Reviewer's Tip - Where's Your Website

It happened again tonight...I received a query from a first-time author, asking for a review.  The book sounded interesting and possibly a good fit for our site.  The press release included a link to the author's website.  I clicked on the link to get more info. and see if the book was indeed a good fit.  What I found, instead of a site with information about this new book, was a Network Solutions message, "this site is under construction."  In other words, the author has purchased the url but hasn't done anything more with the site. Guess what?  I closed the link, deleted the query email, and moved on to another query.

The lesson?  If you're going to take the trouble of sending out queries (or actually, if you're going to publish a book), have your website up and running BEFORE you send those queries!!!  I'm not going to go back to the website in a week, or two, or three, to see if the author has gotten around to creating a site.  I've already moved on.  Be ready with all your promotional materials before your book comes out or you might just miss lots of promotional opportunities.

Reviewer's Tip - Sometimes Self-Publishers DO Have An Edge

If you're a self-publisher (or even if you publish with a small press), no doubt you've heard over and over about the disadvantages you will face.  And if you've been around for a few years, you've had to take on these hurtles in order to get your book "out there" "seen" and most importantly, discovered and purchased.

Self-publishers have to front the money for publication themselves, they have to find a good editor, graphic designer, get the book to market and get it distributed so it can find its way into the hands of buyers.  It's not an easy task.  You're competing against the mainstream houses that have decades of experience/contacts/know-how/financial backing.  How many times have you had a reviewer say, "sorry, but we only review books from mainstream publishers," or heard a distributor instruct, "we'll only carry your book if it sells X number of copies a month."???  And so on and so on.

But we have discovered one place where the self-publisher and even small press publisher are at a distinct ADVANTAGE over the large houses. When you do manage to get a reviewer interested in your book, when a reviewer requests a copy of your book (and isn't that a wonderful feeling?), how many self-publishers, oops, forget to send the book?  Here at Feathered Quill, that number would be a big, fat ZERO.  We have found, without exception, that self-publishers are on the ball, ready and willing, to respond in an instant to such requests.  Alas, those books coming from, er, um,. XYZ Publishers in NYC, frequently lose their way.  Turnover at these houses seems quite high, they're busy promoting oodles of books at once, and responses vary quite a bit.  This is all very odd to us because these large publishers seem just as eager to have their books reviewed and send lots and lots of press releases telling us that book "Blah, Blah" will surely be the next big seller.  They're eager to send a review copy, respond to our request and then.... nada.  Well, guess what?  We're too busy with other books to do follow-ups so if the book doesn't come, it doesn't get reviewed.  If there's a new person doing publicity and the previous employee forgot to tell them which books need to be sent out, oops, sorry, we're not going to remind you - we don't have time.

In sharp contrast, the self-publisher is typically promoting just one book at a time, his/her "baby."  Any response from a reviewer is treated as top priority.  Books get mailed out within a day and arrive quickly.  That means they get put on that hefty review pile quicker and get through the whole review process that much sooner.  So remember, although it may seem like a big, scary jungle out there in the book world, and that all is against the self-publisher, you do have at least one advantage.  Actually, now that I think of it, there are other advantages too.  Hmmmmm.....I sense another blog post coming along soon.  Stay tuned.

Reviewer's Tip - How NOT to Impress Reviewers, Part 5

Here's another entry in our series on how NOT to impress reviewers. These comments come directly from our reviewers.  This entry is short and to the point:




The more I think about it, the more I realize that the main thing for me is grammar, punctuation, and word choice. I don't care how good someone's story idea might be, if they don't have the command of language to write it well, then I don't want to read it. 

Reviewer's Tip - How NOT to Impress Reviewers, Part 2

Continuing the theme of things reviewers don't like to see (last time we talked about how NOT to impress with emails to review sites), here we go again.  This time, we'd like to tell you some things that reviewers often see in self-published books (and to be fair, some mainstream books too).  These came directly from one of Feathered Quill's reviewers.  I hope to have more tips from other reviewers soon.  

• I don't like copycat books.  For example, I don't want to see a Harry Potter imitation.  I want to see something unique.  
• If the book has 1,001 characters, I want a cast list in the front.  
• Don't give me three names for the same person.  Example:  Daniel, Doctor D., Danny, Doc, Bones, etc.  It makes the story difficult to follow.  
• If you use sidebars, try to insert them in a logical break in the text.  Sometimes they totally interrupt a reading experience.

Reviewer's Tip - Right Justification

We get a lot of self-published books at Feathered Quill and many of them are wonderful books that are right up there with books published by the "main-stream" NYC publishers.  But some of them still need a bit of work....  if you're doing the layout for your book yourself, PLEASE remember that book text is right justified!  This is the standard format.  Some self-publishers, whether because they don't realize right justification is standard, or they're trying to be different,  either left justify the text or center it (yes, we've had some books that centered ALL the text, all the way through the book!).  All  I can say is "DON'T!"

Don't try to be different, don't stray from the norm, don't ignore the standard format of right justification.  Besides giving an amateurish look to your book, it's hard on readers' eyes.  Yes, we do notice it.  So, if you want to compete with the "Big Boys," remember to right justify your text!

Reviewer's Tip - Watch Your Font Size

Recently I posted a tip for authors of children's/pre-teen books to watch their font size.  I'd recently seen several children's/pre-teen books with tiny, tiny fonts.  It's enough to send kids running for a video game and we certainly don't want that!  Well, today I have the same advice in reverse for authors of adult books.  A book came in for review this week, a sci-fi thriller, that is over 500 pages.  My first thought was, "oh, goody, another loooong book."  (Okay, I was a bit tired after a long week.)  But then I took a closer look.  The font the author had used was so large that there was barely any text on each page.  I'd guess that the book, properly laid out, would be about 250 pages.  Why does this matter?  For two reasons.  First, if you're self-publishing, you should be well aware of the cost to print your books.  More pages, more cost.  Simple.  If you can cut your page length down substantially (without sacrificing a professional look), then you should absolutely do it.  Second, think of your potential readers.  A 500 page book, from an unknown author, may be enough to scare many of those readers away.  They may be willing to take a chance on a 250 or 300 page book, but I hear from many, many readers who shy away from overly long books.  Then, of course, there's the case of the 500 page book that is truly 500 pages and in dire need of an editor to do some slashing, but that's another story, for another day.

Reviewer's Tip - . , "

We've seen a lot of books lately that have problems with quotation placement in dialogue.  Here's an example:

"John better follow me", demanded Susie, "before he gets hurt".

The correct format is:

"John better follow me," demanded Susie, "before he gets hurt."

It may seem like a very minor point, but believe me, readers can quickly get annoyed with a book that makes such errors.

Reviewer's Tip - Advance Reading Copy - Part 4

One final suggestion for back covers.  We see this on some (but not all) advance reading copies.  At the bottom, near/beside the marketing campaign information, specifics on the book.  These include:

• Title
• Author
• Genre
• ISBN
• Book size
• Number of pages
• Number of illustrations
• Price
• Publication Date
• URL of books' website
• Contact information - name, phone, email of contact person

Finally, don't forget to add, if you can fit it in (and some of the 'Big Boys' put it in VERY tiny print), "Text is subject to change.  Before quoting anything in this book, please verify with the publisher/against the final bound book."  We've seen this blurb put on the back cover, front cover, and also inside, on the title page and even, occasionally, on the copyright page.

Next time, what should your front cover look like???

Reviewer's Tip - Advance Reading Copy - Part 3

Last time we talked about what should be on the back cover.  Today, we'll look at probably the most important item for your book's back cover - the marketing campaign.

As we mentioned earlier, we're taking examples from books the 'Big Boy's have sent us.  Whenever we get an 'Advance Reading Copy' from one of the mainstream, large presses, the back cover ALWAYS includes a summary of the book's marketing campaign.  Why?  To help sell the book to reviewers.  They want to know that the book has been given sufficient attention and a decent marketing budget so that it will get significant attention.  Afterall, why would a reviewer/review publication spend precious time on a book that's going to flop due to lack of promotional funds? 

Normally, the marketing plan is at or near the bottom of the back cover, typically blocked off in a text box or by some other means that makes it stand out.  Here are examples of what publishers have listed as part of their marketing campaigns (but are not limited to):

• National broadcast and print media coverage
• Online promotion
• 30-City (or more/less) national tour
• National radio campaign
• Blog tour
• E-card campaign
• Online video and e-mail notifications
• Author website (with website and/or blog url listed)
• School and/or library appearances
• Viral marketing to author promotional sites (children's sites, genre specific sites, etc.)
• Press releases to over 150 national/regional genre magazines/sites/book clubs, etc.
• Interviews in over 25 genre related publications (note: you should list the genre!)

Reviewer's Tip - Advance Reading Copy - Part 2

Back covers - hmmmm.... what to put on the back cover of an advance reading copy????  Remember, we're giving examples from the big, main, traditional (whatever you'd like to call them) presses.  The 'Big Boys' as I like to say.

Typically, at the top is a quote from somebody well-known in the genre of the book. The quote is a glowing, one or two sentence review. 

Next, there's a paragraph with a synopsis of the book.  It's going to be the most fun you've ever had; you'll learn more from this book than you learned in four years of college.  This is where you want to SELL your book. 

The third paragraph highlights the author.  Sell yourself here.  Why should the reader pick up your book?  You're an expert, right?  Refer to other books, your writing accomplishments, etc.  But please don't get carried away.  We once had a book where the author mentioned a writing award he received in elementary school!  Do you really think that will convince somebody to buy your book????

Next time, what else needs to be on the back cover?  Hint: think 'marketing campaign.'