A funny thing happened on my way to “birthing” my fifth book: I began to seriously consider the value of book reviews. This may seem odd, because many authors believe book reviews are crucial to the success of their book. They aren’t…directly. I’ve had several of my books reviewed in key places in the past and I can probably count on one hand the number of copies that were sold as a direct result of the review. So, what’s the point?
Actually, books reviews play a very important role in the marketing of your book even if you can’t expect them to translate into many direct sales. The idea is to raise awareness of your book to create a platform that will then generate sales.
But, back to book reviews….
First of all, let’s distinguish between endorsements and book reviews. Endorsements are statements, usually solicited by the author or publisher, explicitly designed to sell or promote the book. In marketing lingo, this would be consider “unearned” advertising. The endorsers usually understand and know the game and they will provide you with a quote–an “endorsement”–that you can use for this purpose. They aren’t independent and they aren’t objective. They nevertheless serve a very important role (and in many ways may be more important than book reviews), but I’ll talk more about endorsements in a separate blog post, but right now I want to focus on book reviews.
Book reviews are essays by independent (hopefully knowledgeable) readers who evaluate the content of your book. They give recommendations. While a few book reviewers carry a lot of weight, most toil in relative anonymity. Authors covet the book review because of where it will appear (e.g., The New York Times, the local newspaper, a key magazine, etc.) rather than the personality.
The most important goal of a book review is to help legitimize your book through an independent source. This is particularly important for new authors or established authors branching out into a new genre (as I am with my fiction). Several companies provide these reviews for free, including Bookreview.com, Midwest Book Review, AllBooksreview.com and Readerviews.com. For examples of book reviews from some these companies, plus a few specialized ones, see those for my first novel, The Pirate of Panther Bay.
Then, brace yourself. As much as you might love your book, there’s no guarantee that reviewers will. But, that’s okay. If you’ve produced a quality product, you’ll get a decent review with a few choice comments you can use for your broader marketing effort. So, for example, The Pirate of Panther Bay was strong enough that reviewers called it a “swashbuckling tale of piracy, action, and romance,” a book that “remains true to the real world of pirates and Spain’s desire to reign over the new world.” Not bad!
These are quotes that can be used in flyers and other promotational materials. They are all positive and independent voices weighing in on your book. And that builds legitimacy for your books and your position as a author.
For more on book reviews, take a look at Irene Watson’s comments over at Blogging Authors.
