How to get good reviews deserves its own article<\/a>, so I\u2019ll just summarize here. Good reviews are extremely helpful for selling books. First, they help readers decide whether or not to buy a book. Second, having a certain number of positive reviews is required for certain promotional activities.<\/p>\nReviewers can be divided into three categories: friends and acquaintances (family members are often prohibited); professionals; and complete strangers. With respect to friends and acquaintances, if they have read your book and told you they liked it, suggest a review and walk them through the procedure if they have never done it. Professionals include editors, reviewers, bookstore owners and more. You need to locate them, make sure they review your genre, and then find a way to pique their interest. With respect to strangers, welcome the good reviews and ignore the bad ones. Only make contact if they have contacted you first \u2013 even those who are clearly fans.<\/p>\n
Many people will not, for various reasons, review your book; don\u2019t nag. Just move on to the next possibility. Of course, when someone does give you a positive review, react positively and appropriately.<\/p>\n
Pay for Promotional Activities<\/h2>\n
Some people believe that purchasing advertising is somehow wrong. My advice is different: use promotional outlets, but cautiously. Investigate the promotion with others \u2013 that important network we discussed above! \u2013 to make sure your investment will pay off. You also have to make sure that your book will qualify for the promotional outlet, with the right pricing structure, the required number of reviews, and a genre they promote. You\u2019ll be more attractive to them if you\u2019ve done your homework first.<\/p>\n
How do you find these promotional professionals? Use search engines; scour writing sites. They\u2019re not hiding; they want you to find them.<\/p>\n
Be Creative<\/h2>\n
You\u2019re creative in your storytelling; take that creativity and apply it to your promotional activities. What would you like to have happen? To give readings? To make a video? To participate in a book fair? Give a lecture at a school? Let your imagination roam, and then, consider how you can make some version of your dream happen \u2013 either on a small scale or a large one. Turn to the network you\u2019ve cultivated for help, or if you don\u2019t know the people you need to know, try to find them and meet them.<\/p>\n
Keep Tabs on What Works \u2013 and What Doesn\u2019t<\/h2>\n
\u201cHalf the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don\u2019t know which half.\u201d This phrase is attributed to John Wanamaker, a pioneer in marketing. But he died in 1922, and since then things have changed. Given the information available on the internet, you can figure out a lot about what functions and what doesn\u2019t. If you do a promotion, you can see how well it worked. You can usually tell what pays and what is wasted. Then, do more of what pays off and less of what doesn\u2019t \u2013 or tweak the wasters so that they turn profitable.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Take Rejection Personally<\/h2>\n
One of the hardest things about promotion is that you encounter defeat and rejection. Some reviewers will say unkind things about your books; some promotional outlets will refuse your application. These things simply will happen. They may bring you down \u2013 or perhaps you\u2019re thick-skinned enough to ignore them \u2013 but no matter how you feel, you need to move on and try the next thing.<\/p>\n
When facing hesitation in your promotional efforts, imagine yourself as a character from one of your stories. I bet your characters have faced far worse odds and encountered much greater setbacks than a few rejections and unkind (sometimes unjustified) criticism. I bet your characters would invent some innovative strategies and would not hesitate to implement them. Let your life imitate your art; go and do likewise!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[20],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}