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Self-Publishing? Desperate for Reviews?

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  By Cathy Robbins

For self-publishing authors, a recent article offers a “think again” moment.
On Sunday, the New York Times ran a stunning story about the practice and business of buying reviews for your self-published books. It was exceptionally long (more than 3000 words) piece that started on the front page of Business Section and consumed an entire page inside.

 Even if you do not plan to self-publish, the article’s insights into the publishing business are invaluable. Factoid: In 2006, before Kindle, 51,237 self-published titles appeared as physical books; last year, more than 300,000 self published titles were issued in either physical or digital form and by 2015, that number will probably double. So authors are desperate to get attention―any attention―for their work. So they turn to reviews-for-hire―mostly positive reviews.

David Streitfeld pegs the story on Todd Rutherford, who started a successful business when he rounded up freelance writers to write positive reviews for authors who had signed up for the service. With a track record of some success for his authors, Rutherford proved that attention draws more attention, even when it’s contrived. Rutherford had a stable of freelancers producing reviews and was on his way to a multi-million dollar business with his web site GettingBookReviews.com.

The article takes us into “a vast but hidden corner of the Internet, where Potemkin villages, bursting with ardor arise overnight. For instance, not all of Rutherford’s freelancers were conscientious. One rarely read the books through, because she had to produce enough content to make a decent living. Her solution was to look up material about the book’s subject matter on the Internet and write the review from that.

The story shows how the book world is being transformed by the surging popularity of electronic self-publishing.” We see the money and effort that writers put into marketing. One writer who used Rutherford’s service paid for 300 reviews, when the cost was 50 reviews for $1,000. Another, a computer programmer, spent $20,000 on review services.

The beginning of the end for GettingBookReviews.com came when a customer posted a complaint about the service on several online sites. Then Google suspended Rutherford’s advertising account. Finally, Amazon took down most of his reviews. The business collapsed in 2011, and now Rutherford sells RVs in Oklahoma and is working on a new service where he writes the reviews and blurbs himself. His Twitter account has 33,000 followers.

As a sad commentary, Rutherford now suspects all online reviews — of books or anything else. “When there are 20 positive and one negative, I’m going to go with the negative,” he said. “I’m jaded.”

The original article’s subtitle is “The Best Reviews Money Can Buy.” Here is a link to it: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?_r=1&ref=business

12 Phases to an Enormously Successful Book Event PART II

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Patricia V. Davis

Patricia V. Davis

12 Phases to an Enormously Successful Book Event (Phases 7-12)

                by Patricia V. Davis

 

Phase Seven: Also two months ahead of time, make a list of any local “VIPs” who would find value in being at this particular event.  As one example, when my book Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece was launched at Book Passage in Corte Madera I invited the Greek ambassador.)  I also invited everyone who gave me blurbs, the editors, and even the book cover artist. Decide which VIPs should get a personal phone call from you or a nicely written, snail mail posted invitation. Are there VIPs who attended previous events who enjoyed themselves and might like to be invited again?  Will those not mind getting an email, and if so, do you have a good email blast program that works without it being annoying? And in that vein, do follow up, or have an intern follow up, to be sure your invitation/email was received. Be sure to have enough books on hand to give away to radio show hosts, reviewers, bloggers or others whom you’ve specifically enticed to come to your event.

Phase Eight starts one month ahead of time: Check on what in-store or in-venue promoting is being done for the event at this time.  Do they have posters of your book up and about? Fliers or postcards?  (Which you have made and dropped off? Never expect the bookshop or your publisher to do this. Most likely they won’t have the budget for you unless you’re a big draw already, and in that case, you don’t need posters, more’s the irony.) Now is also the time to take a full day to sit down and send out notices to all local outlets, such as Events.com, Patch.com, local papers, and even the local Chamber of Commerce, all who have places on their websites to fill out and list local events.  This time-consuming, but worthwhile effort has to be made at least one month ahead of time in order for your event to be listed in a timely manner. What about the local writing groups ─ do they all know about your event? Local book groups and librarians? Any other groups you can think of that might have some interest in the subject matter of your particular book that you can let know about your event? When we launched my second book, The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know, we sent emails and/or written invitations to all local women’s groups, diva groups, goddess groups, and so on. They were enticed with free champagne and chocolates. (Diva food!) We had a diva fancy dress contest. We had a drawing for a diva basket. We had other authors dressed as divas read aloud the principles from the book. We had loads of fun. When a book group coordinator gets back to you with a question or a “yes” response to your invitation, put that person’s contact info into your address book and jot down who he/she is, so you’ll remember when you come across the name again. And send a warm, polite request for a Facebook friendship with each of these potential readers.

Phase Nine starts two weeks ahead of time: Be sure that your books have arrived at your venue, or if you’re bringing them yourself, makes sure you have them ready. If the venue ordered the books through the publisher, find how many they ordered. (Note: If they ordered 25, expect to have six times as many attendees in order to sell every copy, which would make 150 guests. Therefore, it’s better for them not to over-order, else they might have to deal with book returns, an expensive proposition which all bookshops dislike.) Check to see that the posters and fliers for the event are still at the venue in full view.  If not, ask politely who can you bribe/threaten/coerce/kill to get them out. Have you gone around and asked if any other nearby shops will allow you to post fliers/posters for the event? If they say “yes” invite them to the event, or if you can afford it, hand them a free book or maybe some bookmarks.  Be sure to check at the venue whether everyone who answers phones or emails about the event knows about the event, too. You would be surprised at how many workers at the venue or for the group have no idea you’re even coming, so that when they get a phone call or an email about your event, they won’t know how to answer and there goes a potential attendee/book sale. The best way to determine that all who work at the venue know about your upcoming event is to meet everyone employed there on any given day.  Introduce yourself, hand them a flier about the event. Smile and be nice. Say how lovely the venue is, how well run, how excited you are to be doing an event there, or simply a “Looking forward to speaking/reading here.”

Phase Ten starts one week ahead of time: Meet with the coordinator at the venue to settle any last minute issues: where will the food go, the music, the wine? (That is, if you’re having any of these, and I recommend you do have at least refreshments.) How many chairs will there be? How will they be set up? Will the venue be providing an assistant to pour wine and hand out food, or will you need to get someone to do that? What kind of interest, if any, has the venue had on the event? Have they received any calls about the event? How many people do they anticipate will attend from their advertising, if any? How will book sales be handled? Who from the venue will be on hand to supervise? Can you meet with him/her ahead of time and be introduced? (Be sure to thank this person before the event with a handwritten thank you or a small gift, because they have the power to make or break your event.)

Phase Eleven takes place two hours before your event: Arrive to see that everything is in its place and as you want it. Make any last minute adjustments or supermarket runs. Be gracious and thankful even if things have been screwed up, which they surely will have been.  

Phase Twelve is when your event begins. Smile. Make eye contact with your guests, and do your thing, whether 100 people show up or ten. As you conclude your event, thank everyone graciously for coming and hand around a guest book for them to sign so that you know who was there. You’ve got to get those names on a list and some contact info (email works) so that you can personally thank them or friend them on Facebook so they’re aware of where you will be next and what you’re doing. After the event, sit back with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and go over everything that went well and went wrong and record it so that you can improve your next event.  Also ask yourself the hard questions: was this event a success financially? Why or why not? If it was strictly for promo ─ did you get the marketing results from it you wanted to get? Why or why not? Is it worth your time and effort to work with this group or venue again? Why or why not?   No matter what the outcome, did you thank everyone involved for having you there? I say this over and over again, because at the end of the day your graciousness will be your best advertisement. You may never find out how or why, but bear in mind that anyone you offend today can have an influence over your future events and invitations to appear tomorrow. As I said, the book business is an interconnected, relationship-based business. People remember who was courteous and who was not. And if you can’t be courteous, just be invisible. It won’t always be possible, but be sure you want to let your unhappiness be known before you do, because that decision can never be taken back, and believe me, that one moment of frustration or impulsive anger will be remembered far longer than all the good things you do.  In today’s world, there is no shortage of midlist authors for book events. So, unless you’re Bethenny Frankel or Joan Rivers, you can be substituted out. Most of all, ask yourself: Was that fun? Was it worth my time? If the answer is yes, then go back to Phase One and do it all over again.  

 

PATRICIA V. DAVIS is the author of the bestselling Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece, and The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know. Her latest work and first published fiction, “Chopin, Fiendishly” appears in Tales From the House Band: Volume I.  Patricia holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Education, and is the founder of The Women’s PowerStrategy Conference. This article is excerpted from Patricia’s upcoming book, written with Gilbert Mansergh, with the working title, PowerStrategy Publishing! The Paramount Guide for Authors, Agents, Publishers and Booksellers On Leveraging Industry Change.