I am done stalking reviewers...for now.

Spent the last week sending out rounds of review requests to book review bloggers; got some interesting responses.  First, I will reiterate – taking the time to add a comment specific to their blog, or connecting with them in a personal way, will be 4.287 times as likely to illicit a response (I would know – I did science).  I have a list of book review sites for you other Twain Wannabes under my resources section; I'll add to it occasionally.  Keep in mind these are mostly fiction, fantasy-type bloggers.

Figuring out something personal to say may take some time, but it will be worth it.  If you can't find a connection – they probably wouldn't be interested in your book anyway.   

Check out this response from a reviewer (click on image to enlarge):

 Yes – this made me angry; this is the first time I got a response suggesting I pay for the review.  I immediately wrote a response, making very good use of my 'four-letter-word' vocabulary.  Then I...wait for it...wait for it...deleted what I wrote.  Instead, I sent this:

And got this in return:

Not sure if the radio show will actually happen.  I will of course blog, tweet, facebook and throw it in your face any way I know how if it does happen.

In addition, my cover art will be featured on some blogger websites, and I have set up some promotions on Goodreads within a few fantasy reader groups.  I am hoping within the next half year, I'll see some sales as a result of all this work.  It could happen...right?

In the meantime, I will leave you to revel in the glory and awesomeness of my review request for Water:

Your Writing Sucks

Every author who sends out their work available for critique or reviews will get this feedback, or something of the like, even if it is worded a little better.  Think Stephen King, Amanda Hocking or JK Rowling didn't get this kind of feedback?  Well here it is – I don't like Stephen King books.  Stephen King – your writing sucks. 

I do like Harry Potter books.  And Ms. Hocking – you are exempt from my feedback because I've never read your books.  Lucky you.

There is one thing we can do to decrease our chances of eliciting this kind of feedback, short of hiring professional editors or withholding our work altogether.  We can join a writer's group.  If you don’t have one – GET ONE!  Search Meetup.com for local writer's groups.  If you live BFE Kansas, or – I guess that would be BFK (I just coined another phrase), look for online collaboration groups.  I recently found  www.bookcountry.com.  You can upload all or just parts of your book for feedback from the community.  You need to provide three reviews yourself before your book is open for review.  This is no different from any group; you have to give help to get help.

The online community is a great place to collaborate (thank you Al Gore – supposed inventor of the internet), because you can pin down a group specific to your interests, no matter how weird they may be (like you weird fiction genre types – yes this is a real genre).  A quick google search for online writing critique group gave me; www.critiquecircle.com, www.the-writers-craft.com, and www.critique.org. 

So happy google-ing and happy critique-ing, but don't stop write-ing!  On that gay note...

Pitch-Slapped, yay.....

Finally got some attention from sending out review requests.  Granted, it wasn’t the kind I was hoping for but I’ll take it.  At this point I’m so starved for attention I would even attend a book-burning of my own book – which would be rather expensive considering it is an ebook.   Check out:  http://thecanaryreview.com/2011/09/09/pitch-slap-on-why-we-missed-the-point-completely/, where every Friday the canaries tear apart, analyze and revise pitches authors have sent to their book review site.  I was lucky enough to have them pick my pitch:

It was brutal, but will ultimately help me revise a better pitch/review request and hopefully generate some traffic, at least on my blog.  I might actually have to use their ‘suicide by sexy’ line in a future book.

Thanks to my previous post, Creative Marketing, Indie Snippets Bryan Dennis tweeted it to his 2,000+ followers.  Hasn’t resulted in any more blog followers, but maybe at least views?  Not sure how I can tell. 

So far I have still only sold six copies on Amazon, two on B&N, and five via Smashwords.  However, 14 copies were downloaded from Smashwords using the free coupon I generated and sent out to review sites.  That means at least 14 out of the 75 sites to which I sent my request were interested enough to download the short story.  

My list of review sites can be found under the resources section on the right hand side of my blog, I will be adding to it occasionally.  In most cases, I provided a link directly to their review policies and the contact name.  I didn’t include the e-mail address as it is VERY IMPORTANT you take a minute to look at their site and see if your book is right for them.  Otherwise you are just wasting your time.  I have also come to the realization that starting out your e-mail with, “I was just on your blog and *compliment, compliment, compliment* or *relate to the blogger in a personal way*” is twice or possibly thrice as likely to illicit a response from the blogger.

My first review requests were sent out at the beginning of August and most reviewers are taking 2-3 months to post reviews.  This means by the end of September my nightmares of a bunch of 1 and 2 star, scathing reviews posted will hopefully cease either because they finally happened and I manage to survive somehow, or I was able to actually gain several respectable reviews.  

A note on the review request – I have learned to paste the image I use directly into the review instead of adding it as an attachment (many reviewers don’t like opening attachments) and including direct links to my book.  My current review request looks like this (click to enlarge):

If you have lists of review sites you can add, or additional comments/suggestions on review requests and marketing, please don’t be stingy – share!  Especially with me.  

The Technology of it All

Following up with my last post.  Yes - emailing five review requests per day have proven to be too much work, as I have yet to meet that goal for any day this past week.  A large problem with this is getting sucked into a blog.  Many are funny, have good advice, or are just plain addicting (http://www.thebloggess.com/).  Some of the best advice I've seen in a blog is to stop reading the blog and start writing.  And yet - I read on...and so are you.  Not to mention the usual distractions of kids, a full time job, dinner and east coast earthquakes.

No matter - even five reviews a week is something.  I also continue to edit my full length novel, Water, and have set a goal of getting the ebook published by mid-September.  This would allow me to hopefully have a few reviews generating buzz in time for the biggest e-book buying season  - November/December.  I am all still working with a graphic artist to get the cover done.  It is going slower than I would have hoped; I should probably say something to her at some point.  Although, if she follows this blog, mission accomplished.

Another unanticipated kink in the self-publishing process is technology.  RSS feeds, hash tags, links, different formats (.epub, .mobi, .prc), pixels, ebook converters; the sheer amount of technological know-how I now have to know is blowing my mind.  Since I tend to retain very little, I will probably have to re-learn it when I publish Water.  As both books are the first of a series to come, I have resolved to start documenting step-by-step processes and will hopefully one day have them posted here.

Yes, one day, this blog will be great...

Marketing...ready, set, GO!!!

This past week I kicked off my marketing campaign.  This means family and friends were bombarded with announcements about my book and blog.  It resulted in only a few more purchases; but not enough to even reach the minimum revenue mark with Amazon so I can get a $10 check in the mail three months from now.

I am not deterred.  I have set a goal of sending a blurb about my story to five reviewers a day.  It is more than a blurb, it is this:

I have tried to make the review request look as proffessional as I can, or at least as proffessional as PowerPoint can make it look.  I started out with a list of reviewers offered under the resources portion of the blog: http://www.write2publish.blogspot.com/ (a great blog for self-publishers to follow, by the way).  Most reviewers have other reviewer blogs they follow so a potential reviewer list can quickly grow into the hundreds.  After I have a substantial list, I will post it here. 

Five e-mails a day is not overwhelming, and is just enough to make me feel productive.  I send out the review request as an attachment, plus the various mediums in which they can get to my book (including a 'free' coupon via Smashwords).  I never send the book unless they ask.  Speaking of which, five e-mails will only result in about one response.

Many reviewers are closed to submissions or their requirements exclude my book.  That is ok, I leave them alone - for now.  I still keep them on my list so I can check back regularly.  Hopefully, I will see the first reviews a month or two from now, and I will include them on my review request, hoping to attract the big league reviewers.

That is all for now - happy requesting everybody!