Review Rambles
Why do you want to have a review? I've thought about this long and hard. A review tells other people what to expect from your book. And like most authors if I receive a bad review, it never appears on my web site. Not that I admit I've ever had a bad review.
First you have to contact the review coordinator to ask them to review your work. Siren-BookStrand had a list of review sites that they send all their new releases too. Then there are a bunch of other sites that the author can submit too if they want.
I have received three reviews for Chick Magnet, one for Watching Jenny and one for Romance and Misconceptions. This means that most of the review sites have determined not to review my work.
Why? I usually get a good review, so I know it's not because it sucks or anything. I started to pay attention to the lists of new reviews that come across my email. And I noticed a pattern. And don't get mad at me or anything, this is just what I noticed.
I'm not going to mention the name of the sites, and there were several but the pattern is the books reviewed were mostly erotica. Not that there is anything wrong with erotica, I have very good friends who write it and do very well. Or they were of authors with large New York publishers--Such as Nora Roberts, etc.
However, I do not write erotica and as yet I'm not with a New York Publisher. I had someone give me a less than perfect rating on Romance and Misconceptions 3.5 stars isn't bad but I've never had lower than a 4 before. I commented to the reviewer that I was sorry she didn't enjoy my story. She replied that she did enjoy it, it just didn't have the spark that caused the toe tingling.
I'm sure every review has their own criteria to base their rating. So it's all subjective and you can have good reviews and bad reviews. And some of those reviews could be on the wrong side based on spice.
I've been stressing about the fact I do not have a lot of reviews. But from now on I'm not going to waste my energy over it. What can I do anyway?
But what upsets me, is--Am I not getting reviews that I request because I'm not writing toe tinglers? Are the rest of you running into this or is it just me?
First you have to contact the review coordinator to ask them to review your work. Siren-BookStrand had a list of review sites that they send all their new releases too. Then there are a bunch of other sites that the author can submit too if they want.
I have received three reviews for Chick Magnet, one for Watching Jenny and one for Romance and Misconceptions. This means that most of the review sites have determined not to review my work.
Why? I usually get a good review, so I know it's not because it sucks or anything. I started to pay attention to the lists of new reviews that come across my email. And I noticed a pattern. And don't get mad at me or anything, this is just what I noticed.
I'm not going to mention the name of the sites, and there were several but the pattern is the books reviewed were mostly erotica. Not that there is anything wrong with erotica, I have very good friends who write it and do very well. Or they were of authors with large New York publishers--Such as Nora Roberts, etc.
However, I do not write erotica and as yet I'm not with a New York Publisher. I had someone give me a less than perfect rating on Romance and Misconceptions 3.5 stars isn't bad but I've never had lower than a 4 before. I commented to the reviewer that I was sorry she didn't enjoy my story. She replied that she did enjoy it, it just didn't have the spark that caused the toe tingling.
I'm sure every review has their own criteria to base their rating. So it's all subjective and you can have good reviews and bad reviews. And some of those reviews could be on the wrong side based on spice.
I've been stressing about the fact I do not have a lot of reviews. But from now on I'm not going to waste my energy over it. What can I do anyway?
But what upsets me, is--Am I not getting reviews that I request because I'm not writing toe tinglers? Are the rest of you running into this or is it just me?
Comments
This has been a problem for me as well. In 2004 when my stories first started coming out, I received at least 6 per book. Now I'm lucky if I get three. Not fun.
~Phyllis~