Your publisher will likely submit your book for review to some places. But just because they do, this doesn’t mean that anyone will review it. That’s the nature of book reviews. You ask, you follow the rules, but there are never any guarantees. There is also no guarantee of a positive review. Giving someone a free book doesn’t mean they will give you a four or five stars review. Sometimes, they’ll hate the book. This is the nature of book reviews.
So why bother?
Book reviews are essential to a book’s success, especially on Amazon.com. Why? Because the more book reviews and sales you get on Amazon, the more Amazon will recommend your book to other Amazon shoppers, and the more sales you get.
When you log on to your Amazon account, there are products on display there. These are products that the Amazon computer system thinks that you would like based on what you’ve looked at and purchased in the past. This is the main reason my Amazon Kindle book is doing so well. It’s an electronic word of mouth and it really does work. Amazon recommends my book based on the buying history and the reviews posted by people who have purchased it.
All this to say, reviews are important.
You can buy copies of your book at your author discount and send them to people to review. How do you find people to send them to? If you are a member of a writing organization, you can ask for reviewers. Post a note to the members asking for reviewers for your novel. Be clear that you will give them a free copy if they will post on Amazon.com, or wherever you want them to post.
Another way to find potential reviewers is to search for books that are similar to yours and see who has reviewed those. You can email the reviewer through Amazon and ask them to review your book. Here is how such an email might look:
Dear Ms. Book Reviewer (Use their name and double check the spelling!),
I recently contracted my book, Ordinary Planets, with Jim Editor at Our Press is Best. If you would be interested in reviewing it, I’ll gladly send you a complimentary copy if you’ll respond with your address. Should you prefer a .pdf copy, please send me your email. There is no obligation of course.
Best Regards,
Bob Author
You can also search online for book review blogs. If you find a blog you like, I recommend checking their Google Page Rank, or at least scroll through and see if people are commenting on things. This is a good way to know if anyone is actually reading the blog. There isn’t much point in having someone review a book if no one will ever see their review. So be smart about who you send a book to.
I keep a spreadsheet of everyone I’ve given a free book to. I mark down if they post and where. This has really helped me to know who to use for my next book and who not to use.
You might also check with your publisher’s publicist and let them know what blog sites you are sending a review to so that you don’t send a book to a reviewer that your publicist sent one to already.
And keep in mind, this is a gift. They might not post a review. There really is no obligation. It’s a risk you take. Always be kind and polite.
Leave a Reply