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I was discussing the interesting and controversial subject of book reviews the other day with a colleague and we agreed that reader reviews are often swayed by moods. If a reader picks up a book to escape and is faced with a more serious conflict than she expected, this might launch her into a foul mood. If a character or scenario reminds her of something ugly in her past—too close to home—her demeanor and opinion of the book might change dramatically. Or maybe she’s not in a reading mood, but wants to get this book off her tabletop—feels an obligation to read it. She may not spend one enjoyable moment in the process.

So what is her response when Amazon comes around and asks her to review the book she purchased? She’s not going to be kind. She’s too angry, upset or disturbed, not particularly by the story itself, but by something it stirred up inside her.

Truthfully now, have you ever read a book or tried to read a book and just couldn’t get into it—didn’t like the premise, it started too slow…whatever? Yet, you picked up the same book months or years later, slipped right into the story and enjoy it.

Could this be one reason for such conflicting reviews for the same book—why some readers lambaste it, while others praise it to the hilt? Yeah, that makes sense. It isn’t the book as much as it is the reader—what’s going on in his or her life, their current mood, their past experiences and, of course, their preferences in books. There are reviewers who have strong ideas about the direction a story should go and when the author chooses a different route, they complain and criticize. Don’t believe me? Just go read some of the reviews people leave at Amazon. It’s quite an interesting study in human nature.

Those of us with books to promote are always striving to solicit reviews. When regular customers post a review, we get ecstatic, unless…it is a negative, nasty, mean-spirited review.

Then we wonder, “Where do these people come from?” “Why do they read a book that clearly involves cats, dogs, murder, clowns? and that’s obviously a cozy mystery, military story, romance, or? and then write a review saying, “I hate cats (mysteries, cutesy stories, war stories, sappy stories about dogs), etc.”

I know that Amazon actually chases down customers and asks them to write a review for the books they purchase. That’s a good thing, unless they catch the reader when he is in a foul mood or it is a customer who hated the book.

Customer reviewers—you gotta love ’em, (when they write rave reviews). But what about those people who don’t agree with your fans—who didn’t love, love, love your book? I like to tell clients who are upset about a bad review, “It’s just an opinion.”

Yeah, that’s how I look at it—when the review is excellent or at least swell, I say, “People love my work. I am a good writer. My story is good.” And when I visit my Amazon book pages and see a negative review, I say, “Well, it’s just an opinion.” It’s not an opinion I like much, but it is someone’s opinion and I sure wish they’d keep it to themselves.

In the meantime, I try to look at the big picture—out of 113 total Amazon reviews for my Klepto Cat Mystery books, a solid three-quarters of them are rip-roaring positive. But what can one do with the percentage we all get of less than desirable reviews?

Stack the deck? Ask for phony reviews? Naw. Not in my DNA to do that. It isn’t a bad idea to ask friends, neighbors, coworkers, colleagues and acquaintances who have read your book to write a review. Some of them just don’t think to do it. And most of them would at least humor you and write a decent one, don’t you think? And then just continue to write the best books you can and have them professionally edited/proofed.

There will always be people of varying opinions. Even major best-selling books get bad reader reviews. Just look at the opposition over the years to the most famous book of all—the Bible.

And that super controversial book that came out a few years ago—“Fifty Shades of Grey”… This book has collected nearly 11,000 five-star reviews. But wait—the one-and two-star reviews number over 8,500.

There’s always a rainbow somewhere. You just have to look for it. Today, I will focus on the positive. I have a higher percentage of great reviews than some of the bestsellers.

If you like cozy mysteries with a little romance and cat fur involved, check out my Klepto Cat Mystery series. There are four books now—“Catnapped,” “Cat-Eye Witness,” “Sleight of Paw” and, the latest, “Undercover Cat.” If you have something nice to say after reading one or more of them, please do leave a review!!! Here’s a shortcut to the Klepto Cat Mystery page. http://amzn.to/1kAI8I2

Do you have a signature? I mean one of those blocks of information—maybe a logo—that appears at the bottom of each of your emails?

You’ve probably seen them on incoming emails. People sometimes tack on a meaningful saying under their messages or they use signatures to advertise their businesses.

Well, when you’re an author, you’re in business and many authors use signatures to promote their books. Every email that goes out to colleagues, coworkers, friends, family, acquaintances and strangers includes a little blurb about their book.

Is using a signature effective in selling books? If you’ve followed this blog, read my articles, studied my books and/or attended my lectures, you know that I’m an advocate of diverse marketing. I suggest promoting your books through many varied channels. Naturally, I recommend using a signature, as well. I do.

And it has served me well. Just last week, I received an email from a local journalist and radio personality who wanted to quote me for an article on local history. After he received my email response, complete with my signature promoting my new Klepto Cat Mystery series, he contacted me again and asked to interview me for a newspaper story.

I’ve received speaking engagements because of my signature. My signature has enticed people to visit my websites and I’ve sold books.

Sometimes my signature has simply sparked a new conversation and, certainly, at times, a greater understanding of my work and my books. Someone might contact me as the director of Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network and learn, through my signature, that I’m also a book editor. People might know me through my books for authors and, after receiving an email from me realize I also write fiction.

The signature is a sort of electronic business card. And I “hand” mine out in nearly every email I send.

I delete my signature when I email back and forth with close friends and family. It’s easy enough to do. But since most of my email connections are with colleagues and strangers, I usually leave it.

I’ve seen some creative signatures. And one beauty is that you can change it on a whim. As I said, I’m currently promoting my Klepto Cat Mystery series through my signature, and I can add new book titles as they are published.

If you have a book for sale, a business or you offer a service, you really ought to have a signature. Most email programs have the signature option. If you can’t find yours, use your help button.

You may have heard the term “Special Sales.” Do you know what this means? It represents sales outside of the traditional bookstores. Although this seems to be a new term, it certainly isn’t a new concept. Authors have been generating sales through specialty stores, presentations, book festivals, online marketing, article-writing and so forth for years and years. In fact anyone who has been promoting a book for more than a few months is aware that he or she must reach outside their old, familiar haunts in order to sell copies of their books.

Bookselling has become personal. It used to be that the author was some mysterious figure in the background of any book. To readers, an author was a name—nothing more—no face, particularly no presence or personality. That was when you’d walk into a bookstore to purchase a book—there were no Internet sales; no bookracks in delis, veterinarians’ offices, local airports, sporting goods stores, bakeries, etc. and few author presentations.

Now, readers know what their favorite author eats for breakfast, how many children they have, the names of their pets and the brand of hair coloring they use. Readers have the opportunity to meet authors at book festivals, at their club meetings, at church, at conferences and other events. Authors are more visible. We must be if we want to sell books.

As an author, we need a strong online presence, as well. Readers who want to know more about us will conduct Internet searches and we’d better be easy to locate. In other words, we must have a website; we should manage one or more active blogs; be involved in social media and solicit interviews, guests posts, reviews and so forth.

Go where your audience is. Give them what they want. Provide them with the information or entertainment they require or desire. It is all up to you. It is between you and your reader. Keep this in mind and you will succeed.

For additional help promoting your book, read Promote Your Book by Patricia Fry. It’s available here: http://www.matilijapress.com/PromoteYourBook.html and at Amazon in print, audio and for Kindle.

If you’re struggling to sell copies of your book, here’s an idea: Add another product to your repertoire. Produce a spinoff book, for example. If you truly have an audience for your book, and you’re just having difficulty getting the word out and generating sales, a second or third book might help you gain more of that all important recognition.

If you’re a new author without a following, it may take some creativity and time to become known in your field or genre. Certainly, you have your own website—a place where you can invite potential customers. You should also have a presence throughout the social media realm. In order to attract people to your website, offer a freebie—a downloadable ebooklet on the topic of your book. And aggressively advertise this fact.

Let’s say your book chronicles some of your travels throughout remote areas of the US and you’ve added reviews of unique restaurants and cafes. As a spinoff book or free ebooklet, you might offer recipes from these regions, unbelievable customs or a collage of scenic photographs that didn’t make it into the book.

Maybe you’ve written a young adult novel focusing on mysteriously missing dogs. You might create a spinoff book focusing on 50 ways to entertain a dog or 50 tricks you can teach your dog, for example.

Now you have two things to offer and each will help to promote the other. A few years ago, I compiled a book of cat stories—“Catscapades, True Cat Tales.” The book sold at a mediocre pace. Last year, I produced a novel involving cats. I now have four books in my Klepto Cat Mystery series. Since producing the novels, I’ve noticed an increase in sales for “Catscapades.”

I also have several books for authors—most predominantly, “Publish Your Book,” “Promote Your Book” and “Talk Up Your Book.” Not only do these books help to sell one another—people who buy and appreciate one book will be more apt to purchase another. But I also offer a free ebook at my website, http://www.patriciafry.com Currently, it is “50 Ways to Establish Your Author Platform.”

If sales for your single book are lagging because you aren’t well-known in your field or genre, consider upping the ante. Of course, you’re going to show up where your audience congregates online as well as downtown. You’re already reaching out to readers in every way you know how. So why not add to your box of promotional magic by offering something more and use each of those items to promote the other.

We each go into publishing with different expectations and dreams. Some authors don’t even consider what lies beyond the writing of their books. Others have high hopes for success, but no inkling of how to attain it. All they’re interested in is writing the book that’s been haunting them or tickling at them for years. Some authors believe that their story or their perspective is so interesting and meaningful that the book will be eagerly embraced by a wide audience. They give little thought to their responsibility in the success of their books.

If you’ve been following this blog for even a few months (let alone many years), you’ve read my rants, scoldings and tirades on this topic. Here we go again:

• Books, in order to sell, must be promoted. No one will buy a book they don’t know exists.
• The best marketing agent for your book is you!
• Do not publish your book until you have a clear understanding of your responsibility as an author.
• Identify your audience and actively promote to them.
• Be ever on the look-out for opportunities to promote your books.

Now I want to dwell on the last point here. Promoting a book is hard work. Depending on the level of success you desire, you must spend time identifying your audience and putting your book before them. But sometimes opportunities arise unexpectedly. You get an invitation to speak before a group, you’re asked to include your book promo in a mailing or catalog, someone offers to review your book, or you’re invited to introduce your book to potential readers through a newsletter or blog, for example.

Do you know how many authors ignore FREE opportunities like these—even those that require just five minutes of their time? It’s my experience that a whopping 98% of authors will disregard such offers and purposely miss an opportunity to get exposure for their books.

Don’t be in this percentage! Don’t be one of the nearly 78% of authors who fail. Wake up to the realities of publishing and book promotion. Be cognizant of opportunities and act on them on behalf of your amazing book all the time, every time.

Publishing/Marketing News and Views

My fifth newsletter is ready to send. It will probably go out this week—a little early. If you’d like to subscribe to Publishing/Marketing News and Views by Patricia Fry, sign up here: http://www.patriciafry.com. Read back issues here: http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog/?page_id=3081

As you’ll see, we’ve covered the writing of a successful book, writing a great book proposal, publishing and now we’re focusing on book promotion. Don’t be left out. Subscribe today! If you have any trouble subscribing, email me: PLFry620@yahoo.com

Total sales for my novels this month is actually over 1,100 and counting. How did I manage that? Here’s what I suggest:

• Write in a genre that is popular.
• Write a good story.
• Hire a talented cover designer.
• Have your manuscript edited.
• Repeat these three tips (I have published four books in my Klepto Cat Mystery series to date).
• Offer books in more than one format. My novels are all formatted for Kindle. Two of them are now also in print form. We’ve sold over 100 print copies this month.
• Promote, Promote, Promote.

Check out my cozy mystery novels : http://amzn.to/1kAI8I2

Like my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/kleptocatmysteries

I’ve decided that the most dangerous place to be when you’re an author with a book to promote is your comfort zone.

While there are a few authors with marketing experience and personality, most of us find book promotion rather daunting. It takes a type of effort, energy and know-how way different from that which we poured into writing the book. Successful book promotion takes stepping outside our self-inflicted comfort zones.

How do you write a press release or a sales pitch to a reviewer, for example? How do you feel about getting up in front of a group and speaking about your book? Do you know how to set up a speaking engagement or book singing? How do you talk about your book to potential readers at a book festival or other venue? Where does one get the courage and skill to do public speaking?

It’s a matter a stretching and growing—learning something new and applying it. Most authors must step outside their comfort zones in order to successfully promote and sell their books. How?

• Learn what it takes to promote a book—take workshops, read books and newsletters focused on book promotion and observe others in book promotion mode.
• Determine what is the best way to promote your particular book and hone the skills it takes to pursue it.
• Just do it. Even if it is frightening or uncomfortable, step up to the plate, go out on a limb, step outside your comfort zone and do whatever it takes to let your readers know about your book. Yes, even when you get shut down, the door is slammed in your face and you feel vulnerable or embarrassed.

You’ll actually discover that most reviewers, radio personalities, audiences, bloggers, etc. are happy to discover new authors and new books and will receive you with open arms.

So, if you’re a little uncomfortable speaking in public or approaching bloggers and interviewers, for example, you have two choices. Buy into your discomfort and don’t pursue the opportunity or move through the discomfort and get the exposure you need for your book.

Books for Breaking Down Book Promotion Resistance

Become a More Accomplished Book Promoter, Thus a More Successful Author

Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author

Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals and More. Both by Patricia Fry and both available at Amazon in print, audio and Kindle.