"It's fun.
It's fantasy. It's reality. It's a darn good read."
These were
the first sentences of the first review I ever received
for my very first book, and you can understand, I’m
sure, how pleased and excited I was to read it. It went
on to say:
"Lady Blue
by Judy Bagshaw is a smashing good story, taking you
away from your everyday, humdrum, boring existence into
a world of blues singers and high powered music
executives."
I got chills
and butterflies, and read the review over and over. I
phoned my mother and read it to her. Heck, I read it to
anyone I’d ever known!
"This book
is a dream to read. Dramatic, bold with those characters
in living color you want to gulp it all down in a single
sitting, at the same time regretting and fearing the end
of the story."
I wanted to
find this reviewer and give her a great big hug! The
review did so much of build up my confidence as a
writer.
Once you
have your romance written and your publisher found and
the contract signed, you and your publisher will be
sending your book out for reviews too. It’s still one of
my favourite parts of the publishing process.
That’s not
to say I haven’t had bad reviews as well, but the good
have far outweighed the bad. I remind myself that it is
an opinion, and it is subjective, therefore I cannot
take negatives personally. This is a good attitude to
have—part of growing the thick skin you need in this
game. Use the negative comments as a learning
opportunity.
Once you’ve
garnered a few reviews, you can begin to put them to
work in the promoting and marketing of your book.
Remember, a good review gives you "creds" as a writer,
and helps build name recognition.
The obvious
first thing is to have them posted on your author
website. I have a page devoted to my books and links to
reviews and an excerpt for each of the books. Visitors
to your site can sample the excerpts and get a feel for
what others thought of your work.
But don’t
stop there. Here are some effective uses of reviews for
promoting:
Bookmarks: Put your author info on one side and review snippets on the
other. Or create bookmarks for each of your books—book
info on one side, review snippets on the other.
Brochures: Include a few key review snippets in your author brochure.
Media/press
kits: Have a page of your best
reviews included in your press kit.
Quotes in
print, audio or video promotions: Wherever you promote, include some reviews snippets.
Query
letters: In your query letter
when you submit new work, make sure to include reviews
of already available work to give your submission an
extra kick.
Flyers: Flyers that go to customers, librarians, bookstore buyers etc.
should include some enticing sections of your reviews.
Ads/Trailers: If you create ads or trailers to post on the web, consider
incorporating small quotes from key reviews.
Make sure
your publisher has copies of all reviews you receive.
They can be posted on your publisher’s site, and
possibly used on future printings of the book or on
other books by you.
It’s always
nice to send a thank you note (or email) to the
reviewer, whether it was a favorable review or not.
Most, especially in e-publishing, are not paid so this
simple courtesy can mean a lot. Plan on approaching them
again with other books you have published. It doesn’t
hurt to foster a relationship with a few key reviewers.
And if you
quote a review, give credit where credit is due.
Reviewers will remember those authors and publishers who
remembered them.
For more
information on promoting, consider these articles:
Free and Inexpensive Ways
to Promote Your Romance by Judy Bagshaw
