What About Reviews?

My recent blogs about author platforms have started some good conversation, and raised a couple questions. In particular, one of my readers asked about other options. Traci McDonald specifically said, “If you can suggest a good way to get reviews and guest posts on blogs, let me know.” Well I do have a few ideas and since Traci has a new novel coming out this spring I thought I would share them.
Reviews come in different forms. Mainstream reviews – the ones you get from Publisher’s Weekly, The Washington Post or the Library Journal - are the most sought-after and hardest to get. Major newspapers and magazines receive hundreds of Advance Reader Copies every week. To have a chance at all of getting reviewed in these venues, have the sent by your publisher. The ARC should be labeled that way or with the words “unedited galley.” The reviewer should receive it at least 120 days before the release date, and it should be accompanied by your marketing plan.
These reviewers are not trying to do anyone a favor. They enhance their publications by posting helpful advice for readers. Why the time frame? They want their reviews to appear just before the book hits bookstores. Why favor big publishers? They want to review books their readers will see in bookstores. And with hundreds to choose from each book has only a slim chance of success. That is NOT to say you should give up. We at Intrigue Publishing send ARCs of each new release to a couple dozen major reviewers. The odds are long but the payoff is well worth the gamble.
Reader reviews are easier to get and, while they may not carry as much weight they can help people decide to buy your book. You get them by asking. At book signings as every person who buys your book to please write a review. Or you hold a giveaway, and ask everyone who got a copy of your book for free to post a review on Amazon or Goodreads where readers are influenced by their peers. Or you seek out the top Amazon reviewers – these people are more influential than you might think – and send them copies of your book. This can become a numbers game. Some small percentage of the people you ask will write a review, so the more you ask the more you’ll get.
Don’t forget that subset of comments called blurbs. These come from other writers in your genre or experts in a related field. These folks can be true opinion leaders. These you get by meeting people and asking them, individually, if they will do you a favor by reading your book and writing a short, honest comment about it. Most of these people are flattered to be asked and happy to oblige if they turn out to like your work. If they turn you down it is usually because they simply don’t have time to read your book. Be gracious and thank them anyway. Who knows, they may have time for your next book.
Just remember that reader reviews and blurbs will not automatically appear in any high-circulation venue. When you get them you’ll want to push them through social media, send them to bookstores and radio hosts, and get the best printed on your book.

We’ll save guest blogs for next week.