Wednesday Writerly Way ~ Reviews and Giveaways

One of the hardest thing to get as an indie author is free book reviews and reviews in general. How can you get 'em? That's the big question for today.

Some GoodReads sections have areas where you can get your book in a queue line for ARCs, or reviews. There are even sections set up for reviewers looking for books to read and review. Be aware these fill up fast and the wait could be long before your book comes up. I believe my first indie published fiction, Escape from Second Eden, will be reviewed later this year after a year of being in queue.

Most times, you run across reviewers with a goodly number of followers (2,000+), but they are so back logged in reading material it could take months if at all. If I had a buck for every reviewer that has posted under their submission guideline, *Not accepting new material at this time,* I'd be rich. Believe me, I've perused thousands of these sites over the years.

Now I could pay to have someone review my books, but I have principles against doing so. But why you may ask...

• Is the reviewer giving an honest review, or just in it for the money?
• Can a reviewer be impartial when reading for money?
• Does it really count as word of mouth advertising when using a paid for service?
• Are they grammar Nazis or content readers?
• How can they give an honest review of your work when they read thousands of books in a year?
• How much credibility does it actually carry?

These are some points I ponder when I look at paid for reviews services. Now I was an rabid reader. Sometimes reading up to two books a week, but that only equates to 104 books a year. Maybe I'm crazy which wouldn't be far from the truth, but why pay for a service to read your book?

Does a Kirkus review carry more weight in your mind when it's a sentence taken out of context on the cover or description? It doesn't as far as me, the reader, goes. I've found more stinkers than roses with paid for review services. They'll review any book for a price. Now if the author was to post the full review that might be a different story too, but it would be unlikely to sell many books.

I've had the stinky reviews about grammar and formatting issues by those who leave reviews in the past and I take them in stride. I even pulled all but one of my books off Kindle for that very reason. That was a logical choice. A no brainer in foresight, but not necessarily a good move when you consider I had my stroke a few days later and have been unable to reformat them to put them back up for sale in a year.

If as an indie author you pay for cover art. If you pay for editing services. If you pay for formatting service. You've already paid through the nose for something you haven't even published yet.

While I agree with the premise you've got to spend money to make money...should you have to pay for reviews too? I'm a relative tight wad. I'll squeeze every penny until it screams for mercy. I'm not opposed to spending hard earned money when I can rationalize it as a need, but some things take a lot of debate to ratify in my mind.

The more rational choice for me is to giveaway copies and have the average Joe review it or maybe another author that writes in the same genre as I do. Someone with a respected opinion would be helpful.

Who would you trust for your reading material, some faceless service or a friend?
Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Tuesday Tumbling Term ~ Giveaway

It's time for the Tuesday Tumbling Term for the indie author. Today's term is GIVEAWAYS.

give·a·way
[giv-uh-wey]
noun
1. an act or instance of giving something away.
2. something that is given away, especially as a gift or premium: A pocket calculator was offered as a giveaway with every new subscription to the magazine.
3. a radio or television program on which prizes are given away to contestants in a question-and-answer game.
4. a tax law or other legislation designed to benefit one segment of the population, one area or state, etc.: a giveaway that benefited only the very rich.

To me, this is a under utilized option by indie published authors and it shouldn't be. It's been used for decades to draw prospective buyers in. I've participated in many over my past decades as both a consumer and producer.

I once told a fellow author that you couldn't do book signings with e-versions of your book that's why paperbacks are so important. After I said that, I started producing e-pub and PDF files of my books to sell at various events and signed the label or CD it was copied on. I also gave away signed bookmarks, but soon realized that e-readers had no use for bookmarks.

The concept of take away value is important in all aspects of selling your wares. A "thank you" for stopping by my table even if you don't buy right now. Would you give away a copy of your book if it produced one sale, how about five, ten, a hundred? Yep, I would too even if it was for one sale I didn't have before. It may sound like small stuff, but in reality it equals to exponential growth because that one person will tell ten, those ten will tell ten people each and so on.

Is it a gimmick? Oh yeah, it is. It is also a good way of getting the word out that you have a book available. The average consumer/reader has to see your title twenty times before they will purchase your book. This could take six months or so depending on when and where you promote your book, and I don't mean buy-my-book blurbs. I'm taking about quality context, but more on that tomorrow.

Do you participate in giveaways? Why not?
Keep writing and loving the Lord.