I used to be a free-lance book reviewer for a major newspaper many years
ago.

Meaning that newspapers were still read as genuine printed articles (pun!)
with the option of being delivered to subscribers’ doorsteps and often on
lawns or in bushes carelessly tossed by newspaper boys and girls.

In the newspaper I contributed to, there was a huge “features” section that
contained two or more pages of only book reviews

And in addition to seeing my byline appear with a book review now and then,
it was absolutely gratifying to read reviews of non-fiction and certainly
fiction books many of which are popular today.

Another perk as a free-lancer book reviewer was to receive the
hardcover books for free.

I still have them on my bookshelves and remember each first encounter with
them far better than the people I met at parties or on travels.

But with very few exceptions, book review pages in newspapers have
disappeared along with many, many newspapers and with them, professional
book reviewers.

Even the newspapers that migrated online have little or no space for book reviews anymore.

There are of course a few lingering places where book reviews can find a
home.

The New York Times with its own literary supplement is still the biggest and
grandest holdout, followed closely by the New York Review of Books and the
very prestigious magazines like The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harpers
that feature limited book review sections.

Small literary magazines are also a lifeline especially for small and university
press published books, and many will devote an issue to new fiction books
such as World Literature Today.

Scroll down and watch the book trailer for Irene Zabytko’s New Short Story Collection,

THE DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER

But many books, especially in literary fiction, will not be mentioned or
reviewed. The marketplace is too small and the looming consensus (at least
it seems to me), is that no one really cares about literary fiction very much
anyway.

This is particularly problematic if you are an indie author published by a very
small press or are self-published.

There is no one outside of the author (unless you want to pay a publicity
agent thousands of dollars) to send multitudes of ARCs (Advanced Reading
Copies) to editors and reviewers with no guarantee they will read let alone
write a review in time for its publication.

What is a writer to do?

They can either ask friends or fans or anyone who bought their books to
write reviews which is the common acceptable practice especially for online
store platforms like Amazon.com.

These store platforms are actually more influential in selling books than the
book reviews in magazines or newspapers.

Writers can also send ARCs to willing bloggers who are very potent in
reviewing and influencing their subscribers.

Or writers can pay for reviews.

I was actually shocked to see that respected book review publications like Kirkus now offers an option for authors to send them money, often quite a lot, in exchange for a review.

Are review sources so in need of revenue that they have to solicit authors to pay to keep them alive?

With the advent so many, many e-books and self-published writers sending
their work out in the world, it’s no wonder that entire online book review
businesses were born to fill a void.

I’m not sure what the ethics are in submitting a book to one of these review
mills, but I will look further look into it.

From what I see so far, honest reviews are promised and if the author does not like the review, they can avoid having it posted to the world.

Meanwhile, if you are reading a book with a review request, please consider
writing a review for that author especially if you liked and enjoyed that book.

Book reviews not only provide credibility, but also tremendously will
help sales since reviews are also an algorithmic booster.

Alas, algorithms are the secret ingredient that will determine the life or
death of any product these days.

And no matter how much we love and cherish a book, it is still a mere
product in the cold, indifferent and global world of commerce….so easily lost, forgotten, or abandoned in the competition, but always in need of a bit of attention and appreciation.

Save a book. Write a review.

Writing Wisdom:

“Publishing is a very mysterious business. It is hard to predict what kind of
sale or reception a book will have, and advertising seems to do very little
good.”—Thomas Wolfe, American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Dramatist.

Cheers, Irene

P.S. Speaking of review requests, I would truly appreciate it very much if you can leave a review for my new collection of short stories, THE DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER, available now on all E-book platforms.

Please check out the video below.

More information about it is at: http://www.irenezabytko.com/new and Books2read.com/miraclewonder

You can read excerpt here at http://www.irenezabytko.com/blog (scroll down).

Thank you!–Irene