Booktok, booksagram, so and so reviews thrillers, my fall reads, if you haven’t read these five books your toenails will fall off. We all see them, we scroll endlessly through social media, watching the videos, seeing the “likes”, the number of comments, or the following. As new authors we hope one day, one of these book influencers will stumble across our perfectly polished and newly published literary work of art. Just knowing they will be “wowed” by how carefully crafted our plot is and relatable the characters are. They will be blown a way by the obvious amount of time, effort and research we invested in our craft. Birds will sing, the sun will shine, our social media will grow and our sales will rocket.
Until reality hits. We start self promoting our future best sellers; coming up with new and exiting posts, taglines and videos. We start following all the best bookies, liking and commenting in hopes of getting noticed. And just like that, our DM’s are overflowing with requests to collaborate and be featured!! Dreams do come true! For the low, low, price of $45 for a post, like and follow or $65 for a video review addition.
Yes, that’s right, you pay to have them feature your book as their “summer’s most loved read.” They feature your piece of literary genius, telling the forum world how amazing you are, not because they read it and its true, but because you of the package you bought. My world is crumbling.
I am not saying all bookies pages operate this way. I have watched several give reviews in enough detail that they didn’t just read the back cover. I know authors have a true cult following of dedicated readers. I know this because I have a few authors that I literally set a timer for the next book release.
Here is the thing, getting your name out there is 70% of the author game. However, for those that charge for their reviews, the people liking and commenting on those posts aren’t going to read your book. They aren’t going to your socials, they won’t even remember your name by the next scroll. They are liking and commenting to be noticed, with the same hopes and dreams you started with.
I write books about a subject that means something to me. Although they are fiction, the storyline and characters represent something real to me. I won’t ever pay for a review or a like. I want people to read my book because they want to. I want them to share it because they enjoyed it, because it resonated with them. If that doesn’t get me the recognition I need, then so be it. At least I know the people who did like my book, actually read it and enjoyed it.
So, do your homework. Look for signs that the person telling you what to read next, actually knows something about the book or the author. Support each other. I share my favorite others books on my sites all the time. I consistently comment and like their content. I tag them in things, repost things, I give my opinion on their work…FOR FREE! Why? Because I honestly love reading their books and I want to see them succeed, even if I don’t
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