Book Reviews - Part 11

Part 11:
NAKED REVIEW: HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS
What to do now that Amazon closed all loopholes (2017)

ADDENDUM

TOOLBOX FOR WRITING BEST REVIEW REQUEST EMAILS

Algorithms are capable of recognizing patterns. If interested, please read some basic information on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition

It is the same for people. Humans are pattern recognition “machines” too. In fact, many people, including maybe you, are very good in recognizing patterns.  Surely, you remember hundreds of occasions when you thought, “Ghee, I know what that guy wants...” because you have heard the same “sales pitch”   before.

Equally, when I received the first silly email stating,

I thought, “Well, that dude isn’t much of a wordsmith, he won’t even tell me anything about his book.” That was it. I didn’t know that either this person created the template or he was the first one to send  me a request email tailored from this particular template.

When four to five weeks later I received another email tailored from the same template, I probably thought, “This email rings a bell,” but I may have been too busy to check it out. By the time I received the third email tailored from the same template, I thought, “Wait a minute... I have read this before!” Still, little did I know that I would receive more than 100 request emails all tailored from the same template. By that time, a first grader would have recognized what’s going on.

There are two lessons to be learned from this story:

Since you will never know how many others tailor the same template of a request email, don’t ever tailor any templates. It’s a waste of time to send out these emails, time which is spent much better writing, reading, or composing a great email.  

Disregard the advice from anybody who advises you to tailor a template. Obviously, this person has no clue how things really work. Also consider, if this person also recommends other easy ways of doing things, these procedures may be equally flawed.

The following chapters explain how to write a “perfect” email from scratch!

Please do not expect a template.

NEVER FORGET – DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR NEEDS

(Previously published in NAKED TRUTHS About Getting Book Reviews)

Every book has its purpose and target audience. Some books are meant to teach, others to entertain, and again others want to keep important memories alive. Some books fulfill all of these objectives. To interest reviewers, authors need to tell reviewers why they wrote their book so others can share their passion. It is most important that authors talk only about their book and/or their cause but not about themselves. Here is an email from an author who missed that mark.

(review request)

Hello

How are you? I have read your review of ...xyz… and found it useful. I am currently promoting one of my books …abc… It is available on several e-book platforms for free-of-charge downloading. I would appreciate if you could support me with the promotion of this book, preferably on Amazon, but, if you so like, also on any of the other platforms. It would be lovely if you could find the time to do a short review. Reviews are just so important to make any product stand out….

***

Though this writer provided various product links, which I have deleted to protect his privacy, he did not give a single reason why I would want to read his book.

Is this book funny?

Does it have an unusual twist?

Additionally, wording like “to do a short review” does not suggest that the writer is a great writer.

Why should any reviewer read this book other than that its author thinks that the reviewer writes good reviews?

• DO talk about why you think the reviewer will like your book
• DO talk about how much others liked your book and why
• DO talk about your book’s mission/purpose/uniqueness
• DO NOT talk about the reviewer’s talents to serve your interests

3 STRATEGIES

(Previously published in NAKED TRUTHS About Getting Book Reviews)

1) TELL ME SOMETHING I HAVEN’T HEARD/READ YET!

Most reviewers get a lot of request emails. Therefore, it helps to compare your book to other books or point out what makes your book different from others. For instance,

“Opposite to …xyz … my book…” or 

“Much better than … xyz … my book also tells….” 

 “Even though you may have read a dozen books about (any skill - nonfiction), my book will show you new tricks...” 

2) USE THE PORTFOLIO STRATEGY

Another great way to approach a reviewer is to treat a review request as creating a portfolio sample of your work.

• Motivational authors could make their emails sound optimistic and positive.
• Mystery writers could word their emails like mysteries (which, in a way, is not such a far stretch; the reviewer does not know if the book is great, or not).
• Authors of historic novels could explain why the time period they are writing about is more interesting than the one we live in  or why the historic epoch they are writing about is important.

It’s all about creativity and showing off your skills.

3) CREATE YOUR BOOK’S "DATING PROFILE"

It is an excellent strategy to pretend that you’re writing a ’dating profile for your book’. The same principles apply.

1. Make your book look exciting.
2. Describe its best features. 
3. Don’t try to attract everybody (if you were trying to find a date you would not go out with the next best guy or girl.)!  
4. Create a meaningful profile, which is neither too long nor too short.
5. Don’t lie (e.g. by calling yourself a bestselling author on your Amazon profile). The truth will come out.

A creative, exciting, funny, and unique ’dating profile’ will attract ’matching’ readers to start a relationship made in ’book heaven’.

*

Gisela Hausmann dares to write what others' won't say or don't know. Her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications including Success magazine and Entrepreneur, and on Bloomberg's podcast "Decrypted."

Gisela tweets @Naked_Determina.
Her books are available at Amazon and other fine book stores.

• NAKED WORDS 2.0: The Effective 157-Word Email
• 73 Ways to Turn a Me-Mail Into an E-mail

• Naked News for Indie Authors How NOT to Invest Your Marketing $$$

• BOOK MARKETING: The Funnel Factor: Including 100 Media Pitches (paperback only)

• The Little Blue Book for Authors: 53 Dos & Don’ts Nobody Is Telling You
• The Little Blue Book for Authors: 101 Clues to Get More Out of Facebook
• The Little Blue Book for Authors: Essential Manners for the Modern Author

• NAKED TRUTHS About Getting Book Reviews 2018
• BAT SHIT CRAZY Review Requests: Email Humor (paperback only)

© 2017 by Gisela Hausmann

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