By Amy Holland
There’s always a learning curve when it comes to breaking into a new line of work, and with that learning curve comes stress. Publicity is no exception. As a novice literary publicist—working to promote Psycho-Tropics by Dorian Box–I was particularly stressing over sending out my first review query.
We all know how important reviews are to a book’s success. And not just the content of the review, but getting it in the first place. It requires care in selecting outlets that might be interested in the book. Mass send-outs or email barrages are a waste of time and money.
Psycho-Tropics is set in Hollywood, Florida, a fairly small community between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. I decided to start by targeting the local newspaper. I mean, how many thrillers have ever been set in Hollywood, Florida? None is the best guess. In drafting a letter to the newspaper editor, I stressed the local angle, even including a brief excerpt from the book capturing the vibe of Hollywood Beach:
“He took a last look at the surf shop and began the trek home. The aroma of grilling burgers and hot dogs wafted from the Sea Dog near the paddleball courts. Behind him a tourist caused a traffic jam feeding popcorn to a network of high-strung seagulls. An old woman with skin like rawhide sat in the shade of a coconut palm weaving a hat from green fronds.”
Despite all of my work I actually lost sleep because I was so nervous it wouldn’t be good enough, or that I’d make some critical mistake. The few winks of sleep I did manage were plagued by dreams of inadequacy and epic failure.
I knew I had to do a lot of homework to figure out what makes a good review query. In doing so, I found that there is a ton of readily available information out there on what to do in terms of promoting and publicizing a self-published book, but good advice on how to do those things well was more difficult to find.
In hopes of saving others like myself a little time, I’d like to share a couple of good information sources I found on writing review solicitation letters and press releases:
Bronwyn Hemus, Write A Better Press Release–50 Ways to Reach Your Readers #14
The first source, a series installment called “6 Tips for a Better Press Release for Your Book,” is a blog post specifically geared toward drafting press releases, but much of the advice applies to review queries as well. The tip that stuck out to me the most was number 4: “Inform, don’t promote.” This was helpful to me because, coming from a sales background, my first instinct is to promote, promote, promote! But this blog post advised against it, and for good reason. Press releases (and queries/publicity letters) are primarily intended to be informative, not necessarily persuasive in the sales traditional sense. Of course, that’s not to say you can’t write a query with enthusiasm; just don’t spend too much time trying to “sell” the product.
Denise Enck, How to Write an Excellent Book Review Query
This second source is an article from Empty Mirror Books, an online arts magazine. The advice here somewhat overlaps the advice in the previously mentioned blog post, but this article gives a little more detail on actual review query writing, offering a sample letter.
The information in these sources is not groundbreaking, but the tips do make a lot of sense, and offer valid points that anyone should consider in writing press releases and queries.
My experience in sending the letter was bittersweet. The good news is it was successful, at least preliminarily. I received an immediate, positive response requesting a copy of Psycho-Tropics. Yay!
But I made a bonehead mistake, omitting a word in the very first paragraph! Imagine my horror when I noticed this error in my very first professional query as a budding publicist
It’s not that I didn’t proofread my work. I did, about eight billion times. I even had my husband read it, because we all know how easy it is to overlook mistakes in one’s own writing.
I should have set it aside for a while and let my brain rest before coming back for a final read. Luckily, it worked out fine, but I learned a valuable lesson the hard way: Never rely on my husband to be my proofreading assistant.
Kidding. I learned that no matter how perfect my own writing seems to be in the moment, it’s crucial to give my brain a rest and come back to it for a final reading before hitting the “send” button. But seriously, my husband is SO fired. Haha.
Meanwhile, I will keep my fingers crossed that the reviewer reads and likes this terrific book.
