Reviews
Would you, as an author, be willing to share your book in return for a book from another author to give an honest review?
Sort of a review for a review.
You could go down a list of books - that had been registered by their authors as available, with brief descriptions, and offer to review that title. If the author was interested in trading for your title he/she would send you the book in exchange and you would each do a review and post to Amazon, Goodreads, etc. If the author was not interested in trading, you could still review his/her book.
The second part of this idea links authors together to share ideas and possibly bolster sales. Whenever possible the exchange of books could turn into a sale for each author.
I believe this is a great chance for independent authors to garner new reviews and make new contacts in this ever growing community.
What do you think?
Keywords:
About Brenda
I have lived in Southern California all of my life and grew up in a large family. I had the auspicious luck of being the youngest member of that family. My parents divorced when I was young and that was during a time when divorce was not the 'in' thing to do...
Connections
Causes Brenda Youngerman Supports
SPCA
House of Ruth
Missionaries of Charity
JWI
Brenda’s Favorite Books
Gone with the Wind
Secret Garden
anything by John Sandford
Book Reviews
If you are looking for more reviews of your books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, one way to get them is to subscribe to self-publishing Guru Dan Poynter's newsletter. Once a month, I believe, in a special edition of his newsletter, Dan gives authors and publishers a chance to offer copies of their books as give-aways to anyone who wants a copy, provided that if they think the book is really good, that they post a 4-star or 5-star review on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.
Go to this link to subscribe to Dan Poynter's newsletter:
http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/newsletter.cfm
Here is another tactic that I use: When I get an e-mail from a reader ranting and raving about how much they liked one of my books, I respond by thanking them and suggesting that they post a review on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com as well. In fact, I offer an ethical bribe: a signed copy of another one of my books.
I keep a draft e-mail for each of my books so that I can respond quickly to an e-mail from a reader and don't have to generate a completely new e-mail every time some reader e-mails me.
Here is one of the draft e-mails:
Dear Reader:
Thank you for your kind words about How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.
If you have a spare moment, it would be a great help to me if you could post a review of it on Amazon.com and let other potential readers know why you liked it.
It's not necessary to write a lengthy, formal review — a summary of the comments that you sent me would be fine.
But please place the review on this Amazon page;
http://www.amazon.com/How-Retire-Happy-Wild-Free/dp/096941949X
The reason is that there is a transition going on due to a change of my book distributor (and ISBN numbers) from Ten Speed Press to National Book Network.
The new page is the one above.
Also, if possible, can you place the review on BarnesandNoble.com. The new page there is: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/How-to-Retire-Happy-Wild-and-Free/Ernie...
If you place this review, I will send you an autographed copy of my latest book: Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations. This is not strictly a retirement book but it is a great book for retirees who want to continue working, but not in a corporation.
Alternatively, I can send you a copy of my second latest book called 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting.
Once you place the review, send me your address so that I can send you one of my other books.
Many thanks and so long for now,
Ernie Zelinski
World-Class Author, Innovator, and Unconventional Career Expert
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 110,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)
http://www.erniezelinski.com
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