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Yesterday, we talked about book reviews for fiction and what they mean. Why does one reviewer or reader praise a novel and another harshly slam it? What causes one reader to fall in love with your characters and another say they’re shallow? How can one reviewer give a book the ultimate 5-star rating and the next only one or two? Which reviews are valid and which ones are slanted?

Probably all reviews are slanted, depending on the reviewer’s mindset and life experiences. Think about it, we don’t all enjoy reading the same books. Most of us notice a shift in our taste in books over the years. As a young woman, I devoured romance novels. I went through a long nonfiction phase. I read only to learn and grow. Then I began reading for relaxation—light mysteries, true animal stories and fun adventure stories.

And I can tell you that a book I found delightful when I was twenty, might seem trite now. The books that held my interest in my forties, would bore me today. And even the books I currently read must meet my personal standards for readability and entertainment value.

We all have standards and pet peeves related to the types of books we read. And when we choose a book, we may also have expectations—that the book will make us smile, choke up, feel good, etc. If the story touches a raw nerve that may be unique to the individual, that reader might not be able to move beyond that issue and the entire story then becomes tainted for that reader. He or she can’t get past the fact that the couple took so long to fall in love, that the couple fell in love too fast, that one character uses swear words, that the animal isn’t active in every scene, that the crime was solved too early in the book, that the ending was predictable. And that one issue colors the reader’s view of the whole story, thus his or her review.

So what is the value of reader and reviewer opinions? Should you even get your book reviewed? Yes. Remember, you want as much exposure for your book as you can muster. You want reviews posted at Amazon and key blogs and websites. You want people talking about your story. You want to do signings, book festivals, presentations and more. You must get involved with social media. And, yes, you really should be soliciting book reviews. It’s all part of your quest for exposure. Without it, no one will know about your book and no one will buy it.

Now, let’s say that reviewers are all critiquing the same aspects of your book—it needs to be edited, the story is too grim for the category you’ve chosen, your story doesn’t flow, etc. If the majority of reviewers are making similar comments, consider this a welcome wake-up call. Perhaps your book has serious flaws and you should consider a rewrite. This time, work with a good book editor.

For more about book promotion, purchase my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio. It’s also at most other online and downtown bookstores.

For a pleasant, quick and easy read, upload my latest mysteries to your Kindle. They are Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness—both part of my Klepto Cat Mystery series. At Amazon.com only for Kindle.

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http://www.patriciafry.com

I’ve been traveling, but you may not have missed me because I discovered how to schedule posts to appear automatically on certain dates—at specific times. How cool is that? I simply wrote several blog posts before I left and scheduled them to go live every other day or so while I was traveling. I hope you found them useful.

Before I left for the Cat Writer’s Conference in Dallas last week, I also spent quite a bit of time contacting book reviewers to let them know about my latest mystery novel, Cat-Eye Witness. And a few times while traveling, I found new reviews posted at Amazon. As you will notice, if you go to this book page at Amazon, not every reviewer agrees. While I’ve had five 5-star reviews—five reviewers have given high compliments to this book—there are also reviewers who did not care much for the book. It’s true—I have a 3-star, a 2-star and even a 1-star review for Cat-Eye Witness.

The first in the Klepto Cat Mystery series, Catnapped, came out earlier this year and has racked up twenty-six reviews. Fifteen of them are 5-star reviews and there are also 1, 2, 3 and 4-star reviews. The thing is, everyone has an opinion and they don’t always agree. But I notice that reviewers and other readers of fiction are much more subjective than those of nonfiction.

My nonfiction book, Promote Your Book, has thirty-four reviews and twenty-nine of them are 5-star reviews. All but one reader/reviewer gave Publish Your Book a 5-star review.

I want to learn what I need to know in order to write good fiction. I want to know how my novels are being received. But it is difficult to determine whether you are hitting the mark with your work when readers and reviewers don’t agree.

From some of the comments I receive, both in posted reviews and from the mouths of readers and critics, I’ve come to realize that life events and experiences as well as perspective and attitude play heavily into our opinions and judgments when it comes to the books we read. There are many countless personal factors that determine our opinions and views. I’m beginning to understand that reviewers and readers of fiction scrutinize fiction from a more personal perspective based on things they’ve seen, experienced, feel, etc.

Do you write fiction? Have you received a wide range of comments, critique and reviews from your various readers? Are you going crazy trying to figure out if your book is good, bad or mediocre? I think we should all relax a bit when it comes to the reviews and comments we receive. Let’s celebrate the accolades and avoid dwelling on the criticism, except that which provides useful/helpful insights we can use to improve our work.

So why continue to reach out to reviewers? Why ask readers to post their reviews at your book’s Amazon site? For the same reason you write articles/publish stories related to the topic or genre of your book, go out and speak on the theme of your book, do book signings and book festivals, write a blog, have a Facebook page and so forth. It’s called exposure. Reviewers and bloggers often post their comments at their own sites and other sites as well as Amazon and this brings even more attention to your book.

Would love to have you share your experiences and thoughts on book reviews for fiction.

4: The author neglects to establish a platform. Many new authors don’t know what a platform is. It’s the author’s following, his reach, his way of attracting his audience. Most successful authors today have a platform in place before they produce a book.

My platform for my writing/publishing-related books revolves around my experience in this field: my exposure through previously published and distributed books and articles on these subjects, my affiliation with SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and my active and far-reaching speaking and workshop schedule, for example.

Your platform for your book on phobias might be the fact that you’re a psychologist in this area of study, that you suffered a severe phobia for years, that you work with women with phobias or that you’ve written on this topic for years.

Even as a novelist, you’ll need a following and this can be established through previously published novels, of course, published stories, a popular Web site or the fact that you’re a widely-known master storyteller.

How can you play catch-up with regard to your platform? Start now getting exposure and establishing credibility in your field. Participate in online forums on your topic, submit articles to appropriate magazines and newsletters, set up speaking engagements, write letters to the editor of pertinent magazines, make news by starting a volunteer organization, for example, and then tell the press about it.

5: The author has unrealistic expectations. Many first-time authors (we’ve all been there) expect to sell their books by the truckloads through mega bookstores. They believe that any good book will be eagerly welcomed by bookstore owners and managers. The reality is that few people outside of traditional royalty publishers with track records can get new books into bookstores—no matter how brilliant and beautiful they are.

And here’s something to consider—do you really want your books in mega bookstores? Just look at the competition. Space on bookstore shelves does not guarantee sales. In fact, books that are not selling will be returned—sometimes within the first six months.

If you are determined to have your books available through mega bookstores, there is a way. How? Make a big enough splash with your book that readers are swarming to bookstores asking for it by name. This might mean appearing on TV and radio with your book, presenting large seminars all over the U.S. related to your book and getting tons of press by creating news and submitting press releases to newspapers everywhere. Become high profile and get enough exposure for your book and, even if you are self-published, when enough readers start asking for your book by name, it will be accepted by bookstores everywhere.

6: The author gives promotion just a lick and a promise and then wonders why his book didn’t “take off.” Authors need to understand that book promotion is ongoing. It should start before you write the book and continue for as long as you want to sell books.

Remedy this mistake by establishing a solid promotional plan immediately. Start by compiling a mailing and emailing list. You’ll use these lists to announce your book, publicize any specials you’re running, inform folks of new additions to your products or services, let them know about upcoming appearances and so forth.

Your list should include everyone you know. Combine your Rolodex, Christmas card list, address books and club rosters. Add business colleagues, former classmates, your children’s teachers, neighbors, your hairdresser, Yoga teacher and then continue to collect business cards everywhere you go.

This is just a start. Once you’ve notified your massive list about your book, research book promotion ideas and create a plan. You might pursue some or all of the following: build a Web site, launch a newsletter, write articles to promote your book, send press releases to newspapers everywhere, give presentations and solicit book reviews. In order to succeed as a published author, you must take promotion seriously. And do yourself a favor—don’t stay too cozy inside your comfort zone.

7: The author gives up. I can’t tell you how often I hear this from disillusioned authors, “I can’t sell my book, so what’s the use?” There’s one thing for sure; you won’t achieve the level of success you desire if you quit. Successful promotion takes time, energy, patience and lots of persistence.

Think, for a moment, about an author you admire—someone who is rather high profile. You see her name everywhere. Every time you visit a site related to this author’s genre or topic, there’s her book, her byline or her quote. This is no accident. This author spends many hours every week making sure her name is constantly in front of you. This is the sort of commitment you must make if you wish to experience a level of success as an author.

There’s a lot to contemplate when entering the huge and competitive business of publishing. And promotion is a major consideration. Whether you land a traditional royalty publisher, self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a fee-based POD publishing service, it is up to you—the author—to promote your book. And the time to start thinking about promotion is before you ever sit down and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

Order Patricia Fry’s books today: Publish Your Book and Promote Your Book available at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio.

You wrote an amazing book, designed it to perfection and even managed to get it published. But it isn’t selling as well as you thought it would. What went wrong?

As the executive director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and an international speaker, I meet many authors who are disappointed in their book sales. I think it’s fair to say that 100 percent of the time, the fault lies with the author. Fortunately, he or she has the power to change the situation. Here are seven common mistakes that authors make and tips for how to repair them:

1: The author writes the wrong book for the wrong audience. Way too many authors write the book they want to write without truly considering their audience. It’s no wonder they fail in their attempt to promote the book. They’re trying to reach an audience that doesn’t want or need the book. Gerald is a case in point. I met this author in St. Louis. He wrote a book featuring scientific proof that there is no God and planned to sell it to a general audience. As it happens, the audience for this book is most likely comprised of people just like him—people with the same belief system.

There are two things this author can do:

• He can start marketing to the right audience.
• Once he sells enough copies of this book, he can go back to the drawing board and create a book that may actually appeal to a larger target audience.

In the meantime, he can write and submit articles on his theory to help establish a platform to use when he finally produces the right book for the right audience.

2: The author doesn’t know that he is responsible for promotion. Obviously, this author didn’t take the time and initiative to study the publishing industry or he would have known that his job isn’t over once the book is published. Hopefully, the author will turn to informative sites, newsletters, forums and books where he’ll quickly learn that authorship requires a commitment beyond the proper dotting of i’s and the crossing of t’s.

It’s never too late to promote your book. Start now soliciting book reviews in appropriate magazines and at related Web sites and set up speaking engagements, for example.

3: The author neglects to build promotion into his book while he’s writing it. Savvy authors think about their target audience while they are writing and designing their books. If yours would make a good reference book, for example, you’ll want to include a complete index. For a novel, choose a setting that is conducive to promotion—a town that others want to read about and that would welcome your promotional appearances.

You could build promotion into your how-to book by involving a lot of experts and/or organizations. These individuals and organization leaders will promote the book to their contacts. For a novel, give a character a popular ailment. If you present it in a positive light, related associations might agree to help with promotion.

If you didn’t think to build promotion into your book as you were writing it, dissect it now in search of possible promotional opportunities that are imbedded within. Does your young adult novel feature a girl with a horse? Perhaps horse and riding magazines, newsletters and Web sites would review it, publish excerpts or welcome your targeted article on an aspect of horsemanship. Maybe you could get some press related to your self-help book for women with phobias through health columns in newspapers nationwide, women’s magazines or on radio talk shows such as “The Satellite Sisters.”

Did you interview a high profile individual for your book? Ask her to promote the book to her audience. Request an interview with her for a major magazine. Do you have some impressive expert testimonials in your book? Play them up in your promotional material.

Watch for four more book promotion mistakes in the next post. In the meantime, avoid all publishing and book promotion mistakes by reading Publish Your Book and Promote Your Book. Both available in print, digital and audio at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

Here’s a tip for authors who travel. Whether your trip is for pleasure or you’re traveling to speak at a conference, make it a habit to schedule additional engagements.

When I arrange to speak at a writers conference out of state, for example, I might contact writers’ groups in the area to ask if I can be a guest speaker for a meeting that week. I might work with a local librarian or booksellers to set up a workshop or other presentation in a neighboring city. And if I’m able to do so, I will call a local radio show host and ask to be interviewed just prior to my arrival.

Depending on the genre or theme of your book, you might contact a school, college or university and schedule a visit to a classroom or two. Perhaps your audience attends church association meetings, gather once a month at a local hobby shop or meet in a downtown coffee house, for example. If you have an interesting presentation or some valuable resources and information you can pass along related to the interests of these people, they would undoubtedly find a way to accommodate you—and you would sell books.

Pages 50 through 54 in my book, Talk Up Your Book, walk you through the process of setting up out-of-town speaking engagements. Order your print, Kindle or audio copy at Amazon.com.

Do you subscribe to Brian Jud’s Book Marketing Matters eNewsletter? You should—it’s a good newsletter for any author with a book to promote. Check the October 28, 2013 issue and you’ll find several very good articles, including one of mine on the author interview.

I planned to focus this blog post on things you can do to promote your book from the comfort of your home. That’s actually the theme of the talk I’ll be giving soon at the Cat Writer’s Association Conference near Dallas. And being interviewed is one thing you can do without venturing out into the weather and traffic.

So who’s going to want to interview you and why?

If you have a nonfiction book—let’s say a how-to, self-help or informational book on a topic of interest to a large audience, there are plenty of people who will be eager to interview you for their radio show, newsletter, magazine or blog site, for example. And your book probably is of interest to a large audience or a strong niche audience. Why else would you go to the trouble of producing it?

Here are a few steps to help you land and successfully participate in interviews:

1: Locate newsletters, blog sites, radio shows, Internet radio/blog radio, magazines and so forth where the hosts/editors typically run interviews on topics similar to your book. Study them so you understand the type of interviews this individual typically conducts.

2: Contact the interviewer/editor/host with your resume/bio and let them know you are interested in being interviewed. You might even give them a couple of ideas for the type of material you can provide. For example, let’s say your book covers overseas travel. Offer to respond to questions on travel tips, how to avoid the tourist crowds, money-saving travel tips or a list of the best sights to visit abroad. For a book on web design, come up with the 10 things you should know before you build your website or the 10 best ways to promote a website, for example.

3: Make it easy for the interviewer. In other words, be easy to contact and respond promptly with the exact information/material he or she wants.

4: Always keep your audience in mind as you respond to the questions. Remember, you will be tuned out if you spend too much time in promotion mode. Sure, you want to talk about your book—but the focus of your interview should be to provide value to your audience. The best way to turn listeners into customers or clients is to demonstrate your credibility rather than talking about it. Show, don’t tell.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about landing and conducting interviews for authors of fiction.

In the meantime, you’ll learn tons more about how to participate in interviews as well as everything you ever wanted to know about personal appearances for authors in Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More. It’s in print, Kindle and audio at Amazon and at most other online and downtown bookstores. Or order it here– http://www.matilijapress.com/TalkUpYourBook.html

Sign up for Patricia Fry’s new enewsletter, Publishing/Marketing News and Views. http://www.patriciafry.com It comes to your email box only 6-times per year. Request a sample. plfry620@yahoo.com