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Book Reviews for Author Success: How to win great reviews to make your book shine

Barb Drozdowich (Goodreads Author)

4.11 · Rating details · 9 ratings · 6 reviews

Feel like it’s impossible to get more reviews for your book? Discover a comprehensive guide to every single review gathering method in publishing.

No idea where to start to get reviews for your book? Worried about hiring a professional service or contacting blogs to get those five-star marks? Award-winning author and professional reviewer Barb Drozdowich knows reviews in

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Kindle Edition, 92 pages

Published October 9th 2018

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Nov 08, 2018 Caitlyn Lynch rated it really liked it

Shelves: writing-reference

Full title: Book Review Secrets For Author Success: How to win great reviews to make your book shine by Barb Drozdowich.

As an indie author who’s been learning the industry for a few years now, one of the questions I most often see from folks who’ve just put their first book out is “How do I get reviews?” Well, if you’re lucky enough to be signed with one of the big publishers, they might do some of the work for you. Otherwise, dear rookie author, it’s all up to you, and Barb Drozdowich is here t Full title: Book Review Secrets For Author Success: How to win great reviews to make your book shine by Barb Drozdowich.

As an indie author who’s been learning the industry for a few years now, one of the questions I most often see from folks who’ve just put their first book out is “How do I get reviews?” Well, if you’re lucky enough to be signed with one of the big publishers, they might do some of the work for you. Otherwise, dear rookie author, it’s all up to you, and Barb Drozdowich is here to guide you gently through the process.

First of all, what a lot of folks outside the industry don’t realize is that there are different types of reviews as well as different sources, and more places to share those reviews than you ever imagined. Drozdowich carefully explains the difference between professional or industry reviews, reader reviews, blogger reviews and others, and guides the rookie author to the right place to start looking for said reviews.

The most important chapter, in my opinion, is regarding author etiquette on dealing with negative reviews, and it’s covered pretty succinctly by the general advice; Don’t. DO NOT ENGAGE. Do not feed the trolls, if you think someone’s just being mean. And if they’ve got valid critique? Well, take that to heart and use it to become a better writer. Truth is, we’ve all got room for improvement, and nothing gets regular reviewers up in arms like an author on the attack. Trust me on this; there’s a new trashfire circulating every week on social media about an author who’s pulled an Anne Rice and attacked readers (google “interrogating the text from the wrong perspective” if you want to know why she’s synonymous with the practice). All I can say is, that behaviour only ever ends with the author doing it getting added to an awful lot of Do Not Read lists.

While Drozdowich does an excellent job of explaining what the different types of reviews are and how to get them, I do think the reference appendix falls a little short. There are plenty of professional trade review sites that don’t charge $200+ for reviews; Readers Favorite, Reading Alley are just a couple. She names sites which help you find reviewers and these stretch far beyond NetGalley too; BookSprout is a brilliant resource I highly recommend and a fraction the cost of NetGalley to get (for me) a far superior result.

I’m also a little surprised that the huge popularity of bookstagrammers and booktubers (Bloggers on, respectively, Instagram and YouTube) isn’t even mentioned, and there’s no advice for how to find and approach these incredible influencers. This is a fairly serious omission, and though it might be covered in one of her other books (there’s one about targeting bloggers) it would certainly make sense to at least discuss the topic in this one.

In the end, if you’re an author at the very start of your publishing journey wondering how to get reviews, this is a very handy resource. I’ll give it four stars, mainly because I think it’s lacking in the areas I mentioned above. If you’re a more experienced author? Well… you probably know most of it already. Just put it into practice. Oh, and join BookSprout. And no, I don’t get any kickback or anything from them. I just think they have a great service.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley. ...more

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Nov 23, 2018 Annie rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Book Reviews for Author Success is author Barb Drozdowich's guide to indie authors on how to reach reviewers and increase exposure for their works. The book is aimed at creators who do not have a publishing marketing apparatus providing exposure

Released 9th October 2018 by Amazon publishing, it's 92 pages and available in electronic format.

The publishing industry has changed immensely over the last decades. Self publishing has made it possible Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Book Reviews for Author Success is author Barb Drozdowich's guide to indie authors on how to reach reviewers and increase exposure for their works. The book is aimed at creators who do not have a publishing marketing apparatus providing exposure

Released 9th October 2018 by Amazon publishing, it's 92 pages and available in electronic format.

The publishing industry has changed immensely over the last decades. Self publishing has made it possible for authors to produce and list their work directly on electronic media (i.e. Amazon, B&N, etc) and potentially reach millions of buyers, but without a significant online presence or active marketing plan, their would-be bestseller languishes, drowned in a sea of competition.

Ms. Drozdowich has written several guides and how-to books for new/indie authors on other aspects of the jobs of being a successful indie author, but this one deals mostly with several methods of 1)getting your book in the hands of reviewers, 2)getting those reviewers to successfully carry through in providing a review for your work and 3)leveraging those reviews into successful book 'buzz' which in turn generates sales.

This guide is written directly to its audience (other writers) and as such, it's not very slick or polished. What it does, and does well, is to gather online resources and sites together in one place. It's a great collection of website resources and how to utilize them to increase exposure. The book's chapters are arranged logically starting with the most basic (what is a review) through marketing and exposure, how to find bloggers and ask for (and recieve) reviews, and what reviews entail and what you can expect from reviewers.

This is a good resource, well written and accessible. I imagine it could be quite invaluable for a struggling author.

Four stars. Though I found no explanation for why the title given in the listings on Amazon/goodreads/etc is different than the stated title on the book itself. (I didn't detract anything from the review for that, but I did notice it, just a little quirky).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. ...more

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Dec 06, 2018 Rebecca L. rated it it was amazing

Clear, Concise, & Incredibly Helpful

I am a writer and a huge fan of this author's work. Her book, "Blogging for Authors," introduced me to the world of book blogging. She inspired me to get connected to the blogging community as a way to grow my online presence. Developing a platform can be overwhelming and Barb's book series makes it seem less insurmountable. I'm hoping to use these tips she provided to try to try to get some reviews for my own books in the future. I highly recommend this book ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 Rosemary Rey rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

Book Reviews for Author Success is a quick read craft book for Authors needing to enhance the number of reviews they receive for their book pre-publication and thereafter. A lot of the advice I'd already learned in my many years of self-publishing. There are some things not present that would be helpful for the newbie author. However, the dos and donts are standard, such as terms of service for Amazon, which a lot of people tend to violate, causing a loss of review rights. There are many creativ ...more

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Oct 17, 2018 Kay rated it really liked it

I was so happy to see that this new addition to Barb Drozdowich’s series of nine how-to handbooks for authors on self-publishing, promoting, blogging, mailing, and other jobs writers have, now includes this one on how to get those all-important reviews for your books. Authors often sigh over the great need for reviews vs. the great difficulty in snagging them. How to help readers see that writing reviews can be simple and quick? How to entice readers to get our book and then review it, hopefully ...more

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Mar 02, 2020 Erik rated it it was amazing

Shelves: writing-publishing-guides

Very helpful. All of Barb's books are great. ...more

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About Barb Drozdowich

Barb Drozdowich

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Barb can teach anyone to use WordPress. She is a voracious reader of Regency Romance, taxi driver, gourmet chef in training, and slave to a cute puppy.

Barb has taught in colleges, universities and in the banking industry. More recently, she brings her years of teaching experience and a deep love of books to help authors develop the social media platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving p ...more