Join my weekly Radio Show

Monday, September 21, 2009

What about a Good Review?

We all know a good review can make or break an author's reputation.  Whether it is in film, theater or in print, what someone says about your work counts.  How do you get a good review? Write a good book.  Okay, all kidding aside, a good review can be obtained by sending your book to the correct reviewer, one who has a passion for the same type of topic as your book, or at the very least has written some reviews along the same line.  Research is a good way to find out who is reviewing books and where they are submitting their reviews for publication.

I'm at the age where I feel like I have a story for everything and this is no exception. I once was asked to review a book on a topic I truly disliked. Being an author (and a sympathetic one, I might add), I wrote the author and explained my predicament. A good rule of thumb is to ask the reviewer (if they are not professional reviewers by trade), if they are interested in reviewing your book.  I have obtained about ninety percent of  my book reviews in that way. My favorite way to obtain a review is to have someone write or email me to review their books.

Ready for another story?  When I first began writing I would send my books to practically anyone who asked. I finally learned this was a way that some people obtained free books! I soon learned after that costly mistake to ask where they were posting their reviews, and if they were professional or not.  A good blogger with a large readership can easily help your sales if they review your book.  So, choose your reviewers carefully.

What if you don't have a book? Well, if you take my premium authors' class you can be an author in as little as six months. I am currently working with students to realize their dreams. At the very least I hope you are tuning into my radio show and if you are interested in more details here is the link: http://www.writingmembership.com


This week (September 21-September 30th) I will have my writing and publishing book on sale for $5.00. If you have not picked up a copy, now is the time. This is a very limited offer! You may want to buy more than one book and gift one to a writing friend.

http://store.mediaangels.com:82/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=90

This week our guest blogger will be Lori Kasbeer who is a literary reviewer. I will interview her on my blog talk radio show as well as post her blog on this site later this week!

2 comments:

  1. Very good points, Felice!

    I once gave my books to everyone to be reviewed but found it an expensive proposition. I also found that the expectations of the person you give your book to has a lot to do with it as well.

    I had received some wonderful reviews of my first book, (renamed Say What You Mean for Teens), from folks at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and a few homeschool bloggers with large followings. I then gave it to someone to review who had a large website for homeschoolers. She didn't like my book because it didn't go in depth about speech making. I pointed out that it wasn't a speech book, but a book on general communication and she said it SHOULD be a speech book. She didn't think general communication was an important enough subject and that speech and debate was the only subjects with any real meat. The rest was fluff. Well, thankfully not everyone feels this way. lol In fact, there are many studies whose findings say that 87% of what you and I do all day is communication related and that the source of many of the world's problems stem from a lack of effective communication skills including the major reason why a marriage breaks up.

    It is important to be more discerning when you give your books away for a review, especially when they are hard copy books.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! Take a look at my blog today! You might recognize someone's name! http://artofeloquence.com/blog/

    ReplyDelete