Obtaining and Managing Book Reviews

Self-promotion/marketing is essential for any author who is interested in making sales. Readers need to be aware of your book, hopefully fall in love with the concept, and most importantly, buy it. There are a myriad of ways to get word of your new release out there, and obtaining book reviews is one of them.

A formal book review is someone publishing their thoughts about your book on a public platform which could include:

Book retail site: such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc
Publisher site
Goodreads
Review website/blog
Social Media

Every book review is an instance of your book title and author name being promoted and increases the chances of a reader finding your work.

Bear in mind that not every review is a glowing endorsement of your book and you may receive negative reviews too. Personally, I'm more attracted to books that have balanced reviews - too many 5 stars without any 3's waves a flag, especially when you consider that we are all individuals and don't share the exact same taste in stories. Negative reviews are a fact of author life. What's important is how you react to reviews and how you respond, or don't respond (but that's another blog post entirely.)

If you are a self-published/indie author, you'll be the one obtaining reviews for your book. This also applies when you are published with smaller publishers - they may circulate review copies of your novel to the reviewers they have relationships with, or to review services such as Netgalley, but I've personally found it beneficial to reach out to reviewers myself as well.

Key Steps for Obtaining Book Reviews

#1 Identify reviewers

If you are already published, you most likely have an idea of some of the reviewers in your genre. If you're a reader, you may already follow some review sites. Start building on that list of book review sites/reviewers so that it becomes an ongoing, evolving tool for managing your reviews.

The key things when identifying reviewers are to 1. make sure the reviewer reads novels in your genre, and 2. that they accept books from indie authors (if you are self-published).

If you don't know where to start, here are a few ideas:

Search the internet
Check out your competition. Who reviews their books? Perhaps they have some editorial reviews on Amazon, or links to reviews from their author website. Maybe those reviewers also cross-post to Goodreads.
Ask fellow authors. This is where building a network comes in very handy.
Investigate social media platforms. Most review sites share their reviews across platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Here's a list you can check out. Best Book Review Blogs of 2017 on Reedsy

#2 Contact reviewers

Here are my key rules for reaching out to reviewers.

Be professional and polite in all your interactions
Be aware of how the reviewer would like to be contacted and follow their process. Some reviewers want to be contacted via email, and some ask for a Contact Us form to be completed online. Some request specific information or in certain formats.
Contact the reviewer as early as possible. For me, this means as soon as I have a release date. Reviewers often have full schedules and as much notice as possible is beneficial. Even if the Advance Review Copy of your book isn't ready to be sent, they can be aware of when to expect it.
Put your best foot forward, presenting all information in full and accurately. I would suggest utilising your Media or Press Kit as a means of circulating information - book details, author details, social media links and so forth. Provide the blurb, and background information on your writing, to entice a reviewer to read your story.
Respect the reviewer's time and effort. You are asking them to perform a task for you, and for many reviewers, it is a labour of love. They are not remunerated for a review (and if they are then I suggest not going anywhere near them as paid reviews are a big no-no!) or may only earn very small amounts from paid advertising or affiliate links on their blogs. Reviewing is often done on top of full-time jobs. Be mindful of this.

#3 Prepare and send the Advance Review Copy of your book

An Advance Review Copy (ARC) is the version of your manuscript that's provided to the reviewer. It usually doesn't have a book cover, instead, the front has a disclaimer that it is an ARC and not for distribution. Make sure this is clear, especially if you haven't completed the proofing process yet - using the words "uncorrected proof copy" will make sure the reviewer is aware that there may be some corrections of typos and small changes in the final published manuscript.

I've only dealt with electronic Advance Review Copies (ARCs) of my books. The ARC is provided to the reviewer (following their processes and after their acceptance) in an electronic format. Some authors only provide PDF copies of their books, but I know review sites who prefer books in other formats (such as Mobi and ePub) to make the reading experience more pleasurable for the reviewer.

I know authors are nervous about circulating copies of their work, especially prior to release, due to issues with piracy. In my opinion, we will always face an issue with piracy, but there are a few ways you can combat this if piracy is something that really worries you. Firstly, ensure you are working with reputable review sites and don't just send out your manuscript willy-nilly, keep a record of who you've sent your book to, and use a watermarked copy.

My preference is to send my ARCs via Bookfunnel using their Certified Mail service. This helps with record keeping too - I can see who the book was sent to, and when they downloaded the manuscript. Plus I know they've got a copy of any information I want to be included in the email to them, and the manuscript is traceable should I ever wish to do that.

#4 Manage reviews

I keep an excel spreadsheet to manage my reviews, but admittedly I am a very process oriented person so you may not want to go as far as I do 🙂 My spreadsheet has a number of sections that perform certain functions.

Master List of Reviewers

I have a master list of reviewers (site name, website, contact name, contact method eg. email or Contact Us form, email address, preferred book format, any other notes).

Track Review Requests and ARC Distribution

When I launch each book, I copy the master list onto a new worksheet and use it to track reviews for that particular book. I note when I have contacted a blog, and their reply (i.e. accept or reject or no response), any special requests from the blog/reviewer, and flag once I have sent out the ARC.

Monitor Reviews

Some reviewers/review sites send an email with a link once the review is complete. Others don't and I only find out by following their blog and/or social media. In this instance, services such as Google Alerts or Pronoun can be useful as I get an email when Google finds new posts with my pen name/book title (Note: this is not fool-proof). This also helps when I get reviews that I'm not even aware of because I didn't reach out to a particular reviewer.

So what do you do with all these reviews you get?

One school of thought is that you do nothing. Many authors believe reviews and review sites are for readers and authors shouldn't get involved. I agree with this in many respects, but not always. If I've asked someone to review my book and they post a positive review, I like to thank them for taking the time to read the review. I may share the review on social

If I've asked someone to review my book and they post a positive review, I like to thank them for taking the time to read the review. I may share the review on social media or link to it from my book's page on my website. I don't touch negative reviews.
It is useful to add Editorial reviews to your book on your Amazon Central page.
You can add components of positive reviews to front/back matter in future books.
There may be key points in the review you might like to take note of for future. For example, if any issues are noted (hopefully not due to your thorough editing and proofing process), you might like to update in a future version of your manuscript. It can be useful to note your strengths and weaknesses to help you develop your writing skills.

Best of luck with your next release and may your reviews be positive and plentiful.

Nic xx

The beautiful image I've used in my graphics is a photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash