More Adventures with Book Reviews…

I just sent out two more review copies of Mortal Touch, one as a PDF file. I also got a refusal from a site, which has me pondering the occasional futility of reading review sites’ guidelines.

I always read the reviewers’ guidelines, FAQ, and other information carefully. (I just listened to an interesting podcast on Authors Access of an interview with Irene Watson, founder of Reader Views, about getting book reviews–this is her Number One Rule, read the reviewers’ guidelines.) I learned immediately that just about every single reviewer has different protocols, and what some demand, others specifically tell you not to do. Going by any single “conventional wisdom,” whether from publishing experts, authors’ groups, or whatever, just won’t work.

I also check the review website for books similar to mine, to make sure that the site reviews my kind of book, as well as checking the guidelines for specific restrictions (some don’t review fiction at all. Some won’t review particular genres). I also check for timeliness. I’ve been referred to great-looking review sites that, upon closer examination, hadn’t been updated for months–even years. No point in sending a query or a book to them!

Last week, I found an interview with the owners of a high-volume, high-traffic general review site of which I had not previously heard. I read the interview, then logged into the site and read the guidelines, which included detailed instructions in how to send a query and what information they wanted about the book. I looked at their list of categories for fiction, and it was extensive, including “horror,” “romance,” and “science-fiction/fantasy.” They asked that I state the “genre” of the book in the query, which most sites do not ask. The standard BISAC categories (which are required for the official Books In Print database entry) for Mortal Touch are “Fiction/Fantasy/Contemporary” and “Fiction/Occult.” There is no BISAC category for “vampire,” and I don’t consider my books to be typical romance or horror (although they can be classified as either, given the broad overlap among all these categories).

I wrote the query e-mail with the book information requested, including a synopsis, mention of other reviews I’d already gotten, and complete contact information for me and my company. I included the BISAC categories, and for clarification added that Mortal Touch fell into genres “vampire, horror, magical realism.”

I got a reply within a couple of hours–they certainly were on the ball! But what the responder said was, “I notice you mention ‘occult.’ We do not review occult books.” That was all–out of the entire long query, they had picked out that single word.

Any reviewer can choose to refuse any book, or category of books, for any reason whatsoever–that’s their prerogative. But I sat puzzling over this and wondering if I had been stupid and missed something, as the list of fiction review categories had seemed quite comprehensive. I went back and re-read the interview, and then re-read the review guidelines, then combed again through the site. There were reviews of some 25 vampire novels (all types–romance, chicklit, horror, YA) on the site…but there were not many reviews under the category of “horror,” and a very few dealing with psychics. Then I looked even more closely at the category list…and I saw that the number of reviews under both “Christian fiction” and “Christian non-fiction” was twice as high as the number of reviews in the next highest category. That was when the light bulb snapped on.

Since I felt I had nothing left to lose–clearly, this site was not going to review By Light Unseen Media’s output–I replied, very deferentially and politely, saying simply that I respected their decision, but I didn’t think Mortal Touch was really any more “occult” than the 25 vampire books they did review, and perhaps they could add this “occult” restriction to their guidelines.

The reviewer posted back courteously saying that was a great idea, and added that “review sites don’t like books that don’t know what genre they are and make the site choose.”

Well…hmm. Many, if not most, of the books in BIP have more than one BISAC category–you can pick up to three per title. Transcending stereotyped genres and categories is one of the goals of my company and part of my publishing Mission Statement, which means that my books cross genre lines. And, as I noted above, I have seldom been asked to identify my book’s genre or category. Granted, I have targeted far more genre-oriented review sites than mainstream ones, but the mainstream sites have gotten a standard Book Information Sheet that lists the BISAC codes along with all the other official facts, like ISBN and LCCN numbers and the trim size and whatnot.

However, I shall keep the reviewer’s advice in mind.

This site is not the first to refuse Mortal Touch after a query–they’re the third, to be precise–and general review sites are always tougher to crack. They’re inundated with books and they’ll use any filtering method they can. There’s no point in arguing, you just record the reviewer’s response in your data base and move on. I am, however, going to pay even closer attention to subtle clues about bias and preference on review websites from now on. Why waste both my and the reviewer’s time?

Right after this, a listmember on [self-publishing] excitedly posted to the list that she’d just gotten her “first professional review,” and included the link. It’s a very nice review–and on a review website, for romance books, of which I had not heard. The listmember’s book is not a typical romance book, by any means (in fact, it’s a memoir which I plan to buy as research for one of my future novels). But this site had reviewed it. So–off went a query for Mortal Touch, and almost instantly, they asked for a PDF. I sent them that, I got a confirmation e-mail, and…we shall see. (By the way: they asked for a category, but provided a pull-down menu from which to select. When pitching romance reviewers, I generally go with “paranormal romance.”) Being thus encouraged, I decided to send a book to a “paranormal romance” review site I hadn’t tried before, and off that book went (they just want the book, no query).

Today I stopped by a used bookstore in Townsend to see if they would carry a couple of copies of Mortal Touch. The owner is going to call me if she’s interested. I made it clear that I was offering professional terms, would sign the books, no minimum order, fully returnable with standard retail discount…”I’m not asking you for any favors,” I said. The assistant was scrambling for an index card to write down my phone number and I whipped out one of my business cards for her. So we’ll see how that goes. As I pointed out, this bookstore is the closest bookstore, geographically, to my business. It would be nice if they had my books!