Writing: 5 Ways a Book Review can Increase Your Sales

5 Ways a Book Review can Increase Your Sales

Written by Kathy Burns

If you write and/or publish books of any kind, you need to get your books reviewed. Why? Because it can dramatically increase your sales. Here is a quick list of 5 ways a review can help to increase your sales.

1. Massive Exposure -- Book reviews are picked up and distributed across repparttar web, and throughout a variety of print publications. Having your book review distributed widely can get it seen by hundreds of thousands of people.

2. Eliminate Buy Fright -- Writing a book is one thing, and if you're a known expert in your field then you already have much of repparttar 129372 credibility needed to drive sales. If you are a new author however, not widely known, or available only in non-traditional book formats, you may not be fully trusted by repparttar 129373 general reading public. Getting a professional review of your book lends credibility to repparttar 129374 title and helps to remove any skeptism, or "buy fright" that your customers might have.

3. Word of Mouth Referrals -- When customers read a review that interests them, they tend to pass repparttar 129375 word to friends, family and associates. Some people even do this for books they might not like when they think a family member or close friend might enjoy it.

Introduce Yourself to Local Markets

Written by Kay Bolden

A minor political scandal broke in repparttar

small Mississippi town where I was living, and repparttar 129370

local paper scrambled to cover all repparttar 129371

angles. Unfortunately, most of their writers lived in larger cities at least 50 miles away -- which, if you know Mississippians, might as well be in another country.

The initial stories were peppered with inaccuracies about repparttar 129372 town and repparttar 129373 political scene. Like repparttar 129374 rest of repparttar 129375 locals, I was irritated by all repparttar 129376 errors, and almost stopped reading repparttar 129377 paper altogether. But then, one day, I noticed little sprites, dancing all over repparttar 129378 paper. Could those possibly be ... dollar sign$?

I sat down and dashed off a bold letter to repparttar 129379 editor, proposing a follow-up story with quotes from residents and an interview with repparttar 129380 political whistleblower -- who just happened to live 2 houses away from me, and often gave me gardening advice. I had no clips at repparttar 129381 time, unless you count repparttar 129382 poetry contest I won in 11th grade.

But within 24 hours, I had an assignment.

Weeklies, small dailies and regional tabloids lack repparttar 129383 cachet of repparttar 129384 big, metro papers or repparttar 129385 national glossies; they are often overlooked by freelancers. A working writer can find some golden opportunities with a simple letter of introduction and a few follow- up phone calls.

1. Identify repparttar 129386 editors of small newspapers, shoppers' guides and local publications in your area who need to produce regular features, news items with a local spin, and home-grown human interest stories. If you live in a very small town, take a look at repparttar 129387 next county as well.

2. Don't forget about businesses that send out regular newsletters, like repparttar 129388 tourist bureaus, repparttar 129389 Rotary Club and repparttar 129390 local junior college. Someone has to write that copy -- why not you?

3. Pare down your list based on your own writing skills and interests. If you understand education issues, pitch a school resource guide to repparttar 129391 Chamber of Commerce; they get requests from new residents and visitors all repparttar 129392 time. If finance is your beat, write a piece called "How to Make Your Vacation Pay for Itself" for repparttar 129393 regional travel mag. Like to write about food? Propose a new cooking or restaurant column to repparttar 129394 weekly paper.

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