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Writer Advice - Reviews, Part 3


Over a 2 week time frame I'm offering some interesting and helpful information for writers in regards to obtaining and managing reviews of their work in a 3 part series... today is the 3rd and final installment. 

You might also find this resource useful in your writing career as well; I use Grammarly's plagiarism checker because once in a while a person just accidentally quotes something they've read before and think it is their own creation. This way you never make that mistake again. I've enjoyed browsing their site and hope you do too.


Publication Lead-Times

If you are trying to get into a pre-publication magazine like Publisher's Weekly, you are looking at a three to four month lead-time. This means you need to submit the book to one of their reviewers about three or four months before the deadline date.
These kinds of publications often require ARCs or Galleys because they only review books prior to their publication. Unless your publisher provides these you will need to print out the manuscript and send it with the other promotion materials. These pre-publication magazines are published for wholesalers, larger bookstores, distributors and libraries. Some are targeted towards a specific audience, while others are more general.
Being reviewed online (e-newsletters, review sites and e-zines) is often easier than getting printed reviews in newspapers, newsletters and magazines.



What To Do With A Review?

You can do several things with any one review, no matter when you receive it. For this reason it is important that you have a file where all the reviews you have every received are stored, ready for you to use at any time. 
Some examples of how to use a review follow:
  • You can periodically post excerpts of the review on your site, in your blog, on social networking sites, your newsletter, etc. 
  • You can post a direct link to any recent review in a brief announcement to your contacts. 
  • You can use excerpts for future editions of your book. 
  • Try placing carefully chosen review excerpts in ads or promotional materials - keeping in mind who the targeted audience is for that batch of ads, etc.
Reviews are also helpful to learn more about your writing skills, weak areas you might have, strengths you have - and this can play a role in developing your writing career as time goes on. Even the worst review can have something you can use in some way - so be grateful even if someone had some harsh words for your work.

To learn more about book marketing and PR for writers check out the Purple Snowflake Marketing book via: http://www.brummet.ca/store.html
Find Dave and Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, their radio program, blog, and more at: http://brummet.ca * Support the Brummets by telling your friends, clicking those social networking buttons, or visiting the Brummet's Store - and help raise funds for charity as well!



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