Okay people, this is going to be a long one, so
grab a cup of coffee and let's tackle this issue of reviews.
I wrote and sloppily edited this in the
course of 2 days, sorry about the typos.
My goal in sharing my experience is to help you
make choices about seeking reviews for your book, and the pitfalls to avoid.
I only have my own experience to draw from so take this advice with
a grain of salt. I welcome your comments, questions, and corrections.
Before garnering reviews you will need two
things:
You’ll need paperback copies of your book
which you can mail to potential reviewers.
Your book must be available for sale on
Amazon.
You’ll need paperbacks because most reviewers
will want a paper copy of your book. It does costs more but there are advantages. I think it’s harder for someone to
ignore your gorgeous paperback on their bedside table than to ignore yet one
more ebook on their e-reader. I
never sent a kindle or nook e-book to anyone for review. First of all I’m
not quite sure how. Second I’m a bit paranoid about my e-book being sent
every which ways. That would be the kind of ‘viral’ spreading I would not want.
You’ll need your book to be for sale on Amazon
for two reasons 1- Amazon reviews help your book ranking (and 80% of your sales
will be on Amazon) and 2- Asking for reviews before there is a platform on
which to place the review is bad news. People want to write a review when it’s
fresh in their mind. If they have to wait they’ll never do it. And if the book
is not yet for sale, where would they post the review? That’s right. Nowhere.
And by the way, when someone emails you their review it’s as heartwarming as it
is unusable. Only they can upload them on the various sites.
Note: Traditional publishers have the ability
to list a book on Amazon before it is available for sale, thus setting up
pre-ordering and reviewing of the book. Last time I checked self-published
authors didn’t have that ability. So any review you ask for, be sure
that your book is already on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles etc…
The most important thing to know about
reviews.
1- There are two kinds of reviews, those you
get as you’re trying to make your book as good as it can be. Those reviews are
really constructive (hopefully) feedback from a select few you have chosen to give
you their opinion before the book is available for sale.
The other kind are the reviews posted by
readers, bloggers etc. on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Nobles online
etc…
Both types of reviews can help your book, but
only the latter can sink its chances of success.
The most important thing to know about
reviews is to be sure that your book is per-fect before it is up for sale.
Remember, once the book is up for sale, it belongs to everyone. It’s way
out of your hands. And once a review is on Amazon, like it or not, it’s there
to stay. So, as is my advice with everything pertaining to self
publishing, Take. Your. Time. Do
not rush to hit that publish button!
People who write reviews will not be kind to a
book that is amateurish, poorly designed, stuffed with typos, repetitions, and
grammatical mistakes, or if its cover looks like it was put together by a
five-year-old high on sugar, or much, much worst, designed by you. (I
will write about covers soon.) If you have doubts about your book as it is now,
listen to that intuition. Traditional Publishers have the highest of standards.
They would never let a book out into the world without making sure it is
perfect and as a Self-Published author you should take clues from the pros.
I've read enough reviews of books that were
self-published prematurely to know that those books get pilloried. So
although reviews are hugely helpful when they are good with a few bad ones in
between, when they are consistently bad (and trust me, people go into excruciating
details about why your book sucks) they will kill your book. Reviewers,
as a rule, do not suffer to be taken for a fool gladly. Especially if they have
spent good money on your book.
If your book is not per-fect and has many bad
reviews, I would not hesitate to pull it out from sale and fix it. You
cannot erase the reviews, but worst-case scenario you can delete the book,
change the title and the ISBN and the cover. Even republish under a pen name
and/ or get a face transplant if you have to, and start over. It is your
intellectual property and it is within your rights to cut your losses and go to
plan B. (P.S. I was joking about the face transplant. A good hat, scarf and
fake nose should be enough.)
So from now on let’s assume your book is as
per-fect as you can make it and the cover is glorious. I will tell you what I
did to get reviews and what I believe has been effective.
The second most important thing about
reviews:
Your book will not be everyone’s cup of
tea. Even if it’s an excellent book, you will disappoint some.
Some people will stop reading at page 30 and write a scathing review saying how
boring the book was and how nothing happened … just when action was about to
start, right there at page 31. If only they had read one more page!
Some people will simply be rubbed the wrong
way by your book. This is why it’s crucial not to sell your book to everyone
and anyone. It’s more important to market your book to your ideal
readership (I will cover this later).
This theory also applies to getting reviews.
You are more likely to get favorable reviews when you put your book in front of
people who love just this kind of book. Just remember, you are writing for those who
will love your book. Your ideal readers. You should also focus on
getting reviews from your ideal readers, not the rest of the population.
And of course, when you remember that no book
will ever please everyone, and when you know that even literary masterpieces
get horrible reviews, it helps digest your own bad reviews. And you will get them.
Guaranteed.
Getting review from your peers.
Okay, tell me if I’m wrong on this: Reviews
from other authors are called blurb. Reviews written by journalist are
called press.
It does looks pretty hip when you purchase a
book and on the back cover or the first pages are dozens of (glowing) blurbs or
quotes from reviews in the press. With these, signed by all kinds of
prestigious people, come Validation and Glory and Happiness.
Ah if only… I don’t have a single such review
or critique for my wee book. I learned to live without.
I console myself by reading book reviews in
the New York Times every day. Let me tell you, literary critics are scary.
Not only can they hate a book, but they express that loathing with such wit and
masterful language... Er, no... I don't think I would recover…
If you hire a PR firm, or if you have an agent
and a publisher, perhaps you can get Press. Praises of this sort do make your
paperback’s back cover and your Amazon description sexier. In my Amazon
description I quote reviews I received on … Amazon. Those express the
excitement of some of my readers who aren’t celebrities, or literary
heavyweight, or New York Times critics, but they are my readers and I write for
them, and those are the kind of people I hope will buy my book because I know
they'll have a great time reading it.
I know that many authors spend a lot of time
courting other authors in the hope of squeezing a blurb out of them (he he I
made myself laugh just imagining a cartoon depicting this. I wish I could
draw). I just don’t have that kind of time, and I am not sure it would make a
bit of difference. Also if I knew someone famous I would never dare ask.
I would be deathly embarrassed. If you’re ballsier than I am go for it.
My convoluted point is: don’t focus on press
and blurbs. Maybe you could do better with then, but you can do very well
without.
Getting reviews from friends and family.
Yeah, hmmm…. Don’t count on too many of those.
I gave free copies of my book to only 5
persons: Four close friends and my mother-in-law. Only one of them posted a
review on Amazon, if i remember correctly. The others are either not computer savvy or did not feel comfortable reviewing it. Maybe they hated it for all I know. Maybe the process of entering their credit card to be allowed to review on Amazon was too much of a hassle. I did not ask.
These 5 copies were the only unsolicited copies
I gave away. There is a reason for this. I never want to pressure
anyone into reading my book, let alone write a review. So if a friend or family
member didn’t express interest, I did not give
them a book.
Would you believe that no one asked for a free
book? Maybe they were insulted that I did not offer, but if they were
they did not tell me. In the process of not pressuring anyone, I might
have rubbed some the wrong way. I’ll never know.
Many friends and family members – although not
all of them but I am pretending not to notice - bought my book via Amazon,
Barnes and Nobles online, etc. , or at their local bookstore. They did
what I hoped they would do: they did not feel entitled to a free copy (that can
add up financially) AND they wanted to show me support by buying my book and
helping my Amazon ranking, bless their hearts.
I think all in all, perhaps 5 friends posted a
review on Amazon.
Here is an important fact I noticed: Reviewers
are a specific type of people. They are people who have clear opinions, who
are not afraid to express them, who want their voices heard. Usually they
are very comfortable writing and are good with computers. If your friends or
family members happen to like writing reviews, then they will. If they
don’t they won’t. Don’t hold it against them because you really don’t know
their specific situation.
By the way, I avoid asking friends or family
members if they liked my book. Why? Because written reviews on Amazon are
one thing, being told something you don’t want to hear to your face is another.
I have a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy about this… But when people who love me
go out of their way to tell me they enjoyed my book, I’m thrilled and I might
ask them if they would not mind writing a wee review, depending on who they
are. I keep it cool and low key no matter how much I am burning to beg them.
In conclusion, getting reviews from friends and
family is touchy and fraught with emotional perils. I would not focus on
it too much. Let them read your book if they wish to. Don’t shove it down their
throat. Relationships with friends and family, in my opinion, should
be kept separate from your writing career. And there are other ways to obtain
reviews.
Getting reviews from bloggers
Now that’s a concept well worth exploring. This
is how I got my first 20 reviews or so.
But first, I want to tell you a bit more about
blogging, and bloggers. There is a
right way and a wrong way to blog, in my opinion. (with my way being the right
one, he he.)
Through my personal blog I made real
connections with bloggers over the course of three years. I did not have
any idea the connections I was making would one day help launch my book.
Perhaps it was my lack of an agenda that made it possible for those bloggers to
eventually root for me and want to help me succeed. This is one of the
many ways in which blogging changed my life.
On my blog I never expressed any confidence
about my novel. I had none. I was vocal about it having been rejected by
agents. I expressed that I wasn't self-publishing out of temerity, but out of
loathsome bitterness. Seriously, I should have paid those bloggers for listening
to my whining day after day. However, the readers of my blog must have liked
the way I wrote and that was enough for them to encourage me and believe in me,
as well as decide to spread the word and writing reviews when the time came.
When the book became available as a paperback I
asked many blogging friends (only those who offered) if they would accept to
read my book and perhaps even review it. I did not ask anyone directly,
which I felt would have been too pushy. I only mentioned on my blog that anyone
interested could contact me. I sent them paperback books and a note
asking for reviews. If you read early reviews of my novel on Amazon you
get sense that the reviewer knows me, as he or she mentions me by name or
mentions my blog.
One advantage of giving your book to a blogger
you are friends with is three fold: they already like you. They
already like the way you write. And they already are on the same page via
blogging; meaning that you and that blogger are probably already interested in
the same topics, have similar esthetics, sense of humor and so on. You’re
so much better off when you give a copy of your book to someone whose cup of
tea it is. For example, it doesn't matter how fantastic a crime novel might be, those are simply
not my cup of tea. It would be agony for me to read one, let alone review
it. And it would be a big imposition to be asked.
As I will explain in another post, Blogging
and the support of the blogging community can launch your book. Bloggers are
influencers, outspoken, enthusiastic and generous. Your blogging 'tribe'
will not only generate reviews, but they will usually be positive ones.
Paying for reviews
I know that it’s done but I’ve never paid for a
review. Here is something: reviews are not everything. When a book has a
lot of five stars reviews on Amazon but a low ranking, I become suspicious. Why
so many five star reviews combined with an abysmal ranking? See, reviews and
ranking go hand in hand. People who actually like a book and review it
also happen to give the book word of mouth action. Real reviewers are
book advocates. Fake reviewers really haven’t read your book. That’s why
their reviews sound a lot like an amalgam of other reviews. They have not read
your book and won’t recommend it to anyone. People mistake the forest for
the tree. They believe that if they get more five star reviews sales will follow,
so they’d do anything to get more reviews, even by what I personally consider
dishonest means. In fact it’s the other way around. Good reviews are a symptom
of people reading and loving your book. Not the cause.
Now whom do you pay to review your book? I have
been asked that question. The answer is I have no idea and I don’t want to find
out. It goes without saying that I never wrote a review of my own book
anywhere. That’s because I firmly intend on going to heaven one day. I’m
just sayin’.
By the way, google the words ‘sock
puppeteering’ and read more than you ever want to know about this unsavory
practice… and what it looks like when you’re caught.
Ouch.
This being said, I bet that traditional
publishers ask everyone who works for them to write one (or several) reviews of
everything they publish. How else would the book have so many reviews long before it’s
actually available for purchase? They might also (firmly) ask their authors to
write peer reviews. So one advantage of a traditional publishing deal might be
the ability for the publisher to make reviews happen. Notice, they make
reviews happen
and come out as clean-scented as roses. They don’t need to pay for reviews, all
they have to do is gently twist a few arms…
Getting reviews (and generating interest)
through book giveaways.
Once I had my website up and my book was
available for sale everywhere. I created an author profile on Goodreads.
I already had a reader profile. I love Goodreads. Goodreads is how I make
decisions about book purchases. I follow reviews of readers whose tastes
match mine and follow their leads and recommendations. Please friend me on
Goodreads so that we can have some reading fun together. But I digress…
A Goodread author profile takes a few
days to create. They have to vet you but it’s a painless process. Once I
became a bona-fide Goodread Author I created a giveaway of my novel. I
offered 10 copies and got thousands of requests. That’s not an unusual
number. Goodread is a vibrant reading community. I sent the book to the ten
winners and added a note asking if they would consider writing an honest review
and post it on Amazon. Many did but not all.
On subsequent giveaways I offered only three
books and received about the same amount of requests. My book costs me
about $7 shipping included. So at some point I was more interested in people
learning about the book than I was to ask for reviews. So thousands of
views (people interested enough to request the book) for three books
seemed cost- effective marketing. Of course if you send less books you
get less reviews. But there is a point when garnering reviews is not as
crucial. Say if you have 20 and up.
Another thought about Goodreads readers:
they are on average less inclined to give star reviews than Amazon
reviewers. They are more discriminating readers than the average person.
Anytime I send a book to anyone, I attach a
note thanking him or her in advance for posting an honest review on Amazon. I
think that when you write a nice note and send it with your book it makes it
more personable. If these people don’t like your book, they tend not to write a
review rather than write a negative one. Although one person who won my book
on Goodreads did write a scathing review, so I should not act so smart. Killing
people with kindness will only get you so far.
I asked bloggers if they would host giveaways
of my novel. That was a mutually beneficial situation. The bloggers had
something fun to offer on their blogs, and I got many more eyes on my book.
Because I mentioned the giveaway on my blog, twitter and Facebook, they also
benefit from extra traffic.
The winners of the blogs giveaway have all the
characteristic of an ideal reader: They have heard of your book through the
recommendation of someone they respect. They are active online,
communicators, and love to spread the word when they like something.
Because many of the particular blogs I connected with are enthusiastic Francophiles,
these giveaway readers who wanted my books and entered the giveaway turned out to be
eager to write a review and often a terrific one.
How many reviews are enough reviews?
I don’t have too many reviews even with all
this. I think 89 as I write this post. I created a chart so you can
see the exact count per month (It took me way too much time to painstakingly
collect that info but when I want to make a point, I’m motivated.) And
the point I am trying to make is that reviews come slowly, but they add
up. Do not despair. My book started to sell well when I had
about 20 reviews.
data for my novel
May 2011
|
6
|
June 2011
|
6
|
July 2011
|
3
|
August 2011
|
1
|
September 2011
|
3
|
October 2011
|
1
|
November 2011
|
2
|
December 2011
|
2
|
January 2012
|
3
|
February 2012
|
2
|
March 2012
|
6
|
April 2012
|
3
|
May 2012
|
3
|
June 2012
|
6
|
July 2012
|
2
|
August 2012
|
1
|
September 2012
|
5
|
October 2012
|
5
|
November 2012
|
5
|
December 2012
|
8
|
January 2013
|
10
|
February 2013
|
3
|
What do you think of that chart? It seems
so few per month. And yet they add up. It’s a marathon, not a
race. Your book is here for the long haul.
Lately I noticed that Amazon sends emails
asking us to write reviews of products and books we purchase. They didn’t
use to do that. It might explain a slight increase in the number of
reviews for my novel. I also noticed that these new kinds of reviews are
shorter, more spontaneous, have more typos in them. As an author I prefer
longer reviews that tell me details about how my reader was touched by my book,
but beggars aren’t choosers. I’m appreciative of anyone who takes the time to
be kind to my book.
The emotional toll of being reviewed
I don’t only have good reviews. Some
people passionately hate my books. When I get a bad review I get an extra
glass of Pinot Grigio with dinner. This being said, when I get a nice
review, I also get an extra glass of Pinot.
Who said, “In writing, what do you have to
lose, except absolutely everything?” The first reader to tell me gets a
free copy of my novel because I’ve been looking for its author and it’s driving
me nuts! Maybe Ann Dillard? But where?)
When we write we put ourselves out there in
such a major way. It is about everything that matters, our skills, our
thoughts, our dreams, our interests and aspiration, our fragilities and doubts.
This combined with the fact that most of us are in fact introverts (one of the
reasons we feel more comfortable expressing ourselves in writing) it is a
recipe for pain and agony.
No wonder so many of us never take that
manuscript out of the drawer! I wrote for ten years before showing my
writing to anyone but my husband. And even he had to wait five
years. So you bet I was afraid of reviews.
To decide to share our work with the world is
to face criticism that feels deeply personal. What do we have to lose
but absolutely everything?
And yet, this too is an illusion that will
vanish through the process. It’s absolutely terrifying at first. But once
your book is up for sale, there is no turning back. All you can do then
is ride the wave of praise and criticism. The cliff was there and you have
jumped, and what choice do you have but to land?
Or glide. Your first good reviews will put you
on cloud nine. Your first bad reviews will send you to the liquor cabinet
or worse. And then, soon enough you’ll be over both. Bad reviews
will stop stinging, but sadly good reviews will not bring you the same insane
joy. That is what happens to the skin when it thickens, I guess. Just
keep an abundant supply of Pinot or chocolate within immediate reach, just to
be safe.
Now to put things in perspective I created a page to amuse you and show you how even Literary Masters aren’t immune to receiving terrible reviews. I also added some of my awful reviews for
good measure. If you want to play along, please add your worst review in the
comments below if you dare.
Other scattered thoughts and bizarre
thinking about reviews.
The silence of people you know personally
sometimes hurts your feelings more than a bad review from a stranger.
On the other hand, if they opened their mouth
it might hurt even more
On the third hand, maybe they like the work but
it would kill them to admit it. And that would amount to a compliment.
So according to my twisted logic, the silence
of those you know is actually a praise.
Basically, you can imagine what you want, and
you can choose to imagine their jealously, or their negative judgment.
Totally up to you, but the first option is way more fun.
People have many reasons not to review your
book. If they did not like it, how do you think it makes them feel to be asked
to review it? I quite recently found out that we writer are not the
center of the universe! I know. I was amazed too. It turns
out people have other things to do than to focus on our needs, wants and
insecurities. They seemingly have their own. We would do well to remember this
fact when we ask for reviews and do not get the hoped-for result.
All right, I have exhausted my thoughts on the
topic of reviews, not to mention this post is way too long and my fingers have
turned to ice cubes. It’s freezing in this room. Please feel free
to comment below or tell me if I have missed something or if your experience is
different than mine.
xoxo
corine
