The Importance of Submitting Your Book For Independent Review

One of the most effective things that authors can do to bolster sales of their book is to send copies out for independent review.  We’ve already discussed the importance of writing effective book descriptions and author biographies—which are powerful sales tools that help potential readers decide whether or not your book is right for them.  Independent book reviews are another important way that potential readers learn about your book.  In an online venue, where readers can’t physically pick up a copy of your book and flip through the pages, the more information they have at their disposal to make an informed decision about whether or not to buy, the greater the chance that your book will be added to their shopping cart.

The best place to locate potential reviewers for your book is the internet.  Search your genre plus reviews.  If your genre is poetry, for example, search “poetry+reviews.”  You can, of course, add your geographical region if you prefer to limit your search to country, province, or even by city.

Once you’ve generated your search results, jump in and start reading some reviews.  When you find a reviewer whose style you like, or one you believe will be sympathetic to your book, look for a contact name and address.  Always query the reviewer before you sent copies of your book.  Make your query letter short, friendly, and professional.  A simple “Dear Mr. Smith, I stumbled upon your website and found your reviews entertaining, informative, and well-written.  I wanted to query in hopes that you’d consider reviewing my book, STORIES BY MR. GREEN.  It’s a short story collection that I think you’d enjoy and I welcome the opportunity to be reviewed by you.  If you’re interested, please let me know and I’ll drop a copy in the post for you as soon as possible.  I’ve attached a Jpeg image of the front cover and a PDF version of the press release.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Keep up the great work!  Best regards, Mr. Green.”  Remember to attach your Jpeg photo of front cover and anything else you wanted to include; in this case, a press release.

If the reviewer is interested, send them an autographed copy of your book, along with any additional promotional material you may have.  Things like press release, postcard advertisement, brochure, etc.  Always make your submission as professional as possible: wrap your book in brown paper, clearly print on envelope, etc.  Here, as with everything else, first impressions count!  As soon as your book is in the post, send the reviewer a short email to let them know the book is en-route, thanking them in advance for the opportunity, query if they require anything further from you, and ask if a link to your product page could be inserted at the end of their review.  Include the link in your email.

Additionally, great places to find potential book reviewers are places like Amazon, Goodreads, and other online booksellers.  Search your genre, find the bestsellers, and see who has reviewed those books.  Google the names of reviewers to find their website and contact information.  Narrowing reviewers by your genre is a great way to find new reviewers who will be sympathetic to your title.

The importance of sending your book out for independent review is that your book will gain exposure.  As new reviews of your work are posted, your press kit will grow stronger.  You can start pulling quotes from reviews and strengthening your product pages, personal website, blog, social media pages, etc, with favorable quotes.

When new reviews of your book are posted online, send out a new email alerting everyone in your contact list; share the review on Facebook, Twitter, and all of your other favorite social media websites.  Contact your distributor with new blurbs about your book and ask that they update your product page.  Most importantly, contact your reviewer and thank them!

The best part of online book reviews is that they are promotional material that work for you twenty-four hours a day, every day, all year.  When people search your name or book title online, their search results will include reviews of your book.  If you notice a spike in book sales following a favorable review, send the reviewer a follow-up email and share the news.  They will be grateful to hear that their hard work yielded positive results.

Books sell through sweat equity.  As a general rule of thumb, as the acclaimed author John Yamrus aptly put it, “Do something every day.  Write something.  Submit something.  Edit something.  It doesn’t matter what, but DO something every day.  Make it a part of your life and sooner or later, things will add up and you’ll get to your goal.”

Finding new reviewers and sending out copies of your book for independent review should be part of your daily “to do” list.

—Wolfgang Carstens