Now, on the back of Myra’s first five-star review which is very exciting, I thought the review process would be an excellent subject for this writing article. I imagine a lot of authors are familiar with this already, but for any who aren’t, and for readers who are curious, let’s get started.
Friends and Family are often the first port of call when you are looking for reviews, which is fair because they are supportive of your work and most likely to give positive reviews. This isn’t a bad thing but I would always ask them, to be honest. Many eagle-eyed readers will see a book with nothing but glowing reviews and be suspicious because even the greatest writers have plenty of criticisms about what can be improved. So, if friends and family are helping you out, get an honest opinion out of them on what they liked, and areas it could be improved, because this will give potential readers a much more accurate picture of your book, and in most cases they will still read it because they know a series of books will always improve with practice. Another note is other authors you might know. It’s always worth reaching out and mentioning you have a new book released, and asking them if they can review it for you, maybe in exchange for reviewing something of theirs. Being an author is difficult, and we tend to be a good support network for one another.
Finding a Review site is probably my next piece of advice because review sites by themselves tend to build up a readership, and if they are willing to review your book then their readers may be tempted into getting your book after reading the review. There are many out there who cover dozens of different genres, so I would start with google and work my way outwards from there. Once you have found some who you think are appropriate then send them an email, following their submission policy if they have one, and see what they say. Many might say no due to time constraints, but equally might be happy to keep your book on file until they’re free. At the end of the day, the worst you’ll get is a no, but we’re authors, and we’re used to that.
My final suggestion for getting help with reviews if you’re an indie author like me is to go to a site called Indie Book Reviews. This site is a directory and contains a multitude of review sites who specifically review books by indie authors. Many review sites you find will not accept unsolicited submissions, but pretty much all of the ones at this site will at least be willing to take in the submission. They might be busy and you might have to wait, but if you’re diligent in your search you should find plenty who will accept your request. Once you’ve found them it’s the same process as before, check their submission policy, follow it, and then wait and see. Make sure you’re working on other reviews in the meantime because like all of the publishing process there is a lot of waiting involved.
There we are, I hope that was helpful for everyone reading and gave you a good idea of how to go about getting your book reviewed. If you have any tips of your own that I have missed then feel free to comment and I will give them the spotlight. Until next time, have fun and keep writing.
