As I understand it, a mock review is one of the items you are supposed to put in your book publicity kit that gets sent to reviewers. It's always labeled as a mock review, not a real one, and it is written by yourself, but as if an imaginary reviewer liked your book. It's one way of quickly and simply listing all your book's good points.
The one thing I keep hearing about mock reviews is that they increase the chance that your book will be reviewed, and furthermore reviewed favorably, because there are a number of overburdened and not entirely honest reviewers out there who will skip reading the book, and will instead write a review based on the mock review.
In your experience, is this true? Or is it just a myth?
I've included a mock review with some of the review copies I sent out, but I never saw a close resemblance between the mock review and the actual review. However, I did get one review that sounded as if the reviewer had not read the book, and furthermore sounded like the review was paraphrasing my press release.
The one thing I keep hearing about mock reviews is that they increase the chance that your book will be reviewed, and furthermore reviewed favorably, because there are a number of overburdened and not entirely honest reviewers out there who will skip reading the book, and will instead write a review based on the mock review.
In your experience, is this true? Or is it just a myth?
I've included a mock review with some of the review copies I sent out, but I never saw a close resemblance between the mock review and the actual review. However, I did get one review that sounded as if the reviewer had not read the book, and furthermore sounded like the review was paraphrasing my press release.
I've actually never heard of such a thing. I tend to send my books to already-established reviewers who know how to write reviews for my type of books. I would think (although I could be wrong) that "hinting" at the sort of review you'd LIKE to receive through a mock review would be somewhat insulting to the reviewer. It would be like sending some of the actual reviews from other companies to them. It could easily be construed that you're trying to influence the reviewer.
