The Author's ABC's

B is for Book Reviews

So, you wrote a book and were fortunate to find an editor to publish it. You signed your contract, received your copies in the mail, look iot up online just to see your name in print………and then what?

Do you think just it’s there people will buy it?

No. Every author needs book reviews to drive their sales. Whether you have an agent, are an author with a big publishing house, a small publishing house or are self-published, someone needs to drive the customers to you book and who better to do that than book reviewers.

But, do you ask your friends and relatives to post reviews, or do you pay for honest opinions from Book Tour Specialists. The choice is yours, but here are the advantages of book reviews.

1.   A good book review can be used to drive sales.

2.    If the reviewer is particularly proficient with the written word, you may quote from their review as a sales pitch for your book.

3.    A good review help’s the prospective reader decide whether to purchase the book because so many other people have recommended it highly….

Or not!

The downside to honest reviews is that everyone is not your relative or friends and maybe they don’t particularly like your writing style or your characters.

As an author you can’t take the bad reviews to heart. Maybe the reader didn’t like the genre. Maybe they were inclined to think your story would have been told a different way. Perhaps they liked the story, but not the POV’s.

You write. Book reviewers read…and report their opinions. The key word here is opinions. Some may rave. Some may rant. But in either case, to have a book review posted means you are an author, so enjoy your notoriety for a moment, then sit back and write another book.

Every author dreams of a good review from Kirkus, but did you know there are two types?

Kirkus Review, which does not review Indies and Kirkus Indie, which does.

The good news is that you get the name “Kirkus” either way, though one is submitted by your publisher and the other by the author, The cost is $425 or  $575 for a review, depending on turn-around time.

The bad news is there is no guarantee the review will be positive.

Next up in the Author’s ABC’s…….. Clichés.