Plug Your Book! by Steve Weber (books to read to be successful .txt) π
Many of the new readers liked Touching the Void so much, they wrote rave reviews on Amazon's site. These "amateur" book reviews, written by real climbers and armchair explorers, resonated deeply with the next wave of shoppers. More sales, more good reviews.
Ten years after the book's launch, Internet-powered word of mouth did something that no team of marketing wizards could do--it landed Touching the Void on the bestseller lists. The story was adapted for an acclaimed docudrama. Simpson, his writing career turbocharged, followed up with four successful adventure books, a novel, and lecture tours.
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Certainly, it's not unusual for sales to taper off three to six months after a book's publication. In this case, however, sales began deteriorating immediately after the negative review and worsened as the review gained visibility.
What's the lesson for authors and publishers? Ask for reviews. The more often your book is reviewed, the less likely that a minority opinion can dominate. Numerous authentic reviews lessen the chance that a single review can overtake and monopolize the Spotlight position.
Niche nonfiction and instructional books seem particularly vulnerable to a single, devastating review. Other books are less review-driven, especially political and religious tomes. Conservative pundit Ann Coulter's books are clobbered daily with nasty reviews but sell like hotcakes. Kevin Trudeau's book Natural Cures has had monster sales on Amazon for nearly three years, even though many reviewers attack the author and argue that his book is merely an advertisement for his subscription Web site.
Countering malicious reviewsAmazon polices its book review system but depends on community members to report abuses. Because Amazon reviews can be posted anonymously, nothing prevents the occasional malicious review or practical joke. In one well-known case, a prankster ridiculed Microsoft, then signed the review "Bill Gates," the name of the company's founder.
Familiarize yourself with Amazon's guidelines for acceptable reviews so you can request that its Community Help department delete inappropriate reviews. Generally, Amazon requires reviews to critique the book itself. Reviews that focus on the author or outside topics are often deleted.
Amazon also deletes reviews deemed "illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties." It also prohibits "political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of 'spam.'"
Reviewers are prohibited from impersonating other persons or using profanity, obscenities, spiteful remarks, phone numbers, mail addresses, URLs, product pricing and availability, alternative ordering or shipping information, or solicitations for helpful "votes" for reviews. Amazon has also been known to delete negative reviews posted by competing authors, reviews that contain inaccurate information about the author or publisher, and off-topic reviews.
You can request deletion of an inappropriate review on Amazon by sending an e-mail to #[email protected]#. Specify the book title, ISBN, the pen name of the reviewer, the first sentence of the review, and the date it was posted. State why you believe the review is inappropriate, and you should receive a reply within a few days.
Sometimes authors themselves abuse Amazon's review system. More on this later.
Most newspapers and magazines have reduced space for book reviews in recent years, even as the number of books published has skyrocketed. Many of the remaining review columns are syndicated by national writers, leaving little opportunity for new authors to get reviewed, even in local media.
The long odds of getting reviewed don't deter many authors, and traditional media outlets are being bombarded with self-published books. However, most old-media reviewers simply won't consider a book unless it's from a major trade publisher.
Sometimes feature sections of newspapers--such as the Lifestyle, Home, or Business sections--are more likely to feature a book, particularly one by a local author.
One drawback to distributing review copies of your book is that many of them will quickly appear for sale on Amazon Marketplace, even if you stamp "Review Copy, Not For Sale" on the front cover. Although Amazon's policies prohibit the sale of review copies, it still occurs, and of course you'll receive no revenue from those sales.
You certainly don't want to refuse a legitimate request for a review copy. But a more realistic strategy for obtaining reviews in print media is to target specialized magazines and trade publications in your niche. You can find such publications by consulting the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, available in many larger libraries. Another valuable resource is the Gebbie Press All-In-One Media Directory, which lists 24,000 outlets, including newspapers, magazines and radio stations. You can purchase and download lists of contacts at #www.GebbieInc.com#.
If more than three months remain before your book's publication date, you can submit it for consideration in these trade review publications:
Booklist:Ala.org/booklist/submit. html
800-545-2433
Kirkus Reviews:www.Kirkusreviews.com/ kirkusreviews/about_us/ submission.jsp
212-777-4554
Library Journal:www.LibraryJournal.com/ info/CA603906.html
212-463-6823
Publishers Weekly:www.PublishersWeekly.com/ index.asp?layout=submissions
212-645-9700
www.midwestbookreview.com/ get_rev.htm
608-835-7937 Self-published authors get special consideration from Midwest Book Review, which also gives special preference to small presses and members of the Publishers Marketing Association. If your book is selected, its review will be posted to online retailers, relevant Web sites and forums, and included on an interactive CD-ROM provided to corporate, academic and public library systems. #Posting trade reviews on Amazon#
Amazon licenses prepublication reviews from major trade publications, so if you have secured these reviews, ensure they appear on your title's Amazon detail page. For reviews published in newspapers or other publications for which Amazon doesn't license reprints, you can condense the review to 20 words and Amazon will republish the summary on your book's detail page relying on the "fair use" exemption of copyright law.
Amazon will display a maximum of 10 published reviews on your book's detail page. For information on submitting reviews and other descriptive content about your book to Amazon, see:
www.Amazon.com/publishersConsidering the work involved in getting book reviews, more authors than ever are willing to pay for them. Several fee-based review services have popped up in recent years, primarily to serve self-publishing authors who are effectively locked out of traditional book reviews.
Many publishers believe paid reviews are ineffective and unethical, but that hasn't stopped a variety of companies from offering them, even publishers of respected library journals such as Kirkus and Bowker. Reviews on Bowker's BookWire site cost $295. The review is posted at www.BookWire.com and you receive a PDF copy of the review, which you can submit to newspapers or enclose in other promotional materials. For information, e-mail #[email protected]#.
Kirkus Discoveries reviews cost $350 and are sent to the publisher as a PDF and posted at www.KirkusDiscoveries.com. There's also Kirkus Reports, a compilation of paid reviews sent via e-mail to anyone who subscribes. Publishers pay $95 per title. You can sign up to receive this and other Kirkus newsletters at:
#www.Kirkusreviews. comkirkusreviews/#
newsletter/email.jspAnother fee-based review service is operated by Foreword Magazine at #www.ForewordMagazine.com/ clarion#. An online review costs $305, and the company makes it available in key databases used by booksellers and librarians--Bowker's Books-In-Print online, Baker & Taylor's Titlesource 3, and Ingram's iPage.
Critics argue these paid reviews aren't read by consumers, and that their supposed target audience--booksellers and librarians--pay no attention to paid reviews.
"I feel that paying for book reviews is a bad idea," says self-publishing guru Dan Poynter. "There's a compromise there. And people can see right through it--they know it's a paid review, so it's an ad."
Jim Cox, editor in chief of Midwest Book Review, puts it this way:
Any reviewer that wants money from you for any purpose whatsoever is operating a scam, engaging in unethical behavior that is in violation of the publishing industry etiquette and norm.
Building your author Web siteFew people can benefit more from a Web site than authors. A simple do-it-yourself site can provide a huge visibility boost at very low cost.
Before you begin planning your site, consider your target audience and what type of information you want to give them. Will your site be a topic-driven site, or a personality-driven site? Topic-driven sites usually work best for nonfiction, and if you continue writing related books, you'll have a built-in audience for those new books. Personality-driven sites can work well for fiction writers and those with famous names.
Whatever your approach, the goal is to provide content your target audience finds worthwhile.
Getting involved#Some authors outsource their Web project, paying a designer $500 or more to build what amounts to an online brochure. That's a big mistake, because static Web sites with little content don't draw the repeat traffic that will sell your book.
Although it may seem like a daunting technical challenge, building your own site is easier than ever, thanks to improved software tools. Every major Internet hosting company now offers a variety of design templates you can use to start quickly, without having to learn computer coding. You'll gain much more from your Web site if you're the one maintaining it.
Three basic options exist for those establishing their first author site:
Do it yourself# by registering a domain name and building your own site. This option requires you to learn a few software tools, but provides more flexibility and control. #GoDaddy.com# offers fast, reliable service, and a wide variety of Web domain registration and hosting plans at competitive prices. There's no setup fee and no annual commitment is required. GoDaddy's economy plan includes 5 gigabytes of disk space, 500 e-mail accounts, forums, blogging, and photo galleries for $3.99 a month. This hosting company and most competitors such as # www.Register.com# offer simple tools and templates for building your own site. Using a free account# at a network such as MySpace.com, Google Pages, Blogger.com, or LiveJournal.com. A packaged solution like this is easy to learn, but provides less flexibility. Some sites feature advertising you can't control, which can distract visitors from your message. Consult a Web designer# through your local Yellow Pages, or an online firm that specializes in designing author sites. For example, #www.AuthorsOnTheWeb.com# offers professional designs starting at $2,500. For additional fees the company will set up and maintain extras like audio, video, or a blog. A cheaper option is #www.AmericanAuthor.com#, which charges a $299 setup fee and $29 monthly for a base plan. Another choice is # www.Authors-Online.com#.One way to get started quickly while preserving your future options is to pay GoDaddy or another registrar $9 to register your own domain, such as #www.YourBookTitle.com# or #www.YourName.com#, then forward the traffic to your account at MySpace, Blogger, or others. Later, if you choose to build a dedicated site, you can forward the traffic there. This strategy allows you to start building your online audience without the risk of losing readers if you switch your focus to another site.
In any case, it's prudent to make backup copies of all content you post to a free account on sites like Blogger or MySpace, since these free accounts are sometimes deleted accidentally.
Google Pages is an easy, free tool you can use to create Web pages quickly without having to learn HTML code. Google will host up to 100 megabytes of Web pages at no charge. To open a free account, see #www.Pages.Google.com#.
Your domainIf you're committed to actively supporting your book, it's best to stake out your own territory on the Web. This means registering your own domain name, which you alone control. GoDaddy.com, Register.com and NetworkSolutions.com are well known, reliable firms where you can buy a package of services--domain registration, Web hosting and e-mail accounts.
You may want to use the title of your book as the domain. Authors with more than one book often register a new domain for each book, or simply use a different folder on their site for each book, such as #www.JaneDoe.com/Book1# and #www.JaneDoe.com/Book2#.
Keep your domain name short and memorable so people who see it or hear of it can recall it. Hyphenated domain names are usually a bad idea--they're harder to remember and they fail the "radio test" because they're difficult to repeat in conversation.
Building blocks of your site#The great thing about a Web site is you can always add to it. Here are some basic elements you'll
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