December, 2018

A lot of small press, Print-on-Demand, and self-published authors want to know where is the best place to get their books reviewed. The answers range from the biggies (USA TODAY, PW, KIRKUS, FOREWORD, PEOPLE, and major newspapers such as NY TIMES) to the not so big (reader blogs, online retail sites such as Amazon, Midwest Book review, local papers).

My first question is: “Do reviews help sales?”

YES! Yes they do.

My next question is: “When should an author pay for a review?”

Never. Ever. Nope. Nada. Don’t. Just stop there.

If you truly want to be taken seriously by the major names in book reviews, then print some Advance Copies 4 months before the publication date of your book and send them out under your publisher name with a well-written cover letter, a press release, a marketing plan and a fully fleshed out list of sales and PR activities scheduled. This will give you the bare minimum introduction to the reviewers and give you a CHANCE at a review from one of the biggies.

If you cannot see yourself giving the book the three to four month window that the major reviewers require, then you are choosing to forgo the chance of those reviews. As a small press owner, be aware that getting reviewed by these folks is about as likely as winning the lottery. If you choose to skip them, it is very similar to deciding not to buy that $400 Million Powerball ticket.

In the last year, I have had self-published, single-title authors reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly, the Wall-Street Journal and Fast Company. These are HUGE names and the reviews drove sales. (even the negative ones…) But these author/publishers were in the teeeeeeeeny minority. They won the lottery.

Where does the money come in? Foreword, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly all offer small press/Print on Demand authors a chance to get a review by paying for a listing or review in their “small press” divisions. These are valid and worthy divisions of good companies.

A reviewer’s time is valuable. It is coin and worth a great deal. I am not saying that they SHOULD NOT charge for their time… I am saying that you should not PAY for it.

If your book is worthy of a reviewer’s time, they will offer it. If you follow a reviewer’s submission guidelines and respect their process, you will have a chance at getting some of their valuable time in the form of a review.

I can understand why some companies would charge for a review, but I am here to tell you that the bookstores, retail buyers and librarians who use reviews to make decisions KNOW WHICH REVIEWS WERE PAID FOR. (and they disregard those reviews almost entirely)

AND, none of these “pay for consideration” divisions offer a GOOD review for money, just a chance to be reviewed.

Kirkus gives straightforward reviews to both paid and non paid submissions. (They are known for being honest to the point of brutal…)

Publisher’s Weekly does not guarantee a review for their small-press listing fee, they just offer a better chance at a review in their small press quarterly.

This business model is not like the “fast pass” on the highway or at an amusement park. You are not paying to get bumped to the head of the line. You are exchanging your money for a review you would not likely get otherwise. Buyers and Librarians know this.

Get the review the proper way, or don’t bother.

As a former book buyer and as a current soldier on the front lines of the retail battlefield, I can tell you that numerous, positive, proper reviews from smaller venues help more than a paid for consideration from a bigger name.

Those that know the Kirkus name will know if you paid for the review and those that don’t know the Kirkus name won’t be impressed by the review. SO WHY pay for it?

If you are having trouble finding the submission guidelines for some of the top book reviewers in the publishing industry, HERE THEY ARE! We went through each venue and found the right page to get you to the details for review submission so that you can avoid paying big buck for review services.

Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, NYT, The REAL Kirkus and Foreword Magazine…. we have them all. Just download the document from the link below and you are all set. It’s on us!

Posted in Book Marketing, Book Sales, Publishing Advice | One Comment »

Posted by: Amy Collins | on December 3, 2018

Amazon Keywords. Automatic Targeting vs Choosing Your Own

by Keri-Rae Barnum, New Shelves Marketing Manager

A few weeks ago I conducted an experiment. I set up two Amazon sponsored ads to run side by side. One ad I chose Automatic Targeting and trusted AMS to choose my keywords and audience for me. The second ad I set up using a list of keywords I had pulled myself. When I say I used a “list of keywords,” I do not mean 20 keywords or even 200. AMS allows us to enter in 1000 keywords per sponsored ad. And, knowing that every single one of those keywords is an opportunity for exposure, clicks and, ultimately sales, I always fill the keyword bank to the max. Aside from this small thing, both ads were identical. The same titles were selected to advertise, both ads ran for three days and started at the same time.

Keeping in mind that Amazon ad reports are not fully accurate for 14 days after the ad runs, I allowed some time to pass before checking in. I was absolutely blown away by the results.

Impressions: The ad Amazon targeted for me had 31,000 impressions. Sounds impressive, right? That is, it did sound impressive until I looked at the results for the ad using my own keywords which had over 412,000 impressions. That means the ad I targeted with my own list of keywords was seen on potential customer’s screens 13x as many times as the ad Amazon targeted for me. Guys, if readers don’t see your ad – and therefore your book- they certainly aren’t buying it!

Clicks: Amazon’s automatic targeting got me 26 clicks. My ad got me 151 clicks.

ROI: Amazon’s automatic targeting cost me $7 and sold $23 worth of books. To simplify, I made $14 more than I spent. The ad I ran using my own list of 1,000 keywords cost $44 and sold $105 worth of books. I ended up with $61 more than I spent and got HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of eyes on my book over the course of three days.

Lets recap: the sponsored ad using my own bank of 1,000 keywords ended with 13x the impressions, almost 6x the clicks and $82 more in sales than the AMS Automatically Targeted ad. I think it’s pretty clear that choosing manual targeting with your own bank of keywords is the clear winner here.

Since keywords are obviously key to the success of my sponsored ad, let’s talk about them. As I mentioned above, it is important to create each ad with a full bank of 1,000 keywords. Not just any ol’ keywords will do, though. You need a carefully curated list of keywords specifically pulled with your book in mind. In fact, I collect a minimum of 3,000 keywords before I begin running my ads. Starting with a large bank of keywords allows me to run multiple ads and pull the best performing keywords together for a final, optimized list of 1,000 that I can use over and over again to create profitable ad listings.

There are free places to find great keywords and comparative titles such as Yasiv.com; however, here at New Shelves, we also have a number of paid subscriptions to include KDP Rocket and TwinWords. These specialized programs allow us to pull keywords based on real-life Amazon searches and algorithms. When creating our keyword lists we search for three things: comparative authors, similar books and like-minded audiences.

“Like-minded audiences” seem to trip a lot of people up. “What in the heck does ‘like-minded audiences’ mean?” you may be asking yourself. Let me explain. Fred Stuvek’s self-help book It Starts With You is vastly different than Rachel Hollis’ Girls Wash Your Face. However, readers who enjoyed Girl Wash Your Face because they were looking for straight talk and the motivation to dream big would probably also enjoy the motivation and goal setting skills Stuvek teaches in his book. Like-minded audiences are those who are interested in your overall themes rather than audiences already in your target market.

Sound overwhelming? Let us help you!

Posted in Book Marketing | One Comment »

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Amazon Keywords. Automatic Targeting vs Choosing Your Own