Hello everyone! Sorry I’m late this week. The carpet cleaner is coming, and my world is upside down.
Speaking of agents, those gatekeepers of the coveted Top 5 contract, if you are going to be querying, our next step is to find them. I’ve written several posts about this, including: How do I choose my agent? (Agent Questions #18) How do I get representation? (Agent Questions #20) Finding the right agent/Publishing A to Z (Agent Questions #23 * This is the one I recommend reading, and the next one.*) Do you take my genre? (Agent Questions #25).
In Finding the Right Agent, I go over publishing steps from writing the book through traditional publishing. It would be silly to reestablish the information that I’ve put in here four times. And yet, like a lady last week, we have new readers that may not understand what I’m doing here. And if you are one of the new visitors just joining us, I generally talk about one or a combination of: writing, editing, publishing and/or marketing. I have been an agent, a consultant, I am an author, traditionally, as well as indie (called a hybrid author), and am now associate editor at Touchpoint Press. I have been learning the publishing industry, really digging in, for the past five years and I have learned so much from my complete immersion on day one.
In this blog series “Journey to a Bestseller,” I am writing the journey of a bestselling book from start to finish. Obviously, I don’t know at planning the concept if it’s going to work, that’s the gamble. But I’ve been on all sides of publishing now and I’m feeling really confident that I have learned enough to do it. Thus, the trial. You are the jury. And if it goes great, I will eventually put together some kind of podcast or course that shows how to do it from the beginning, to help authors know the steps to take.
And if it fails, then we will all have followed it and maybe some one of us makes it, and figures out where we went wrong, and we’ll do it differently the next time. Try, try again. But I have faith in this book. The steps to success are the same, but the methods are different. Like, the first thing you need to do to write a bestseller is know how to write. No, I am not being facetious. Not everyone is going to learn at the same rate, or at the same speed. I mean, learning to how to write like a bestselling author*. And there is a mental shift that takes place, in my opinion, or in my case. Anyone can tell you, “Write a great book if you want it to be a bestseller.” But I want to tell you HOW. Thus, this book is our group experiment. A seed to watch grow. The book is written and I’m looking for readers to take a look and answer some basic questions for me, plus give me a review.
*You will probably notice that I say “bestselling” or “bestselling author” a lot as symbols of achievement. Because there is no way to truly measure “success” in the literary world. It’s different for everyone. Your success may be more lucrative, or less, than mine. My platform may be smaller than hers, but I have better sales. It’s all subjective. But when talking to other authors about how you can help them, or what you want to do, there needs to be pre-established levels of accomplishment that equal measurements of success in different categories. For example, an award. If you win an award, for any writing, a poem, or short story, then you are an “award-winning author.” But can’t everyone do that? Sure. But they don’t. It’s an accomplishment. Some people go out for an award, and some don’t. Some win and some don’t. But winning an award is a level of success.
Being financially in the green with your book sales+marketing. You are the only one who knows about that one, unless you put it on Twitter. And you should if you make more than you spend with your book. Be proud, it’s an achievement that you’ve earned. If you reach #1, if you get a Top 5 contract, if you become a bestseller, let people know. Toot your own horn. Can’t all people do that? No. I know there are formulas out there, and I hope to devise one myself, but to say that it will work for anyone is a lie to the buyer. Some people aren’t going to follow every step on your list of how to be a success, some people can’t for whatever reason, and still some people will want to, will follow every step, and something just goes wrong. It happens.
So, I have made “being a bestseller” a level of success that I want to achieve. I want to see it next to my name. I want it on a girl scout badge I can sew onto my sash. Actually, I’ll probably put it on a button on my coat, but whatever. I have heard anyone can do it, so I’m going to follow everyone’s directions and see what works. I’ve narrowed down several people’s similar advice into some principles that I will give you later, as I get to launch and start buying ads. I will purchase my ads on March 17th at the latest.
Last week’s post was week two after typing “the end,” so this is week three. You might be hearing back from a few beta readers/reviewers (I always ask my beta readers for a little review of what they thought of the story, and use those for editorial reviews. That way they can even leave a real review later on the site, and I have a small snippet for the editorial section). If you haven’t heard anything back, make sure it’s been at least two weeks and then send your betas a gentle nudge. Email them a nice note like, “Hi Suzie, This is Jenn, I sent you The Key of F two weeks ago. I was just making sure you got my manuscript okay and wanted to know if you’ve had a chance to take a peek? Did you enjoy it? Did you have any questions? I can’t wait to hear what you have to say! Thanks again for the review, I appreciate it.” It’s nice, concise, and either reminds them to write you, or reminds them to leave the review, or reminds them to read it, or reminds them you exist.
I have had people write back and say, “I never got it. ” Why didn’t you tell me?! I mean, you knew I was sending it, why didn’t you say, “Hey could you try that again?” No. People don’t do that. You must confirm. I was afraid in the beginning to bug people with a nudge or ask them for the review. But they usually say something like, “I never got it, but I was excited to read it, can you send again?” They aren’t mad that I’m bugging them. They’ve been expecting a manuscript from me. So, if they get an email asking how they liked it, they will reply. Now, if you haven’t heard from them, and they haven’t left a review, you email a nudge, and still don’t hear from them … you’re probably not going to. So, a nudge is also a good way to know about how many reviews you can expect out of a bundle.
Those who are following me have a manuscript in the editing/beta reading phase. I have also written several posts on beta reading, in case you aren’t familiar with the term. So, while our book is out with readers right now, we are preparing for querying. When the manuscripts come back and you make necessary changes, your final edit should be ready to query.
Last week we made a spreadsheet for researching agents. Next week we’ll talk about writing the query letter, but this week we are going to talk about what to put into that spreadsheet we made and how to find the information. Because this information is repeated, I won’t worry about explaining any terms.
We are going to go over the categories again, but this time, not what they are, but where they are.
1|Round/Date sent: There are times a year when it is better to publish or not publish. Agents and editors work week round, month round, year round, so we take two breaks a year. We’re off from about the middle of December to the new year, and most also take a break in the summer. Some agents work through both vacations. A great number of agents have one or more outside jobs to pay the bills. Agenting does NOT pay for a long time. And a lot of people have kiddos home for the summer and take time off. It’s a service of love. If you try to query during these times, the agency may be closed, or you could just drop into the slush bucket. Ker-plop. In my opinion, it’s best to query right after one of these breaks, when the agent is fresh, caught up on queries, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to work. Your book will make their day! Of course.
2|Agent; Read this blog for any amount of time and you’ll hear me tout the benefits of www.manuscriptwishlist.com, www.publishersmarketplace.com, and check out Writers Digest Guide to Literary Agents blog. There are a lot of places to go to find agents, and if you read the link above about finding the right agent, you will find a list of ideas, but I encourage you to go to these and discover what agents are looking for in their submissions, and what they absolutely do not want in their inbox. As you go through lists of wishlists, when you see someone who is looking for just the thing you’re writing, jot their name down here, add their agency in the next column. (Some of the most current wishlists are on Twitter at the hashtag #MSWL.)
Make sure you write down the agency, because when you are querying in your rounds, if you like two agents from the same agency, you must choose one for round one, and the other for round two, and so on. Once the first agent has declined, THEN you may send to the next one, unless the agency has a policy that “no” from one is a “no” from all.
Agency; Is every agency the same? No. In “How do I choose my agent?” I talk about how to tell the difference between “good” and “bad” agents, and the same goes for the agency. There are agencies based in every city in America. Some are established and some are not. What do I mean? An established agency has proven itself to be knowledgeable, successful in selling manuscripts, well-connected with resources and a network of colleagues from other agencies that share a mutual respect. And above all, happy, successful, paid authors should be listed on their website. Don’t feel bad about contacting a few of your potential agent’s current clients, if you are truly considering it. Some people say to do this after you’ve gotten an offer. That is definitely smart. If you are offered a contract, always ask for at least a few days, commonly two weeks, to let the other agents know you’ve had an offer and to contact the other authors signed to that agent, before making your decision.
There are also agencies that have taken short cuts. Is that legal? Sure, it is. Are they still okay to sign with? That depends on what your end goal is, as well as what they can provide. A New York-based agency generally has the connections they need. But just because its address is in New York, does not mean an agency is trusted and respected. If it is an agency that has not been formed through the proper channels, and hasn’t trained its agents and connected its authors with the Top 5 publishers that will work with them, there might be red flags. Of course, paying for anything is a red flag, not offering a written contract, offering paid advertising or editing, agents that contact you first (real, good, agents don’t usually have time to fish for authors–they just don’t do it), the agent not returning your emails or calls, taking overly long to submit your work to editors and not giving you the answers for who they’re pitching to and/or what the response is, behavior that gives you apprehension…
Bottom line, there are always evil people. They aren’t always hard to spot. The ones you have to be careful of are the very nice, well-meaning, helpful agents, that take you on, give you a chance, and don’t have the capacity to get you the Top 5 contract they said they’d get you. Even if your book is great enough, and your blurb is killer, and their pitch is tight, and this is your magnum opus that you’ve planned your retirement around, if the agency isn’t established, if the agents don’t have the right connections, you could have the next Harry Potter and it won’t matter, because they don’t have the network to get you that contract anyway.
Now, don’t go blaming your agent for your less-than-desirable contract if that was all they could get you. Your book needs to be great enough to sell itself. It’s YOUR job to make sure you pick the agent for you. You have all the time in the world right now while your manuscript is being read, to research them. Don’t get a surprise AFTER you sign.
3|Email; You can find an agent’s email many places, but the best place for YOU as a querier (is that a word?), as a query-person, is to go to their agency website–if you don’t know what it is, Google the agent–and find their submission guidelines, then write down where they say to send queries. Sometimes it’s their email, sometimes it’s a querymanager address, or another query service, and sometimes, it’s through the contact page on their site, or submittable. So, it’s very important, not to just know their email, but to know where they accept queries. Because if you send it to the wrong place, you’ve wasted your time, it’s going in the trash. Unread. So do yourself a favor and write down the right address.
4|Wishlist details; Get these juicy bits from their website where they often list what they’re looking for. Sites like Manuscript Wish List go into a little more detail in a more laid-back fashion and often include what NOT to send them. If they are featured in any articles like Writer’s Digest or other online literary or publishing sites, they are often asked for their favorite things, or their wishlist might be in their bio. If you follow them on social media, they like that (lol), you will see them post little bits about what they like and don’t like to see in their inbox, especially on Twitter. The literary world lives on Twitter. Try #MSWL (short for Manuscript Wish List) agents will leave hints with this hashtag, too. Just jot down a few words that pertain to your work so that you’ll remember what they said they liked. I put stuff like: “something quirky and weird, maybe a little dark, yet emotionally powered” for one agent and everything from “YA writing, strong plot, big action, blur genres, new subculture, diversity: racial, gender, sexual” to the simplest “YA grittier and darker.” Anything they like that you identify with your novel as a positive selling point.
When writing your query one or two of things will go in the first paragraph when you say, “Hello Ms. Price, I saw a featured article about you on Writer’s Digest and I noticed that you enjoy multiple genres of YA fiction, the grittier and darker, the better. Because of this, I think you’d be a perfect fit for my 82,000-word YA dark sci-fi romance titled, The Clockwork Pen.”
5|Submission specifics; When you’re on that page at the agency site, looking up the submission guidelines, jot them down. I speed through things, so I do lots of spreadsheets in code. Lol. But I use the simplest possible method. I’m embarrassed as I type this. Geez. I put “q” for Query, “syn” for Synopsis, “bio” if they require a separate one or just specifically ask for one, then for sample pages I just put the number with “chap” or “pgs” and come up with lines like, “query + short syn + bio + 5pgs.” Then, if they specify anything else, I jot it down in quotes. It’s always instructions on what to put in the subject line. So, then I get this, “query + syn + 10pgs ‘Query:YA fantasy/historical romance'”
6|Response; You will get bounce backs, wrong emails, sometimes agents change agencies, or move to publishers, or get a company email and their old one no longer works. Just cross out the email and put the new one, resubmit and leave this category alone. Come back if the agency is “closed,” or “temporarily closed.” This will definitely happen if you forget and try to query during the holidays or mid-summer. Mostly these fill up with negative responses, but I challenge you to choose a word that doesn’t hurt as much as “rejected.” I put “declined.” It means the same thing, kind of. To reject something implies malice, or choice of something else, at the very least a non-acceptance of your offering. To decline means I offered it, they said, “No thanks.” I can handle that. It doesn’t hurt. You can put butterfly kisses for all I care. It’s not my business, but for me, it helped until I had thick enough skin, and now I prefer it. Seems a little more like a business deal than ripping out my heart and soul. You know?
7|Full requested; Man, I hope you fill this one up.
8|Response date; There’s not much you can do with this column. Some people obsess over how long it took agents to get back to them. I think it’s interesting. They talk about agents taking soooo long, but I always found that I got back several responses quickly, and then they slowed down to a halt, and began to trickle in at a snail’s pace. And most didn’t answer me at all. Which has an alarming growth in agent population right now. But of all the agents who answered me back, the bulk, probably 75% of them, answered pretty quickly. It just wasn’t the roaring waterfall of responses I’d hoped for. After the first few weeks of responses, when it dies down to nothing, record what you have, and go ahead and start the next round. BUT do NOT send to the next agent on the list if you still have a manuscript with someone at that agency. That’s when your spreadsheet turns to shit. Excuse me, chaos. I was querying for a client with disabilities who required help and I looked at her query log yesterday when I got a response from her query. I sent it out on August 14th, 2019. That was five months ago. But that’s sometimes how long it takes to go through some agents’ mailboxes. Don’t fret if it does take a long time. They WILL trickle in. Not all of them, but enough to give you hope.
9|Explanation (If there is one): This is where I list the agents’ main concept of their rejection. Things like, “Not a fit,” “Have one like it,” “Not connecting with voice.” Well, you know all the standard let-downs. And don’t freak out if you get a form rejection, as long they made an attempt to personalize it. They don’t have a lot of time to answer everyone back and figure out the best way to tell someone their book isn’t good enough yet without hurting their feelings or ticking them off. Be glad they answered you. Maybe they aren’t telling you what’s wrong with your story because there’s a list longer than they have time for in most manuscripts. It’s easier on both of you if they send a premade letter that they personalize for you with some kind of answer that hopefully gives you a clue what you might work on. But their vagueness is mostly not to hurt YOUR feelings. If there was one thing wrong and they could put their finger on it, they’d give you an R & R and tell you to fix that thing and send it back. But when there are issues like slipping tenses, and head-hopping, and you can’t see the world, the characters are flat, there is a glaring plot hole, you can’t send someone a list like that. They’d be devastated. But the real reason is, that’s pretty much the job of a beta reader. You should have already done that. The agent doesn’t have time to tell you all this. Plus, explain all the terms, if you didn’t know them. So, they write a nice little decline letter and maybe put some links in there for other places to look and people to try, as well as an article on query writing for sending to other agents, the offer of deals with colleagues. I have an editor friend and my referrals got a discount. Someone accused me of having a conflict of interest. I said, I edit my own clients’ manuscripts, I don’t make my clients pay, it’s the people I’ve declined already, to help them make the book better. I don’t expect to see them again. There’s no conflict. She is now working to be an agent, and I am an editor. Lol. Isn’t it funny how life changes?
I have a question. Has this happened to you? I had a woman email me this week and this is what she said:
“I hope you have had a lovely day so far; I am emailing you as I would love to review your work on my website: XXXXXXXXX.com. I recently discovered your work and when I did, I knew straight away my readers would adore your work as it looks wonderful and seems like the perfect fit for my site! My website is a book reviewing website and so I am always on the lookout for wonderful books I can feature for my readers as well as help authors showcase their work.
“I have more information I would like to share with you; however, I do not want to bombard you in this first email! If you are interested, please do email me back and I am happy to send you screenshots of my statistics for my visitors as well as my Amazon selling stats. My reviews are known to generate sales for the book in question as well as enhance discoverability and generate an ROI so please do email me back if you are interested in my services.”
I emailed her back, very excited. It was such a nice email and I have been casting out feelers, looking for people to review my third book. So this made my day. I wrote her back and thanked her, so excited to send her my three free books in exchange for reviews. I even told her about the new book that I’m looking for beta readers for. And then I got back the lovely note below:
“Thank you for your email and all your information! I am delighted you have emailed me [Um, she emailed me] because I would love to review your work on my website. To say I am a huge fan of your genre is an understatement, my readers are too so when I found your work I was thrilled! Your book The Final Rescue looks wonderful, the description and the incredible cover compelled me to contact you. I would love to work with you and feel that your work would be a great fit for my readers. Also, if you would prefer I review another book of yours instead, or potentially more than one, I am more than happy to as your series looks great!
“I wanted to say thank you for writing such an in-depth response to my email too. It is rare to find this so thank you! I really admire you for throwing yourself into marketing as well as claiming your rights back, that is not easy at all, but it shows how passionate you are about your storytelling, and I really admire that.
“Now I feel terrible for what I am about to write after your kind email, but I think there has been some miscommunication. I charge a fee for a review on my website; you have not mentioned this, so I am worried I have not made this clear. If I have not made this clear, please accept my apology. If you did know or might still be interested, then I will continue my email just in case! [There was no mention of a fee in her email above, or on her website.]
“If you would like to go ahead with a review, my fee is $77 (discounts can be made if more than one review is purchased). My website on average receives anywhere between 25,000 to 50,000 visits per month and I have over 10,000 comments and counting. My aim is to write honest reviews that enhance discoverability; if you would like to work together my goal is to increase visibility and hopefully generate sales for your work. “
Did you catch that? I should have seen it in the first message because the last words say, “If you are interested in my services.” That was the word I missed that should have told me it was a mass mailing. This was followed by six paragraphs of why her review is good for my book. I enjoyed the site a lot and I will probably get the reviews this time, but that is because I know what I need and what she’s offering, as well as how that might affect my book. If you don’t know all that, just pass.
But I’m telling you, I really fell for it this time. I usually don’t pay attention to this type of email. They’re fishing. They send this out to an entire list of purchased emails and then when anyone answers in the positive, they respond. Did you notice how her second email reinstated a lot of the first one? It was her hello email. She said, “I’m glad you emailed me, I’m delighted to review your book,” like the answer to a request. Actually, she emailed me, asking to leave a review. The reality was a bit of a shock. But that’s how these emails work. Now, she seems to be a very nice lady, but that’s the thing. Regular, everyday people, doing their own thing, trying to make some money, are the people that send you requests to buy their services, their editing, their blog review, etc. They aren’t bad people, they aren’t doing anything wrong, they are trying to find a way to profit in this business. Honestly, if you’re not an author or publisher, but you want to make money in publishing, you’re kinda outta luck. The real money to be made is to write the next big thing. And it’s a gamble.
So don’t feel bad when you fall for a fishing email and pay for a mistake. Apparently, I’m still dupable. I didn’t even realize this one was spam. This lady happens to be nice and upon sending several emails, I believe she is trustworthy, so this time it’s not a mistake, but this is an exception. I know the difference and am making an educated choice, but to the new author that doesn’t understand the rules of the game yet, it’s easy to be flattered by someone who contacts you saying they love your book and end up paying a blogger without a platform for a feature, or paying to get a mediocre review, there’s always “you review me, I review you” but Amazon’s on to that one and will remove BOTH author reviews.
If they believe them, flowery words can entice unseasoned authors to lower their guard and pay fees for services that the seller can’t guarantee. Sometimes it’s for something you need, and sometimes it’s for something you want, and sometimes it’s a waste of your time, your money, and your trust. It just goes to show, you must be wary of any and all offers in publishing.
I paid a promotion site that promised me at least eight reviews in February of 2019. During this year, I have had nineteen readers request my book through the site. In one year, that doesn’t sound bad, right? After some time had gone by, I sent out a nudge email. That was when I found out a few people never got it and didn’t tell me. So, I resent a few. Honestly, the people who did leave me reviews only took 2 weeks to a month before posting their reviews. I have sent out three reminders to the people on this list, and out of nineteen–I had one man write an apology saying he was very ill and wouldn’t be reviewing books anymore–I received three reviews. Yes, I’m pretty sure I paid at least $50-60 to be listed for their readers to choose.
It puts you on a site that reviewers can choose from, but there’s no guarantee that you’re going to be chosen. And I am living testimony to the fact that even if they DO pick your book to review, they might not do it anyway. Them’s the brakes, kid. The best way to save money is NOT to chase every ad and promo that sounds good. You don’t need an 800-person mailing list if you never write emails, or don’t have any plans to utilize it. Though email lists are one of the best ways to make sales if you keep a regular posting schedule and have relatable content.
Aha! I have something for you today, Freedom Fighters. I have a list of marketing sites for promotion. Now this is not exhaustive by any means, but this is what I’ve put together so far:
| Resource/site | Requirements | Cost |
| Advicesbooks | $5-50 | |
| Allauthor | $59/6 months | |
| Amazon Ads | cost per click/ $750-3650 | |
| Arkbound | 3 reviews | $0-500 |
| Armadillo eBooks | $25 for 15 sites promo | |
| Artisan Book Reviews | $100-300 | |
| Ask David | $10-15 + VAT | |
| Author Ad Network | $129 promotes to 28 sites | |
| Author Buzz | ||
| Author Marketing Club | $20 | |
| Authors Cross Promotion | ||
| Authors Den | $75 | |
| Awesome Book Promo | $65 | |
| Awesomegang.com | $10 | |
| Babs Book Bistro | $20 | |
| Bad boy romance | $5-10 | |
| Bargain Booksy | $25-135 | |
| Barnes & Noble Review | ||
| Best Fantasy books.com | ||
| Best Reads | Free | |
| Bestseller Trailers | ||
| Bknights | ||
| blip.tv | ||
| BMI Books.com | ||
| Book Angel | ||
| Book Barbarian | 10 rev/ave 3.5+ | $25-55 |
| Book Blast | ||
| Book Bongo | $30 | |
| Book Brag | $5-25 | |
| Book Cave | $10-25 | |
| Book Circle | $75 | |
| Book Deal Hunter | ||
| Book Doggy | 5 reviews | $8-10 |
| Book Goodies | $10 | |
| Book Gorilla | 5 rev/ave 4+ | $50-100 |
| Book Lemur | $25-35 | |
| Book Life | ||
| Book Lovers Heaven | ||
| Book Ninjas | ||
| Book Marketing Tools Submission Tool | ||
| Book Praiser | 5 reviews | $30-100 |
| Book Preview Club | $10 | |
| Book RAID | $10 | |
| Book Reader Magazine | $20 | |
| Book Reels | ||
| Book Riot | ||
| Book review 22 | ||
| Book Review Buzz | $25/book | |
| Book Trailers 4 kids & YA | ||
| Book Trailer Tuesday | ||
| Bookbub | 10 reviews | $25-500 |
| Bookcaster | ||
| Bookgrabber | ||
| BookHippo.uk | $49/month | |
| Bookish.com | ||
| booklikes.com | ||
| bookmarketingtools.com | ||
| Bookoftheday.org | ||
| Book Page | ||
| bookreviewyellowpages.com | ||
| Books Butterfly | $5 | |
| Books Go Social | 5 reviews | $49-329 |
| Booksends | $25-125 dep on genre | |
| Bookskill.online | ||
| Book Smugglers | ||
| BookSweeps | ||
| Booktastic | $10 | |
| Booktrib.com | ||
| Bookvids.net | ||
| BrazenBookshelf.com | $10-110 | |
| Buck Books | 10 rev/ave 3.8 | |
| Buzz net | ||
| Chick Lit Café | $50-150 | |
| Choosy Bookworm | 8 reviews | $25-70 |
| Cinematic Book Trailers | ||
| compulsive Reader | ||
| content buzz | ||
| Content MO | ave 3.5+ | $3 |
| Crime Fiction Lover | ||
| Crime Scene Reviews | ||
| Current tv | ||
| Daily Free Books | $7.50 and up | |
| Daily Motion | ||
| Devour | ||
| Digital Bookend | ||
| Digital Book Girl | ||
| Digital Book Today | 18 rev/ave 4+ | $40 |
| Dump a link | ||
| Early Bird Books | ||
| eBook.ws | ||
| eBook Daily Deals | ||
| ebook deal of the day | $5 | |
| eBookaHolic | ||
| ebook bandit | ||
| eBook Booster | $35 for 45 sites promo* | |
| eBook Discovery | ||
| eBook Hounds | 10 rev/ave 3+ | $35 |
| eBook Island | ||
| eBook Lister | 5 rev/ave 3.5+ | |
| eBook Mountain | ||
| eBook Roulette | ||
| eBook Soda | 8 reviews | $15 |
| eBook Stage | 5 reviews | |
| eBookasaurus | $10 | |
| eBooks Free Daily | ||
| eBooks Habit | 5 reviews | $15 |
| eFree Books | ||
| ENT | ||
| Emmy Gatrell | ||
| eReader Café | 3 reviews | $30 |
| eReader IQ | ||
| eReader Love | ||
| eReader News Today | $35-140 | |
| eReadergirl.com | $20 | |
| Facebook Ads | ||
| Fantasy Book Critics | ||
| Fantasy Book Reviews | ||
| Fiverr bknights | $5 and up | |
| Flix wagon | ||
| Flix YA | ||
| Flurl | ||
| Flurries of Words | $3-5/day | |
| Free and discounted books | $5 | |
| Free Booksy | $40-100 | |
| Free ebooks For Me | ||
| Free Kindle books and tips | $25 | |
| Freebies 4 mom | ||
| Free Stuff Times | ||
| Free 99 Books | ||
| Fresh Fiction | ||
| Fussy Librarian | 10 rev/ave 4+ | $18 |
| Good Kindles | $8 | |
| Goodreads giveaways | ||
| Heyspread | ||
| Hidden Gems | $10-30 | |
| Hot Zippy | $23-330 | |
| Humanmade- books promo | $3.99-35 | |
| I love book trailers | ||
| iBookpile.org | ||
| IBPA | $100-399 | |
| I Crave Freebies | ||
| Ignite Your Book | $1 | |
| Indep Author Network | $25 set up/ paid ads | |
| Indies Unlimited | ||
| Ink Arcade | $30 | |
| Inkitt | ||
| Instagram ads | ||
| Itsy bitsy book promo | ||
| It’s Write Now | $10 | |
| JamesCalbraith.com | ||
| Just Kindle Books | $18 | |
| Kboards Book Discovery | 20 reviews | $20/day |
| Kindle Books Promo | ||
| Kindle Book Review | $0-20 | |
| Kindle Books & Tips | 8 reviews | |
| Kindle Countdown | ||
| Kindle Nation Daily | $100-180 | |
| Kindlenation Daily | ||
| Librarything | ||
| literary Me.net | ||
| LitPick | ||
| Love, Lust & Lipstick stains | $5 | |
| Love Books Group | ||
| Lovely Book Promos | $10 | |
| Lulu | ||
| Manybooks | 10 rev/ave 4+ | $29 |
| marketing for authors.com | ||
| Masquerade Crew | $25 and up | |
| mediabistro.com | ||
| Medium | ||
| Mega Book Deals | ||
| Motion box | ||
| Mix | ||
| Momma Says Read | ||
| Natasha is a book junkie | ||
| Netgalley.com | $450-849 | |
| NewInBooks.com | ||
| newfreekindlebooks.com | $5-10 | |
| Nurture Your Books | ||
| Olto Books | ||
| Online Book Club | $25-140 | |
| Peoplereads.com | 10 reviews | $8 |
| Photo Bucket | ||
| Pillow Talk Books | $15-30 | |
| Pinterest Free eBooks | ||
| Pixel of Ink | ||
| Plane Ebooks | $20-60 | |
| Portal to Fantasy | ||
| Pretty Hot Books | $25 for 7 days | |
| Prolific Works | ||
| Promotemine.com | $30-70 | |
| Rainys Book Realm | ||
| Read Cheaply | ||
| Read Freely | ||
| Readers in the Know | 60 days/$26 per year | |
| Reader’s Favorite | free review | |
| Reading Deals | 5 reviews | $10 |
| Reddit Free Ebooks | ||
| RedFeatherRomance.com | ||
| Reedsy | ||
| Riffle Select | $25-100 | |
| Robin Reads | $50 | |
| Romance Reads | ||
| Romance Rock Stars | $20-200 | |
| services4authors.com | ||
| SF Book | ||
| Shameless Book Deals | ||
| Shelf awareness | ||
| Smashwords | ||
| Snicks List | $5 | |
| Story Finds | $15 and up | |
| Storycartel.com | ||
| Story Origin App.com | free | |
| TallPoppies.org | ||
| TCK | 10 rev/ave4+ | $10 |
| Teen reads | ||
| The Book Cave | ||
| The Book Geek | ||
| The Book Hookup | ||
| The Booklist Reader | ||
| The Digital Ink Spot | ||
| The eReader Café | 3 rev/ave 4+ | |
| The Kindle book review | ||
| The Midlist | ||
| The page-hungry bookworm | $1-5 | |
| The Reader Café | ||
| The Reading Café | ||
| The Sweetest Romance | $5-10 | |
| theindiereview.com | ||
| Top Sci-fi Books | ||
| Top shelf book.net | ||
| Trailer Shelf | ||
| Tumblr | ||
| Twitter Ads | ||
| uncarved ARC builder | ||
| Uniweb productions | ||
| Video Wednesday | ||
| Vimeo | ||
| With Love for Books- Annie K. | ||
| Wordlikes.com | ||
| WriteGlobe.com | ||
| Writers Support | ||
| Written word | ||
| Xpresso | ||
| YA book central | ||
| Your Daily ebooks | ||
| Your New Books | ||
| Your personal website | ||
| Youtube ads | ||
| 20 Books to 20K |
If you have information that goes in any of these squares, let me know and I will fill it in. Sorry, I don’t have time to link every site. If I had an executive assistant, I’d get her to do it, but I got nada in the way of help. Soooo, it has taken me two busy days to get all this down. Next weekend I will make a query with you for your WIP. For now, please accept my apology for the recap, and I hope you can use some of this information. If you are publishing a book, traditionally or indie, you should copy down this list and help fill in the blanks. Because you’re going to have to, at the very least, help with marketing. And here’s your first list of sites to try. The sites with harder-to-accomplish requirements are usually the better-known sites with larger platforms that get a lot of traffic. They have a quality standard that is high, so if you can get in with any of those sites, they are the equivalent to nickle and diming yourself on several small sites with no traffic. Be very intentional with your literary budget. That’s enough for now.
Keep Writing!
~jenn
Jennifer Haskin 
4 thoughts on “Journey to a Bestseller: Getting Your Agent List Ready to Query (Series #28)”