Just an FYI on a recent observation I made about self promo. I’ve been published about five years. I learned early from author buds that an important part of self promo was submitting ARCs to review sites in the hope they’d respond. My publisher does have their cadre of sites they send to, yet over the years I’ve gotten more reviews from the sites where I submit. Now for the change I’ve observed.
On my first novel I submitted to 18 sites myself, received about a dozen reviews within a time frame of 3 to 5 months. My list of review sites expanded over the next four years to roughly fifty, yet only about 12 to 16 ever reply at all. Now here’s the rub. Up until two years ago, the rate of responses was fairly consistent then a paradigm shift occurred. Instead of a dozen or so replies in 3-5 months now I receive 2 to 4 reviews in 5 to 10 months on each new release. The caliber of rating has stayed about the same but the numbers have decreased to a trickle. The numbers are getting so bad, not sure whether the ROI is significant enough for that element of my self promo plan anymore.
Concerned with the change I contacted three sites that regularly reply yet now with a more distant time frame, and they shared an unexpected reality. In each case the owners noted that, because of the depressed economy, they had lost half their reviewers to going out and seeking full time jobs. In addition the number of submissions had doubled. Those two factors combined imply a 75% increase in saturation level. In fact, many sites now note on their submission page suspension of receiving any more books until further notice. I’ve confirmed this observed pattern with several author buds and they’ve experienced the same decrease.
My point? If you’ve noticed a similar decline, chances are it’s not your name going in the round file, or the caliber of your writing decreasing, rather the nature of our struggling economy or other factors affecting the review sites beyond their control. Course, JMO. Yours may be different and you’re welcome to share.
On my first novel I submitted to 18 sites myself, received about a dozen reviews within a time frame of 3 to 5 months. My list of review sites expanded over the next four years to roughly fifty, yet only about 12 to 16 ever reply at all. Now here’s the rub. Up until two years ago, the rate of responses was fairly consistent then a paradigm shift occurred. Instead of a dozen or so replies in 3-5 months now I receive 2 to 4 reviews in 5 to 10 months on each new release. The caliber of rating has stayed about the same but the numbers have decreased to a trickle. The numbers are getting so bad, not sure whether the ROI is significant enough for that element of my self promo plan anymore.
Concerned with the change I contacted three sites that regularly reply yet now with a more distant time frame, and they shared an unexpected reality. In each case the owners noted that, because of the depressed economy, they had lost half their reviewers to going out and seeking full time jobs. In addition the number of submissions had doubled. Those two factors combined imply a 75% increase in saturation level. In fact, many sites now note on their submission page suspension of receiving any more books until further notice. I’ve confirmed this observed pattern with several author buds and they’ve experienced the same decrease.
My point? If you’ve noticed a similar decline, chances are it’s not your name going in the round file, or the caliber of your writing decreasing, rather the nature of our struggling economy or other factors affecting the review sites beyond their control. Course, JMO. Yours may be different and you’re welcome to share.