Review Sites (Authors' Resource)

Black Tulip said:

I'll add my two here:

Erotica Readers & Writers Association

and

logical-lust.

Both are decent sites for erotic stories, with writer's resources and calls for submissions as well. I'll contact these two this week.

Click to expand...

impressive said:

Links:

Logical Lust Up & Coming
http://uc.logical-lust.com/

EWRA Featured Titles
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/EB/FeaturedTitles.htm

... neither appears to be a "review site" per se, but can't hurt to try.


It'd be nice to have an AHer write a Lit piece for "Reviews & Essays" on Coming Together (each volume). Then, the review piece could be quoted on bulletin boards, etc. One of the Survivor types ought to hop on it!

Click to expand...

cloudy said:

I'll take the first one (wouldn't be fair for me to do the second, since I'm in it).

Click to expand...

There are a number of different ways to promote e-books. I presume that it's erotica, yes? The first thing you want to do is to get lots of reviews. That's free promotion to everyone who visits that site. If it gets top marks, it will only add to sales. If the review isn't terrific, that's not such a bad thing, because most readers are pretty forgiving if they like the plot. They understand that reviewers are people too and not everybody agrees on likes/dislikes.

Here's a list of romance websites/magazines that will also do most erotic:

1. Blythe Barnhill, All About Romance - blythe_aar@comcast.net
2. JoAnn, Fallen Angel Reviews - joann@fallenangelreviews.com
3. Kathy Boswell, The Best Reviews - editor@thebestreviews.com
4. Simone, The Romance Studio - Reviews@theromancestudio.com
5. Kelley Hartsell, LoveRomances - kelley@loveromances.com
6. Linda Westburg, RBL Romantica Reviews - lwestburg@sbcglobal.net
7. Livia, Romance Readers Connection - Romreadcon@aol.com
8. Editor, Word Weaving Reviews - editor@wordweaving.com
9. Tracy, Roundtable Reviews - tracy@roundtablereviews.com
10. Editor, Romance Junkies - reviews@romancejunkies.com
11. Terrie Figueroa, Romance Reviews Today - Terrie_Figueroa@romrevtoday.com
12. Vickie Denney, Reader to Reader Reviews - vickie@newandusedbooks.com
13. Hank Wagner, Hellnotes - HankW26159@aol.com
14. Melinda Barrera, Enchanted in Romance - melinda_barrera@sbcglobal.net
15. Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sime-Gen Reviews - reviews@simegen.com
16. David, In Other Worlds - david@inotherworlds.com
17. Tara Green, Romance Designs - tara@romancedesigns.com
18. Karen, Find Out About New Books & Coffeetime Romance - KarenkaraGA@aol.com
19. Mireya, Just Erotic Romance Reviews - minina62@yahoo.com

You definitely want to send it to JERR, since they're the most respected erotic reviewer.

Next, you'll want to join some Yahoo and Google romance loops and introduce yourself. You don't have to actively post bunches afterward and can get digests for a time, but the initial introduction will do you worlds of good. You can find loops and groups by clicking on the "Groups" link at both the Yahoo and Google sites and typing in "erotica" or "romance", and then choosing the ones to join. Some of them get a lot of mail, but a lot of them really don't. Still you might want to set up a special free e-mail account just for your loops. That way, it doesn't clog up your regular box. Again, except for a bit of time, this is free.

I haven't found that guestbooks work all that well. Frankly, you end up getting more spam than visitors. Lots of authors started with guestbooks but many have given them up because you can't hardly wade through the spam to get to the real posts.

Conferences are another good way to get exposure. If you can't afford to attend, there's nothing saying that your BOOK can't! Again, another reason for loops and groups is to find people who are already going to the conference and might be willing to take a small batch of postcards or bookmarks to place on the goodie table. Last year, I attended one conference, but my BOOK attended eight! LOL!

Bookmarks aren't very expensive to buy from sites or they're easy to make in most word processing programs. Some inexpensive places to get bookmarks are Earthly Charms, http://www.earthlycharms.com ; Vista Printing, http://vistaprint.com . I was really happy with the postcards from 4over4.com, http://www.4over4.com

If you want to put a few more dollars into the marketing push, you might consider a program that Romantic Times has started. For a fee of $100, you can send them bookmarks, postcards or posters that they will include in the package with their magazine to 700 romance-friendly bookstores all over the country. That's a HUGE benefit, because some of the romance-friendly independent stores are starting to carry e-books on the shelves. If even 10% think it's interesting, your sales could skyrocket. You can find this at: http://www.romantictimes.com then click on "Writers" at the bottom and then on "Ad Rates and Deadlines" and "Special Mailings".

Click to expand...

Black Tulip said:

Shall I have a go at JERR as well?

Click to expand...