Tag: Self-Publishing

Book Reviews, Kelly Speaks

Why are book reviews important for self-publishing authors?

Customers searching online for books will often glance at book reviews when deciding whether or not to purchase a book.  They may compare the review information for one book with a similar book to decide between the two which they want to purchase.  Doing a quick search on Amazon for “book marketing,” for example, brings up 201,642 results.  A customer has to narrow it down somehow, so they may glance through some of the books and look at things like the cover, publish date and reviews among other things.  Comparing the two following books from this category, which would you be more likely to purchase?

#1 – A total of 3 reviews (in 5 years) with an average rating of about 3.5 stars.

#2 – A total of 187 reviews with an average rating of about 5 stars.

There may be other factors involved for a customer comparing these two.  For instance, #1 is priced much lower.  Sure, pricing is important, and the lower the better to encourage sales, but is a lower price more important than really great feedback from other readers?  Customers probably won’t think so.

I wrote a few weeks ago about paying for book reviews.  If it isn’t in your marketing budget to pay for reviews or you simply want to pursue free review services, here are a few places to start:

http://www.bookpleasures.com
http://www.bookreviewsrus.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/
http://readersfavorite.com/
http://readerviews.com

* To read my review of Plug Your Book! by Steve Weber, visit: http://goo.gl/EkTYv 

DISCUSSION: Do you know of other great FREE book review services our readers should know about?  Post them in the comments below.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Self Publishing Saturday, Uncategorized

Self Publishing Saturday: What Happened this Week?

On weekend mornings, I enjoy nothing more than reading the paper to find out what has happened this week (now I primarily read the news online) in one place without searching many places. With many “tweeps” (Twitter slang for “people”) using paper.li to put together information, you can keep track of things pretty easily. What if you don’t have a Twitter account? What about the sources the things that weren’t mentioned?

Here we aim to feature things that are going on in self publishing so that you don’t have to find out on your own. Plus, we want to share other resource with you so that you can be well-advised on the publishing process.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s digest.

Have you written something our readers can benefit from this week? Post a link in the comments.

Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

Is Marketing Your Own Book Distasteful?

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to speak with an author who is in the final stages of writing his book.  He was trying to get prepared for the publishing process and get an idea about how book marketing will work.  He made it very clear that he thinks an author marketing his own book is distasteful.  Once the book is published he wants to do absolutely nothing to promote it and wants to sell one million copies.  He asked if I thought this was reasonable.  In a word?  No.

As a self-published author, your marketing efforts are the most important thing when it comes to your book sales.  You could write and publish the most amazing fiction story with beautiful formatting, an eye-catching cover design, have it edited to perfection and available for sale (print-on-demand).  If at that point you choose to sit back and watch the sales grow without putting any effort into promoting your book, chances are there won’t be anything to watch.  Sure, someone might discover it and share it with a few friends and you might have a few sales here and there, but it is unlikely that your sales will gain momentum.

Is marketing your own book distasteful?

Not if it’s done right.  Constantly talking about yourself and your book can certainly be a turnoff for most people.  Subtly promoting your book is very different from constantly cramming it down everyone’s throat.  For example, if you are using social media platforms to promote your book (such as setting up a Facebook page for your book), you might choose to “like” other pages on Facebook that give you the opportunity to promote your book even more.  You can choose the distasteful (spam) route of posting a link to your own Facebook page, website or listing for your book on Amazon every day on those other pages.  OR you can present yourself as an expert in your field, whether it be as a writer, or something more specific to your niche audience, and get involved in conversations, comment on what others are saying and post your own unique comments and discussion questions.  You might ask: how does this promote the book?  As you begin to interact with people more, they will want to know more about you.  They might choose to “like” your Facebook page or visit your website (assuming you have a link to it on your Facebook page) and there they will discover your book.  Having already been won over by your excellent comments, advice and discussions, they are instantly interested in buying your book.

What if I’m not promoting my book online?

I gave an online marketing example above because marketing with social media is becoming more and more popular every day.  It’s easy and it’s free!  If you aren’t using social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the same idea applies for face-to-face marketing.  Every author should have business cards with their cover image on one side and their website URL included in their contact information.  If you pass out your business card to everyone you pass on the street, chances are the majority of those cards will get thrown in the trash.  The key is to give away your cards to people you’ve already engaged in conversation about your book (when the time is right).

So, is marketing your own book distasteful?  Absolutely not!  You need to find the balance when it comes to promoting your book.  Don’t cram it down anyone’s throat, but take the opportunities that come to you.  You don’t have to make marketing a full-time job, but you do need to make sure you are promoting your book as much as you can in order to increase your sales, if that is your ultimate goal.

DISCUSSION: How do you plug your book?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Self Publishing Saturday, Uncategorized

Self Publishing Saturday: What Happened this Week?

On weekend mornings, I enjoy nothing more than reading the paper to find out what has happened this week (now I primarily read the news online) in one place without searching many places. With many “tweeps” (Twitter slang for “people”) using paper.li to put together information, you can keep track of things pretty easily. What if you don’t have a Twitter account? What about the sources the things that weren’t mentioned?

Here we aim to feature things that are going on in self publishing so that you don’t have to find out on your own. Plus, we want to share other resource with you so that you can be well-advised on the publishing process.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s digest.

Have you written something our readers can benefit from this week? Post a link in the comments.

Book Reviews

Should You Pay for a Book Review?

As an author in the self-publishing industry, reviews for your book are very important.  A book published by an unknown author has little chance of gaining attention, while the same book (and the same “unknown” author) with a number of positive reviews can begin to gain momentum.  Those positive reviews can help persuade potential new readers to buy the book and the word-of-mouth continues.

You may have already received reviews from some of your friends or colleagues, so what next?  There are some free review services where you can send a copy of your book.  These services are a great resource; however, because they are free, the reviewers get inundated with books and can’t review every book they receive.  Their services can also take several months and the reviews are not guaranteed to be good.

In addition to free review services, there are some services available where you can pay to be guaranteed a review.  That said, the review is still not guaranteed to be good, but if you are confident in your book (which you should be, after all you wrote and published it!), you shouldn’t need to worry about that.

Here are three pay-for-review services you can start with:

BLUE INK REVIEW

A Standard Review is $395 for the review to be completed in 7-9 weeks.

A Fast Track Review is $495 for the review to be completed in 4-5 weeks.

BlueInk considers for review any book that has been published (self-published and indie published).  They review e-books, on-demand books, printed books in any format, English translations and English-language submissions from outside the United States, as well as galleys. They do not review manuscripts pre-publication.

FOREWORD CLARION REVIEW

The cost is $305 and turnaround time is 6-8 weeks.

Open to all books and publishers, Clarion promises an objective 400 – 500 word review/critique with a quick six to eight week turnaround. The review will be posted on the ForeWord website (if the publisher desires), licensed to the three top wholesale databases, and made available to the book’s publisher. This service is ideal for books that haven’t received review attention elsewhere.

KIRKUS INDIE REVIEW

Standard review is completed in 7-9 weeks for $425.

Express review is completed in 3-4 weeks for $575.

The Kirkus Indie program gives independent authors a chance to obtain an unbiased, professional review of their work, written in the same format as a traditional Kirkus review. A book review can be an essential and powerful tool for promoting your book to literary agents, traditional publishing houses, booksellers, and, most importantly, potential readers.

DISCUSSION: What are your thoughts on pay-for-review services like these?  Do you have experience with any of the above?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.