Carolyn Howard-Johnson on Reviews • Mom's Choice Awards

I have been reading Carolyn Howard-Johnson ‘s SharingwithWriters newsletters for as long as I can remember. Don’t get caught short thinking its *just* for authors and writers. Sharing with Writers is an amazing resources. I promise, it is easy to extrapolate her advice to other industries.

To demonstrate my point, we’re sharing (with Carolyn’s permission) Secrets to Great Reviews, a post she wrote on Carolyn Howard-Johnson – The New Book Review blog. As you’ll see, Carolyn covers secrets to endorsements, too.

The Secrets to Great Reviews

I usually post only reviews on this blog. It is open for authors, publishers, reviewers, and readers who want to spread the word about the books they read.

Today, I’m republishing a note I wrote to the subscribers of my SharingwithWriters newsletter because it deals with reviews–and, I believe, can be helpful to all those who contribute and visit these pages. Here it is.

Dear Subscribers:

Perhaps the hardest job I have is to convince my clients that a critical review can actually be beneficial to the sales of their book. [The other is convincing them that marketing a book is not selling a book but an act of consideration—that is identifying their readers so they can be helped or entertained in the way they like best!]

Back to reviews. I was reading a review for The Small Big: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence by Steve J. Martin and Noah Goldstein with Robert Cialdini in Time magazine.

And there! Right there! Was the clincher. It leads with,

At first glance, little differentiates Berkshire Hathaway stockholder reports from those of any other major corporation. But look closer. Even in years when Berkshire has been unimaginably successful, [the Berkshire Chairman draws attention] to a snag or strain in the company.

“What,” you may ask, “does that have to do with my book, or reviews for my book?”

The review amplifies a bit:

Researchers who study persuasion know that messages can be amplified when people present a small weakness in them, which in turn garners a higher level of trust.

As those of you who have read my The Frugal Book Promoter know, I don’t advocate slash and burn review tactics—for authors who review books or authors who take the lowest road and denigrate their competitors’ books. But a review that is honest, one that tempers praise with a little helpful critique, can be of far more value than one that looks as if it were written by the author’s mother. [emphasis – mine]

Apparently this book also suggests that those with something to sell might “arrange for someone to toot your horn on your behalf.” It gives an example of the old switch tactic that I’ve had car salespeople use on me when they turn me over to someone who is “more experienced,” or “in a better position to cut me a deal.”

Another lesson: Use potential. Facebook users introduced to “someone who could become the next big thing” were more convinced than they were from a mere list of his or her credentials, however stellar.

And while we’re at it, one of the first “lessons” I learned about endorsements (they’re sort of like mini reviews, right?) is that you can write them and present them to someone in a position to influence your particular readers in the query letter you write to them. You tell them that if they prefer they can chose one one of your prepackaged endorsements—edit it or not—or write one of their own. It’s a way of keeping control over the aspects of your book you’d most like to have at the forefront of readers’ awareness and—at the same time—being of service to the person you are querying.

You will also up your success rate for getting an endorsement because many movers-and-shakers aren’t necessarily writers and the idea of writing an endorsement from scratch scares the beejeebees out of them!

You can do the same thing with a review. Write one the way you would like to see it (using some of the techniques outlined in this note to you), and let someone else—someone with tons of credibility–sign off on it. If no one does, you can use the review in your media kit with a note that it is a “sample review.” That is honest and sometimes needed when you’re finding it hard to get that first review! By the way, that’s another tip you’ll find in The Frugal Book Promoter along with ways to avoid paying for a review and why you should avoid paying for one.

Happy writing, editing, and promoting,

Carolyn

About Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is best known as The Frugal Book Promoter, BUT, she is much more than the author of a book about book promotion. She is a literary writer, poet, and all round smart and giving marketer.

As a college freshman, Carolyn was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for the Salt Lake Tribune–“A Great Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper”–where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name Debra Paige.

Later, in New York, Carolyn Howard-Johnson was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She also handled accounts for famous fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, who developed the first “10 Best Dressed List.” As Carolyn explains, “it was my fun job to write releases for celebrity designers of the time including Pauline Trigere, Rudy Gernreich, and Christian Dior.”

In what Carolyn explains as her “many former lives” she has written columns and reviews for The Pasadena Star News, Home Decor Buyer, and the Glendale News-Press. She has a “Back to Literature” column for www.Myshelf.com, where Carolyn also gives an annual Noble (Not Nobel!) Prize.

This Is The Place is Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s first novel which, like her book of creative nonfiction, Harkening, has won multiple awards. Carolyn’s book of poetry, published by Finishing Line Press was named a Ten Best Reads by the Compulsive Reader and the Military Writers Society of America honored it with a silver medal for excellence. I have also partnered with Magdalena Ball for the Celebration Series of poetry chapbooks.

In its first edition, The Frugal Book Promoter became an instant best seller as an e-book on ebookad.com and the paperback opened to rave reviews here on Amazon. It is now in its second edition, expanded and updated. It became the first in the How To Do It Frugally series.