So you want to review.
Great. You’re taking a chance and following your love of books.
More reviewers equal more personalities and more opinions on the variety of books and eBooks out there. Reviews are one of the areas where the more the better…in my opinion.
Think about it, what benefits a writer/publisher more…five reviews or ten? More reviews give readers a stronger opinion base to make their final pick. For writers/publishers this may mean more sales. More thoughts on this next time.
How does one start reviewing?
I was a member of a writing group when an online magazine asked if anyone was interested in writing reviews. I took the risk and said, yes. This was roughly twenty years ago and this experience led me to other sites (Muse Book Reviews and FMAM: Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine) and then my own review site (ChrisChat Reviews).
Your starting choices are simple: (1) Leave a review on the site you bought your book (2) Join a review site, like Goodreads for example (3) find a review site and ask if they need more reviewers (4) start your own review site or blog. I mention these because they worked for me.
Goodreads is a book-lovers site I know others have joined. I have little experience with Goodreads, but it is avenue to research. I’m also a member of Net Galley.
Too simple? Maybe. You still need to let people (especially authors, publishers, and those who have these contacts) know you’re a reviewer. And that they can trust you.
Trust. This is important. You are asking people to give you their work in exchange for a review. A review that may not be positive. How do they know you won’t just keep the book(s)? It takes building your reputation and trust before anyone will automatically send you books—accepting that some will be reviewed, others may not, and when they will be reviewed. Again, this is something to be looked at more closely in a future posting.
Contacts, how and where? Most reviewers I know also write. I write and discovered different writing groups at Yahoogroups and, of course, Facebook. By joining different genre groups I met writers, editors, publishers, illustrators, PR representatives, anyone involved in writing and publishing. This worked and still works for me.
Most writers and publishers, in my experience, have mailing lists. Join them. Where writers are there are opportunities for your new reviewing adventure.
Take the risk, what can you lose?