What Authors Need to Know About the Book Review Process
by Dana Lynn Smith
Book reviews are a terrific way to get your book noticed by potential buyers and convince them to purchase your book.
There are a number of publications and websites that review books on a regular basis. Before submitting books to these organizations, it's helpful to understand how the review process works. Here is a basic overview of the process:
1. Authors and publishers research potential reviewers and send books (or queries) to those review outlets that are a match for their book, in terms of subject matter and the reviewer's guidelines. It's the author or publisher's responsibility to make sure the book is a good fit, send appropriate materials with the book, and package it to arrive safely.
2. Reviewers have no obligation to review every book submitted to them, and each reviewer has his or her own criteria (which may be both objective and subjective) for deciding which books to select and review. Even if a reviewer has expressed interest in a book in response to a query, that's no guarantee that a review will be published. Sometimes reviewers are just too overwhelmed to get to all of the books they intend to review, or they may find upon receipt that the book is not of sufficient quality to merit a review.
3. Once the review is published, the reviewer should send the author or publisher a link (if it's online) or a tear sheet (if it's in print.) Some reviewers also post their reviews on sites such as Amazon.com, although there is no obligation to do so.
It's important to remember that a book reviewer's responsibility is to the readers of their reviews, not to the author or publisher. Reviewers aren't really in the business of helping authors further their careers or helping publishers sell more books. Their goal is to help readers (and librarians and booksellers) make appropriate book selections.
It's unrealistic to expect to get a response from everyone to whom you send a review copy. Also, not all books that are assigned to a reviewer will actually get a published review. Sometimes the reviewer fails to do the review, or the editor feels the review is not up to the organization's standards. Also, some sites and publications do not publish negative reviews, so a review may be scrapped because the reviewer could not find enough merit in the book to do a positive review.
Here are some of the most common reasons that books are not assigned to a reviewer or not reviewed:
Time or space constraints – Most publications and websites that review books regularly have the time and space to review only a small percentage of the submissions received.
Poor quality – If the quality of the writing or editing, or the quality of the publication (cover, interior, printing), are not up to professional standards, a book is likely to end up in the reject pile. Sometimes the quality of the writing and editing isn't clear until the reviewer has already started reading the book.
Not a good fit – Some authors and publishers don't do enough research to determine if their book is appropriate for the reviewer. The book's subject matter or format may not fit with the reviewer's editorial policies.
Poor communication – Sometimes authors or publishers fail to follow clearly stated review guidelines, provide inadequate marketing materials or contact information, or are just generally annoying to the reviewer.
Problem reviewers – Some people claim to be book reviewers in order to get free books for reading or re-sale. Be cautious about sending review copies to people who solicit them. Other reviewers may have good intentions but do not follow through after agreeing to review a book, or their review is not approved by the editor of the publication or website.
To increase your success rate in getting reviews, keep these points in mind as you plan your book review strategy.
(LINKS FOR YOUR REFERENCE)
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of
This Is the Place;
Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered;
Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including,
The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't;
The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and
Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers .
The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including
A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are
TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at
The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:
Featured speaker Carolyn Howard-Johnson will bring ten of her favorite tips that will help your book succeed, and you are invited to bring your questions, too, anything from poetry to politics. Never mind. Forget politics! (-:
Carolyn is an author and poet, and she has won an Irwin marketing award, among others, and she's published the How To Do It Frugally series of booksfor writers: The Frugal Book Promoter, The Frugal Editor, Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers, The Great First Impression Book Proposal, and How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. Naturally she has a website: http://howtodoitfrugally.com/
Howard-Johnson is the author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers including the award-winning second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor. Her latest is in the series is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. Learn more on her Amazon profile page, http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile. Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers is one of her booklets--perfect for inexpensive gift giving--and, another booklet, The Great First Impression Book Proposal helps writers who want to be traditionally published. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it will help them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. In addition to this blog, she helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs at all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor (http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com )
