What Happens When a Reviewer Says Yes

The Trek of Professional Reviews from “Yes” to Publication

by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

From an excerpt from the coming second edition of Carolyn’s How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically

I welcome the “editorial” term, but if you are new to our oh-so-traditional world of publishing books, you are probably more familiar with other categories of reviewers including reader reviewers and even spammy reviewers but what how does this “editorial” review system work. What is happening behind the scene? You want to maintain as much control over the review process of you book as possible—long term. For the good of your book. For the good of your wallet. It helps to know what the process is now so you can choose between rules old and rules new—and avoid “rules misinformed.”

Editorial or professional reviews are the most desirable ones because they get your book off to a running, they are most trusted, they are free, and they are the ones legions of other media with an interest in featuring books use for their own research. Let’s call them the supermedia. As an author, you need to know that getting these editorial/professional reviews from supermedia sources is still, well…super smart to do and, unfortunately, often neglected. Big reputable publishers often do this review-getting work for your book, but publishers aren’t infallible—and they aren’t all the same as they once were either. These days there are old-timer publishers, lots of newbies, and an interesting assortment of hybrid publishers; all of them seem to be on more limited budgets than they once were.

Your publisher can help get them. Or they can screw up royally. Thus, all authors need to know more about how a review process from media with ethical standards work—the way the best of them have worked for…maybe centuries.

Here’s how that process goes:

• You ask (query) a media outlet for a review. (That may be new for you—or not!)
• Some of the supermedia ask for their ARCs (Advanced Review Copy) to be sent with the query. It is in their submission guidelines. It is not a request; it is a command if you want your book considered.
• Many have a sixteen-week deadline before the release of your book. Meaning your query package must arrive in their office that far in advance to be considered for a review. (That’s been around a while, but it’s more than likely you didn’t know about it! Or found out too late to benefit your book!)
• Alternately, a few expect you to wait until requested to send your ARC. They are well worth pursuing, but it is unlikely they are the same ones that get read by industry gatekeepers like book buyers and librarians, the ones on the top of the list of the review supermedia I provide for you later in the second edition of my How To Get Great Book Reviews from Modern History Press coming this fall from Modern History Press. They want your ARC submitted with the query letter.
• Your book gets scrutinized by your contact, usually an editor. Your book passes the test.
• You do not pay them a fee.
• Your book is delegated to one of that publishing house’s cadre of reviewers (staff members or stable of paid freelance reviewers, also called editorial or professional reviewers) and assign a deadline date for their finished review.
• That reviewer reads your book and writes the review to professional standards that often includes critique and sometimes strong opinion both pro and con.
• That review goes through an editing process and is published just before or just after the release date of your book.
• You may or may not be notified when and where that review can be seen, and you may or may not be sent a copy of that review. 
• After your query letter is written and your book is in the hands of a reviewer, you have little or nothing to say about this process. But if you know how your ARC should be presented, those tools you already sent have been more influential than you might expect. More on that later, too.
• Most of us know that this is a valuable process for the good of our books; what doesn’t seem as obvious is that these professional (editorial!) reviews are valuable learning tools for writing our next book and for the advancement of our careers.
• You send a thank you note addressed to the editor and reviewers who were involved in the process, preferably a note written on paper. (Generally speaking, these are folks with traditional values as well as firm rules.)
• You promote your review in the many ways we talk about in How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically choosing what’s right for your personality, your pocketbook and, again, for the good of your book.

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S READER VIEWS’ CONTRIBUTOR

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books for writers including USA Book News’ winner for The Frugal Book Promoter now in its third edition. An instructor for UCLA Extension’s renowned Writers Program for nearly a decade, she believes in recycling what you write to extend exposure for marketing efforts. Two of her favorite awards are Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment given by members of the California Legislature and “Women Who Make Life Happen,” given by the Pasadena Weekly newspaper. She is also an award-winning poet and novelist, and she loves passing along the tricks of the trade she learned from marketing those so-called hard-to-promote genres. Learn more and find tons of free resources on her website at https://HowToDoItFrugally.com. Find all of the little “Editor’s Extras” by using the separate contents list in the front of her newest entry in her series, The Frugal Editor. And won’t you put the coming second edition of her How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically on your to-read list. It’s coming from Modern History Press in late fall.