BOOK BLAST: Book Reviewer Yellow Pages - Christine Pinheiro + $50 GIVEAWAY!

     Book Reviewer Yellow Pages: A Book Marketing Guide for Authors and Publishers  Christine Pinheiro   Book blogging today has grown into a serious business. It is a necessary marketing tool to promote books and the Book Reviewer Yellow Pages—now in its sixth edition—is the definitive guide to this informal network of book reviewers. -Author David Wogahn, President of Sellbox.com This book is designed to make book marketing easier. The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages is a popular book promotion reference guide for authors and publishers. Use this guide to learn about book tours, author etiquette, and how to write a good pitch to grab the interest of a book reviewer. Updated every year, this reference lists hundreds of book reviewers, their contact information, submission guidelines, and genre preferences.  
 

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  Book Reviewer Yellow Pages Foreword by David Wogahn   I wrote my first eBook in 1991. In those days, like today, it wasn’t hard to do if you had something to say and a computer to produce it. But what was hard, was marketing those early eBooks. Even if you advertised the book on a service like CompuServe, Prodigy or AOL, how would you ever find people willing to tell other people about your book?  I “discovered” the Book Reviewer Yellow Pages more than five years ago; April 29, 2011 to be exact (then called The Indie Book Review Yellow Pages). Newspapers and magazines were still employing book reviewers and “book bloggers” were considered an anomaly, given the same respect that big publishers were giving the new-fangled eBook formats like Kindle. Fast forward to today and those same reviewers—if they are still writing reviews—most likely have started a blog (and in fact might even be in this book). An indie author trying to get reviewed by a traditional media outlet is an exercise in futility. It’s also fair to say that eBooks have made the big publishers huge profits and now form a permanent part of their publishing operations.   Book blogging today has grown into a serious business. It is a necessary marketing tool to promote books and Christy Pinheiro-Silva’s Book Reviewer Yellow Pages—now in its sixth edition—is the definitive guide to this informal network of book reviewers. Collectively they rival the promotional power of the large circulation newspapers and magazines. Individually they can help niche books break-out to a wider audience. And that’s what book marketing is all about: helping thousands of small products in scores of categories seek and find their own passionate audience.  How I met Christy is a testament to modern book marketing, itself a lesson for new publishers. As a long-time reader of the pioneering eBook news website Teleread.com, I came across an article saying that her second edition was available for free. Free is still a popular way to connect with readers but in 2011 it was the fastest, sure-fire way to get your name and book noticed. Everyone had Kindles to fill-up and as a book marketer and author, who couldn’t use a free directory? By the time the fourth edition was published in 2013 it had grown to a 778 page tome. Seeing an opportunity for constructive feedback, I took to Amazon reviews to voice my ideas about what makes this guide book so important for my clients, and where I thought it could be improved. I’m happy to say that Christy read that review, contacted me, and took many of those suggestions to heart. Here are the two things you should know about the Book Reviewer Yellow Pages:

• It defines a standard of etiquette. Christy’s 10 rules for author etiquette should be required reading for every author, regardless of whether or not book bloggers are part of your marketing mix. I confess it is so solid that I based a section of my own book, Successful eBook Publishing (Sellbox, 2012) on her advice. The blogosphere would be a better place if every author took her admonitions to heart in all their book promotion interactions.
• It codifies the essential facts about a book blogger, so you don’t have to. Shouldn’t we be able to just “Google” book bloggers and fire off emails to reviewers? Nope. In reality it isn’t that easy. Trying to find the pertinent information so you can approach the reviewer who is right for your book (see point 1) is going to take you hours! There are no standard website designs for review websites, and you will need to visit each one (again, see point 1). Here is where the Book Reviewer Yellow Pages shines. Your small investment will pay big dividends in saving time in finding the relevant reviewers, and their contact information.

But one thing still remains the same, as it did for me in 1991. You simply must get people talking about your book if you are ever going to be a successful author. A book no one talks about is even worse than a book that doesn’t make money. And that’s where this wonderful community of book bloggers comes into play. Let the Book Reviewer Yellow Pages be your Michelin Guide to the Wild West World of book review bloggers. David Wogahn President, Sellbox.com Publisher, PartnerPress.org Author, Successful eBook Publishing  
 

For more information visit: The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages Website * Facebook

       $50 Blast Giveaway   Enter to win an Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 6/1/15 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by readinglight.com.  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

We Need To Talk....Goodreads, Reviewers, & BingoGate

I'm usually a day late on everything, I have no problem admitting that either. It is what it is. Yesterday I got on Goodreads to read a new review of my book. Thinking back now, ironically, the review of my book could have been taken negatively. I was so tickled to have an honest review that I didn't even think to let it hurt my feelings. As a matter of fact, I sent the reviewer a heartfelt "thank you" message because I truly appreciated the fact that she took time out of her busy life to read my book that may or not be crap. 

While on Goodreads, I noticed a review for a book on my To-Read list had gotten a lot of attention. And thus was my introduction into BingoGate. If you are behind like I was, let me break it down for you. 

• Author wrote a book 
• Author allowed people to review the book
• Reviewer posted review on Goodreads 
• Author didn't like review on Goodreads
• Instead of taking the criticism and turning it into something positive or ignoring it all together, Author acted like a 5 year old and created a "Bingo" card for other YA authors who are also part-time kindergartners. 
• Reviewer(S) saw said Bingo card and felt insulted
• Author tried to backtrack and say that it was all out of fun and that she wasn't intending to insult anyone (although she did post on a question on Twitter asking what pissed you off the most in Goodreads reviews of YA novels right before the posting of the Bingo card and then posted about how it took an hour for anyone to get mad at her about the Bingo card which let me know that pissing people off was exactly what she intended) 

I've seen several authors saying that it was funny (kudos to you if you thought it was) and that sometimes authors just need to blow off some steam and that is probably what she was doing. I'm sorry, I call bullshit on that excuse. There was a lot of thought put into this Bingo card, which means she had time to think about what she was doing before she posted it. If she wanted to feel some sense of validation for her feelings and shared it with other authors where reviewers couldn't see it, I don't necessarily think that would have been a bad thing. Instead, she knowingly put something out there that would hurt feelings and cause drama. 

The biggest problem I have with BingoGate and the issue between authors and bloggers is that SOME authors treat book bloggers like they're beneath them or that they should be falling all over themselves because an author gave them the opportunity to review their book.

GET REAL.

In the world that we live in today where most people are connected to the internet, book bloggers are of vital importance to your book. Not the other way around. Book bloggers do not NEED your book on their blog to keep going. They can pick up several other books and keep right on moving without it even affecting them. Authors, on the other hand, need that promotion to keep people interested in their book so that people will buy it. Before I became a book blogger I checked Goodreads quite frequently when I was thinking about buying a book in order to see the reviews. I don't want to waste my hard-earned money on something that really wasn't worth it. 

As an author, I am THANKFUL for any review that I get. Even if a review says that it sucked and they send me a video of themselves setting my book on fire, I am still thankful and appreciative that they took the time to read my book. Yes, I will probably have the Ugly Kardashian Cries for a little bit BUT that comes with the territory of being a WRITER. As much as you want EVERYONE to love your book as much as you do, it's just not going to happen. Someone somewhere is going to find something wrong with your book even if you've had God himself edit it twice. 

Instead of throwing a fit all over social media, take all of the criticism, good and bad, and use it to make your writing BETTER. No matter how long you've been writing, you can always improve. Use the reviews as a way to evaluate your work with an outside eye. Or say lots of cuss words and scream into pillows. Cry. Do whatever you have to do to deal with it personally but do not act a fool in public. It makes you look very unprofessional and very ungrateful. Most of these book bloggers aren't professional book critics. They are READERS who share a love of books and want to take an active role in the book world. They are the people who are going out and buying your other books or telling their friends to go out and buy your books. If you piss them off or piss all over them, you run the risk of losing your readership. As it stands now, I've seen several people state that they're not reading the Bingo book simply because of the author's behavior. And yes, I am one of those people. 

I feel like I just wrote about this a few days back. Snobs in the Bookish Community

Don't treat people like crap just because you didn't like something that they said. And don't be mistaken and think that book bloggers owe you a positive review because you gave them a free book. They owe you nothing other than an HONEST review, which you agreed to when you offered them a free copy of your book. 

To sum it all up: 

Don't put your book out into the world if you aren't ready for the reviews. Don't criticize others if you cannot take criticism yourself. Be grateful that people are taking the time to review your book. Treat your readers with respect. Stop being a cry baby. Be a professional. 

Or stop writing.