Connecting Readers and Writers discussion
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No, I don't think it's close to buying reviews. You're offering a premium for up to a certain number of customers who write reviews. Try it, Tweet it, promote it as much as you can, then let us know the results.
Good luck with that. I have done giveaways on Goodreads and LibraryThing and from 20 copies I got one review.Every month, I do a giveaway for a day on Kindle and have had 10,000 copies downloaded like that. Still only have 16 or so reviews across Amazon to show for it.
You need to target and find the people that actually DO review, not just anyone.
Alternatively, get your book out to some book reviewers that review Indies. I made a list on my Blog once, with a couple hundred of these... here you go: http://www.gregscowen.com/2012/02/a-f...
I think just time, good writing and self-promotion will get you to that magical number. I would also recommend registering your book on those ARR programs that a lot of groups in GR have. I've personally found quite a bit of success from these areas, although every experience is different.http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...
Best of luck.
Greg,Your gesture is a particularly generous one. I (with Scott) thank you.
Russell
Greg, that's an awesome resource! Definitely going to make use of that. For multiple writing projects!I'm still not sure about the giveaway gifts because it feels wrong (what did Mom say about things that don't feel right?), but it's that silly hump of 20 books that get you into the wider mix.
My experience is that targeted giveaways, as in... asking people in smaller local bookstores if they would like a copy to try, local papers, etc, is the best way to go.Otherwise, those Blogging reviewers (if you have time to trawl through the list) are a great resource. Though, the often have a long waiting list.
At the end of the day, being active and chatting friendly with people on Goodreads, without self-promotion, is about the best thing you can do.
I'm one of those bloggers/reviewers supporting Indie authors. You can find my blog here. Please check out my review policy and my current request queue, before you decide to send your book my way. I read epub only.
I also host author interviews, guest posts and participate in blog tours.
Thanks.
I don't think it counts as "buying reviews" unless you are dictating what those reviews should be. It's pretty standard practice to give reviewers a free copy of your book and their are multiple sites out there that actually charge for reviews. I was actually thinking about offering a signed copy of an upcoming book if people would review my other book. After all quite a few people have copies of the book already, they've read it but they haven't reviewed it. (I know they've read it because I have gotten a lot of verbal feedback from people who've read it.)
Alas, Rachel, "so many books; so little time to read (and review).
Russell wrote: "Alas, Rachel, "so many books; so little time to read (and review)."I know the feeling. I go through my kindle periodically and think, "now did I review this anywhere?" If I get a book free or cheap I always try to review it because I know how important it is for the author. As an author I also know that you give away 20+ books and maybe get one review -- and that's out of twenty people who promised they'd review it. It's frustrating on both ends. Still it's what you've got to do to succeed.
"Still it's what you've got to do to succeed."Rachel,
But how can we call 'giving books away' -- or even selling books @ 99¢ -- any kind of success? We're not, after all, libraries.
Russell
Well eventually those giveaways turn into word of mouth recommendations, and those turn into social media recommendations and those turn into sales.Success is bred on getting the word out, and that, for those of us who can't pay to get into the airport book stores, or on the end cap at the grocery store, means hoping for word of mouth and viral interest.
Spending a few hundred on free books and shipping seems the only way.
"Spending a few hundred on free books and shipping seems the only way."I fear, Rob, you may be right.
Russell
I cannot stress enough that my success came about not by shipping out hundred or so free copies of the paperback I sent out, rather it came about by spending nothing ans going with KDP Select from Amazon.It costs nothing to make your book free for 5 days in a 90 day period and the exposure is gold. As long as you have a good book, this is perfect exposure.
I regret the hundred or so paperback copies I sent out. Even the newspaper reviews brought in negligible sales. By comparison, the sales after the first day of free on Amazon were more than a hundred copies a day for the first week.
Good to know, Greg. Thanks for sharing.Russell
I'll find out for sure. I did the free thing over ComicCon weekend and I "sold" 500 copies. I call that good, and all but I haven't actually sold any real "pay for me" copies since. It's only been a week and a half so I should give it time, yes, but...
That's no good, Rob. The sales after a freebie are strongest in days immediately after. Then it slows down.July has been a terrible month for me. Very very slow. Hopefully August turns around again.
How far up the Amazon top-seller lists did you get for your genre based on the freebies? You really need to come out of freebie in the top 100 of your genre for things to take off. You typically stay there for just a day or two.
Rob, We just ran our select free promotion and gave away over 2000 copies over two days right after comic con. We reached 107 overall, but 87 in fiction, 63 in science fiction and 1 in anthogies (the free lists).Alas it has also only translated into a trickle of sales (6 or so in just under a week).
We haven't quite analyzed all our data, but I figured I'd share as were also struggling to find those reviews.
Yeah, I hit top 25 for humor and top 50 for romance. I was on the front page for humorous for 2 days out of the 5. I kind of figured that the giveaway was a bust. I did get a great review on facebook from someone who loved it, and was hoping I'd do another free promotion soon so his friends could download it.
I loved the praise, though kind of wished that he'd suggested they buy a copy.
Greg wrote: "Good luck with that. I have done giveaways on Goodreads and LibraryThing and from 20 copies I got one review.Every month, I do a giveaway for a day on Kindle and have had 10,000 copies downloaded..."
Greg, thank you for sharing this abundant list of book review sources. I've found the best results in acquiring book reviews is to approach a blogger whose audience has an interest in the genre I'm writing. While it may take awhile (and many requests) to obtain a willing and able reviewer, it's well worth the effort and you'll likely establish great relationships along the way.
First, I understand that Amazon will put you in the mix for "people also liked" books once you break 20 reviews. Thus there's an incentive to get to that magical number, good or bad, because it makes your book likely to be stumbled on through that mechanism.
So I was thinking about doing a contest/ giveaway. If I can get 20 reviews, good bad or indifferent, just 20 reviews, I'll give away signed copies of a special edition (with author's notes explaining all the in jokes and the like). Of course the challenge is that I don't really have a good mechanism to get the word out about the giveaway anyways, even if I did like the idea.
What do you guys think? Too close to buying reviews?