Irene Watson on Getting Book Reviews, Part I

Today, I am pleased to present Irene Watson, the founder and managing editor at Reader Views (“reviews, by readers, for readers”) — an Austin, Texas, based book review service — to those who may be seeing reviews for their books. In the interest of full disclosure, we at Slipdown Mountain Publications have had four books reviewed by her service: The Evolution Conspiracy Vol 1, Backyard Bigfoot, Devil in the North Woods, and Lord of the Dead.

Now, with that introduction out of the way, let’s move on to the first question I posed to Irene.

Welcome to the View From the Publishing Trenches blog. To begin, how about a bit of background on Irene Watson?

Thanks for asking Walt. We moved from Canada to Austin, Texas in 1990 and love it! Coming from Northern Alberta we experienced many long, cold, and harsh winters; one thing we certainly don’t miss. My background is varied because I’ve never been one to stick to one thing for a lifetime. I’ve been a business owner, career counselor, therapist, college teacher, retreat/seminar facilitator, and now owner of Reader Views and its subsidiaries.

You are also an author. When did you start writing and what have you published so far?

I started writing in 2002 after I retired and, in 2005, published The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference. It’s a memoir combined with self-help where readers can parallel their lives to mine and find hope and healing.

I’m also involved in The Story That Must Be Told and Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers as an editor. I have a chapter in The ART of Grandparenting and will have a chapter in an anthology to be published next year. As well, I’m co-authoring Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families, which will be published toward the end of this year and I’m in the midst of completing another solo book. It’s a workbook/journal that will be used as part of the retreats that I facilitate at. We’re still working on the title.

When and how did you get into the book reviewing business?

In 2005, after I published the first edition of The Sitting Swing and had all my marketing in place I got bored with retirement. I realized the difficulty authors had in getting reviews and decided to review books myself to help out. I put a call out for books to review and got an overwhelming response. I asked a few people to help me review and within two months I crashed the “home-made” website I had and came to terms with the huge need in the industry — a book review service.

As well, because of previous marketing experience I didn’t feel justified to hire a publicist for my first book — a memoir by an unknown author. I was able to do a lot of the marketing myself, but there were areas that I didn’t have the strength in, e.g. press release writing and distributing. Fortunately I did find an ex-publicist that was willing to help me by only doing what I needed done.

Knowing there wasn’t a service available that I needed, at least anywhere that I could find, I decided to add small, low-budget packages for authors. Needless to say, authors love it. And, we just keep finding a need and filling it.

What is your vision for Reader Views?

I’ve often wondered about that myself! This is one time in my life that I’ve just sat back and watched a business evolve to what it is. I have no idea what it will look like next year, but what I do know is when I find I need and it’s feasible, I will fill it.

What are some of the biggest mistakes authors (and indie publishers) make when contacting Reader Views for a book review — the main things that can result in not making the initial cut?

First and foremost is no contact information. You wouldn’t believe how many books we get with no supporting documents — nada. We just get a book in an envelope, and that’s it. If we don’t know who the submitter is, then we don’t know who to send the review to.

The other most critical thing is let us know what the category/genre is of the book. Of course, we really do prefer the BISAC on the back but if it’s not there, tell us what it is in the first paragraph of the cover letter.

These two things are immediate disqualifiers. We don’t go hunting for contact information, nor do we spend time trying to figure out the category/genre of the book.

What are the must-haves and must-dos when sending books out for review?

Beside the two must-haves above, these are the others:

1. Look for and read the guidelines thoroughly provided by the review site. Each one is different.
2. Autograph the book. Reviewers appreciate it. (Only put the reviewers name in if you know it.)
3. Send the book with a postal tracking number so you know the book arrived safely.
4. Thank the reviewer for the review. They have given you a service and an acknowledgment would be very appropriate.
5. Check the site to see if they review the specific genre your book is in.
6. Check the site for other reviews. Does it look like the books are read? Or, does it does it look like review is written just from the supporting documents that were sent with it? You decide whether or not you want to send your book for a potential review based on what you see.

Is a cover letter essential when making the initial contact for a review? If so, what do you look for when read the cover letter?

For us, yes, but certainly not a lengthy one. All we need is the name of the book, the category/genre and the contact information. The rest of the information isn’t important to us. This cover letter is only for office records, and not for the reviewer.

——–

Be sure to drop by tomorrow for the second half of this interview, wherein Irene explains her policy and thoughts on negative reviews and offers some more important dos and don’ts.