How Not To Get Your Book Reviewed

I occasionally get emails about reviewing a book and hosting the author for a blog tour.  If the synopsis interests me I begin digging what I can to see if I would enjoy the book.  After all, it could be embarrassing to host the author and not enjoy something about the book, right?

Recently I came across a big problem when looking for information about the book and the author.  I found very little about the book.  My search on the publishing house resulted in several similarly named sites.  One was an outdated blog and two were for editing/publishing services that may have been promoting the same company.  This made me think the book was published by a vanity press.  There didn’t seem to be anywhere online where I could purchase the book, read an excerpt or get more information.  Most standard publishers (even small ones) will list upcoming and new releases.

Next I started searching for the author.  I found absolutely nothing that relates to this book or to writing.  Either it’s a pseudonym or all of the author’s marketing efforts have gone into the day job.  There were tons of realty related sites with the author’s name.

Lastly I began searching for information on the book title.  This was really interesting.  I found several links to the book blog tour promoter, the author’s online dating profile and a single page about why the book was written.  The book is supposed to be humorous but the single page I found was so serious I didn’t know the author’s voice any better than when I had never heard of the person.  As a result, I passed on the book review and the blog tour.

This week I’ll be posting on how to get your book reviewed.  Come back to read the rest of the series.

How To Get Your Book Reviewed

1. Let Me Find You Online
2. Show Me Your Words
3. Friends and Strangers
4. Wrapping It Up and the Next Step