I Got a Great Question in December 2024
A writer emailed me to ask, “Do you ever send out copies to reviewers for marketing? I’ve been seeing a lot about that lately on the various social sites and I’m not sure if it’s really helpful or a waste of time. … I see a lot of writers utilizing reviewers to spread the word on the various social platforms. Any thoughts on this?”
Yes, in fact I do have a few thoughts:
From long experience, I believe good reviews are vital. But no, I don’t send out ARCs for review. I also don’t read whatever reviews I do happen to get. I don’t pay any attention to them so they won’t get into my brain.
But reviews are still essential for spreading the word about your writing, and a lot of readers depend on them. To clarify, GETTING reviews is essential. NOT READING them is also essential.
Way back almost 11 years ago, I heard Dean Wesley Smith say over and over again that the best marketing you can do is to write the next story or collection or novel.
So that’s what I did. But that’s also ALL I did. I also always bore in mind that “the opening sells the story, and the ending sells the next story.”
Today, I wish I’d delved into marketing back then, if only a little.
I wish I’d collected reader emails and built a list, but I didn’t.
I also wish I’d looked into Amazon and BookBub ads, but I didn’t. I’ve only just started that process now, over 10 years into the process, and I still don’t have a list of reader emails.
So today (I’m 72) I’m writing mostly for the sheer joy of it. I earn money from my writing, but my primary payment is being the first person ever to see and hear my characters’ stories.
If my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren decide to engage an agent and/or work on marketing some of my work, I have zero doubt they’ll get rich beyond their dreams.
I’ll leave one caveat for them: They are not to edit or revise the work (other than misspellings, typos or wrong words, e.g. “waste” for “waist”) or allow anyone else to do so. Any critical, conscious-mind input is a deal breaker.
A lot of my stuff is rife with possibilities for movies or TV series, but I’ll probably never do anything with it myself. I love writing it too much to worry about it, and I’m good with that.
I’m sitting on several million dollars worth of IP, but barring a miracle, I’ll probably never reap the harvest. Which is fine.
And please understand, I’m not complaining here. What’s past is past, and I prefer looking forward.
But do I hope you’ll learn from my stupid error in judgement and market your work. Because the following items have worked for so many before, here’s what I suggest:
- Build a fan base by collecting reader emails.
- If you have the patience to do so, publish at least some of your work to Amazon’s exclusive KDP Select program to reap the marketing benefits of that. Then pull it out after 3 or 6 months and publish it wide.
- Consider seeking traditional publication with at least some of your work (tradpubs get more reviews). I’ve been tradpubbed before, and I ordered a copy of Novel & Short Story Writers Market (Writer’s Digest Books) recently to help me with this next year.
- Send your short stories to tradpub magazines first, then indie publish them in collections when you get the rights back.
- Keep writing. Consistently. You can’t get reviews for (or otherwise market) something you haven’t written.
- Novel series sell best, then novels, then short story collections. Give that fact to your creative subconscious and write accordingly.
- Skip all the bullshit myths and believe in yourself. Pull up your big boy/girl underwear and write into the dark. There is no better way to tell an authentic, original, true-to-your-voice story.
I hope this helps some of you. But bear in mind, even the best advice in the world will do nothing for you if you don’t actually put it into effect.