Reviewers and Media Contacts

The first and most obvious instance in which you should give your book away for free is when you are trying to get reviewers to review your book and secure publicity through media contacts.  Just remember, the more books that you are asked to give away, the more reviews, interviews, and requests for published excerpts that will come your way.

Building Your Email Marketing Database

When you are trying to build your email marketing database, getting people to supply their email address can be tough.  A good way to get them to give you their address is to give them a sample chapter for doing so or, if you have a series, you might even give them the first book for signing up (assuming that they will purchase the remaining books in your collection).  This will help you build a relationship with your readers and build a following for marketing purposes—an email marketing list is worth its weight in gold.

Free Ebooks

Some authors have had great success in giving away ebooks for free and finding this increases the sales of their print book.  This doesn’t always happen, but it happens often enough you should give it some thought.  Here is a recent study on the effect of giving away free ebooks: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0013.101%3Frgn%3Dmain%3Bview%3Dfulltext

Amazon KDP

Amazon’s KDP program allows you to give your book away for five days and have your book in the Amazon library to loan out.  While it may seem counterintuitive to give your book to readers (who aren’t supplying any valuable information to you), it is important to remember that these days, everyone is a reviewer.  By giving away your book, you increase your views and reviews from people who would otherwise skip your book.  Although you are forced to be generous at the outset, reviews are well-worth it, because you increase the likelihood that your book will be purchased in the future, having been vetted by other readers.

If you’re starting to feel like you’re never going to be able to charge for your book, don’t worry: it gets better.  All of the free copies that you gave away will increase your book’s visibility, build your credibility, and, in the long-run, lead to more sales of your book to paying customers.

Soliciting Book Reviews from Consumers

(1)    Start by doing some research on who is reviewing titles similar to yours.  Dig out your book proposal for the competitive works, and look them up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  Cross-reference the usernames with social media platforms.   Then, either reach out to them on social media or try to dig a little further to uncover their email address.

(2)    Reach out to book reviewers through Good Reads.  Work on building your network, so, when the time comes, you already have a list of reviewers to reach out to, rather than scrambling to put the list together after your book has already been published.

(3)    People who have signed up for your newsletter or who follow you on social media—especially those who have mentioned you positively on their networks—already like your book.  Reach out to them and ask them if they would be willing to write a review.  They’re already fans, so do something nice for them, like offering to send them a signed copy.

Soliciting Book Reviews from the Media

(1)    Enlist the help of a book publicist or your publisher to help you craft media releases about your book, whether you are pitching them story ideas or sending them a press release, offering them a review copy.

Please see my article on using media releases to get book reviews: http://selfpublishingmadeeasy.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/how-to-use-press-releases-to-promote-your-book/

(2)    Do some research online, using that same list of competitive works that you used to find Amazon reviewers.  Find out who has reviewed books that are similar to theirs, research their contact information, and send them an email (or a message via social media) asking them if they would like a review copy of your book.

Don’t be discouraged if you invest a great deal of time into finding people to review your book, or you get turned downed or told that your wait for a review will be extremely long.  Book reviewers are overloaded, and their desks are piled high with books that they have been asked to review, whether they do it as a hobby or they work for a traditional publication or blog.

Here are some key items to keep in mind about using press releases to promote your self-published book:

1. The objective of a press release is to get media attention and coverage, not to sell books. 

You do press releases so the media (i.e., TV, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, Websites, and Blogs) will potentially review or discuss your book in their publications or on their channels and this coverage will drive sales.

2. The most important line in a Press Release is the one that says “Review Copies and Interviews Upon Request.”  

Your goal from the press release is to send out review copies of your book or get interviews about your book or book topic because a good review in a good magazine and/or an interview on radio or TV will sell books.

3. Yes you need to give away Free Copies of your Book.

Media professionals expect a free copy of your book to consider you for a review.  You want to give away review copies of your book as reviewers will not likely write about your book unless you give them a review copy.

Traditional Media (e.g., magazines and newspapers) typically want a free paperback or hardcover book copy, and New Media (websites and blogs) typically want an electronic galley or electronic PDF version of your book.  Send them what they want.  Don’t be cheap and try to make a potential reviewer buy a book, as it won’t work.

4. The Press Release needs to be sent electronically to a list of professional book reviewers.

For purposes of getting media reviews or interviews with a credible organization, the typical press releases, offered by many online press release companies that are sent to major search engines like Google and Yahoo, wire services, or opt in news subscribers will NOT give you a very good response.  You need to send the press release to professionals who write book reviews or interview authors as a part of their job.

Additionally, press releases nowadays are sent electronically via email.  The days of sending paper press releases with “For Immediate Release” written in the corner are over.

5. Repeated exposure of your book over time is the best way to get media outlets, bloggers and websites to notice your book.

Multiple press releases done from different news angles and sent to targeted professional reviewers comprise what is called a publicity campaign and it is the best way to build exposure and buzz for your book.  Media professionals are always looking for new stories based on what is currently in the news, seasonal topics and assignments from their editor.

A press release about a book sent from one angle may not attract the attention of a specific book reviewer the first week, but another press release, written from another angle, about the same book, might get a response from the same reviewer on the second week.

If you need some help with your press releases, please feel free to visit our marketing services site at Marketing Services or call me at 866-793-9365.