Questions & Answers for Authors
What is Reader Spoils?
Reader Spoils is a newsletter delivered twice a month that showcases independent authors and their books to thousands of book reviewers in America.
How does Reader Spoils work?
Simply subscribe as a sponsor of our sent twice monthly newsletter, fill out a short form about your book, upload a image file of you and/or your book cover, and you’ll start receiving inquires to review your book within week or two. Once you receive book review inquires simply reply to the reviewers as you wish, deal out as many reviews as you want, and send gifts to the reviewers directly. Starbucks gift cards are poplar, as are Walmart gift cards, and of course cash never hurts either.
That sounds complicated, can you guys help?
Yes, we’ve made it easy for subscribers to work with authors by using our prewritten templates, you’ll get them in your inbox as soon as you sign up as a subscriber. Feel free to copy and paste those into your emails when dealing with reviewers.
How does it help me sell books?
When your book is featured in a Reader Spoils newsletter you will receive a large amount of inquires from people wanting to review your book online. The raised awareness of your book from the reviewers getting to read it, sharing it with friends combined with the power of Amazon and other booksellers web search helps your book sell more.
Think of it this way, the more reviews your book receives, the more attention is drawn to it, the more likely it will sell. The more third party opinions (reviews) your book has about it on popular book merchant websites the more likely people will buy it. Simply put, book reviews are one of the most powerful ways to market a book effectively online.
How many book reviewers are signed up with Reader Spoils?
Reader Spoils has over 8,900 people signed up with the intention entirely to review books for gifts or cash.
Does Reader Spoils have any famous clients?
Yes, Reader Spoils counts several bestsellers and indie publishing legends as clients. Our clients collectively have sold hundreds of thousands of books, both paper and digital.
How do I manage getting emails from reviewers?
Use our prewritten templates to deal with reviewers. We will help you manage them into three categories, one for those that you want to review your book now, one for those that you’d like to review your book later, and one for those that you aren’t interested in having them review your book.
Is it ok to ask reviewers to do extra stuff like tag my book on Amazon, or email two friends about it?
It’s entirely up to you, we let you set all the terms, and let the reviewers accept or deny them as they wish.
How does it help me to stay a subscriber month-to-month?
Due to the viral nature of Reader Spoils, and the fact that most everyone loves getting free swag, we constantly get new reviewers signing up to review books. This allows for increased exposure, and the opportunity for more people to request to review your book. Finally, many of our reviewers might not be able to send in an email to request to review your book the first time or second time, but through repetition over the months, they will more than likely at some point reach out to review your book.
What issues should I be aware of when engaging in this service?
Be ready to handle a lot of emails coming your way. This means you may want to create a unique email address just to handle your review requests, something like BOOKNAMEREVIEWS@Gmail.
How much should I pay per review?
We think $5 Starbucks gift cards are great. Some authors like to do other things, like send t-shirts, or create a flat fee payment price. In any means, we advise our clients to go for volume, and thus keeping a low budget per review makes sense when you are dealing with a large group of reviewers.
Who are your reviewers?
Everyday people with an Amazon account. They are not professionals, and we like it that way. We believe your core readers are often everyday people (unless you write textbooks), and thus we believe that everyday people reviewing your book is exactly what will translate into better sales.
Should I email a digital review copy to the reviewers or a printed paperback/hardcopy?
It’s 100% your choice, we think it’s nice to save on postage and send PDF files via email. But some authors prefer to keep the experience of tangible book reading alive, and insist on sending them to the reviewers directly. It’s 100% your choice.
How long have you been doing this?
Since May 16th 2008.
Does it work?!
A large portion of our clients are repeat customers, and some have gone on to become top ranked authors in their categories, so yes, we know it works great.
Questions & Answers for Reviewers
How do I get to review books?
Sign up HERE.
Is this really free for me to be a part of?
Yes, this is 100% free to you.
How do I ensure I get the most free books and swag?
When you receive an email from Reader Spoils, make sure to open it quickly, and email the authors right away requesting to review their book. Often authors will take the first 10 or 20 emails they get and decide the early birds are the ones that get to read their book and receive the incentives they’re providing.
What kind of free stuff will I get?
You can expect to receive free Starbucks gift cards, Walmart gift cards, cash, free books, and if the authors have it, promo swag for their book like t-shirts, etc.
What makes me qualified to review books for up and coming authors?
If you live in America, have an active Amazon account, and are willing to read a book you might not have heard of yet, and then write an honest review about it on Amazon, or other similar websites, you’re exactly who we are looking for!
Where can I go for inspiration to get better at what I’m doing?
Visit Amazon’s list of the top reviewers HERE, and look at some of the top people reviewing books. Specifically look at their book reviews. How are they structured? Do they follow a similar format? How long are they? What are they doing to help readers decide whether to buy the book or not? Collectively the reviews might not have a ton in common, but they have enough that it makes for a pretty good list of best practices when it comes to reviewing books.
When reviewing books try to always do the following-
Keep the review informative with information about the book for those considering buying it.
Try not to spoil the plot for those considering buying it.
Offer up insights into how the characters, setting, plot, and writing in general made you feel, think, and reflect.
Provide emotional highs and lows for you personally that occurred when reading the book.
Share your honest thoughts about the book in comparison to whatever else the potential reader might buy in the same category.
Be critical, but not harsh. There is a fine line between giving a critical analysis of a book, and plain old disrespecting an author for trying to put their work out to the public. It’s not easy to do, and it’s more than most of us do, so while being critical is fine, try not to toss insults in a place they don’t belong.
What added value can I provide for authors that select me to review their books?
Really enjoy reading a book you were commissioned to review by a Reader Spoils client? Then hook them up with extra publicity! A great way to start would be to tag the book you just reviewed on Amazon with popular search tags for the author’s category. If the book is a murder mystery, tag the book with keywords like mystery, thriller, etc. If the book mentions 48 Hours the popular CBS show, tag it with the keyword term 48 hours. All of this keyword tagging will help when potential buyers are searching for books with related material.
Next, tell all your friends. Shooting out an email and getting the word out on Facebook and Twitter can really make a huge difference. Your world, no matter how small or large, has a reverence for your opinion, so when you love a book, share those thoughts with your world, and watch as they too read it.
Finally, email the author your thoughts. Authors are fragile beings, writing often in isolation, sometimes for days, months, or even years on end. Sending them a note directly with your thoughts will really help validate their work. Who knows, your feedback might lead to their next lead character in a follow up book. Be part of their world!