There’s a not-very-well-kept secret in the online book world: reviews are extremely valuable. The good news is that it’s easy to get started reviewing books, especially if you’re willing to do so for the new crop of independently-published authors. The bad news is that you’ll be doing it for free…or more precisely, that you’ll be paid in books. Which isn’t all that bad if you love reading.
Step One: Review Everything
You can even review books on your own website. This is less likely to attract more general reviewers, but authors and especially agents and publicists will keep a weather eye out for mentions of their work more or less anywhere. The more detailed and specific a review, the better, within reason—try to keep it under 600 words or so just for the sake of convenience.
For both retailer reviews and reviews on your own site, use your own name or a consistent online handle, and give people a means to contact you. A secondary freebie Gmail account is a good option if you’d rather not connect your online identity with your real one.
Step Two: Specialize in Your Interests
When authors and publishers go looking for potential reviewers for a new title, they’ll look for people who have enjoyed similar things before. So it follows that simply aligning the books you review with your personal interests will attract other authors (or sometimes the same ones, see below) who write similar books. So if you’re into historical nonfiction focusing on middle eastern history, review a bunch of middle eastern history books. If you like your operas heavy despite zero gravity, review a bunch of space operas. If you enjoy erotic fiction focusing exclusively on werewolves…well, you get the picture.
Step Three: Check Promotional Websites
Keep in mind that almost all of the books given away in this manner are ebooks—independent authors rarely have the resources to publish in conventional physical form, much less distribute free hardback or paperback copies. I suggest investing in a Kindle, or getting comfortable with reading on a phone or a tablet, if you decide to go this route.
Here are some specific places to start:
The Goodreads Bulletin Board: a very popular place for independent authors to ask for reviews. You’ll find individual threads and omnibus threads posted frequently. Reddit: the /r/bookdownloads, /r/readmybook, and /r/reviewcircle subreddits are frequent hangouts for review-starved authors. BookLending. com: a community of readers that uses the Kindle library’s lending tool to legally borrow and lend enabled titles from each other’s accounts.
RELATED: How to Find Thousands of Free Ebooks Online
There are other big libraries of free ebooks all over the web, though you’re less likely to find authors seeking reviews on older novels. Here’s a guide to loading DRM-free files into your Kindle library for reading on an ereader or mobile app.
Step Four: Get to Writing
Step Five: Cultivate Relationships
If you’ve been given a book personally, make sure to let the author or publicist know when you’ve left a review, and thank them for the experience. This is sort of a public relations move: steady contact between you and the author is more likely to result in getting on the shortlist of reviewers for their next book, and they’ll be more likely to refer you to other authors who are seeking reliable reviewers.
Image source: Christin Hume, Aliis Sinisalu
