If you are an author, you know exactly what I mean.
After all the blood, sweat and tears, that book that took months or even years to write is finally posted on the world wide web in all of the online book stores. It should be easy to find. After all, you used the right “search” key words. The title is spot-on and the book cover looks fantastic! The book description is concise and appealing. The readers should soon be flooding in! But they’re not. . .
If you’re wondering why, the answer is painfully simple. There is just too much competition! There is literally an ocean of books available for public consumption and the levels of that ocean rise higher every single day.
Another thing to consider, that is not immediately apparent, is that those carefully selected key words you chose might not even bring your book up in a search at that online book store. Hard to believe, but absolutely true. That is because authors with the most money to spend on those key words are the ones that will reap the most rewards in online searches. Not fair, but hey. . .you know the saying, “Nothing in life is fair.”
Hmmm…so what is an author to do?
Maybe you have joined one of the many groups on social media where you can give a review and get a review in return. But you’ve quickly found that trying to keep track of who you reviewed and who has reviewed you can be maddening. Keeping track. . .oh yeah, you’ve got to be vigilante about doing that because the king of the book mountain (and you all know who I mean) won’t allow you to review the book of someone who has reviewed your book. They will even go so far as to DELETE your reviews. That whole process is just too time-consuming and just plain hard.
Maybe you have joined up with one of those reading websites that assure you they have thousands of readers who will absolutely want to read your book. And sure enough, you get notification after notification that someone just downloaded your book. Whoo-Hoo! The reviews should surely begin to roll in soon. . .but they don’t. . .even after a year or more of waiting. They don’t because there are no limits for how many books a potential reader can download and their TBR piles get so high that your book never actually gets read, much less reviewed.
Yeah. . .reality begins to hit pretty hard about now.
I think most of us authors get to that point where we might start to believe it all seems hopeless. But there’s a funny thing about creative people. Nothing can keep us down forever. In fact, for some, it makes them even more creative.
Ta-ta-ta-da!
Here’s where I want to introduce you to the best idea I’ve ever come across for authors looking for reviewers.
It is such a great idea that I wish I had thought of it myself. First, I love the name. GET BOOKS REVIEWED. Could it be more simple and succinct?
Here’s how it works.
The GET BOOKS REVIEWED site works on the concept of “give a review – get a review” but unlike those social media groups discussed above, this site uses computer algorithms to make sure you never get slapped down by the king of the book mountain.
This site also works on a point system similar to that of a lot of music sites. You review a book and you get points. Someone reviews your book and points are deducted from your account. The best part of this system is that you can never have more than 2 books on your TBR list at a time so it is pretty certain that all participants will actually read books and write reviews. As you build up enough points, you can add more of the books you’ve written to the “public” library.
When someone reviews your book that review gets posted on that giant site whose name we will not mention.
There are several ways to participate. You can purchase the book that you will review, you can request a pdf (if available) and more. All reviews for your book will be linked from GetBooksReviewed.com to that giant site making it easy to see how many you’ve received for your participation. The GetBooksReviewed site is a private membership site so it can’t be crawled or invaded, making your book data private. That alone is worth its weight in gold.
Speaking of currencies. . .the first 15 days of membership are offered for free. After that it is only $10.00 per month if you pay for a year in advance and $15.00 of you pay monthly. That’s a great deal!
Go now and check out GetBooksReviewed.com.
Make sure you watch Debby’s introductory video. It is extremely informative. One thing to remember is that this site is brand new so the “public” library does not have many books in it yet. But as the idea grows, you will be able to easily find books that you’ll enjoy reading.
One last thought on the subject. . .
The book industry has gotten so huge that authors and publishers have come to feel they have no choice but to give away their books for free just to attract potential readers. I thought that might be the way to go myself for a very long time. But over time I’ve learned that people don’t appreciate those free books as much as they do the ones they pay for. In fact, they have a tendency to hoard them and may never even look at most of them again once downloaded. That is such a sad reality.
I don’t know about you but I do not mind paying for the books that I read and review. In fact, that is my preference because I know it is helping the author. I do have price range limits, though, as I’m sure you will, as well. My suggestion is to keep your prices at the online book store low enough so that you’ll only make a little bit of royalty. Books with text only can usually be priced at 99 cents but picture books usually have to be priced around $2.99. Unfortunately, that’s the way those online book stores price structures work. Just remember to make your book affordable for the people who are trying to help you introduce it to the public.
Wishing you the best on your book journey.