Reviews for a self published book.

As with any other book, I think you need to start by saying what kind of book they are--then we might be able to suggest reviewers who would be interested in those specific books.

Chelsie, I'm not directing this solely at you. As long as I'm going to comment on this I'll try to make it comprehensive enough to be helpful for anyone in your situation.

You should avoid the temptation to have family and friends review your book. Amazon customers, and especially savvy Amazon reviewers, will spot those reviews very quickly. They are regarded as shill reviews, since most people consider that it would be tough to expect someone to give a friend's book a critical review if it deserved it. Reviews by family are expressly forbidden under Amazon's Review Guidelines. When spotted they are deleted promptly.

SPAs should bear in mind that Amazon reviews are intended to be an arm's length product assessment. This is something I happen to know a lot about. I'm a Top 200 Amazon reviewer and have been involved in the Amazon review community for years.

Your best bet is to page through the Amazon Top Reviewer's list, looking for reviewers who provide an email address and list your genre in their interests. Then write them a polite email explaining who you are, your genre, and preferably attach a mobi file of your book.

Do not spend any time promoting your book in the email. A two or three sentence description at the most, including no hyperbole, is your best course. Amazon reviewers receive a few emails a day which start with, "WOW, I'm giving you a special gift! A chance to read the best new book of the year!" We know better. LOL So we find simple and humble to be refreshing.

Afterwards, don't keep after the people you email. Just send the polite email with the mobi and keep your fingers crossed. This is a case where a squeaky wheel is going to be discarded rather than greased.

Finding reviewers in this manner takes a lot of time, but you do have a chance to get some reviewers to give you a shot. If they don't like your book, most reviewers will not bother leaving a bad review from an ARC.

You are absolutely correct that everyone's TBR list has a heavy load of SPA review requests. I have SPA books in mine from last October that I haven't had a chance to get to yet. I have a busy business and I don't pick an SPA request if I'm in any mood to read something else from established authors I enjoy. I just mention this because that isn't unique to me, and anyone reading this might avoid some frustration by understanding what's going on at the reviewer's end of the process.

You mentioned your editor, which is good. It would be OK to work into your request that your book IS professionally edited ... if your editor is a professional editor and not a friend.

Off the top of my head I'd say 75% of SPA efforts I take a look at have a misspelled word in the first paragraph. It is unbelievable, but true. When I see that, I don't read the second paragraph.

If that test is passed, 3/4ths of the rest commit a laundry list of writing sins by the end of the first page (purple prose, extended flashbacks, tragic sentence structure, trite dialogue, etc. Again, that stops me immediately.

In those cases I do not review the book. I will write the author a polite critique and recommend things like solid books to teach them grammar, style, and how to write. LOL

Out of MANY dozens of SPA review requests I've decided to look over in the last three years, I've finished and reviewed only four books ... then three more by one of the authors whose book started a series I liked (and bought).

The bottom line is that it's outstanding that you realize the absolute necessity of an editor. Step One is to have a rock-solid product ready to deliver. Then Step Two (find readers and reviewers) can have a chance to bear fruit.

You can see a large general list here: http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html

Fabian space and Hunter break it out by genre:
http://karinafabian.com/index.php?name=Content&pid=28
http://www.tinahunter.ca/links/ebook-reviewers/

Chelsie, you brought a big smile to my face with what you had to say about an editor. In my "day job", one of the offshoots of what my company does involves a good bit of management consulting, and we identify and warn about dangerous situations like trying to start a business without sufficient start-up capital, trying to shave costs by skipping necessary (or required quality) expenses essential their success, and other mistakes.

What I've seen in many SPAs coming through Amazon is that they dream of opening a Five Star restaurant, but prepare to open a lemonade stand on the corner ... some using dirty cups.

So you've bought the food and decided on the recipes, the editor is your first class kitchen to get it cooked properly. Now all you have to do after that is design and manage your ad campaign, spruce up the front of the place, set the tables, and entice some diners. ;-)

You've got a great attitude and I wish you all the luck I can.

I didn't know about the Amazon list either as thought that was a big taboo...

I swear by Goodreads. If you do a giveaway, they will find you mostly suitable readers to give you work to (usually in far flung places if my recent one is to go by!) but it will give you a wider base and plenty of unique reviews...

You can see family and friends reviews a mile off. Type your fav book into amazon and you will see 100+ 1 star/awful reviews. I'm more likely to believe a 4.13/5 score than a 5/5! I'm sending off 25 copies this week and hoping for a dozen or so reviews. Give it a look!

Amazon reviewers have the choice of listing their email or not. If they list it and are active book reviewers in your genre a polite query is not, IMHO, taboo.

GoodReads Giveaways?

chelsie00xx said:

Hi everyone <3 !
I have been looking high and low for reviewers for self published books. I am going to have a release date in late June, after my editor has finished with the novel. It is a dystopian scifi novel. I'm going to have the book released through Kindle, and also CreateSpace.
...
I'm wondering what you guys did, thank you in advance for your advice. : )

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Since you mentioned Createspace have you heard of GoodReads Giveaways?

https://www.goodreads.com/author/how_to


+1 to what Mercs said...

I had just finished a giveaway for my own book (1200+ people signed up, 8 winners selected) - the cost to me is 8 paperbacks plus shipping. I've done giveaways before, and the hope is that the winners will give a review for the book (there is no guarantee though). From my experience, about 1/3 will write a review.

And VRanger gave good advice regarding family/friends...avoid that.

I consider GoodReads Giveaways a "safe" way to get reviews -- GoodReads is owned by Amazon. And GoodReads chooses the winners randomly for you.


Best of luck!

veinglory said:

Amazon reviewers have the choice of listing their email or not. If they list it and are active book reviewers in your genre a polite query is not, IMHO, taboo.

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You are 100% correct.

The email might get deleted if the reviewer isn't in the mood, but a polite email won't blackball the author and is not considered spam.

It is also possible to post a review request in the Meet Our Authors forum, but that's dicey. It's the only forum Amazon allows review solicitation in, but for that reason it is also a madhouse of spam, self-promotion, and unreasoned entitlement. Good authors try it out too but it is easy to get lost in the crowd.

FYI, I just checked my review account email. I had 10 review requests, and accepted one. Here it is:

I’m writing to alert you to a book you might find both intriguing in its own right and an unusual subject for an Amazon book review.

It’s called Women in the Films of John Ford.

Yes, this title stops some people in their tracks at first. After all, wasn’t Ford essentially a director of westerns, a man’s director? This book paints a different, more complex picture. In fact, it contends that—for his time—Ford was one of the more progressive Hollywood directors in his attitudes toward, and treatment of, women in his films.

Curious? If so, I can an arrange for you to receive a complimentary copy. Just let me know where to send it.

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His copy is really too smaltzy for my taste (in an email), but he lucked out in a subject (film history) that I have a lot of interest in. I think it's OK ad copy for his book description on Amazon, but too much for an email.

That's an entirely different subject. IMO, most authors should not write their own ad copy.

People are for and against paid reviews, but they'll at least guarantee a review. Books can get lost in the queue otherwise. I think http://www.selfpublishingreview.com might be the cheapest.

selfpubbedlysa said:

People are for and against paid reviews, but they'll at least guarantee a review. Books can get lost in the queue otherwise. I think http://www.selfpublishingreview.com might be the cheapest.

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My two cents: if a paid review discloses payment, it's worthless. If it doesn't disclose, it's dishonest.

Torgo said:

My two cents: if a paid review discloses payment, it's worthless. If it doesn't disclose, it's dishonest.

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Bingo.

The selfpublishingreview site is read almost exclusively by self publishers. While there's an overlap between self published writers and people who buy books, it's far better to be reviewed where the majority of the people who are going to read the review are people who are there to find books to read, and not who are there to promote their own books or discuss self publishing.

Torgo said:

My two cents: if a paid review discloses payment, it's worthless. If it doesn't disclose, it's dishonest.

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Well, except in the USA it's actually illegal to not disclose any material connection to the thing you're reviewing. That includes getting a free copy of a book. http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pres...al-guides-governing-endorsements-testimonials

So it may look like someone is disclosing a "payment" when in fact they're just complying with US law.

usuallycountingbats said:

Well, except in the USA it's actually illegal to not disclose any material connection to the thing you're reviewing. That includes getting a free copy of a book. http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pres...al-guides-governing-endorsements-testimonials

So it may look like someone is disclosing a "payment" when in fact they're just complying with US law.

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Sure, but in that situation I would disclose it by saying 'I got a free copy of this book from the author/publisher' - which is what bloggers in the UK tend to do. That's not something I regard as a 'payment', really - it doesn't colour my perception of the review like cash would.

VRanger--just wanted to say thanks for your comments. I learned a few things from you today!

Sure, but in that situation I would disclose it by saying 'I got a free copy of this book from the author/publisher' - which is what bloggers in the UK tend to do. That's not something I regard as a 'payment', really - it doesn't colour my perception of the review like cash would.

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And Amazon (at least the US site) requires disclosure for a free copy of the product/book. I keep mentioning Amazon since Chelsie intends to publish there.

Paid reviews are completely against their rules:
"What's not allowed:
Promotional content:
• Advertisements, promotional material or repeated posts that make the same point excessively
• Sentiments by or on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product (including reviews by publishers, manufacturers, or third-party merchants selling the product)
• Reviews written for any form of compensation other than a free copy of the product. This includes reviews that are a part of a paid publicity package
• Solicitations for helpful votes"

The "Sentiments ... on behalf of a person ... with a financial interest in the product" is the line that rules out friends and family. An author would be asking a friend to review, as a favor. The author has a financial interest. The friend's review would then be "on behalf of the author". It does still happen though.

Family is assumed to have a financial interest as a relation that might directly benefit from any success of the book:
* review daughter's book
* daughter's book becomes a best seller
* daughter pays off Mom and Dad's mortgage

Of course that is extremely unlikely to happen. I'm unaware of any circumstance where an insider review has been primarily responsible for launching a title into best seller land, but it could mislead some number of customers.

Amazon has banned quite a few accounts over the years, purging all attached reviews, when it was proved that account was being paid for reviews.

So not only is it unethical, the author might eventually wind up spending the money for nothing.

I would agree that it is more productive to get reviews that fit your book content (genre etc) rather than review from places that focus on self-pub books. And I say that as someone who runs a book review blog that specializes in self-pub books. When I started it most other genre/niche review places would not accept self-pub. That is beginning to change but you have to approach them in the right way.

I'll write a review for you. Send it to rhodadettore at gmail dot com
I will post on Amazon, GoodReads, My site, and whatever other sites you may request.

I never give less than a 4 star. If the work is not at least a 4 star, I will email you with a list as to why.

I also want to state that it is not just SPA that have errors. I just reviewed a book by a reputable publisher, and I found plenty of errors in it.

RhodaD'Ettore said:

I also want to state that it is not just SPA that have errors. I just reviewed a book by a reputable publisher, and I found plenty of errors in it.

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I've read thousands of books from trade publishers, and hundreds of self-published books.

The number of errors I found in the self-published books far outweighs the number I found in trade published books. The self published books had more serious errors in them, too, with a tendency towards less editing, less expert editing, either no typesetting or design input or very poor typesetting and design, and poorer production values overall.

I understand why these things happen. But let's not pretend that the errors which do creep into books from trade publishers are equal to those found in self-published editions: they're not, and to suggest otherwise is disingenuous and misleading.

You can also do a Goodreads Giveaway.

You can list your book on Goodreads before it is published, and do a giveaway. That is a great way to give your book some exposure. I just read the guidelines the other night and Goodreads recommends that you do a giveaway before launch to generate buzz, and those all important first reviews, AND another giveaway when you launch. Sounds good to me!

You could do the same on LibraryThing, I think.

Keep trying book bloggers, there are tons of them. Some are swamped, but some are not.

After launch you might want to consider Kindle Select Free Promotion...I got about 10 reviews from doing that. Sales have improved since the free promotion too.