How important are book reviews for new authors?
The best way to sell books is by word of mouth. The primary way to get that word of mouth rolling is to get your book reviewed.
The more important the book reviewer is the greater exposure your book will have. A book reviewed in the New York Times is going to outperform a book review on a small book blog with 200 readers.
Does this mean you should ignore the small ponds and fish for reviews only in the big ones? Not necessarily. If you are a new author, getting your foot in the door of book reviewers of any size might be well worth your while.
Ten reviews from small-sized bloggers will give you exposure to new readers that would otherwise never find your book. Keep adding to the pot and you will slowly build up your readership. Every book review that is posted online will be one more inbound link to your book and website. That’s good for raising your book and website’s search engine ranking.
To increase your chances of getting your book reviewed, it’s important that you match reviewers with books that fit your genre. There are thousands of blog sites that will review books. Each reviewer has their own preference for what type of book they will review. Fiction has numerous categories such as Thrillers, Horror, Historical Fiction, Romances, Westerns, Mysteries, Science Fiction, and Fantasy, for starters. Business books can be separated by type of business, start-ups, business methods, etc.
An easy way to find reviewers is to use a search engine and type in
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Writer’s Digest has an excellent article by Joel Friedlander on How to Get Reviews for Self-Published Books. Joel reviews how to get your book review kit together, how to find reviewers and key tips for getting your book reviewed.
Wheatmark can help you create a book marketing strategy that will help you maximize your impact while minimizing your time.
