My View of Reviews

I am often asked how to get reviews for a book.  It’s a fair question when fewer and fewer magazines and newspapers have review sections, well known reviewers naturally prefer to review well known authors and even bloggers who review books are inundated with books from publishers every month. 

Blogger reviews are great, and you can get them.  The trick is to network with bloggers.  Start by following the blogs you’d like to be reviewed on.  Post comments often.  When they write a review you really like, tweet it, or if it’s already out there, REtweet it.  BE a fan to GET a fan.  When you send your book out it is much more likely to be reviewed if the reviewer recognizes your name.

Even bloggers who don’t usually review books can help you.  Once they know who you are they might agree to let you post a guest blog talking about your book.  Or, maybe they’ll put an excerpt of your book on their blog.  Many bloggers like to do author interviews, so make sure you offer to answer a few questions. 

Another way to get reviews is to become a reviewer yourself.  I write monthly for The Big Thrill, the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers.  There’s no pay, but it makes networking with other writers in my genre very easy.  And when I have a new book coming out, it is very easy to ask people I have reviewed to take a look at it. 

You don’t have to have connections with a newsletter or magazine to do this.  Post reviews on Amazon.com of books in your genre.  Not only does this put your name in front of their readers, but it makes them more likely to say yes if you ask for a review. 

All the same rules apply to getting reviews in print publications.  Your best bet is to get to know the reviews at local newspapers and magazines.  If they don’t have one, get to know the entertainment writer.  If he’s writing about TV or local theater he might want to review the local author’s work too.  So comment on their articles (so easy now that almost all publications are on line as well) so they’ll get to know your name.

And don’t overlook social media sites.  I regularly post on a Yahoo Group called Kindle Korner and when someone mentions one of my novels I ask them to put their comments where everyone can see.  A lot of the group members have posted reviews of my books.  Other good places to get reviews include Goodreads and Library Thing.  Both sites have easy setups for doing reader giveaways.  Readers can win a free copy of your book if they post reviews.

Of course the most important factor in getting reviews is to write a book worth talking about.

What a Writer Should Read

I've heard that when a fiction writer is creating he should not read anyone else’s fiction because it may color his own work. Since I’m always writing I don’t necessarily take that advice but even if I did, I would never completely stop reading. There is a real world we writers live in, and every author should be aware of it.

I belong to a lot of support organizations, but I’m not much on attending meetings. However, the newsletters these groups publish help me keep track of what’s happening in the writing community. Local news comes through the newsletters of the Virginia Writer’s Club (The Virginia Writer), Maryland Writers Association (Pen in Hand) and Washington Independent Writers. Those last 2 are kind enough to send electronic copies.

I also joined genre-based groups, as you should. Larger groups like the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime offer national newsletters (The 3rd Degree and In SinC respectively) plus the ones the local chapter puts out (for Mystery Writers that would be Capitol Crimes.) International Thriller Writers Incorporated does it all electronically too in The Big Thrill.

If you self publish you should join the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) and the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA) and read their marketing-oriented newsletters, Connection and Independent respectively.

And then there are the publications that can help us improve our craft. Writer’s Digest is probably best known, but I get more out of The Writer, although I’ll admit that is very subjective.

We should also keep an eye on the magazines the fans are reading, and that’s genre-based too. For me those would include Pages, Crimespree, Mystery Scene and the tightly-focused Black Issues Book Review.

Are Publishers Weekly and Editor & Publisher conspicuous by their absence? They are the absolute sources for news on the industry, book publishing and book selling, and they’re probably the first two pubs others would mention, but to be honestly I have never learned anything of value from either one. I certainly expect my agent and my publisher to read them, but they don’t help me write or market any better. Still, check them out and decide for yourself.

And that last bit of advice applies to everything else I said. You owe it to yourself to check out these publications for knowledge, awareness and inspiration.