Vanishing Book Reviews

by Charlotte Hinger

The mother of all book reviews is the New York Times. The lucky author whose book is reviewed by this prestigious publication will see sales leap. We should all be this fortunate. The other "best" places to be reviewed are Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and Booklist.

Kirkus Reviews gives a prize of $50,000 to the best fiction book, the best non-fiction, and young reader's literature. Wow!

But here's the rub when it comes to reviews. Library Journal gets more than 60,000 requests a year. So does Booklist. That's 5000 a month, 1200 a week, 250 books a day. Kirkus Reviews receives 200 submissions per day.

My Recent historical novel, Mary's Place, did not get reviewed by any of these publications. Previously, two of my mysteries received starred reviews from Kirkus, and all of my other historical novels had been received by at least one of the magazines.

I was disappointed. Dumb me, I had not realized how much the publishing world had changed. Review sections are much smaller. Magazines are thinner because of the price of paper and because of the decrease in advertising revenue.

All of the places which grant reviews have guidelines. Following guidelines is crucial. One of the most constant "rules" is to submit a book about four months ahead of publication.

Here are the guidelines from Kirkus Reviews:

The following guidelines are intended to help publishers get the right titles into the right hands at the right time so they can receive consideration.

WHEN TO SUBMIT Kirkus will consider titles that are submitted as digital galleys or e-books at least 4-5 months before publication date. As soon as a book is reviewed—usually 2-3 months before its publication date—the publisher is notified of the review rundate.

WHAT TO SUBMIT We consider all new adult hardcover or original trade-paperback fiction, general-audience nonfiction, and children’s and teen books. Editors make individual judgments about coverage based on merit or potential interest.

Kirkus does not review books in the categories listed below in its traditional program. (Kirkus Indie does not put genre or publication date limits on submissions; see more information about that program here.)

—already published books
—reprints of books that Kirkus has previously reviewed
—self-published titles
—print-on-demand titles
—poetry (except children’s and teen)
—cookbooks
—crafting books
—guidebooks, including travel guides
—personal finance
—textbooks
—specialized technical or professional works
—any work intended primarily for an academic audience
—reference books
—instruction or how-to manuals
—screenplays or other dramatic scripts
—computer and technology handbooks
—books of regional interest

Fortunately, there are oodles of websites created by book bloggers who might give your book the attention it deserves.

Another Book Launch Under My Belt

Donis, Barbara Peters, Martin Edwards

What a weird couple of weeks it's been. I've had so many things going that I'm in a constant state of anxiety that I'm going to forget something important. In fact, I did forget to write my Type M blog entry on October 30. I'm sorry, but I suppose if I'm going to forget something, that's better than forgetting to put on pants.

October 29 was the official launch party for my 1920 silent movie era novel, The Wrong Girl, Episode 1 of my new series, The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse. It was a wonderful event - a big crowd and I was pleased to appear with Edgar winner Martin Edwards, author of The Golden Age Of Murder, who was in the States to attend Bouchercon and tout his latest, Gallows Court. I didn't get to go to Bouchercon, but I am planning a road trip early next month to go back to my home country of Oklahoma to do a couple of events. (more on that later). Yes, my husband Don and I are planning to drive from sunny Arizona to who-knows-what-it'll-be-like Oklahoma. Don has not been "home" for a dozen years, and he is having a period of relatively good health right now, so we thought we'd better take advantage of the opportunity while we can. Besides, tomorrow (Friday the 15th) is our 45th wedding anniversary, and by damn, we're going to do something together to celebrate.

Always work the crowd.

The Wrong Girl is getting some nice attention already. It got a starred review in Booklist, and has been listed as one of their Best New Books of the Week! You can see the full list here: Cathy Cole's review at Kittling Books made me very happy, as well.

I also did a fun, short podcast at Biblio Happy Hour on Monday in which I wax eloquent about The Wrong Girl. Have a listen! http://ow.ly/acrM50x89RV

And if you haven't had enough, and want to see how it all came about, Elisabeth Storrs interviews me in her November inspiration newsletter here. If you subscribe to her newsletter you can enter into the draw for a digital copy of The Wrong Girl. As a special treat, my friend Judith Starkston is offering 3 copies of her new release, Sorcery in Alpara, at the same address: https://elisabethstorrs.com/subscribe


Oh, there's more, but for the moment I'd better pause and think about all the things I've forgotten to do.

Flogging My Way to Success

Just can't do it folks. Can't nag my friends and family members about writing reviews of my books. I consider it an honor when someone tells me they bought one of my books and just loved it. Yes, that happens! But as far as going the extra step and twisting their arms to get on Amazon and give me a good review, I just can't. 

Good reviews are very important. I'm thrilled every time I get thoughtful comments from one of the four major review magazines: Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal. One of my biggest honors was when Hidden Heritage, the third book in the Lottie Albright series, was flagged by Kirkus as one of the 100 Best Mysteries, and one of the 100 Best Fiction Books of 2013. I wondered if they had made a mistake.

Publicity directors send books all over the country to magazine and newspaper editors who write book reviews. These people are swamped. There were over 1 million books self-published in 2017. In 2018, 675 million print books were sold in the United States. That's print books. The statistic doesn't include ebooks. And every one of the these writers would love to have a review.

Everyone who has ever held a job knows there are parts to their employment they really don't like to do. Personnel in health care complain about the volume of government forms they have to fill out. Some management positions involve a lot of travel. When my husband had the livestock truck line I remember one of the drivers commenting that if had wanted to be a bookkeeper he would have taken a job in that field. Filling out envelopes, check records, fuel purchases, dispatch information, and log books was a tedious undertaking.

Most of the writers I know would like to write. The more gregarious among us like speaking to groups. Frankly, I enjoy this. But I balk at constant blogging, creating newsletters, commenting on my computer, and even updating my website.

But the reality is--the work has changed. We are no longer sequestered in a garret courting our Muse in blessed silence. I'm very interested in how other authors manage this problem.

Nevertheless, I draw the line at pressuring my friends to write a review for me on Amazon. When someone does, I am grateful. But somehow asking them to do this reminds of chain product selling. You buy a product and the seller immediately pounces and wants you to become a distributor under them.

Doesn't that sound like a grim approach. "You've bought my book! Wonderful. Now review it."