Ways for Authors to Up Review Efforts in 2017

Title: How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically
Subtitle: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career
Series: The multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Authors' Web site: http://howtodoitfrugally.com
Genre: Nonfiction/Writing/Careers
ISBN: 978-1-5369-4837-0
Publisher: HowToDoItFrugally Press
Cover by Chaz DeSimone

A review of How to get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Reviewed by Magdalena Ball, originally for The Compulsive Reader

How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically

Reading Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s books is always a pleasurable experience. It’s not just because of her warm, intimate and accessible prose. Howard-Johnson is something of an industry expert, and she manages to make the most complex processes seem simple fun. Her How to do it Frugally series provides pretty much everything you need to know about all aspects of marketing your books without spending a fortune. The latest in the series, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically, is no exception. This is a very thorough compendium that goes from importance of obtaining reviews through to building lists, writing query letters, using Amazon, how to deal with (and still use) negative reviews, and a whole lot more. How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is the most comprehensive book on getting book reviews I’ve ever come across. In her usual warm and easy-to-follow manner, Howard-Johnson outlines everything you need to know to maximise your book’s chances.

Some of the information is a tidy and helpful distillation of commonsense, such as “review trippers,” or how to deal with things like passed deadlines, book bigotry (or publisher bias), what an ARC is, and how to get e-book reviews, even from reviewers who only take hard copies. Other chapters are really innovative, such as creating an early series of contact lists and working them, even (ideally) before the book is written, and “magic bullets” (or bullet points) to ensuring that you get more positive responses to your review queries than negative ones. The latter point is crucial. I often think about what makes me accept a book for review – even when I have an already massive stack, and what makes me reject it immediately, and Howard-Johnson’s “legitimate hacks” are spot on. They really get to the crux of what a reviewer is looking for, not only in the approach or query, but in the way the book is packaged and presented. Howard-Johnson’s chapters on making use of Amazon are also particularly valuable, as this information is both key to sales, and not readily known or easy to find out.

The overall focus of the book is around getting reviews, but How to get Great Reviews Ethically and Frugally does more than simply focus on the review. It really parcels up the entire promotional process around a book and presents it in a handy format for new, and more experienced authors. There are chapters around book tours, quality control, what to do with the reviews you get, and even how you send your book, and I completely concur that parceling a book up nicely, and not stamping it all over with “Review copy” (including on the inner page where a reviewer might be trying to read, which has happened to me), makes a difference in terms of the reviewer’s personal experience with the book and how much value they assign to it.

Frugality is Howard-Johnson’s stock-in-trade, and since none of her suggestions involve a large outlay, I’d say that picking up a copy of this book is about the most frugal and valuable thing a new author can do in order to generate inexpensive and highly credible publicity. The book is easy to read, and rich with Howard-Johnson’s own considerable experience. Above all, I think the point that she makes about treating the acquiring of reviews, not as an ancillary activity, but an integral part of the promotional campaign and one that cannot be skimped on, is key. If you have a new book out, or are contemplating having a book out, you need this guide. How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is an excellent resource that both beginning and seasoned authors can return to again and again.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader Web site and edits its newsletter (http://compulsivereader.com). She is an author in her own right including a book on becoming a professional reviewer titled The Art of Assessment (http://bit.ly/ArtAssessment), and the author of several books of poetry and novels.

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. 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. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

A New Year Gift for Authors, Reviewers--and Readers--from The New Book Review!

You're right! This isn't exactly a review. It's better. I'm sharing an except from my new How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically with all my reviewer visitors and subscribers and author visitor subscribers. Perhaps it will even encourage the many readers who drop by for great reading ideas to write reviews of book you read. The authors who make books possible will love you for it! 

Off-The-Wall –Alternatives for Authors and Reviewers

Making Your Reviews Into Workhorses

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Excerpted (and adapted) from Carolyn’s new How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career.

Authors rarely get the most from        their reviews. Surprised? I think it’s because the idea of extending a review’s value doesn’t occur to them. Reviewers have the same problem because these days so many reviews these are written by superfan readers. They aren’t professionals, so they have no idea how to distribute content beyond posting their review on Amazon.

Reviewers can get more mileage from reviews by getting them reprinted in more venues than just online bookstores. Authors can do it for them, too.  And, no, it isn’t stealing or plagiarism if you get permission from the reviewer first. In fact, it can benefit the reviewer.

When you distribute reviews beyond their original placement, it’s like getting a little marketing bonus for your book. Here’s how authors can do that:

§       If your reviewer doesn’t normally write reviews (these reviewers are often called reader reviewers), suggest she send her review or the link to her review to her friends as a recommendation.

§  

     If your reader reviewer lives in a town with a small daily or weekly newspaper, suggest she send her review to one of the reporters or editors. She may realize the thrill of being published the first time.

§  

      Ask professional reviewers—the ones who review for journals—to post her review on Amazon.com, BN.com, and other online booksellers that have reader-review features. I have never had a reviewer decline my suggestion. It is ethical for a reviewer to do it or to give you permission to reuse the review as long as she holds the copyright for the review. (Most reviewers do not sign copyright-limiting agreements with the medium who hires them.) Get more information on Amazon’s often misrepresented review policies in Chapter Eleven of my new How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically under “Managing Your Amazon Reviews.” 

§       After you have permission from the reviewer to reprint the review—whether she is a pro or amateur--post it on your blog, on your Web site, and in your newsletter.

§  

     Once you have permission to use reviews, send copies of the best ones to bookstore buyers and event directors as part of your campaign to do book signings, to speak, or do workshops in their stores. Go to (midwestbookreview.com/links/bookstor.htm) for a starter list of bookstores.

§       Use quotations from the reviews to give credibility to selected media releases and queries.

§       Send quotations (blurbs) from the reviews you get to librarians, especially the ones in your home town or cities you plan to visit during book tours. Include order information. Try Midwest for a list of libraries (http://midwestbookreview.com/links/library.htm).

§       Use snippets from positive reviews as blurbs in everything from your stationery to your blog.

§  

      If your reviewer doesn’t respond to your request to post the review on Amazon, excerpt blurbs from them and post them on your Amazon buy page using Amazon’s Author Connect or Author Central features. They will appear on your Amazon sales page. Yes, that’s ethical, too!

§  

      Include the crème de la crème of your reviews on the Praise Page of your media kit and inside the front cover of the next edition (perhaps a mass market edition like the pocket paperbacks sold in grocery stores?). See my multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo) for the complete—and I do mean complete—lowdown on media kits.

      Hint: Occasionally authors get reviews on Amazon that, shall we say…don’t thrill them. Reviews like that can be minimized by asking others for reviews. As new reviews are added, the old ones tend to get buried in the lineup of reviews. We can also (pleasantly!) refute a position a reviewer takes using the comment feature—or thank them for bringing something to our attention. We can also dispute their validity with Amazon, though that rarely works.

You can use some of these suggestions as part of your keeping-in-communication-with-reviewers effort after her review has been published.

There is more on how Amazon can help authors early in their review-getting process. in my multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books, How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career. As long as it’s nearly impossible to do without Amazon and still have a successful book campaign, we might was well get them to return the loyalty we show them in as many ways as possible.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. The books in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers have won multiple awards. That series includes both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. Her next book in the HowToDoItFrugally series for writers will be How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically.

The author loves to travel. She has visited eighty-nine countries and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague. She admits to carrying a pen and journal wherever she goes. Her Web site is www.howtodoitfrugally.com. 

MORE ON THE NEW BOOK REVIEW

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. 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. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Extending the Power of Your Fave Review FREE

I received a note from a new author about this blog so I thought I'd share what a told her. She said (approximately):

"Carolyn:

I am new at this and trust that my higher power lead me to the right place."

  

 This is my answer to her:

LOL. I think your higher power knows what it is doing! 

 

Maybe we should take one thing at a time. I take it that all of this was written by you. In that case, I need permission that it is yours and that you give me permission. If not, I need assurance that whoever wrote it gives me permission.  I also need metadata on your book. Info on how to do that is in the side column of The New Book Review at http://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com.  OR, you can copy the format of one of the reviews on that blog.  You can also include a biography with links to where your book is available.  And if a reviewer did wrote it for you, you can include a bio for them with links to their book or business. Everyone wins! You'll see that my own bio is at the bottom of each review--yes with links!

 

Then you send the whole shebang to me at HoJoNews@aol.com.  This is a free service so it must be a copy and paste effort for me. I know you will understand that.  But you'll also see how  liberal I am with information and links that can benefit writers everywhere. I want the blog to be a resource for names of reviewers, publisher, as well as good books to read. It helps (but isn't required) when all who participate also subscribe.

 

And right now you need help with reviews. As it happens Bookbaby.com is offering the third in my multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers as an e-book absolutely free.  Find it at http://Bookbaby.com. If you can't find it, sign up for their newsletter. It will be featured in many of those before October 30 when their free offer expires.  After that, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically will be released on Amazon as a paper book and as an e-book on Kindle. Until then you can learn more about it on its new page on my Web site at http://bit.ly/HowToGetReviews. I am adding to it--slowly. (-:

 

This book includes all the hard-won secrets of review-getting--and I mean ALL--for my fiction, poetry, and nonfiction books.  I know you would also benefit from my The Frugal Book Promoter (some of it on reviews) at http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo. 

 

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Multi award-winning poet, novelist, and author of how-to books for writers and retailershttp://howtodoitfrugally.com
Twitter: @frugalbookpromo
and @frugalretailing
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson
Pinterest: http://Pinterest.com/chowardjohnson

 

ABOUT THE BLOGGER AND THIS BLOG

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. 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. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

SharingwithWriters Tip on Getting Reviews

Thought readers and subscribers of this blog (peeps who are often writers and reviewers) would like to see this tip from my last #SharingwithWriters newsletter:

Tip from Midwest Reviews: Beth Cox, editor of the Beth Cox Report newsletter, says, “I'd like to start by reminding every author, publisher, and publicist out there that the post-Christmas months are the "off season" for the Midwest Book Review. That means if you submit your book for review consideration now, then you'll have substantially less competition than usual! By far the number one reason that we have to pass on any submitted book is "too many books, not enough reviewers."

To subscribe to SharingwithWriters go to http://howtodoitfrugally.com/newsletter_copies.htm and use the subscribe window at the top right corner of the page.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. 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. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

A Rare Note on Reviews from the Blogger

I am your The New Book Review blogger and thought I'd weigh in on the state of reviews these days. I hope it will benefit both authors and readers. 
 
Recently someone on one of the forums I frequent expressed the idea that readers are impressed by any review--good or bad. I responded to the audience of writers, but it behooves readers to understand the review process better, too. Just like advertising, reviews can be manipulated to put them in the best light. A note here to readers: If you decide to write a review of a book, be fair. Try to temper a critical review with constructive criticism and a rave review with, yes, constructive criticism. 
 
Anyway, here's what I told authors about the state of review in this Internetted world:

I've seen some authors weigh in on positive reviews with negative comments because they're sure the reviewer has an agenda (And that's a really stupid approach to marketing, if I do say so). I've also seen them dispute negative reviews and that isn't a much better tactic in terms of public relations.

 I’ve also seen them pay for reviews, apparently unaware that librarians and bookstore buyers don't give either paid-for review or Amazon reviews much—if any--weight. They may also be unaware that there are other ways to get reviews. Namely by asking their readers for them. Or asking bloggers for them. Or using alternative online review sites like this one where you’ll find guidelines for submission in the left column).

That said, we all need good reviews and we can even make the bad ones work for us. We should keep the gems in any review to use in media kits, on our Web sites, etc. Yes, even negative reviews can sometimes be excerpted to find little jewel soundbites.

And as long as we're on the subject, I've heard that a good review on Amazon can up sales by 10%. I don't remember the source. I  suspect that reviews also help with Amazon's logarithms and whatever formula Amazon uses takes hold, they start sending out your book in their mass e-mails for suggested reading--obviously a very targeted advertising campaign we should all aim to be part of.

I also encourage authors to post reviews of others’ books on Amazon. It’s a lovely gift for a fellow writer in 2014.

Here’s a real upside to reviews. Since they have (mostly) moved from the pages of literary journals into the hands of amateur reviewers (meaning—sadly—readers!), we authors have more power over getting reviews for our books. We also can more easily determine how effectively good reviews can be used. There is always a risk factor with reviews, but even ones we might consider bad can be learning tools.

One technique I like is picking up little positive soundbites from a review. Say even a bad reviewer says the characters are dazzling. The author can then quote that one little tidbit in their media kit, their newsletter, their Website. It would look like this:

 "...dazzling..." ~ Kirkus Review

The ads for movies do this all the time. You can, too. 

So have at making the most of reviews. Just don’t pay for them.

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From your New Book Review blogger. Learn more about the review process in the Writers Resource section of my HowToDoItFrugally Web site, http://howtodoitfrugally.com/reviews_and_review_journals.htm.