Most my author tips have some advice attached, but on this topic I am struggling and look to the wider community for an answer, so if you can help resolve this conundrum please feel free to post.
The advice to authors is to get a Top 500 Reviewer on, say, Amazon to review your book. However, many top reviewers seem to resent being contacted for reviews. Easy-amazon-tricks-for-getting-more-reviews-from-the-top-50-reviewers/ is an example of how to solicit reviews and yet one of the reviewers replies to state how much he hates being contacted. Surely a reviewer not wanting top be contacted should not post a contact address?
How then should an author seek a review. Does the author politely stay quiet in the hope that a top reviewer reads their work or is there an acceptable way of contacting reviewers?
Do all reviewers feel this way, or is the offer of a free book sufficient recompense for their time? Bearing in mind that a book can take several years to write and the cost of editing and a cover can be substantial.
Should any reviewer wish to review my fantasy novels then feel free to contact me here or view my Facebook page. See my website for links http://davidburrows.org.uk/ -- meanwhile, any views on how best to approach this thorny topic would be welcomed.
It's a tough issue, David. Many reviewers are inundated with titles...on any given day I have about 70 that I am committed to do...you know, in my spare time. That means, hmm, 1-4 hours to read the work, about 30-60 minutes to write a thoughtful review, and maybe 15-30 minutes to get it cross-posted (given the vagaries of various review sites). I am contacted at least three times per week by folks who are looking for a review, and the review site I write for usually posts about 100+ new titles a week. It would be nice if there was a way for authors to contribute to a pool to pay reviewers to help compensate for our time. If there was an overall pool that paid a certain amount per title, perhaps that would remove the stigma of 'paying' for a review and help relieve some of the backlog. Unfortunately, with the glut of books flooding the market through both self-pubbing and traditional publisher, it is difficult to keep up.
ReplyDeleteELF, I have seen your reviews and you are very thorough. I appreciate you are busy but hadn't realised just how busy. Wow, that's a massive workload. Has the author/review process gone mad?
DeleteI am still left with a problem though, how to contact reviewers when they are so busy and your post shows just how difficult the problem has become.
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