All authors want to promote their books, but their readers are not always the best at building buzz for them. An excellent way authors can find people to share their vision for marketing their books is to ally with other authors, become each other’s fans, and cross-promote. No one understands the need and desire to promote your book like another author. Rather than see other … [Read more...]
What Writers Can Learn from Criticism
Nobody likes a critic and yet everybody is one. We all have our opinions and some of us put them to good use by becoming critics. Unfortunately, this means that there is a measuring stick by which your work will be judged when it comes time for you to publish. And while there are literary critics who are good at what they do (as well as those who are not so good), it can be … [Read more...]
What If You Get a Great Review?
So you've written a book. You've published it (whether traditionally, publish on demand, joint venture, or self published). You finally have this thing that you've been working so long and so hard on in print. If you didn't before, you've probably realized by now that the true work begins after your work comes out in print. You've probably also figured out or have been told … [Read more...]
How to Handle a Bad Review
Face it. Bad reviews happen. Even the most acclaimed writers get bad reviews. Evaluating a book is a subjective process, and personal preferences won’t always match the book. Unfortunately, too many writers take bad reviews personally and even go to the extremes, engaging in negative banter, slander, and threats. Here are a few tips to help you take those bad reviews with … [Read more...]
The Death of the Book Review?
Industry experts offer varying opinions on the issue of book reviews, but as anyone in the publicity business knows, securing ‘traditional’ book reviews is more difficult than in years past. Large galley mailings are becoming less common. Instead, as my agency has done, the more efficient and economical practice is targeted advance review copy mailings, to very carefully chosen … [Read more...]
Turning a Negative Book Review into a Positive
You can’t win them all. It’s as true in book publicity as it is in any other part of life. So when you open up that newspaper or log on to that blog only to find your book torn to pieces by a rabid reviewer, how do you possibly walk away with some positive thoughts? The first thing to keep in mind that while many reviewers will give their honest opinion, some aim to dish out … [Read more...]
How to Plan a Virtual Party
Planning a Virtual Book Launch, a Virtual Book Birthday or a Virtual Book Tour are great compliments to a book marketing campaign. They are free, effective, and can stick around in the blogsphere forever to immortalize your book and marketing efforts. Anyone can throw a Virtual Party for any reason and the set up is fun and free. CREATE A PARTY WEBSITE Do this at least … [Read more...]
Be Grateful for a Bad Review
Reviews are the least expensive and most effective form of book promotion. More than 300 titles are published each day. There is no way anyone can know and rank them. That is why bookstores, libraries and readers rely so heavily on book reviews. Reviews sell books. Occasionally a book receives a negative review. The reviewer might be having a bad day, might be envious of … [Read more...]
How to Get Your Book Reviewed on Blogs
Book reviews are an easy and effective way to promote your book. People like hearing about new books and what others think of them. You've probably seen book reviews published in your local newspaper or in your favorite magazines. You may even have seen them on T.V. during news or talk shows. Those are all good places to have your book reviewed, of course. But … [Read more...]
When Media Say No, Don’t Take it Personally
A book is probably the greatest thing in the world – to its author. But when an editor or producer says “pass” it’s the publicist who has to tell the client. Sometimes ZERO media are interested. And for anyone who has written a book that can be a pretty personally hurtful message no matter how carefully it’s couched. For me, it’s the equivalent of having to tell clients “your … [Read more...]