The traditional publishers like Penguin, HarperCollins, Rupa, etc, pitch in their investment on an ‘Intellectual commodity’ they believe has the potential of garnering the applause of the literary audience. Let’s know more about Free Books For Review.
While the self-publishers mostly function on the power of money and free will, the will or to be precise, the stubbornness to get published by hook or crook.
Reviews that revolve within the realm of new books written by new authors are reviewed by new content creators who believe in selling their ideas and judgments to get recognition, among an audience who are barely aware of their existence.
The book market, like any other market, is a kaleidoscope of strategies and concepts which may or may not varies in terms of other markets.
Traditional v. Self-Publishers:
Well, this is not a stereotype but since the birth of the ‘self-worthy’ self-publishers, new writers have somewhat lost their credibility to become ‘big bestsellers’ in the market.
Because let’s be straight, the logo of traditional publishers becomes the brand of the writer through which he or she is selling their product, it enhances their goodwill.
The most common blind notion by which a reader decides to buy a book, after obviously judging the book by its cover is judging the book by its publisher.
No one wants to fill their book-buying track records with an assortment of bad and sentimental decisions
A well-read person, between a Penguin book by a new writer and a Notion Press book by a new writer, would most probably choose the Penguin one because no one wants to fill their book-buying track records with an assortment of bad and sentimental decisions.
Why should we put our money on something which hasn’t got the experience of the highly intellectual people sitting at the top of a traditional publication house and thrust our faith on an unknown, unheard writer? So much risk, risk not even worth taking.
As the readers are one of those consumers who think not only sentimentally and literally but practically as well, hence brand value matters. A hell lot. That’s how the free book reviews come into the picture.
A Hypothesis of a Debut Writer:
Everyone is aware of the market strategy of samples, or to rephrase in bookish parlance, the concept of blurbs or sneak-peaks, which are not considered harmful in the long run as buyers would like to get a taste of the story they would invest their money to buy.
These blurbs are printed on the back cover of a book and can even be easily accessed on the internet. That’s how the ‘so-called mechanism’ of free book reviews works as well.
Imagine an aspiring writer, who is tired of knocking on the doors of the publishing giants like Penguin and Harper, finally collecting all their savings to self-publish their book.
Now they have a certain number of copies of their books printed and even the e-copy made but the road ahead is a dead end.
As self-publishers, they lack the medium to reach the desired audience. Now the writer starts to look for resources to channel his book into the mainstream readers’ space because he believes his work deserves a chance.
But now after publishing the book he can’t well spend on independently marketing and promoting the book as well, so he contacts a Book reviewer, who will review their work and review it in front of the best audience, who would eventually get to know about the book and would consider to buy it.
Here, a free book review works to bridge the gap between the readers and the not-at-all-well-know writer.
Free book review pledges the case of the self-published writer
That free book review pledges the case of the self-published writer about why it deserves to be bought and read at least once and why it should climb the ladder of a reader’s TBR to snatch the place of Penguin published author, and this makes a lot of difference.
While the traditional publishers have their secure chain of marketing and bookstores, the self-publishers tread on shaky grounds, choosing those reviewers who would be willing to review their work for free.
Such a reviewer would agree to do so only on two conditions-
- When he/she is themselves an unrecognized reviewer or writer and for the sake of early days decides to review a self-published writer’s book for the sake of gaining experience, because obviously money is not something they will gain initially. Maybe the book would turn out to be gold in a coal mine and would become a bestseller making the reviewer a top-notch demand in the book marketing area.
- When the book is promising which makes the reviewer gives it a short against their better judgment and reviews the book for free.
Conclusion:
Nonetheless, the world is a sea of millions of possibilities, but in most cases, the book and the reviewer compensate each other for what they lack.
This article is not a critique of this trend of free book reviews nor on the self-published authors, it’s just an assortment of independent opinions which are based on knowledge and research.
After all let’s not forget that from India, Savi Sharma, author of ‘Everyone has a story, and globally ‘Rupi Kaur, author of ‘Milk and Honey’, emerged as bestsellers to have sold millions and millions of copies, formerly both being self-published writers.
What about you? What do you think about free book reviews and free will? Is it or is it not, worth a try? Worth an opportunity that can change lifetimes.
