Two books, how to go about getting them reviewed?

[[deleted user]]

Greetings.

I have two novels that I self-published on Smashwords. I am still debating the wisdom of putting them on Smashwords because of my perception of them not being distributed as I would like, but that is not germane to why I am writing here now.

Essentially, I want to offer a copy to persons willing to write a review of each book. If you write reviews for a website or magazine or what have you, then you can send me examples of your reviewing and I will be glad to make arrangements to forward you a copy. You can even specify what format you would prefer it in (although I have a heavy bias in favour of .epub). Essentially, I want to get some feedback and try to determine my next "move", because whilst I knew there were a lot of authors out there... well, you know how it goes.

A little summary of each work before I sit and wait for responses.

Tales of the Stoneworld is the volume I published last year and is a collection of ten stories. The total length is about 105,000 words. Describing what all of the stories about is awkward, but the book was intended to be a "sampler" of my work. The longest story in it would be approximately 26,000 words or thereabouts and focuses on a youthful Dwarf Prince named Trór Gravewater.

Spirit + Stone focuses entirely on Trór, now eighty-five years old and in the awkward position of having to take King-ship of his own realm by force. Along with all the usual "getting it is hard, keeping it is harder" stuff.

Both volumes work on a bend towards blending science fiction with fantasy. Elves, Dwarrow, and more beside battle to defend homes where solar power runs into plasma televisions and high-resolution music players.

Individuals interested in reviewing either work are free to contact me with details of where the review will be published, examples of their other reviews, and so on. I am in a generous mood, so this is your chance to get the product of a lot of effort on my part for kinda-sorta "free".

(I am especially into humorous reviews. One of my favourites was of an album by a band called Appalling Spawn. The review was barely a hundred or more words, mostly devoted to describing obscenely fat people in revealing clothing at the bar queue. Fat rolling down legs like wax melting from a candle, he thought he was going to vomit, and if one put a microphone to his face after subjecting him to that, he would sound like the vocalist on that recording. Creativity rules. ;) )

[Kara]

I think most of your problem is that your book is not on Amazon. Amazon's Kindle is the largest ebook market, and if your book is not on there, the chances of it being read and reviewed are much lower.

[[deleted user]]

Good point, although I would also be glad to point out why that happens to be a bad thing. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that it is my work we are talking about.)