Hey, I’m hanging around this weekend checking out all the great content at WriteOnCon! If you have any questions or want to share tips on how you use short-term writing and career goals to pursue your long term ones, you can do that here!
Thanks for stopping by!
Rebecca
gasanaenyi
1 year ago
I love the idea of using a spreadsheet to track progress on writing goals. This is practical and so simple to do.
You mention writing book reviews as a short term goal. How can I begin the process of connecting with other authors and publishing companies who are seeking book reviewers?
LOL! Yes, spreadsheets are easy and great…and sometimes also a curse. Right now b/c I have been overexcited about WriteOnCon for the last couple weeks, so my spreadsheet says that I am 10 chapters behind on revising my WIP. Yikes! But…sometimes you have to remember that it’s okay to be behind on one area of your writing life if you’re investing in another. And I love WriteOnCon!
On getting into reviews…great question. You need a couple things. You need a platform to write reviews. I mentioned that I write for thewingedpen.com. That gave me someplace to post reviews. I also post on Goodreads, Barnes & Noble’s website and Amazon. So think about that. Do you have a website?
Then, you can think about the books you’ll review. When I started, I think I reviewed a few books that were written by authors I admired from the New England SCBWI conference, a conference I attend regularly. I also reviewed books that I was reading and interested in. I picked books that I would buy anyway or could get from the library and things that had been published quite recently b/c those are the ones most in need of reviews.
Later, I signed up for a NetGalley account. Netgalley is a place where you can request electronic arcs. some are easier to get approved for than others. (Everything in publishing comes with a bit of rejection.) Some are available pretty readily. In the beginning, I was only approved for a fraction of the books I requested. As I reviewed more books and Judged the CYBILS awards, my approval rate got a lot higher. Eidelweiss is another site that lets people request e-arcs.
I had a couple friends on my group blog who wrote for other websites and got boxes of books with requests for reviews because those sites were pretty popular. They found it a bit intimidating. Okay, it’s free books, but you feel obliged to read them and write a review. That takes quite a bit of time. Because of this, our website made a policy that we wouldn’t accept arcs because we didn’t want to feel obliged to review books that weren’t “our thing” or that we didn’t like. Since you’re here, I’ll assume you’re an author. You don’t necessarily want to be bashing other authors b/c the writing community is small. Our policy was that we’d boost books we liked but not review books we didn’t like rather than bash them.
Over time, I found that I focused on reviewing the categories/genres I feel most strongly about. I focus on YA spec fic/thriller, though I review some others as well.
That’s probably more than you wanted to know! If you want to start writing book reviews, it’s not hard. Just give it a go. You can refine what and how you review over time.
Hey, I’m hanging around this weekend checking out all the great content at WriteOnCon! If you have any questions or want to share tips on how you use short-term writing and career goals to pursue your long term ones, you can do that here!
Thanks for stopping by!
Rebecca
I love the idea of using a spreadsheet to track progress on writing goals. This is practical and so simple to do.
You mention writing book reviews as a short term goal. How can I begin the process of connecting with other authors and publishing companies who are seeking book reviewers?
LOL! Yes, spreadsheets are easy and great…and sometimes also a curse. Right now b/c I have been overexcited about WriteOnCon for the last couple weeks, so my spreadsheet says that I am 10 chapters behind on revising my WIP. Yikes! But…sometimes you have to remember that it’s okay to be behind on one area of your writing life if you’re investing in another. And I love WriteOnCon!
On getting into reviews…great question. You need a couple things. You need a platform to write reviews. I mentioned that I write for thewingedpen.com. That gave me someplace to post reviews. I also post on Goodreads, Barnes & Noble’s website and Amazon. So think about that. Do you have a website?
Then, you can think about the books you’ll review. When I started, I think I reviewed a few books that were written by authors I admired from the New England SCBWI conference, a conference I attend regularly. I also reviewed books that I was reading and interested in. I picked books that I would buy anyway or could get from the library and things that had been published quite recently b/c those are the ones most in need of reviews.
Later, I signed up for a NetGalley account. Netgalley is a place where you can request electronic arcs. some are easier to get approved for than others. (Everything in publishing comes with a bit of rejection.) Some are available pretty readily. In the beginning, I was only approved for a fraction of the books I requested. As I reviewed more books and Judged the CYBILS awards, my approval rate got a lot higher. Eidelweiss is another site that lets people request e-arcs.
I had a couple friends on my group blog who wrote for other websites and got boxes of books with requests for reviews because those sites were pretty popular. They found it a bit intimidating. Okay, it’s free books, but you feel obliged to read them and write a review. That takes quite a bit of time. Because of this, our website made a policy that we wouldn’t accept arcs because we didn’t want to feel obliged to review books that weren’t “our thing” or that we didn’t like. Since you’re here, I’ll assume you’re an author. You don’t necessarily want to be bashing other authors b/c the writing community is small. Our policy was that we’d boost books we liked but not review books we didn’t like rather than bash them.
Over time, I found that I focused on reviewing the categories/genres I feel most strongly about. I focus on YA spec fic/thriller, though I review some others as well.
That’s probably more than you wanted to know! If you want to start writing book reviews, it’s not hard. Just give it a go. You can refine what and how you review over time.
All the best,
Rebecca