Thank you so much, Sarcastic Ramblings and Writing, for
having me here today! J
The Game of Reviews
Where to promote, which book to spotlight, prize or no
prize, blogging versus reviews, how much to budget for ads, which promo items
to buy or not buy…if you’re an author who does any self-promotion, this litany
is very familiar to you. What to do about it is the problem, in that the answer
of which are the best means of promotion is constantly changing. Everyone
agrees that getting your name out in various avenues is necessary to sell books.
But when your budget is limited, you have to choose what to spend your money on
very carefully. So where do reviews fit into this plan of attack?
Reviews are important…and yet also not important. They are a
gamble in the best of circumstances, but also necessary for a writer’s success,
at least when first starting their career. Here’s my two foremost cents on how
much importance to give them...and how to win the review game.
1. A great deal of review quantity relevance
is based on genre and price. Reviews matter only marginally if the genre
has a lot of demand and not much supply
My transgender novella Grow a Pair routinely appears as my publisher’s TOP book on PinInterest.
I’m not even on there, don’t have any idea what PinInterest is about, and no one
has EVER even contacted me about this novella…which has one official review and
one from a reader. Yet my publisher is so excited by reader interest that I
wrote and published a sequel and another is in the works.
2. Sex
sells, period. I also write erotica. My current work has only two
reviews, one from a review spot and one from a friend. No one has ever
contacted me about this book, either, except the one place that reviewed it,
yet sales are good.
However,
if you are a new author in most markets other than the two above, you’ll need
as many reviews of your first books as you can get JUST to let readers know
you’re worth trying AND to get your name on a lot of internet sites,
PARTICULARY if you are writing a series. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
3. Be
advised that the more reviews you get for a work, the more bad reviews you’ll
get, also. For books that have a glut of supply—like paranormal fantasy
and romance—reviews are necessary for a new author. No one wants to waste
hard-earned money on something that they won’t like, especially when they can’t
return it for a refund. To get around this, a lot of authors in the last few years
did free giveaways, hoping for every dozen copies downloaded someone would
actually read the book and review it. The books were free, so the idea was that
people who didn’t like the work wouldn’t feel they didn’t get their money’s
worth (i.e., and leave a bad review). Unfortunately, this is not the way it
works. I’ve had more than one bad review from a free download—and even free
paperback books won in contests I paid for.
4. Reviews
are not equal to sales. People might find fault with a book, and say it
was not that good. Do not think that means that they will not buy your next
book, particularly if it’s a trilogy or series. I always feel more comfortable
picking up a series book I thought was okay versus a single title that could be
great, because I already know the characters in the series title. Additionally,
most of my sales, including the Promise Me Series books, seem to come from
people happy to buy the books and not review them. They want to know when a new
one comes out and not have any other communication with me. They don’t care
about contests, promo items, or any of that. I have to admit…I’m just like
them. I never put up a review for any book in my life before I became an indie
author, no matter how much I liked it. I simply put a marker on the calendar
when the next book in a beloved series was out, or kept a list to check the
bookstore on my monthly visit.
5. To
buy or not to buy? Reviews of today can be purchased from many sources:
large companies like Reader’s Favorite or individual bloggers as part of a book
tour. There are also many sources of free reviews out there. Most of these are
all unbiased, in that you are not paying for a good review, just a fair one.
The reason people pay for reviews is that most free review sites don’t
guarantee they will review your book…and you’re usually in for a long wait even
if they do, because there are so many new books all the time. But do make sure
to thank anyone who gives you a good review, paid or unpaid.
6. Trading
reviews – a potential minefield. Many authors agree to review each
other’s books in an effort to get more reviews. That is great…if you both love
each other’s work. Be warned that if you don’t, you’ll have to explain to the
author why you can’t rate their book as stellar (and possibly lower your own
review score if they take offense and give you a revenge review or delete the
one they did for you), or lose your integrity and submit a false good review.
7. Remember
that a two star review does not count as much as a five star one. I was
feeling down about a few recent bad reviews, and told a friend, who is also a
fan. She told me that she never even looks at the bad reviews for a product,
only the good ones. ANY book on any review site usually has at least a few bad
reviews; bestsellers have tons. People don’t really care if a few others didn’t
like something; they care what the majority had to say about the work.
Summary: Write the
best book you can, then spend a day asking for reviews from places and people
who are predisposed to love your work. Then concentrate on your next book.
Thank people who give you good reviews…and ignore the bad ones. Above all…be
nice!
Back List of
Promise Me Series titles:
Surrender to Me
(PM novella + excerpt from Immortal Confessions)
Promise Me
(Promise Me Series #1)
Broken Promise
(Promise Me Series #2
Taken in the
Night (Promise Me Series #3
Taken for His
Own (Promise Me Series #4)
Promise Me
Anthology #1
Immortal Confessions (Promise Me Series #5 – prequel #0.5) Blurb:
At the turn of the 19th century, former aristocrat turned lowly vampire Devlin
Dalcon gets by on his supernatural charms until he meets bride-to-be Annabelle.
Smitten by Anna’s forthrightness, intellect, and bravery, Devlin risks his life
to spirit her away to Fontainebleau, France. There Devlin begins his ascent to
power in a desperate bid for wealth and social standing for himself and Anna.
Forging alliances with other supernatural leaders, he usurps the vampire Lord
of Fontainebleau, amassing many enemies during his brief reign. Within a few
years, he and Anna are again forced to flee for their lives to America. Living
in hiding, Devlin is determined to amend his ways. But when tragedy strikes,
Devlin’s dark side, never fully extinguished, emerges
rampant, securing him the bloody throne of America even as his malevolence and
loneliness consumes him.
Excerpt: Now we were getting
somewhere. “Explain this, as I’ll need to know. What are the rules in this
city, besides no killing?”
“Not many. Don’t kill humans, unless
they attack you, and even then, make it look an accidental murder by stealing
from them. Don’t trouble the richer citizens at all, not for any reason. Don’t
bother the other supernatural citizens—”
“Who?”
“The sorcerers and witches, the
goblins and the faeries,” he said, bored. “There is also a family of
werevultures that inhabit this town, near the edge. Them, too.”
Werevultures? Was he kidding? “So
there are no werewolves?”
“As a rule, not here in the cities,
though there are sometimes one or two that pass through,” he said with
something like relief. “I’ve heard they stick to the countryside. Most weres
do, as it’s easier to blend in there.”
Weres, he called them. Hmm. “What
are they like?”
“The ones I’ve talked to say they
miss the forest, or the water, or their caves—”
“Caves?”
“Werebats, mostly. They are the most
prevalent werecreature around these parts. There is a large colony near the
river.”
“Are they off limits?”
Quentin took a deep breath. “I’m
glad you brought this up. Technically, no, they aren’t. They have an agreement
with Guy, the City’s Lord, to stay out of the city, and he leaves them alone.
But some stupid vampire hunter attacked them last week, killing a bunch of
their women and children when he mistook them for vampires. It happens often,
I’m afraid. The other werebats killed him, but they’re raging now. They are
killing any vampire they can, primarily ones they find alone, in retaliation.”
He looked over at me. “It’s them I need you to guard me against.”
“Won’t that die down quickly,
though? Surely the bats can be made to see it was not our fault?”
“Guy is not diplomatic,” Quentin
said with a sigh. “Things are going to get worse before they get better.
Besides, at heart, he’s a coward. He knows that there are more of them than
there are of us, enough so it’s close to three to one in their favor. Because
of those odds, he will not make them stop. This has happened before, Devlin. The
attacks will continue until the bats feel they’ve taken enough blood back.”
I thought about that. There was a
huge opportunity here for not just the means to support Anna and myself, but to
gain real power. Still, I needed to understand much about this world and this
city before I’d be ready to proclaim myself king of it.
Buy Links:
Author links:
Facebook
Page:
