Book Reviews - Part 3

Part 3:
NAKED REVIEW: HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS
What to do now that Amazon closed all loopholes (2017)

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW PLANNING

Today, skipping systematic review planning is an error that will take months to correct.

One mistake that too many authors make consistently is “to hustle for reviews.” Since authors learn quickly that only about 1% of readers review the books they read, quite many authors focus on catering to the most sympathetic group of readers, which is other authors.

The problem with that course of action is that indie authors can’t buy all the books they want to read. Consequently, the reviews gained through these efforts have always been mostly non verified reviews.

Now that Amazon simply flipped a switch and non verified reviews are not visible by default, these reviews are clearly recognizable as “potential friends’ reviews.”

The problem gets compounded by the fact that the reviews of Kindle Unlimited reviewers are counted as non verified reviews too.

Hence it’s time to build a systematic plan to find real life readers who will buy your book. You are probably not going to end up with as many reviews as if you follow the old strategy, but your book’s sales ranking will be better. That’s very convincing too.

In contrast, simply “exchanging reviews in some way” doesn’t necessarily lead to success.  I know an author who amassed 120+ reviews, including 30+ verified reviews, which is a ratio of 1:3. The book has an average rating of 4.6*****. Currently, this author’s book is ranked #1,200,000+ in Kindle. In contrast, I have seen books that did not have that many reviews but were selling much better.

Here is my personal numbers key to reviews (based on experience

and looking at at least 1,000 book reviews of books of all genres and their respective sales ranks.

12

Every book should have at least 12 starter-reviews. Books that have at least a dozen reviews sell better during book promotions.

30-50

The presence of 10-20% “exclamation-without-explanation” reviews demonstrates that regular readers who don’t really like to write long reviews read the book and wanted to “comment.”

60-80

The rate of posting reviews increases from 1% to 3-5%. For every 1,000 sold books you’ll receive between 30 to 50 reviews.

200+

The book’s review rate increases even more. Reviews attract more reviews, automatically.

STEP 1: THINK BIG (for new book releases)

Consider contacting media persons to ask for a review in a print or online magazine. Even If you can only hope that a print publication might feature your book this should be your very first step. 

The benefits of having your book featured in a magazine cannot be overstated, since you can reuse and recycle this feature for the rest of your life, because it is a quality mark. The more reputable the publication is, the better the results. I have been posting this tweet since 2015.

The SUCCESS magazine features only one self-published book per issue, hence for me, the fact that my book was featured in this magazine was more valuable than the book award it won. 

If you check out celebrity book authors’ book pages and author profiles, you notice that all of them list, “featured on ABC, NBC, CNN, etc.” or “featured in Forbes, The New Yorker, Good Housekeeping, etc.” Of course, not all of these celebrity authors’ books have been presented in these media outlets, or maybe it’s been years since they even wrote a book. However, media coverage does not get old just like winning an award; the accomplishment stays attached to your name for as long as you live. 

Also, while many of your preparations like putting together an email list or finding the names of “perfect reviewers” will take considerable time, contacting a dozen editors does not take more than a day. So – Just do it! You have nothing to lose!

Here is an incomplete list of genres and magazines which merely hints at the many opportunities you might have.

Business and finance

Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company

Children

American Girl, Highlights for Children, Sports Illustrated Kids

Food and cooking

Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking

General interest

People, Reader’s Digest, Vanity Fair

Men

Esquire, GQ, Men’s Health

Women

Woman’s Day, Woman’s World, O: The Oprah Magazine

History

American Heritage, Military Heritage, Naval History

Parenting

Mothering, Parenting, Parents

Science fiction and fantasy

Amazing Stories, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction

Teen interest

Cosmogirl, Seventeen, Teen

Writing

The Writer, Writer’s Digest, Writers’ Journal

*

A visit to your local Barnes & Noble store where you can browse hundreds of magazines while enjoying a cup of fabulous coffee can help you determine which magazine editors to approach. 

When I offer this idea during presentations to author groups, I always get a few laughs; attendees look at their neighbors and giggle shyly. Clearly, many of them believe they should skip this step. Sometimes, somebody says, “My local newspaper doesn’t do book reviews.”

While I can understand that new authors worry that they aren’t famous enough to be considered, here is my question, “Do you want to become a professional writer?” Professional authors seek getting featured in print media. If you don’t try you can’t succeed.

Even more importantly, if you skip this step, you can never make up for it. Though you can always pitch magazines as an expert author, no magazine will review your book months after its release.  If you don’t try this before you publish, you missed the opportunity.

One word of advice: Do not offer editors an .epub or .mobi file. Sending an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) is much more effective, because it is easier to forget about an ebook than about a print book in plain sight.

APPROACHING PRINT MEDIA EDITORS

Authors who publish with Amazon and Smashwords can list their books for preorder at both ecommerce sites. You, the author, set the date. During the preorder period, retailers can accept orders for your book in advance of the official release date. 

Unfortunately, you cannot do the same with Createspace. To release a book on Createspace you literally have to “press the button.” The book will go live three to five days later on Amazon’s U.S. site. Keep in mind, to ask print publications for a review, you need to set up your print book at least four months in advance of your planned book release. However, this timeline won’t keep you from selling because you can make your ebook available for preorder. 

As long as you do not approve your print book on Createspace nobody knows that your book is ready for release. This is important, because it allows you to send out professional ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) to any number of editors, reviewers, and bloggers without your fans knowing that you are holding back the book.

Once you have uploaded your book, Createspace will offer you to proof your book online and/or order up to five printed proof copies.

Action steps:

1) Proofread your book online. You want to make sure that the book has no grammatical errors or typos before you send it to known magazine editors. If you prefer editing on paper, you can also download a .pdf copy.

2) Order five printed proof copies for editors and bloggers. DO NOT APPROVE the book for release. Use these proof copies as ARCs.

3) Contact editors, reviewers, and bloggers via email and ask if you can send them an ARC. Never ever send an ebook copy (.epub pr .mobi) with your request email. To score with print publications, you have to look uber-professional.

4) Be sure to mention

• that your book is not released yet,
• the planned release date, and also
• offer to change that date if needed.

Print magazines have a three months lead time. If the editors make the decision to feature your book on January 2nd, the article about your book could be featured the earliest in the April issue (January plus three months). Print magazines do not want to feature old news. Hence, you have to coordinate the release of your book with the editors.

That’s why it is so important to tackle this issue even before your ebook is formatted. You can format an ebook much faster than a print magazine is planned, laid out, printed, and distributed.

If you need more than five ARCs, you can order five more proof copies after you received the first set; just make sure that you do not release your book prematurely.

Once you know in which issue your book will be featured, you can schedule your ebook for preorder and plan your entire marketing campaign around this release date.

5) Release your print book ten (10) days before the agreed release date so it will be live on Amazon once the magazine is out. Releasing your book earlier also gives Amazon the opportunity to combine the book pages of your e-book edition and your p-book edition.

IMPORTANT:

You may remember that a few pages back I stated that courting newspaper and magazine editors in the hope of receiving editorial reviews used to be an expensive and complicated process.

This has changed. Before Print-on-Demand was an option, self-publishing authors had to produce a printed copy, most often with the help of a vanity publisher. In other words, authors had to shell out thousands of dollars without knowing whether they would be successful.

Today getting featured in a print magazine is much easier than it used to be. The huge successes of many self-published books made the industry to tear down old barriers. Magazines routinely feature self-published books beside traditionally published books.

One last thing: When contacting industry professionals, don’t call your first book your debut novel.

The term debut novel was coined before the invention of e-books and Print-on-Demand. It entails that the newbie author’s draft was so riveting that the author was able to find an agent who convinced a traditional publisher to take the risk and invest in publishing a newbie author’s work. Since typically, traditional publishers print small initial print runs, the cost-per-book of a debut novel is also more expensive. 

Obviously, publishing an e-book or printing via Print-on-Demand does not carry the same financial risk. Hence, don’t use that term to describe your first (self-published) book. However, I encourage you to consider entering your first book in a literary book competition for debut novels. Please google for opportunities. 

*

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 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

RYX6ZF8QT9YW