Fantasy/Sci-Fi Author Dawn Ross

Look at a novel from a book store. Most likely it will have a one or two-sentence blurb from the New York Times or a famous author. These blurbs can be important in marketing your book. But book reviews are very difficult for an Indie Author to get. From what I have found, most places like the New York Times, or Chicago Times, etc. won’t even bother to look at a self-published book. So how can you get one?

I found two sources so far in my research. One source is an article written by Jason Matthews who is a leading expert in self-publishing books. Check out this article HERE.

Another source I found is called TheIndieView.com. This place lists several people who are willing to provide book reviews. Most of these people are individuals so their reviews might not carry as much weight as the New York Times. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt to get feedback and good reviews from several people. Many of these people will also post their review on their blogs, thus spreading the word about your book.

One important thing to know about reviewers is that they should be relatively free. Some may require that you send them a copy of your book, which will cost you a little bit of money. And I have found some bigger name reviewers will charge a very small reading fee. This is acceptable. I would certainly never pay the $100-$400 or more reading fees charged by some so-called reviewers. These types of reviews will probably not be taken seriously as people would think you paid for a good review rather than an unbiased review.

Once you get a few good book reviews, feel free to print a couple on your back book cover or within the first page or two of your book. You can also ask some of the individual reviewers to post their review on Amazon or Smashwords, or wherever else you have your book for sale.

So if this is so helpful, why haven’t I done it? I did it for my fist book, “The Third Dragon“. I got one good review which really helped me in boosting my sales for a few months. I haven’t worked on getting more reviews since because I am so busy trying to keep up with this blog, my two dog blogs, my web business for PetAutoSafety.com, working on a finance degree, and my art work (see NatureByDawn.com). I am satisfied with my book sales for now and will definitely work to increase them at a later time.

If writing is your passion and you have time to focus on marketing your book, be sure to add getting book reviews to your to-do list. It really is helpful.