The Magic of Book Reviews ~ With Lessons From the Little Red Hen

THE MAGIC OF BOOK REVIEWS ~ WITH LESSONS FROM THE LITTLE RED HEN

by Lois W. Stern

Your #Authors Helping Authors NewBookReview

Acquisition Coordinator

As authors, we know the importance of getting book reviews. We ask our friends and personal contacts to write reviews for us, post notices about our books on author friendly websites, upload our e-books to sites that invite us to do so . . ., all in the hopes of attracting potential reviewers. Sometimes we even pay companies to review our books, while enticing others to do so. 

Hey folks, maybe we are overlooking the greatest source of all, the one right at our fingertips - our fellow authors. 

So what’s with this Little Red Hen

In the childhood fable, The Little Red Hen, when the hen asks a cat, dog and mouse for help planting, harvesting and grinding the wheat, she gets no takers: "‘Not I!’ said the cat. ‘Not I!’ said the dog. ‘Not I!’ said the mouse." So she ends up doing all the work herself. But when the preparation was all done, even though all the barnyard animals were eager to share in the feast, she did that part all alone as well. 

We have an Authors Helping Authors platform right here. So let’s build an Authors Helping Authors mindset right now. Read through the brief synopses you see listed below. A least one of these books surely will pique your interest. Contact that author for a FREE copy with an understanding that you will review their book within 30 days..

On a time crunch? Aren’t we all! So today I would like to share some ideas to keep your reading and review writing time both Frugal and Ethical. 

• Read the Amazon posted synopsis of the book first for an understanding of that book’s content.

• When you contact the author for a free copy of the book you are reviewing, ask them to also send you any promotional materials they have on hand for a quick overview of content and style.

• Ask the author of that same book to suggest about 50 pages to give you its style and flavor. 

• Write a first draft of your review. It doesn’t have to be long or flowery. (A review of 150 words or more is fine.) It doesn’t have to be 5 star either. (Just be sincere, yet kind. And if you think this book deserves less than four stars, decline to review it, but give the author some helpful hints on what they could do to improve it.)

• Try using your review to help promote yourself. (When I add my photo to the review image box, my name, and the words, Author, Creator of Tales2Inspire® seem to pop right into the box.)

Let me help you with my regular post of free books to review right here on #TheNewBookReview. 

Here is the link on how to submit your book to get FREE reviews (except for the cost of a book):

https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-new-book-review-offers-way-to-call.html

___________________________________________________________

MORE ABOUT YOUR TRUSTED REVIEW ACQUISITION COORDINATOR

Lois W. Stern is a multi award-winning author whose work has been featured in The New York Times, on Local Access TV, and in live presentations in many varied venues. She has now published ten Tales2Inspire books of her contest winners' stories. Fans of Chicken Soup for the Soul are particularly enamored of Tales2Inspire books, because aside from their dynamic inspirational themes, they are filled with original photos to enhance the power of each story. Lois invites interested readers to get a FREE Tales2Inspire sampler book at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts and to learn more about entering the next Tales2Inspire contest at: www.tales2inspire.com/contest. She is also a regular contributor to this blog. Learn more about her at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/tales2inspire

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tales2inspire2

___________________________________________________________

More About #TheNewBookReview Blog 

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning #HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers . Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission form . 

Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page. And know that Carolyn Wilhelm, our IT expert, award-winning author, and veteran educator, makes an award image especially for those who volunteer to write reviews from Lois's review-request list and post them in the spirit of her "Authors Helping Authors"  project.

Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find Carolyn's also blogs at SharingwithWriters and The Frugal smart and Tuned-in Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing #amwriting