Review me please!
Yes, I am begging.
It isn’t dignified, nor is it pretty but asking for people to criticize your work is a necessary evil.
Reviews. Why do we need them?
Simple.
We need them to help get the word out that your book exists.
Sort of like the song from NERVO :
We’re all no one ’til someone thinks that we’re someone
Until then we are no one
And you got me looking at you, looking at you
Pretty much reviewers are the one’s that can get you talked about and not just one reviewer. The more the better.
Hopefully the reviews are good or at least fair, in the sense that they give some good points on what was right about your book and where they found you went wrong or didn’t quite hit the mark.
Most authors hate a bad review.
Me. I cry a bit, but for the most part I haven’t gotten anything that would make me want to throw the computer against the wall. Or worse, write a nasty email to that reviewer. A big No-No. Don’t ever retaliate.
Why Not?
Because you will look like the fool. That is one person’s opinion. Respect it and move on. There may be tons of other reviewers who like your book but a nasty rant letter on the internet will get around quickly and you may find those reviewers who liked you no longer willing to read your work in fear of them also getting a nasty letter.
So, rememeber. Reviews, no matter if they are good or bad, are overall GOOD!
Goodreads is one of the best places to find all your reviews.
A statistic I read from Goodreads was that for every one review, you pick up 11 new readers. Now that is power. So the more reviews the better. B/c it will make others sit up and take notice that there is a new book that they might want to pick up. They will put it on their TBR list and others will see it on their list and might want to add your book as well.
Advance reviews work well, you can search the internet for review sites and following their submission guidelines. Also, you can ask your publisher if they particpate in NetGalley or if they have a mailing list of reviewers they email the latest upcoming releases.
Have a book out? Got reviews? Not sure. Then check out this website that compiles the latest reviews.
They list it by month and publisher, which makes it easy to find your book.
Still need more reviews?
You can look at review sites like Coffee Times Romance Reviews and lookup books under the genres and see which books they recently reviewed. Then go to reviewers that favor your publisher’s books.
Ex. You write hot steampunk erotica — you may choose a book that got reviewed that is similar to yours and use those reviewers. Click on the links to select the best review site.
Why? Beacuse they like that genre and will more likely give you a favorable review than a person that only likes historical fiction.
Good luck and Happy Hump Day!
