{"id":7862,"date":"2019-04-09T07:01:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T11:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7862"},"modified":"2019-04-09T07:01:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T11:01:25","slug":"what-did-you-think-of-my-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7862","title":{"rendered":"What Did You Think of My Book?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"419\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Key.jpg?resize=310%2C419&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"key, Pezibear from Pixabay\" class=\"wp-image-7863\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Key.jpg?w=310&amp;ssl=1 310w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Key.jpg?resize=111%2C150&amp;ssl=1 111w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Key.jpg?resize=222%2C300&amp;ssl=1 222w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting reviewers and readers to talk about your new book provides\npeer-to-peer validation of your work and is key to promoting sales,. These\ndays, \u201cno one will buy a book with zero social validation,\u201d says Jordan Ring at\nArchangel Ink, who prepared the online guide, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/archangelink.com\/how-to-get-book-reviews-the-ultimate-manifesto\/\">How\nto Get Book Reviews: The Ultimate Manifesto<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reviews work to your advantage in several additional ways in\nthe Amazon ecosystem. The more consumer reviews you have, the higher your\nconversion rate from Amazon page visits to sales. Having reviews (especially\nverified reviews) will boost your book in Amazon\u2019s search algorithms. Yet, Ring\nsays, \u201cmost books on Amazon struggle to get even fifty reviews.\u201d Around the\ntime of publication, unverified reviews\u2014those coming from people who\u2019ve\nobtained your book from somewhere other than Amazon, say, as advance review copies\u2014help\njump-start the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#a30003\" class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although Ring provides a lot of detail on how to implement\nthese strategies, and writes in that breezy and grating you-can-do-it style\nuniversal to self-help books, he warns up front that these strategies \u201caren\u2019t\neasy and take a lot of work.\u201d It\u2019s up to each author to decide how far to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Providing a <strong>request\nfor reviews<\/strong> in the back of your book is probably the easiest (see \u201covercoming\nreviewers\u2019 barriers\u201d below); I see more of these all the time. You\u2019re a writer,\nyou love your book, make that request engaging and clever.<\/li><li><strong>Search\nfor reader-reviewers<\/strong> who have commented on similar books and compile a\nlist. There\u2019s even an app that will find them for you. Bear in mind that most\npeople don\u2019t want yet another way to be spammed, and find a balance between\nwarm and too chummy.<\/li><li><strong>Contact\nthose reviewers<\/strong> by email. As a reviewer for crimefictionlover.com, I\nreceive review requests occasionally, and the overly personalized versions\nweirded me out at first, the kind that sound almost stalkery. (\u201cI saw your\nreview of x, and . . .\u201d) But that\u2019s me.<\/li><li><strong>Follow up<\/strong>.\nRing says most authors may be willing to make an initial query, but won\u2019t\nfollow up, which increases total response rate markedly. He provides lots of\ndetails on how to do and track this.<\/li><li>Follow up with <strong>people who sign up for any bonuses<\/strong> you offer, although the sample\ntext he offers would put me off. (People need to know that, in signing up for\nbonuses, they will be on an email list for further contact, of course.)<\/li><li>Using <strong>other\nreader-centric platforms<\/strong>\u2014such as GoodReads or LibraryThing\u2014repeat your\nsearch for reader-reviewers, outreach, and follow-up.<\/li><li>Be sure to use any <strong>endorsements<\/strong> or back cover blurbs you\u2019ve acquired to fill out the\n\u201ceditorial reviews\u201d section of your book\u2019s Amazon page. <\/li><li>And do <em>not\n<\/em>try to boost the number of reviews by relying solely on friends and family,\nreview swaps with other authors, or paying for reviews. Amazon sees, Amazon\nfrowns.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#a30003\" class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Overcoming Reviewers\u2019\nBarriers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My friend, book marketing guru Sandra Beckwith, has looked\ninto why people do not review the books they read. What she learned may help you\ncraft your approach in the back-of-book copy or any email messages you send\nrequesting reviews. She says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Readers are intimidated by the review process. They don\u2019t know how or where to start, or what they should even share in a review.<\/li><li>Haunted by memories of school book reports, readers think reviewing a book will take too much time.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sandy\nhas developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/buildbookbuzz.com\/reader-book-review-form\/\">reader-tested template<\/a>\u2014a fill-in-the-blanks PDF\nfile\u2014with writing prompts to help readers prepare a review in just a few\nminutes. She charges a nominal fee for the form, and authors can make as many\ncopies as they want. She suggests including the template with every review\ncopy, handing them out a book signings, emailing them to readers, and giving\nthem to everyone on your launch team. If they encourage your readers to\novercome \u201creviewer reluctance,\u201d that\u2019s a big plus!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting reviewers and readers to talk about your new book provides peer-to-peer validation of your work and is key to promoting sales,. These days, \u201cno one will buy a book with zero social validation,\u201d says Jordan Ring at Archangel Ink, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7862\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"What Did You Think of My Book? - ways to boost the number of your book's all-important reader reviews","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,64],"tags":[1536,1535],"class_list":["post-7862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-draft-blog","category-promotion","tag-reader-reviews","tag-sandra-beckwith"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-22O","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Key.jpg?fit=310%2C419&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7864,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions\/7864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}