Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

An interview with maybe 5 physical copies sent out might help. It doesn't guarantee reviews, but you'll probably have more people talking about it. Also, more people will have it on their To-Read list on Goodreads, and if people see that notification, they'll most likely click on your cover, etc.

You can also get a reviewer to review your book for you, but I'm not sure if that's the best strategy. As a reviewer, I think this helps to get the word out, but seeing the words 'thank you to the author/publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review' makes me think there's a bias. Even though it says 'honest review', I know I feel more obligated to be nice when an author sends the book to me, especially if I'm going to be sending the review to the author. That said, it's a great way to get people talking about your book and having it exposed.
If I'm reviewing the book and sending it to the publisher, I know the publisher didn't write the book, so I don't feel like I have to be as nice. Also, the horror stories of authors coming after reviewers make me wary of reviewing books for an author.

I hope this helps and let me know if you need any help or anything :D

I sent out arcs in exchange for an honest review (although I didn’t ask them to make that disclaimer), and once someone agreed they had access to the file. Only a small percentage actually followed through.

On the other hand, I got reviews spontaneously from others who were reading in my circles of family, friends, colleagues. That spawned some passing the book on, which led to reviews from people I don’t know.

I’ve spoken in a few venues, done a few podcasts, and asked for reviews From those who wrote me to see how much they liked the book. I try to play off those interactions to see if people know someone or some venue that would be good for me to explore.

Also had a lunch group and I suggested prompts weekly of groups of people to book with suited for.

Do all the things, but ultimately it takes on an organic life of its own.

I haven't approached yet anyone to do reviews. I mean I get a lot of emails and reach outs on LinkedIn but not considered to do this. Although I am now thinking about liaising with reviewers for honest reviews of my books Dakota and Who's Watching Who. Generally, I find some people purchase but don't often review. I've had other fantastic reviews, however, from other authors. I am hopeful I can be liked within the booktok and bookstagram communities and someone may like to review and talk about them. I think it just takes time, we're not all going to be overnight Colleen Hoover sensations. All the best everyone

Check out our review chains on READ/WRITE/REVIEW group

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...-

Ann wrote: "Check out our review chains on READ/WRITE/REVIEW group…”

good grief… DO NOT participate in review swaps and chains - they violate Amazon’s TOS and they will delete all such reviews if they catch you and they can ban KDP accounts. Amazon owns Goodreads, and has all the data on authors reviewing each other. All they need to do is send a bot to crawl through it.

If you don’t care if you lose your KDP account (or about ethics) then have at it….

Sorry but our review groups are very serious reviewers and we definitely observe Amazon's rules about reciprocal reviews. WE DO NOT VIOLATE AMAZONS TOS!!! NO ONE DOES RECIPROCAL REVIEWS!!
I've been doing this for years and it's all honest reviews of books given for free.

Hi Louise, i totally understand how you feel. My debut suspense, Shea's Saviour has been up on Amazon since September. I know of at least 4 people who have purchased a copy, but I have only received 2 reviews on Amazon, those being 2 authors who I gave ARC copies to. I'd love more reviews but all I get are emails to PAY for reviews. I'm an avid beta reader myself and I love to give reviews, but I feel it's hard to gain our own reviews.
My second book, Heading Home, has just gone up for pre-order with a release date of 17th March 2023!
Good luck and happy writing!

I don't think you pay the publisher to have your book published. You pay your agent (and those are optional, for some publishing companies). I may be wrong, though. I'm no author!

Yasmine wrote: "I don't think you pay the publisher to have your book published. You pay your agent (and those are optional, for some publishing companies). I may be wrong, though. I'm no author!"

I don't think you pay the publisher, but you may have to stump up fees for editors, cover designers etc. Its also relatively hard to become traditionally published especially as a first time author, hence why a lot of people go self pub.. :)

Louise wrote: "I’m an indie author so no mainstream publisher and agent. I’m flying solo with publicizing and marketing my book-"

Do you have a twitter account? I wanted to share your book on the Writing Community and would love to tag you in the post.

I can still share it around if you like?

Hi Louise,

I would definitely recommend putting your blurb on your GR book page, as currently it's blank, and people may just skip by if they came across it.

I've also looked at your Amazon page blurb, and in honesty I don't know what your book is actually about. A blend of contemporary and supernatural is interesting but without something more solid in relation to the plot, and not just the characters, you might find people are just unable to discern whether they'd like it or not.

And though I accept people can charge what they want from their work, your book costs are very high, especially for a new author. Even with a cracking blurb and interesting premise, I would not pay £8.50 (I'm British) for a Kindle book or £15 for a fiction paperback unless it was my absolute favourite author or a very rare book.

You could also try Kindle Unlimited, unless you have more platforms your absolutely want to try and sell on. You can then have some freebie giveaways and give yourself a chance of getting up in the rankings for downloads, even if they're free. This might encourage those people who have shown interest but not bought it a chance to rethink.

There are also a lot of ways to put the right keywords on Amazon so Google searches bring up novels with those keywords, and maybe your book. I use Publisher Rocket, but I think there are a fair amount other programs (including Google Keywords used on the Google Ads platform) and probably YouTube vids that show how to find the best keywords.

These are all your choices to make as an author and nothing is guaranteed, but I think you are putting yourself at a disadvantage in multiple ways.

I hope everything goes well in the future of your book :)

Louise wrote: "I am using Fulton books- an Indie publisher..."

Fulton Books is a vanity press. Unfortunately you have been scammed. What a shame that your bestselling author friend didn’t tell you, before you paid their exorbitant fees!

I would suggest you check out David Gaughran’s website. He is a well respected figure in indie publishing and has a course on the basics that is FREE on his site.

Mellie wrote: "Louise wrote: "I am using Fulton books- an Indie publisher..."

Fulton Books is a vanity press. Unfortunately you have been scammed. What a shame that your bestselling author friend didn’t tell you..."

I used KDP for my debut, and my second.

Jessica wrote: "Hi Louise,

I would definitely recommend putting your blurb on your GR book page, as currently it's blank, and people may just skip by if they came across it.

I've also looked at your Amazon page ..."

By using KDP I can set the prices of mine depending on page count, my debut and my second novel will be on Kindle Unlimited too.

Yasmine wrote: "I don't think you pay the publisher to have your book published. You pay your agent (and those are optional, for some publishing companies). I may be wrong, though. I'm no author!"

You don’t pay either directly. Agents take a percentage once the book is sold to a publisher. Publishers pay all costs of publishing (covers, editing, formatting) as they take the largest chunk from book sales, before paying royalties to the agent and author.

“Publishers” who have high fees are scamming vanity presses. Their new buzz words are “hybrid” and “indie publishing” to try and distance themselves from the vanity label - but they give themselves away by charging ridiculous fees for substandard work. They do NOT make money from selling books - they make money by selling scam publishing packages (which cost more $$$ than if you hired professionals yourself, and you’d get a professional result, as opposed to what vanity presses do).

There are also scam agents who charge fees - they should also be avoided. It takes 5 seconds to google name + scam. Do that with Fulton Books and you’ll see all the scam warnings and complaints about them.

If any writer wants a legitimate traditional deal you have to query agents and a great resource for that is QueryTracker.net.

As I said above, if you want to self publish and learn the basics, start with David’s free material.

Louise wrote: "Jessica, I am using Fulton books- an Indie publisher and I had to lower my paltry royalties to practically nothing to get the price to this. I cannot get it any lower-
I’m going to work with a pro..."

I'm sorry to hear that, they are certainly not doing you any favours. I've had a look at their website. Is it right you're tied in with them for 2 years? Is there any way of getting out of that?

I've had a look at some of their other published books and it seems there's very little activity on Amazon or other sites, even on ones as far back as 2017. They also have some bad links (like to Amazon) for some of the books - to me it feels a little sketchy.

What did they agree to do exactly? What have they actually delivered on so far? Did they give you any estimations of sales, or proof of sales of other authors?

I'm not trying to panic you, this kind of thing just concerns me, especially if they've taken money.

Louise wrote: "Jessica, you should become a detective. While you are looking check out the three reviews I have on Amazon so far, please feel free to see the huge amount of followers on my Louise Glass Author Pag..."

Louise, I think you might be taking this the wrong way and are clearly somewhat defensive. My concern is for you and your money, and seeing the setup of Fulton Books, and the authors who have also been involved with this company with very little receipt is concerning. If you are happy with what you are receiving, then that's absolutely great and more power to you.

You came on here clearly concerned about not getting reviews despite your followers etc. My posts were well-meant and advice that is well-established in self-publishing and repeated on this website over many, many years. If you know better I'll concede to that knowledge happily.

Louise wrote: "I checked countless indie publishers and their reviews and prices were the best- that’s why I went with them...."

For writers reading this thread, let's clear up some confusion around language. Compaines such as Fulton who CHARGE are vanity presses. They are not "indie publishers" or whatever other disguise they adopt to part the unwary from their cash.

If you want a traditional publishing deal, you query legit publishers (usually through an agent).

Ok, I tried to stay out of the back and forth between the two and, just to clarify, there are NO sides to take, effectively, as writers, we shouldn't be in competition with each other. Obviously, everyone has had their good and bad experiences with any type of publishing, but I do still hear about 'vanity press', so if the name is still floating around then it isn't dead as such. There are a lot of places offering to 'publish and promote' your writing, but there are a lot of places where you don't have to pay, and you do the leg work. Personally, I believe it's one choice what they do with their work and or money. As the thread states, it was merely about gaining reviews for a debut novel. I felt for the OP because I am kind of in the same boat. I have 3 ratings on Amazon for my debut, 2 reviews with rating and one rating alone. Its hard as a new writer, but we persevere.
Good luck in all your writing journeys.

The best way to get reviews is to have people you trust read your book and hope they give a review. Yes you can pay people to review your book (don't) and you can send copies to reviewers (I recommend against it somewhat because you never know if they are going to get what you are doing in your book, but its a valid way to get some).

You can ask all your friends and family to pile on reviews on sites like a lot of authors do. That can give you tons of 5 star reviews with super short notes which look a bit sus to smarter customers.

If you're part of some writing club, website, or social media group then being an active and liked member who is generous with book give aways in the group can get you reviews.

But honesty the best way, in my opinion, is to put your book up, let people know about it, then stand back and let the reviews grow organically and naturally. The more books you have up on the shelf, the more notice you'll get and more trust from readers, who will buy more and review more.

It hurts to watch the numbers grow so slowly, but at least they'll be honest and thoughtful.

Christopher wrote: "The best way to get reviews is to have people you trust read your book and hope they give a review. Yes you can pay people to review your book (don't) and you can send copies to reviewers (I recomm..."

Absolutely!! I share my links around everywhere. I think its great to ask others to share it too, even if they dont want to read it, they might know someone who would be interested.

Louise wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I can still share it around if you like?"

Lisa, that would be great! I cannot thank you enough!!!"

Leave it with me, I'll share it around and hopefully drum up some interest :)

While I agree that one ought not criticize spending money on publishing or investing in their work, the key to remember is this:

Unless you make at least as much money as you spent in book sales, then you just lit a match to that pile of cash. So invest wisely.