It’s been four years since I’ve had my last hardcover release, so getting ARCs for my January title, Shear Murder, is both a delight and a challenge. My publisher sends them to the major players, so it’s up to me to find other reviewers willing to read my humorous cozy mystery. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’ve put hours into visiting various sites online and following up on other author’s recommendations, then sending out queries to see who’s interested. Some sites require you to fill out a form online. Then there are sites that give an address for you to send your book, but they don’t guarantee it will get reviewed. It’s almost like that old adage: throw a lot of spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks. And each time you mail a book out, it costs you the postage. You want it to count.
ARCs are good for contest prizes and Goodreads giveaways, but otherwise you don’t just want to hand out free books to anyone out there. You want to put the ARCs into the hands of people who will spread the word: reviewers, booksellers, and bloggers with decent followings. Hopefully this effort will garner quotes you can use in promotion.
There’s a site online, NetGalley, where publishers can post digital versions of books to be downloaded by reviewers. Have any of your books been available this way? For those of you who have received ARCs or who make your own, how do you meet the challenge? Do you prepare a list of review sites ahead of time? Have you been satisfied with the responses you’ve gotten? Do you find this process easier or harder than pre-digital days when we did everything via snail mail?
Nancy, normally my pub distributes ARCs to the appropriate press and reviewers. I’ve been able to get LJ, PW and other magazine reviews because of their efforts. In the past, I’ve had printed bound copies of the manuscript send to other authors for cover blurbs. In that case, I’ve used http://www.mimeo.com. They do a great job of one-stop printing and shipping.
Thanks for the tip, Joe. I’ll check out that site. For now, I have lots of ARCs that the publisher sent me. Also, I’ll do a Goodreads giveaway for the first time.
I definitely recommend giving a couple away on GoodReads. It gets your book on many people’s radar, and a nice percentage of those who sign up also will put your book on their “to be read” category, which keeps your book on their radar even after the giveaway is over.
It’s such a hassle trying to get reviews. It’s a huge time suck.
Still trying to work all that part out. Of course being a self-pubbed guy makes it that much harder. The hardest part I’ve run in to is just finding folks willing to be reviewers. Maybe I need more friends.
I’m not even sure where else to go as an indie to get reviews in addition to what I’ve gotten on various blogs etc. That, and I’m getting frustrated that that marketing takes so much of my potential writing time.
Like Keith said Goodreads giveaways has been a good way to drum up interest. I also have had three different drawings on the International Thriller Writers “Big Thrill Neverending Giveaway” site. All three of my books on there have gained a large number of TBR listings by folks who entered drawings for free paperback copies. How many of them will read the books, and how many will review the books are yet to be known.
In addition to that I have got a deal going on Bookrooster.com to solicit reviews from folks on their list. Bookrooster sends out a request to its members, if they like the blurb they ask for a free copy of the ebook, read it, then post an Amazon review (or other sites). I’ll find out over the next month or so if that works, as my book Faithful Warrior goes live with them tomorrow.
At the moment I’m trying a method to sort of bribe reviewers. With a rather large audience to my podcast versions (over 20,000 listeners) I have put out a request to have as many people leave a review as possible on Amazon. For each Amazon review of each book they will get one entry into a drawing for a free Kindle. Hopefully that’ll draw some folks in to pile on the reviews by the time of the drawing in December.
So I’m giving away two Kindles, one free Audiobook and free ebooks for all commenters via The Big Thrill.
All in the name of getting more reviews.
Unorthodox I know, but I don’t know what I’m doing…so just making stuff up as I go along. Something is gonna work eventually.
If any of the readers here want to join in those deal go to http://www.basilsands.com for details and jump into my plan for world domination via hypnotic book reviews.
Nancy, did you try http://www.librarything.com? As a reader I frequently request e-books to review. Usually I post my reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, The Librarything and my small review blog. I would be glad to review your book, though I live in Belgium and you may not want to pay the shipping, I could understand that. Is your book available in e-book format?
Yes, Keith. I’d heard good things about Goodreads giveaways too. My book isn’t showing up yet on their radar, however, so I’ll have to wait until closer in.
Taylor, I agree with you. It’s a huge time sink to search for reviewers, send queries out, package up the book, and go to the post office. But it’s worth the effort once those reviews start rolling in.
Basil, thanks for the reminder about ITW. And your other tips sound good, too. It’s definitely harder to find reviewers for self-pubbed works, also for ebooks/POD in general. I think more sites will pop up for indie authors in the future, though.
Gyula, thanks for your offer, but my book is not available in digital format. I do have Library Thing on my list for giveaways too. I have ARCs but for domestic mailing only.
I did a Goodreads giveaway, and it was very worthwhile.
Nancy, you always give such sage marketing advice! I learn something new every time. Thank you!