This may be the year to write and publish your book

By Faith Chatham - January 1, 2019

Many of the people on this list will write and publish this year. Some, even some who have previously used publishers, may decide to self-publish. There is no longer a horrible stigma attached to self-publishing. In some instances, it is the best route.

There are pitfalls which should be avoided. A good editor is crucial. Marketing is essential. Actually writing, and getting the book printed, is a milestone marking when the really hard work begins. It is also when it is essential to sift through the vendors who tout how much they can help you get your book read and promoted.

The fee may seem reasonable and affordable, but if the author is required to pay to get the book reviewed, it is probably a scam. Avoid any company which charges an author a fee to have a reviewer read and post a review of the book It is not the author's responsibility (or role) to pay a reviewer. It is the publications who pays the reviewer for content. It may be called a "book promotion package" which "includes an independent review" of your book. If you pay for it, the "independence" becomes suspect. You paying for the review lessens the value of having your book reviewed!

Now I am not referring to having someone read your unpublished work to give you feedback to help you improve it before you publish it. That is a legitimate part of the editing process and it is appropriate to pay for their time.

A company charging an author to have their employee read and review a published book so that company can post the review on their website, or in their publication, is a different thing. DO NOT FALL for that. Even if they have been in business doing this for years, it is still a shady practice.

The more authors they suck in and charge marketing/book review fees, the more readers they need. Not everyone is qualified to write a credible literary review.

Things to know:

Do their reviewers have literary or publishing backgrounds, education, publishing resumes?

Do they have expertise evaluating books in your field? If they do not know history, they are not qualified to evaluate a history book. You do not want an artist evaluating a physics book or an engineer without art history expertise reviewing an art book. Those who have only reviewed prose and have read few poems should not be assigned to write reviews on volumes of poetry.

Once a review is published, it is too late. Bad reviews, even by (or especially by) writers who are not qualified to review books in that particular field, can do significant harm to potential book sales. Some books deserve bad reviews. Some good books get bad reviews. Some reviews are simply wrong. Avoid getting a WRONG review if you can. Do not pay someone who probably is not qualified to review your book and risk paying for a WRONG review.

Publications have the right to pay writers/reviewers for  content to publish in their periodical or on their website. This is standard industry practice and is ethical. Authors have no control over the review or whose review is published. The publication has a responsibility to carefully vet their writers. The reputation of the publications rests on the quality and integrity of the work they publish. 

There are some companies which resemble publications which publish independent reviews. RESEMBLE and INDEPENDENT are the key phrases. Some companies offer authors marketing promotion packages which include advertising space and a review of their book. To casual observers, these site may seem similar to more reputable literary review publications because they contain book reviews.  The difference is WHO writes the reviews, the credentials of those who write the reviews and who pays for the content in the review. If the author pays for it, it is really advertising not an independent review. If you are paying for advertising you should have control over the message. Frequently, with these companies which offer marketing packages including book reviews, the author has little control over anything once they pay their fee. They are inviting a company to assign their book to someone who may or may not have any expertise in reviewing books of that genre. hey probably do not attract reviewers from the academic//publishing world. If they advertise for people to read and review their books and pay for the reviews with Amazon gift cards  BEWARE. Credible book reviewers with credentials in publishing and academics rarely work for Amazon gift cards!

When a company offers to review your book for a fee which you (the author) pays them, BEWARE!

So, what do you do? You want your book reviewed by someone who is credible in your field. People who have THOSE kinds of credentials are probably not going to write a review for a $20 Amazon gift card. They are not going to advertise to authors offering to review books for a fee. How do you find them? How do you get them to review your book?

Some people engage literary agents who have contacts with people who review and publish book reviews. Some people use publishing companies who have contacts with people who review and publish book reviews. Some authors have friends who know people qualified to review books in certain genre or fields. Some people know professors who need publishing credits who sometimes write book reviews and submit them to various literary journals and periodicals. They will not ask an author for a fee. They may welcome a copy of your book. You can query university literature department heads or faculty members. If they write a review it will be independent. Their academic reputation depends upon the reasonableness and validity of what they publish.

There are other ways to get your book reviewed without paying for it. Google "book review no fee". Invest in copies of your book and postage to send to reputable literary reviewers / publication who publish truly independent reviews. If you self-published send only to those publications which review books which are self-published.

Marketing your book is not easy. It is time consuming and costs money. You should decide how much of your time and money it is REASONABLE to invest in promoting thus book.

Most writers prefer writing to promoting. Weigh how important your current or "next" project is. It is hard to think out of the marketing/promoting side of your brain while you are writing, creating, or polishing a current literary project.  This is why authors usually sell rights to their work to publishing houses. 

When selling rights, it is important to evaluate the publishers track record on promoting and marketing authors of your genre. Sometimes it is worthwhile to make less money per volume sold if your work is marketed and distributed by a company which gets it marketed and sold to many more people than you would without them. Weigh the benefit with the cost and do not discount the value of your time, especially if you have other projects you are working on or want or need to be working on.

Evaluate how important it is to you to devote your resources to promoting this particular book. Some books are more for family and friends or your current circle of peers. If this particular book is more for yourself, your family and friends, then self-publish and promote it to family, friends and within your circle of peers. There is no need to spend a lot on promotion  Invest your time and resources into your next project. That may be the book which has wider appeal and should reach a broader audience. Write it, and develop a strategy to get that book out there where it will truly be independently reviewed and marketed to that broader audience.

Think about it. Is this book a learning experience, preparing you to write your great novel or definitive work of your career? Treat it accordingly.  Don't underestimate it and don't try to make it more than it is.  Know your worth. Create what you can. Release it. Give it the respect (meaning time and resources) it deserves. Don't give it too much or too little. Decide if you want to put your time into marketing and promoting it, if you prefer to pay someone else to do that for you, or if you simply want to move on to the next project.

Do not let one book or one literary project stall you from creating something better. Write it, polish it, release it and move on!