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What is the Top Way to Sell More Books?

Image of Flora Morris Brown and David Woghan at Publishers and Writers of Orange County meeting

Flora Morris Brown greets David Woghan at Publishers and Writers of Orange County meeting.

Consult any list of book marketing tips for ways to sell more books and getting book reviews will be near the top of list.

Think about yourself. Do you read reviews to help you decide on buying a book or any other product for that matter?

Avoid offering incentives for book reviews.

Contain your eagerness for getting reviews for a minute. There is a right way and a very wrong way to do it.

Asking buyers to leave an honest review is acceptable, but please don’t promise them a gift, reward, discount, or incentive of any kind. Amazon and other book distributors not only don’t like it, but will ding you if they suspect you of incentivizing.

As I was assembling my collection of 52  weekly book marketing tips,  I was eager to tell authors about ethical ways to find reviewers.  For that reason, I recommended The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages as a great tool for helping you find reviewers. You can imagine my delight when I discovered that David Woghan, author of this book, was going to be the guest speaker at a local meeting for publishers and writers.

Do you get a little giddy when you meet a celebrity or one of your favorite people of influence?

That’s the way I felt recently when I met David Woghan, author of The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages,  at the Publishers and Writers of Orange County meeting. I featured his book in one of the tips in my 52 Weekly Book Marketing Tips subscription program.

Like any fan, I couldn’t resist asking him to pose with me. He graciously agreed.

At the meeting, he shared how he became the new author of The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages.  He wrote a critical review of the 2009 edition, pointing out ways the author could improve the book. The original author appreciated his suggestions and stayed in touch with Woghan. When she was ready to step down, she remembered his enthusiastic concern for the contents and layout of the book and asked him if he wanted to take over updating and publishing the book.

Talk about the power of writing a review!

Follow ethical ways to get book reviews

Some authors think they can just ask fellow authors to exchange glowing reviews and they blame book distributors such as Amazon when reviews are taken down or not accepted. While you may disagree with the way Amazon judges a review you posted, it’s the Federal Trade Commission that is behind this practice across the board.

Endorsements (such a positive reviews and high ratings) are an important tool for advertisers and they can be persuasive to consumers,” FTC’s website states. “But the law says they also have to be truthful and not misleading. If there is a connection between the endorser and the marketer of a product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed.

Based on reader feedback, Woghan has completely redesigned the 9th edition loaded with key tips on ethical ways to get book reviews. He lists reviewers and services who are actively seeking books to review, for either free or fee.

Find readers and services seeking books to review

There are many book bloggers and legitimate services seeking books to review. Some of them offer free reviews and others charge a fee. Finding them on your own, however, would take a disproportionate amount of time and effort.
Woghan’s Yellow Pages makes it so much easier.

Discover appropriate ways to approach reviewers

Once you find reviewers in your genre who are open to reviews, you must follow their instructions for submissions. Failure to follow their preferred procedure may mean you won’t even get a response.

The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages is organized into four sections followed by seven indexes to help you find bloggers by key attributes.

1. Book Bloggers

This alphabetical listing of 200 book bloggers makes it easy for you to spot the bloggers who review books in your genre, along with their contact information and turnaround time.

2. Blog Tour  Organizers

These 40 services pre-arrange virtual tours of book blogs where you give interviews, giveaways, and other events to promote your book.

3. Review Businesses

This is a new section listing 32 services that give reviews for a fee.

4. Resources

In this section you’ll find four valuable tools:

  • The “Reviewer Outreach Checklist”
  • Alex Foster’s Handling Negative Reviews”
  • Understanding Amazon’s Terms of Services
  • Teri Rider’s article, “Impress Readers with a Professional-Looking Book

The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages is an example of the high-quality tips you’ll get when you invest in 52 Weekly Book Marketing Tips Collection.

Invest in 52 Weekly Book Marketing Tips Collection to save your time and energy so you can get back to writing and planning your projects while earning you much-deserved profits.

You see, the purpose of this very affordable program priced at an “Of course I want it!” price, is to help you sell more books. These tips have worked for many authors. Let them work for you too.

What has your experience been with getting reviews for your book? Do you read reviews before you buy books or other products? Tell us in Speak Your Mind below.