Remarkable Confessions From Book Bloggers You Need to Hear by guest @IolaGoulton

Really enjoyed this article. I like it when I can find well written reviews for books. Haven’t published yet, but I will definitely put some effort into getting my work reviewed.

Great blog post! The only thing I would add is to make the pitch the best it can be – include all relevant info but keep it precise. I get too many review requests to go looking up the book so my decision on whether to review or not is solely based on that email pitch. I also manage a review team so I’m deciding from that pitch which of my reviewers it might fit the best.

Although I have two manuscripts, three counting one I had to walk away from because I’m not mentally ready to redeploy, in mind or paper. The majority of my writing has been dedicated to writing book reviews so as a book reviewer, I found today’s #NaNoProMo blog post helpful to myself as a book reviewer. I’ve been learning as I go. Initially, I would be asked to write a book review, and like you, I have my preferred genres. In fact, today I will be writing my review on BEFORE AND AGAIN by Barbara Delinsky which came from NetGalley. I only recently discovered NetGalley, as well as Authorsxp | Elite Reader, which I like as I can be selective in my chosen reading genres. I never considered downloading a sample, if available before accepting a book for review. I will keep that one in mind. I also take a hard look at the book cover, as well as the description the author provides before agreeing to read and review the book.

I write the review on my blog and share to Twitter, FB, and Instagram. My last book review of Carrie Rubin’s THE BONE CURSE, I linked to Carrie’s blog and provided links to purchasing her book. I have come to realize I need to add my book review to Amazon and Goodreads as well. My question for you is now that I have become the autodidact type of book reviewer, should I go back to the book reviews on my blog and include the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads? I’m confident I know the answer to my question.

But wow! What a helpful blog post this is for me in my current endeavors. Many thanks for talking from the aspect of the book reviewer’s point of view.

Donna

As a reader who often thinks about how to handle reviews, and a writer who is working toward publication, this post is invaluable. Great info. Thank you!

I’m brand new to the published book industry and am always seeking more knowledge; your article was very insightful and had useful information. Thank you for sharing! I wish I’d seen this before I published. I especially like your thoughts on a good book cover, I agree. Thankfully as I read I did a mental check list; repeatably thinking to myself: Done! That was affirming.
Your article drew me in and now I want to read them all! Perhaps other articles can help me with the problems I’m facing now?
One of the problems I’m encountering is my genre seems to be limited when it concerns the book blogger / reviewer. Even though I believe there’s a place for my book, in the reading community. In my opinion, it’s a topic few have had the courage to share. The market is saturated in some areas and while others are extremely limited. Self-help / Abuse is a broad term which depicts a tough topic and appears as not an easy read. Under Parenting people want a step by step manual of how to, not my book either. Memoirs seems to be the only avenue left: “People love a virtuous comeback kid story, being raised by a mentally ill woman and recovering from the resulting trauma is a story that could stand alone. It is in putting the pieces of my childhood together, that I saw similarities in my ex-church leaders. Their continued unkindness activated flashbacks from my childhood; without a solid demonstration in forgiveness and grace, healing was elusive.”
AS time permits I’ll be reading more of your articles!

This is a part of marketing that has been the trickiest for me. This article has some great points.

I guess my burning question is how useful are book tour/promotional services? As a reviewer do you tend to work with them or deal mostly with direct solicitation by authors?

Great article – I know what you mean about genre! I am a non-fiction body/mind/spirit author for a traditional publisher, and am currently working on the manuscript for the first book deal (wehew!) I can’t tell you how many fiction authors ask me for connections, and I honestly can’t help with that, at all! I wondered if this course is also helpful for those authors getting newly published with a real traditional publishing house. Thank you so much! 🙂

In between writing, I am also a book reviewer. But now I am working the flip side of things and establishing my platform, social media, website, etc. as a writer. This is not as easy as it looks!

Thanks. Rachel and Iola, for a helpful article. I know gathering reviews is important, and appreciate having tips on how to acquire them.

Hi Daniella,

I think we all appreciate well-written book reviews. As my credit card statement can confirm, good reviews sell books.

I definitely think it’s worth the effort to develop a review team. It will be a lot of effort for the first book, but many will volunteer to review subsequent books as well if you ask.

Thanks for visiting!

Hi Donna,

Excellent advice! Yes, do include all the relevant information in the email pitch. Most bloggers make it clear what information they want, so you’ll make a better impression if you’ve obviously read and complied with their review request policy.

I once read a blog post where the author was complaining that each blogger has their own requirements, and she didn’t have time to read them all and follow them. I thought that came off as more than a little arrogant – as if she was doing reviewers a favour, not the other way around. If she really didn’t have the time, she could hire a VA for the job. I have no issue in receiving review requests from a VA.

Thanks for contributing!

Hi DB Moore

I’ve definitely been learning as I went regarding book reviewing. I decided I had to read the Kindle sample first after agreeing to review a couple of books that turned out to be absolutely awful – bad writing, plot holes the size of a continent, yawn-inducing characters … and the problems were obvious from the first page. I now see why agents and publishers request the first three chapters. It’s because you can often tell a book is bad by page two.

Regarding your question: do you go back and add your older reviews to Amazon and Goodreads? The authors and publishers will appreciate it if you do, but I don’t know how many reviews you have. Even copying and pasting reviews takes a few minutes per review.

Going forward, definitely add your reviews to other sites. I haven’t done this yet, but I think you can connect your NetGalley account to Amazon and Goodreads. It will then autopost for you, which makes it easy.

I post my reviews to Amazon US, UK (until they stop me because I don’t meet the purchase requirement) and Australia (although they have stopped me because I haven’t met the purchase requirement in the last year). I also post to Goodreads, Rifflebooks, and to a couple of Christian retailers.

I’ve also started (this week!) posting my reviews to BookBub – something I didn’t know I could do before. I also share my reviews on the major social media platforms, including sharing book quotes on Instagram. I tag the author on Twitter and Instagram when I know their handle, which is one reason I recommend people use the same handle on both, and make it something that’s easy to remember (like their author name).

Hope that helps!

Hi Dana

Thanks for stopping by, and I’m glad you found my tips useful!

Hi Emmaline

I think reviewing books is a good way of starting to build your platform, assuming you’re reviewing in the same genre as you write. After all, that way you are writing for the same target audience, and you’re writing to serve them (not to please yourself).

Thanks for visiting!

Hi Lisa

So pleased you found the post useful!

Thanks for visiting and commenting.

Hi Sarah

Some authors think getting reviews is tricky because they don’t know if it’s okay to approach book bloggers and ask for reviews. It is! Not everyone will say yes, but you have nothing to lose.

Good luck with your marketing, and thanks for visiting.

Hi Kristy

I’m glad your book ticks the boxes on things like cover design! It’s a great start.

I’m not a big non-fiction reader, but my approach to getting reviews for your book would be to consider what other authors have written books that are similar to yours, or books that might attract a similar reader.

Now do some research. Who has reviewed these books – on blogs, on Amazon, on Goodreads. Has anyone done a blog tour of any of these books? Who reviewed them? Can you find their blog or website? Do they have a review policy? Can you email them? We cover this in more detail in my Kick-Start Your Author Platform Marketing Challenge.

I hope this helps. Good luck in finding reviewers!

Thanks for the great info! I’m just starting to ask for reviews so the advice is very timely!

Great advice on how to seek out and secure reviews for your book! It can be a time consuming process, but believe me, well worth the effort. Thanks for this informative blog!

Hi McKenna

I get most of my review copies either from NetGalley, or directly from authors. I have participated in some blog tours, run by publishers and/or publicity companies. These have tended to be niche publishers or blog tour/publicity companies who specialise in a specific genre (e.g. Christian fiction).

I’ve had good reviewer experiences with such companies, but that doesn’t mean I think they are all good. If I was an author looking to engage a company for a blog tour, I’d want to know they have a large and reliable pool of potential reviewers – more than I could access myself – and in a relevant genre e.g. if the tour company mostly has clean romance readers, then a sexy or erotic romance author might not get good results from that company.

Thanks for visiting!

Hi Dylann

Thank you 🙂 Good luck with launching your book and getting reviews!

Hi Lisa Allen

I have had some traditionally published authors go through my course, and one said she wished she’d had the course before she was published. I designed the course for pre-published authors looking to establish their online platform before self-publishing or submitting to a traditional publisher, but it will still work for anyone (published or not) who is looking to take those first steps to establish their platform – a branded and integrated website, email list, and social media networks.

The principles hold true across all genres (we should all be aiming to share quality content, not spam). But the specifics of which authors to follow and connect with is definitely based on genre. Iola Goulton Author shares Christian fiction with an emphasis on contemporary Christian romance. Iola Goulton of Christian Editing Services shares about writing, editing, publishing, and marketing. I’ve got a solid knowledge of those two markets. Outside that? Not so much!

Thank for stopping by!

Thank you for being a faithful book reviewer and blogger!

Thanks Iola. Great insights as usual . I’m wondering if you would recommend authors becoming book reviewers. I assume it’s another thing that would help visibility but it would also take a lot of time. How many hours a week do you spend on reviewing and reviewing related activities? Apart from helping authors (which is very important! :D) does it help with your own writing and your editing business?

Great tips, Iola. We hear a lot about knowing our genre when it comes to marketing, but it’s easy to forget how important that always is when it comes to making requests to book reviewers. Do you have any tips for reviewers who are also authors? For example, I imagine it can be tricky having 1000 reviews out there when it comes to asking reviews for your own book. Probably pros and cons, but it’s something I’m thinking through at the moment. (And no need to include me in the draw as I’ve already done your fab course. Now I just need to actually do all the tasks).

As a reader, I’m attracted to the covers first and I don’t do ebooks, I do real books, so try to have a real book as an option for those of us who are still crazy like that

Hi Jena

Thank you! It’s a lot of fun.

Hi Sab

Getting books from the US to New Zealand (where I live) is expensive, which is one reason I mostly read and review digital copies (the other is I’ve run out of room for paper books!).

I know some authors will offer a limited number of paperbacks to reviewers, but printing and postage is expensive, even within the US. That’s why so many authors, especially self-published authors, offer digital copies—they are cheaper, and often free.

But I will admit to a feeling of envy when reviewers post pictures of all their review books! A digital file isn’t nearly the same 🙂

Hi Susan

How many hours … I’ve never added it up. If I count reading the book, writing the review, formatting the blog post, creating the quote graphics, then sharing the review when it’s published, then I probably spend around 5-6 hours per review. It would be less if I only reviewed on my blog or Amazon, and didn’t promote my reviews.

Does it help with my editing business? Not directly, but reading a lot ensures I keep up-to-date with trends in my genre, and that I can see what good (and not-so-good) writing looks like.

Hi Nola

There are some definite cons to being an author/reviewer, especially given the way Amazon (rightfully) don’t allow review swaps or reviews from people you have a relationship with. I never intended writing myself, so that was never in my mind when I started reviewing!

There is no problem reviewing books by your friends on your own blog, or even on sites such as Goodreads or Koorong. It’s Amazon who have the problem 🙂 Reviewing is a good way of supporting your fellow authors.

[…] Goulton reveals remarkable confessions from book bloggers, John Burke shows how to use your author website for book marketing, Carolyn Howard-Johnson […]

As usual Iola’s canny insight, into all things writing an author needs to know, convinces me I am a puny marketer of my own work! But she also gives me hope that I might somehow grasp this knowledge and run with it.