Naked Review How To Get Books Reviews by Gisela Hausmann
The book editors: "No comma splices!"
NAKED REVIEW HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS is a concise, well-written guide to ethical, effective ways to get people to review your new book.
Probably the best feature of NAKED REVIEW is the clear and concise writing. There is no fluff in this book. For example, page 45 covers "Asking Amazon Top Reviewers for Book Reviews." This section provides step-by-step suggestions on how to maximize your chance of getting a top reviewer to consider your new book. I found this section to be true, useful, and ethical.
Here are some areas that I thought were especially good:
The importance of getting 12 "Starter" reviews. (Hey, wait a minute--Am I one of those "starter" reviews?)
How Amazon has changed the display of reviews, giving better placement to "verified purchase."
Where's my review?
Here's a really smart observation by the author:
"Non-verified reviews will always look a tiny bit suspicious simply because Amazon does not volunteer to show them."
The author has touched on a bit of a sore point for Amazon reviewers. I can vouch that her point is 100% true. (Many times my review of 7 paragraphs is not even shown, but a one-liner "verified" purchase.)
Here's the #1 tip in the entire book. The author provides a template as an example to use when emailing potential reviewers. On page 102, she suggests adding a photo of an inspirational figure in your email. This is a brilliant idea--one which I also have encouraged authors to follow.
Flash mob?
One note/suggestion: On page 22, the author notes that Amazon restricts non-verified reviews to to 5 reviews per calendar week. I believe that is indeed the official policy, but that policy is not always followed. Amazon makes exceptions--but I don't know why or how.
So all in all, I found NAKED REVIEW HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS to be a helpful guide, with tons of good ideas. The author writes very well, and the book is to read. Lots of small sections for us readers with short attention spans. Keep in mind that the book is pretty short, and not intended to be an exhaustive resource on the subject.
Advance Review copy courtesy of the author.
