All About the Blurb
I've been on an ongoing adventure since before Son of the Siren was published, and that has been getting author blurbs for the book. Author blurbs are like one-sentence endorsements for your book, and you've seen them everywhere on books in bookstores. On places like Amazon, they live under the heading "Editorial Reviews." Usually they're a handful of words, like "Lush and Evocative" or maybe even longer than that--two sentences would be a colossal win!
I made a list of about 30 authors for my agent to try, ranging from the stratosphere to the more down-to-earth choices. He queried them, and we either got polite "nos" or simply no response (which admittedly bummed me out). I was disappointed Son of the Siren wasn't going to start its launch with endorsements, but I've been waiting for the reviews to come in to see what I can use from them, including reviews on Instagram. For example, a recent NYT bestselling author complimented my book in her Instagram feed, and I picked out a sentence I wanted to use as a blurb. I reached out to her via email asking to use it...still waiting to hear back, but I hope it goes ok. It would be a big boost for the book, I think.
I don't exactly know what the protocol is for getting Editorial Reviews from blurbs. The compliments I've received have been made on public posts, but it feels weird not asking permission to use them first because then they'd be a very official endorsement.
In the meantime, I'm just gathering up compliments I can use, and I'll reach out to everyone one-by-one to see if I can add them to Amazon and other bookseller sites.
Now Onto Reviews
I know that for your own sanity, you're not supposed to read your reviews. I can't help myself and do anyway, but I don't comment on them. I just vent to friends or family. Some of them have been thorough and helpful, and some of them have been off the wall enough to make me laugh. There admittedly have been a couple that made me angry, but I know the issue was with the reviewer and not my book.
Reviews were very slow to trickle in, and for a while, my star ratings were quite low. I'm pleased to say that finally I've reached my dream goal for star-ratings: an overall 4.
I'm at 4.4 on Amazon, 4.0 on Goodreads, 3.7 on Storygraph, 4.0 at NetGalley (finally! the reviews there were rough), and a 4.0 at Barnes & Noble (although the reviews are only visible on the app, not the website). I am positively blissful at this outcome.
So why should I complain? I don't want to, but here's the deal. The number of reviews is really, really small. My agent told me the places that matter are Goodreads and Amazon. I have 32 ratings on Goodreads and 18 on Amazon. While my score is good, I don't have enough sway over the algorithm for my stuff to be showcased in any way.
...I'm sure if you have social media, you've seen this floating around from the writers you know:
The "50 reviews get your work promoted" has lasted a long time. I don't know if it's true or not--there's some debate on that--but if it is true, I'm nowhere near getting the amount I need on Amazon.
There was also the four-star worry: I had heard (though I can't place where) that Amazon would not promote your book if it was under 4 stars. At least I cleared this hurdle!
I subscribe to marketer Rob Eagar's newsletter (he's the guy behind Wildfire Marketing) and in one of his letters, he stated that it's better to get 100 mixed reviews than only 30 reviews that are positive. He said authors should shoot for a minimum of 100 reviews, or the results could be devastating.
My publisher, Oliver Heber Books, has been working behind the scenes to help solve this problem, but I have to work on it, too. I assume no one knows the book exists, so I've been putting my own money into Bookstagram tours (although some TikTok videos came out of that, too). I also took out an ad in Shelf Unbound (I have no idea if this did anything or not) and did a Book Blitz with Xpresso Book Tours (again, uncertain of how much this helped or not). My biggest success seems to be from Instagram, where people are reviewing the book and people are expressing interest in it through comments and likes. The next big thing I'm doing is nominating it for the Ohioana Book Award, which is an incredibly long shot, but I'm doing what I can to help people realize my book exists.
Want to Help Me Out?
The biggest issue I'm having right now is the number of reviews, especially on Amazon. If you have read the book--you can order the paperback from any major bookseller, the eBook on Amazon and on Kindle Unlimited--please review it. It could be something small, like "I enjoyed this." Anything helps.
Thank you for your support!
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