Read Review and Pass Along

Read, Review, Pass Along Form

Writers know the importance of garnering reviews of their books to draw the kind of attention that will result in more book sales.  But how do you do it when a book first comes out, and hardly anyone has bought it to review it?

You give a few books away, right?  Maybe more than a few, like dozens, but that can be costly especially if you only get one review for every book you give away.  There must be a better way.

That was my thinking a few months ago that lead me to my most recent experiment — the Read, Review and Pass Along Plan. It's really pretty simple.  I created a Read, Review and Pass Along Form and taped it into the back of several copies of Dominion Over All and Seeds of a New Birth. I then offered the books to some of my friends as well at my Freelance Friday group with the request that they read the book in a timely fashion, review it on Amazon, complete the short form on the back, and then pass it along to someone else they felt would enjoy the book and would be willing to also read, review and pass it along.

Now, the experiment is currently still underway, but already I've learned a lot.  One of the main things I've verified for myself once again is that a lot of people mean well but often don't follow through with their agreement. Yes, sad, but true.  And the weaker the connection with the person, the more likely the ball will get dropped somewhere.  So, I've 'tweaked' the instructions a couple of times to make them clearer and more specific.

I'll be passing a few more books out with the new instructions that include asking each person to point out the instructions to the next person and to contact me by email so I can keep better track of the books.

Time will tell if that will work.  So far, I'd give the results I've seen a C-; passable but not great.  Want to play along with this idea.  You can download the form here. If you decide to try the experiment yourself, let me know how it works for you, especially if you come up with any strategies that has it work better for you.

After all, I don't believe in a paradigm of competition but instead one of collaboration.