The Essential First Step for New Authors: Book Reviews, Not Sales

how to get book reviews
Photo credit: B Tal on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC

Today’s guest post is by David Wogahn (@wogahn) of Author Imprints and author of The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages.


You know how good your work is. You created it. You lived with it through the phases of publication gestation: idea, brainstorming, outline, research, writing, and rewriting. You have improved, enhanced, and polished your work to a degree you didn’t think possible. You believe it’s perfect.

Alas, your opinion is not the most important at this point in your publishing cycle. You need third-party confirmation to attract readers. You need (positive) independent assessment to convince readers to spend money and time—money AND time.

British sociologist John Thompson, an expert in the influence of the media in the formation of modern societies, identifies five resources or capital that are essential for publishing success in his book titled Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century. Thompson writes that besides cash, the most important resource is symbolic capital, which he defines as “the accumulated prestige and status associated with the publishing house.”

Book reviews build symbolic capital

New authors—certainly self-published authors—have no symbolic capital. They are not (yet) known for producing quality books that seduce readers to the degree that they are willing to part with some of their disposable income, not to mention time. Is it possible for self-publishing authors to create symbolic capital? Absolutely yes, and many have.

In today’s increasing online world of book shopping, I argue it is book reviews that build symbolic capital. A shopper evaluating a book for purchase when it has no, or few, reviews is like the hungry guest walking into an empty restaurant. How good can this place be if no one is here eating?

Even traditional publishers with symbolic capital “in the bank” must actively solicit book reviews so their authors’ books can succeed in our unimaginably crowded retail market.

Where should you begin?

book review journeyThe key to a successful book launch is prospecting for reviews in safer territories first, and expanding in stages. The goal is to have some number of reviews in place—the book’s social proof and symbolic capital—before investing in general promotions. How many? As many as you can but 10 is a good goal.

Let’s walk through the four territories illustrated in The Book Review Journey.

Loyal Fans. These are people that know, like, and trust you. They are also the ones most likely to leave a review. For an established author, they are readers who reviewed previous books. For new authors, the circle can be very small indeed—it depends on the depth of their network, and the extent to which that network is familiar with the author’s writing. But be careful—approaching close contacts to review your book carries three risks.

  1. Amazon is good at spotting reviews from friends and family and may reject the review (or worse) if it is from a known family member.
  2. If your Loyal Fan network hasn’t left reviews for other books, their sole review of your book will carry little weight with shoppers who happen to look at who wrote the review.
  3. The third risk relates to number two. Some Loyal Fans go overboard and review the author rather than the book, or gush without including any meaningful feedback.

Addressable Audience. I define this group as those who have given you permission to contact them, in some way related to your writing or the subject matter of your book. This last part is important. It isn’t enough that someone gave you their email address, liked your page/profile, or follows you. If you run a dry cleaning business, and decide to tell your mailing list about your new romance novel, the level of engagement with this list will be proportional to their awareness of you as a romance author.

The purpose of having an Addressable Audience is so you can notify them when you do something they might find interesting, which is presumably the reason why they gave you permission to contact them in the first place.

Addressable Audience members become Loyal Fans when they buy something, and/or act to tell others about it.

Chosen Reviewers. The first two stages take time to build and nurture, but it’s friendly territory and engaging them to review your book should come naturally. Proactively seeking reviewers is different. There are many options and a successful strategy takes time, and potentially money, to execute.

The most important guidance is to seek reviewers who enjoy books like yours. These readers are far more likely to respond favorably to an invitation to invest the time to read your book and offer an informed view.

I call them Chosen Reviewers because you still have some measure of control over whom you approach.

  • Reviewers of comparable books. Look up books similar to yours on Amazon, Goodreads, and other retailers, and contact those who have left reviews about reviewing your book. Or use a service to help you harvest possible reviewers to approach.
  • Book bloggers are an excellent source of potential reviews. True, they must be willing and available, and even identifying them requires work, but the advantages are two-fold: (1) you’ll get a review, often posted in multiple places and (2) your book receives promotion when the blogger shares their review on their website and via social media.
  • Blog tour organizers are a third source. They help authors organize review tours—a type of tour where getting book reviews is the objective of the blog tour (as opposed to promotional tours). Some even offer co-op style arrangements for submitting books to a reviewer network such as NetGalley.

What about paid reviews?

I believe that it is too simplistic to say that “spending money on reviews” is bad, or unethical. There are several perfectly legitimate and ethical instances where spending money is necessary, or advantageous, even when pursuing reviews from reviewers associated with the above three categories. And review services such as Kirkus are an accepted and trusted resource by many in the book trade.

Rather than make a blanket statement, I say that it depends on the book, the author, and the marketing plans for the book, not to mention your budget. Also consider what’s important to your primary audience of readers.

Even if you can afford to pay hundreds of dollars for Kirkus to review your book about hiking in Colorado, it’s doubtful your readers will care, and concentrating on Amazon customer reviews is probably just the ticket for your self-published romance book.

For a more in-depth discussion of this topic see Jane’s post, Are Paid Book Reviews Worth It? Be sure to scroll down and read the comments, especially the exchange with one of the paid book review companies. It’s important reading.

The Public. Unfortunately, this is where many authors begin—the uncharted wilderness. Cold and unforgiving, we’re at the mercy of someone who does not know us or does not pay much attention to whether our book is a fit for their reading interests. And that’s if they even bother to take a chance since there are few or no reviews. We’re living on hope, and dying from despair.

The alternative is patience and prioritizing reviews before promotions

The point is that we do have control. Instead of a straight-to-the-public Hail Mary our intrepid explorer has blazed a path through the first three territories of their review journey, in the order outlined above. They have several—perhaps ten or more—reviews to show the public before investing in marketing programs to drive readers to their book.

Then when the general reader arrives they see social proof; the book has symbolic capital.

You cannot control what reviewers say, but approaching those most likely to enjoy your book will set the tone for reviews and sales to follow.

Let us know in the comments: How have you approached getting reviews for your books? Do you have a formula or strategy that’s worked?

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31 Comments
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Terry Whalin

David,

Thank you for this great article about book reviews. What works? I believe consistently encouraging others to read and give honest reviews of your book. Yesterday I received the 68th Amazon review for my biography of Billy Graham which was published over three years ago. I’m celebrating this new review and looking for others. It’s a process and not a one-time effort.

Terry
Straight Talk From the Editor

David Wogahn

Excellent point about it being a process, Terry. I’d add that Amazon seems to agree in that their algorithm has been changed to give newer, more helpful reviews more weight.

Paula Cappa

I find Goodreads Groups in your genre is a good place to ask for reviewers. Social media bloggers too but researching the right blogger in my category (I have 3 supernatural mysteries) takes some leg work and is very time consuming. One question for you, David. I’m looking for reviewers for my short stories (Kindle Singles on Amazon). Most reviewers don’t review 1 short story. Any suggestions where I can find short story reviewers to post on Amazon?

David Wogahn

Hi Paula, that is indeed a narrow reading interest for book bloggers. I imagine you’ve considered looking up reviewers of short stories/singles on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. As far as bloggers go, we have 3 noted in our 9th edition who say they’ll consider short stories. This is not an endorsement, and you’ll need to confirm their interest: http://www.featheredquill.com/, https://keirasarchives.wordpress.com/, http://kritikabibliophile.blogspot.com/. Good luck!

Jane Steen

Hi David,

I think your graph is spot-on. When I launched my current series, now over 5 years old, I began with asking Goodreads friends to review as I’d been on the site for a while as a reader and they trusted me. It’s not an approach you can do cold, I think. By the time I’d finished book 3 and begun marketing the series (with book 1 permafree for the most part as that has been what’s worked best for me) I had around 90 reviews on Amazon.com for book 1, built up over 3.5 years. After about 18 months working on the permafree/marketing combo I have 500+ reviews on Amazon.com alone (plenty more elsewhere) with 300+ 5-star reviews, 700+ 5-star ratings on Goodreads, etc. So I’d definitely recommend that strategy–but the foundation stone was the subtler early work of getting that book into the hands of the right readers, which I don’t think is something you can rush.

Of course the main point is to get your fundamentals right–a great story, well written, well edited, with a good cover! You’ve got to be able to provide an experience that’s exciting enough for the readers in your niche to want to post a review. And one thing I did right was never to push the wrong readers (friends and family, or people who don’t really read in my genre) into posting reviews–as a result, my reviews were pretty targeted to the right readers, and that effect has magnified over time.

David Wogahn

This reads like a case study, Jane. It’s like Terry said, a process. Thanks for sharing.

Kaye

David,
Thank you for your informative article! It also helps to ask for reviews in the back matter of a book. If an author receives a compliment from a reader via email, text, or in person, he or she could respond with a “thank you! If you get a chance, could you leave your feedback in an Amazon review?”

Kaye

Harald Johnson

Good post, David! One of my more unusual reviews came from my local library. I had been checking out and renewing library books for research for my historical fiction series, and over time the circulation folks became curious, which led to conversations about books and writing. So when my first ebook was available, it was natural for me to approach one of the more enthusiastic librarians—who happened to also have a book blog—and ask if she wouldn’t mind reading the book and consider posting a review. Bingo.

David Wogahn

Great story. In sales that’s called lead nurturing.

Dr. MarleneRingler

Hi,
Some really outstanding points about reviews. I would like to add that I feel it is also important to narrow the field, focusing on the audience which most likely be interested in your book content and subject. I am writing about my adult autistic son and am beginning to reach out to groups and organizations especially interested in this subject. Am I on target about this?
Thanks,
Marlene

David Wogahn

I think you are, Marlene. I’d add that post-release reviews might be just one of the benefits of early networking. Since the book is closely aligned with the audience, some may also be willing to promote or purchase, or provide blurbs, etc. Best of luck.

Avery K. Tingle

I’ve honestly never had much of an idea as to how to get reviews. I’ve been fortunate enough to get the few I have. This time, I’m months ahead of a release and I plan to do my homework early and hopefully get ahead of the process. Thanks for the tips.

Cari Noga

Reader reviews are game, set, match! I think it’s worth underscoring that it’s reader reviews, not critical, that an author should first aim for. My method was similar to Kaye’s. After I self-published my first novel, Sparrow Migrations, in 2013, whenever someone complimented it to me, my standing reply was, “thank you, it’d be great if you could say that in a review on Amazon or Goodreads.” Many, thankfully, did. Those initial reviews won me my first BookBub promotion, which got me more readers and reviews. Eighteen months later I wound up getting picked up by Amazon’s Lake Union imprint. The acquiring editor specifically mentioned the enthusiastic reader reviews as a reason for the offer. My second novel with them, The Orphan Daughter, will be out in May.

Kaye

Cari, great to know. Thanks for sharing!

Joanell Serra

That is an encouraging story, thanks! My first novel is coming out in May 2018 ( The Vines We Planted, Wido publishing) and the review puzzle is starting to loom large. I had no idea my family and close friends cannot review! Now I’m off to learn about BookBub.

Julie Watson

Thank you, David, for your wisdom and advice. Reviews are such a tricky area but essential as you say. There is a risk even when asking people close to you to post a review but you almost have to. To get a few positive reviews at the start at least gives your book a chance. I have a second book coming out this year and am taking your advice on board. I have also kindly asked readers to review my book in the back matter this time around.

Karen Cioffi

Great advice, David. I hadn’t thought of it, but most authors think of sales once a book is published, not reviews. And, it’s the reviews that can help sell the books. Whether self-publishing or traditionally publishing, reviews are so important.

Amy

Thanks for the great info here. I learned some good nuggets that I will try next time! For my last book, I started creating a buzz about my book’s release on social media about 2-3 months before it was published. Once it was in the publishing pipeline, I announced presale order info and got about 40 friends and family to buy them. About half of these reviewed the book on Amazon within the first few months of publication. This helped me immensely, as I continued to promote the book strangers to my work would comment on how “wow, you’ve got a lot of great reviews” and it would influence their buying. I also contacted book bloggers and sent them the PDF for review. But I have to say this process was extremely time consuming. And only about 4 of them, out of about 30 that I contacted (after extensive research) wrote a review and shared it on their channels. I also wonder if anyone reads book reviews from book bloggers? Most of them, their sites aren’t all that intriguing. I could be all wet here, but my energy was much better spent getting my “inner circle” of friends to leave reviews on Amazon.

One thing I also did was, over the years, befriend other authors in my genre or authors I admire. I reached out to them for testimonials, and that carried a lot of clout, too. Having their support gave me a lot of confidence as well as helped strangers trust that it was a good story.

David Wogahn

Regarding whether anyone reads book reviews written by book bloggers, I’m assuming you mean on their blog, and I wonder the same thing! I’d suggest a few other benefits of blogger reviews: the reviews they post on Amazon and often other sites such as Goodreads, LibraryThing, BN, etc. Many also have social media followings and/or mailing lists. A link back to the author website often helps with SEO (many do this). I like to think it is the cumulative effect of all this, especially if the author does more books and promotions.