Every author dreams of writing a book that garners dazzling reviews. They also dream of conquering Amazon. Here's a great idea for a way to do both: reach out to Amazon users who write prolific reviews on the site!
According to a very informative article on the Amazon site, here are a couple of tips:
Identifying and contacting 100 to 300 potential online reviewers and sending a copy of your book to each respondent who expresses willingness to look at it and perhaps post an honest critique.Getting your book in front of traditional publications like The New York Times and Booklist would still be a great goal - but why not take your book to the masses, right where they're looking for it anyway?
If you spend two or three days contacting about 300 potential Amazon reviewers, you can expect to receive about 40 to 50 responses, and wind up with perhaps 35 reviews, a quite satisfactory result.
(Author's note: Recently Amazon seems to be restricting communications between authors and readers, and not all Amazon Friends invitations have been going through. Whether this is a policy change by Amazon or simply a glitch isn't known.) 4/13/2009
Look for potential reviewers on Amazon’s Top Reviewers list - and target the people who regularly post reviews of books similar to yours.
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If there is one thing I hate is receiving books that I did not ask the author to send me. It is far better to email the reviewer a review request before sending out a book. You will save yourself time and money.
ReplyDeleteNorm, Publisher & Editor of bookpleasures.com
Absolutely agree with you on the idea of querying first! Thanks for the input, Bookpleasures!
ReplyDelete