I just finished a big campaign for my Interstellar
Rescue SFR series with a promo group
called Itsy Bitsy Book Bits. The
company’s founder, Colleen Noyes, and her team provide a full range of promotional
services for authors, including organizing social media blitzes on Twitter and
in Facebook reader groups, and recruiting reviewers. They can help launch a new
book, or as in my case, generate new interest in books that have been out for a
while.
I had used IBBB when I first launched one or two of my
titles, so I called on Colleen again as I was starting over as a
self-published author. And the results were great! Colleen has a sizable stable
of volunteer reviewers to draw from, and I gained 20-25 or so new
reviews for each of my books, posted not only on Amazon and Goodreads, but on
BookBub, too.
I didn’t really write this post as an ad for IBBB, though I
highly recommend the company if you need promo help. All this has been a long
lead-in to a mea culpa and a vow to do better myself when it comes to
reviews.
 |
| Everybunny should write reviews, including me. |
Yes, I know, I have urged folks for years to PLEASE REVIEW
the books you read. Authors thrive on reviews like flowers thrive on sunshine.
In fact, we can’t survive without them. But the sad truth is, although I read
dozens of books every year, I write very few reviews. (The exceptions are for friends' book launches, or by special request, or for a great book that seems
to have attracted little notice.) Time is a factor, of course. But, as many
other authors will tell you, Amazon actively discourages writers from reviewing
other writers, at times even removing reviews and sending nasty emails if you dare
to post a review. There are ways around the Evil ’Zon Gnomes, but I won’t say
what those are.
So I often duck my duty. Then my reviewers started posting on
BookBub. And I got this message: To grow your following
and get more exposure, post recommendations 1-4 times per month. Huh.
You mean, you want me to recommend books by other authors? Well, yes,
that makes sense, but usually no one outside the writing community recognizes that cross-promotion is a good thing. Competition has always
been the key to success according to the Powers That Be. Thus the NY Times Best
Sellers List, the fight to get to the Big Five publishers and Amazon in all its
crazy glory.
Then there is Goodreads. A lovely idea, really, which has
had its own problems from time to time. I won’t go into those drawbacks here, except to
say I haven’t experienced any of them, perhaps because I’ve stayed under the
radar. But, since I read a lot, I get messages from the GR folks, too. “Now
that you’ve finished Title X, what did you think of it?” “Update your
progress!” “What will you read next?” And so on. Helpful, but a little creepy.
Still, since everyone knows what books I’m reading (or have
read) thanks to the kind GR folks, it stands to reason I should say something
about those books. And, who knows, those readers who follow me may then want to
read those books, too. If nothing else, they will learn something about me,
which helps shape my “brand,” whatever that may be. (The problem is my
reading tastes are very eclectic—from historical nonfiction to romantic
suspense, Regency romance to Stephen King. What readers are supposed to deduce
from that I don’t know.)
They’ll probably notice I’m pretty positive in my reviews, once I get down to writing them.
It's rare when I pick up a dud, but it happens. Still, I’m a Southern girl; my mama always said, if you can’t say something nice, don’t
say anything at all. So when it comes to a Did Not Finish, all you’ll hear from me
(publicly) is the sound of crickets chirping.
Cheers, Donna
