitimate review services. Find out if your book will be offered to the appropriate demographic and find out the location of the company before you dive in! Write on.
• Where are they located
• What is the members’ average age, and which genre are they interested in
It may not seem like these things have anything to do with the quality of the service, but they do. First of all, if your book is going to be offered to people worldwide, you must make sure that there are enough members of the community who speak fluent English (or whatever language your book is written in) so that you can be sure of getting accurate reviews.
Age is also important, because depending on your genre, the company may not be able to get anyone interested in reading your book. That recently happened to me when I did a secret shop: my book is historical fiction. It’s a murder mystery/romance set in 1600s England, and it is definitely not a Beach Read. Rather than being heavy on sex and weak on plot, it’s the exact opposite. It’s heavy on the plot and character development and it’s full of historical facts.
For this reason, my demographic is typically people 35 years of age or older who live in the UK or America. This ensures that they are mature enough to be interested in the book and can fluently read it in the language it is written in. Naturally, there are people all over the world who speak English, but if your book is written in English, you’re better off marketing to America and the UK simply because there will be a greater number of English speakers in those areas.
The Independent Author market has been flooded with fantasy and science fiction over the past 10 years. For this reason, many “review services” have communities made up of young adults who are interested in this type of book. That’s fantastic if that’s what you’ve written. For someone like me, it equates to spending a lot of money to get very little interest and not many reviews. So always check with the company to determine if they have members who are interested in your genre, whatever it may be.
I recently had a disastrous experience with the review service that I did the secret shop on. I found out to my dismay that the company was located in Egypt. Well, it was no small wonder that they couldn’t get much interest in my book. I wouldn’t choose a book either if it was in a language I didn’t speak! That’s not the members’ fault, that’s the person’s fault who signed me up for not disclosing that the company was located overseas. So asking those two simple questions can help immensely when you’re searching for legitimate review services. Find out if your book will be offered to the appropriate demographic and find out the location of the company before you dive in! Write on.
