My Letter to an Author

I recently got an email like this:

Hello there,

I found a review on Amazon that you wrote for Old Man's War.

I have written a book that may also appeal to you called ************ and I would like to give it to you for free. I have attached a synopsis and link to the book below if you are interested.

You see, I am looking for reviews on Amazon so that I can get some feedback from possible readers. I would greatly appreciate it if you would check out my book and leave me a review if you enjoy it.

I would be happy to send you my book as a gift so you don’t have to purchase it if you could provide an honest review! I would greatly appreciate your help.

Just reply back to this email if you are interested in getting the book which I can gift to you through Kindle or if you prefer some other electronic format.

Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to consider my book and giving me some feedback!

Regards,

***********

I have decided to send the following form email as a reply to all such inquiries:

*************,

Like you I am a self published author. I have published both fiction and nonfiction.

https://www.amazon.com/Format-Your-Ow...

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Bha...

https://www.amazon.com/Shree-Krishna-...

Like you, I struggle with getting reviews. You have 30 reviews of your book, more than I have for all my books together.

I started reviewing books on Goodreads and Amazon to give potential customers a way to find my own books. The only effect this has had is a steady stream of emails like yours.

I used to subscribe to Book Gorilla and that also gave me a stream of free self published books, some of which I read and reviewed, but most of which got neither read nor reviewed. I quit that but now get newsletters from ManyBooks and AwesomeGang and InstaFreebie and I delete them unread.

I have a stack of conventionally published books that I'm working on that only gets larger, and I'm writing a second novel. I am not inclined to review any more self published books at this time.

If you have 30 reviews you must be doing something right. Good luck.