Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 6, Volume 6

SOLICITING REVIEWS FRED RAYWORTH Okay. The book is in the can. The editing is done. The galley should be on the way. What’s missing? Pre-publicity! WHAT’S PRE-PUBLICITY? You need to generate buzz about your upcoming book. Then, when it hits, so shoppers know it’s out there and it is worthy of a read, they need to see reviews pouring in. Not just reviews of family and friends, but serious and varied reviews from respected publications in your genre. Yup. You need to get into the trenches and start a whole ‘nuther type of querying you’ve probably never heard of—Querying for reviews. Say what? Fred Rayworth A man of many talents VISIT FRED’S OWN BLOG http://fredrayworth.com You heard me right. Querying for reviews. WHY REVIEWS? When we think of reviews, the first thing that usually pops into our head is the star rating on Amazon. Right? Well, there are lots of other literary publications out there that do reviews. Depending upon what world you’re in, what genre you write, and what magazines you subscribe to, there are publications that host reviews of what their like-minded readers want to read. Your job is to break into this world and get your book one of those reviews. You want those potential readers to see a review by one of your peers. SHOULD YOU BE AFRAID? There’s always the potential for people within your niche to be jaded, jealous, or just plain bored with everything. It’s especially true with the short attention span generations that have been developing over the past few decades. However they can also be the litmus test of what readers want. If your story rocks, a great review could be the boost you need to rock sales. If you get a terrible review, it could just as easily kill your sales. It could also boost your sales from people who either like what the reviewer doesn’t like, want to read it just to see if the reviewer was right, or read it because they hate the reviewer. Should you be afraid? Never. Not everyone is going to like your story, so get over it. Besides, if you don’t get any reviews, nobody is going to know you’ve written a book on word- WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE PAGE 3 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016

Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 6, Volume 6 | Page 11