Getting Reviews for Self-Published Books
A few decades ago, self-publishing was a drag. Aside from the strife that comes with financing your book, you also have to impress the publisher with your transcript.
Think about it. There used to be a time when the only people who could read were the ones who went to school. Why? Well, let’s just say buying one book was just as expensive as buying your own house. Well, what can you expect? Back then, people had to manually write every word to form one book. And don’t even think about committing just one error, or else you’re bound to start from scratch all over again.
It was only when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press that the production of books began to evolve. But even so, self-publishing remained to be pricey.
But with the coming of the internet age, publishing your own book is just about as easy as writing the first word in your story. Tons of publishing platforms lets you publish your own book online for free.
There hasn’t been a better time to be a published author. With that, there haven’t been more book reviewers available for indie authors than it is today.
Online publishing is one way to get your book out to the world. But getting people to read your work is another story. Book reviews is a great way to promote and advertise your work. But if you’re a newbie to self-publishing you need to know your way to getting to book reviews that’ll get you more readers.
Getting started
Writers who opt to get their books published in the paper have to go directly to the publisher and provide a transcript of their work, placed in a brown envelope, where it will be queued for proofreading and approval.
Just the same, you’re going to have to prepare a few essentials before you go hunting book reviewers. Here are as follows:
- A complete copy of your book in PDF format.
Book reviewers can only review your book right after they get to read it. With that, you’ll have to provide them a PDF of your book, together with its cover pages.
- Cover letter
Before anyone decides to review your work, they’d first want to know a little bit more about you. Write a brief description about yourself and what you think makes your book special.
- Author bio
There are some book reviewers who’ll only entertain authors who they think are worthy. An author bio is a great avenue to show off what makes you an awesome author.
How to find reviewers
There are a bunch of bloggers online who review books even if they aren’t paid. Even so, you can bet that they’re introspective, and have a good number of followers.
On the other hand, there are also those who write book reviews for a price. I’m not discouraging you from taking on these kinds of services, but there isn’t really a good reason to pay for them. Some people provide free book review services, and an even greater service if you pay them. In my opinion, there are even better ways to spend your money, and a good bunch of free book reviews. So, you better explore those first. Here is a bunch of websites where you can find free book reviews:
- Midwest Book Reviews
- Indie Reader
- Self-Publishing Review
- Absolute Write
- Book Blogs
How to get your book reviewed
What do you do next now that you’ve knitted all the essentials together? You get out there and hunt down reviewers. Here are some tips to getting reviewed:
- Pick the right book reviewer
Think of this as picking the man or woman who you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. There billions of people on the planet. But you’ll only pick one whom you think is the best among the rest. You don’t just choose one for the sake of getting married. As a matter of fact, you’d rather not marry at all if you’re just going to have to marry someone you don’t like.
It’s somewhat the same when you’re looking for book reviewers. Surely, there are tons of book reviewers online, but you have to pick one that’ll be best for promoting your book.
This is the single most important thing to do when you’re out looking for reviewers. If you make a mistake in picking a reviewer, then there’s a big chance that your book won’t make it much in the market.
Think about it. Nobody on the internet knows who you are. With that, nobody is going to spend their time reading something that doesn’t seem to be worth it. Figure what kind of books the reviewer usually writes about, and select the appropriate reviewer for your book.
- Do a background check about the reviewer
There’s only one way to know which reviewer is perfect for your book. And that’s by conducting enough research.
Know the qualifications of your reviewer candidate. Apart from that you also need to query them. There are reviewers who’ll only have you send the book, but there are few who have certain requirements when reviewing books.
- Send the book
After you’ve conducted enough research, you may send the book to the reviewer.
- Follow-up
Book reviewers are also busy people. That being said, you can’t expect them to be ones to keep track of your request. You have to follow up once in a while. But do so in a fashion that won’t harass the reviewer.
- Thank the reviewer
Your book reviewer is one of the factors that can help make your name in the publishing industry. And you can bet that he can also be one of the aspects that can ruin your reputation. With that, be courteous when dealing with your reviewer. You can do that by showing that you appreciate the time he spent writing a review about your book.
Self-publishing has never become as easy as it is today. But having to promote your book to an audience is a different story. Book reviews is an effective way to advertise your book. That being said, it’s vital that you pick the right reviewer for your readership needs.
Author Bio
Patrick works as a contributor at type my essay. He is a former editor of a small town newspaper publishing. He is an avid fan of social media, and runs his own page for writing enthusiasts for his college. With the rising clamor for healthy living, Patrick immersed himself with water sports.