Odyssey Reviewers... Our Lessons Learned

Once again, Odyssey Reviews is posting a 'harshicle'. Having read a good measure of self-published books for this review site, Odyssey reviewers have learned that there are several common mistakes that a self-published author makes when generating their product. These mistakes will affect your sales, your reviews and your marketability as an author. The more we read, the more compelled we are to note these issues. Gird your loins, authors--and read on. These may seem harsh, but they are helpful tips.

When submitting your book for review:

~ Your query summary should be as compelling as the copy on the cover. Don’t fill it up with character names and silly, irrelevant details that give the whole story away or hang out of context like dangling, freak-limbs. Hack them off.

~ Edited query: If you cannot submit a query that is somewhat free of grammatical errors, it’s likely we won’t want to read the book itself.

~ Please try to form a coherent sentence. Disjointed summaries don’t bode well for the book they’re pitching.

~ Follow the basic guidelines for submissions. We didn’t put the submission guidelines up there as suggestions. No attachments please. Ever.

When you’re hoping to sell your book:

~ Too Much Title
* No matter how much work you put into your book, your title can be an instant turn-on, or turn-off. Having a title that is an epic novel in and of itself is not a good choice. Generally, if you require punctuation in your title, your book either be self-help or probably be re-titled with something catchy and strong.

~ Ridiculous-sounding title that makes no sense...
* Bad idea. What might make 100% sense to you may sound like blather to someone else. Run your title by objective people before you settle on it.

~ Bad Cover Copy
* Not unlike your review submission summary, this is what is supposed to sell your book to the reader. If it’s badly written, you’re in trouble. Refer to this post for more details.

~ Bad Cover Art
* I’m sure it’s charming that you have a child or a friend who can do some basic graphic ‘art’ on Photoshop who you'd love to credit; or you have a low-resolution picture of something—you need to put a lot more thought into your cover than just throwing it together. Your cover is your ‘shop window’—it’s what’s supposed to draw your eye. If it looks pixilated, is a Photoshop hack-job, drawn by a second-rate artist or whatever, it will detract from your book more than you can possibly know. Don’t make it too busy, or too over-thought. It needs to make some sense in context of the book too.

There are examples of both really great, and really bad book covers on this review site. Browse away. I’m sure the design alone affects how many people will click the link through to Amazon from here. See these posts for more tips on cover design: Cover Art Article, Interview with a Cover-Art Designer.

~ Lack of editing
* Editing is an old song here at Odyssey Reviews. We are anti-unedited books here. Our belief is that since POD books are more expensive than standard commercial publications that authors owe it to their readers to insure that what they’re paying more for is a professional, well-presented package. MSWord is a fairly helpful tool for spelling, however it misses a lot. You need to come up with creative ways to clean up your manuscript before you publish. Here is a post with some suggestions. We also interviewed an editor who gave some very helpful tips.

~ Lastly, be realistic and objective about your own work—because if you don’t… the reviewers will.
* Ask yourself this: Are your friends and family just being nice? Is my book really any good? It could be like American Idol; where the singer sounds like a cross between a dying cat and a police siren, but their well-meaning family hurts them more than helps them with their encouragement and kindness. You need to know that there is a strong possibility your book just isn’t very good. It could be entertaining to you, but could be impossible to get through for another. Can you look at your book from a marketing perspective? Can you picture people resonating to it?

Be prepared. Reviews can be harsh. Sometimes we will receive a book and it’s so bad, we cannot review it. We’re not haters here at Odyssey; but we are realistic—and we are honest in our reviews, BUT we will not post a review with a less than a 2 medallion rating because we don’t want to be evil. Your book could be that unreadable, that is a distinct possibility. Sometimes, if authors send us a book, and don't see a review, it's probably because the book rated very low. No amount of money paid to marketing companies is going to make it good. It’s painful and harsh when you get bad reviews—but instead of taking it personally, you should take it as a reason to improve as a writer, and reevaluate your style and your voice.

Some people write entirely for themselves; and discover the hard way that other people can’t always sync with their imagination. We recommend all authors considering self-publishing to do a few test-reads with complete strangers; preferably people who know what they’re doing, and allow the readers to give you a strong, objective review. Take classes. Join a writer’s group. Subject yourself to growth—don’t ever assume that just because you wrote a story from the beginning to the end, that you are instantly qualified to publish your book. You owe your book-buyers a little more consideration than that—especially since you’re asking them to pay a lot more for your book than normal books cost.

Read this post to be aware of what's in store when you submit a query to this or any other review site.

Your Promotional Copy

Reading some of the descriptions sent to us for review submissions, I’ve realized how important it is to have good promotional copy on your work. Let’s face it; it’s probably harder to summarize your book in two paragraphs, make it engaging and bold, than it was to write your book. It's not easy to grab your reader.

The problem is, that aside from your book cover art; your promo description is probably the thing that’s going to make or break the sale of your book. The cover catches the eye, it makes the buyer pick up your book, and flip it over. Those buyers will have to like what they read to make them take the next step(s); which can be 1) to open the book up to the first page to read the first paragraph or two; 2) to flip to the last page and read the last paragraph or two; or 3) to carry that book up to the cashier and buy it. Of course, that process might be slightly different on Amazon, but you get my point.

When you are writing the copy for our book jacket description; there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Don’t go into the description as if the reader knows what’s going on and inundate your reader with too much unnecessary information. Here’s an example of this:

Reeta is a Princess who falls in love with a peasant. His name is Fralik. He is an orphan who was raised on a farm by an old peasant farmer named Olik in a tiny village called Arrine. Fralik knows nothing about his past; or who his parents are. Reeta and Fralik know their love is doomed if they stay in Jakreth. They decide to run away; but Reeta’s father Askelor, King of Jakreth, is infuriated; and he sends Kotrioth out after them. Kotrioth is a ruthless killer. Askelor wants Fralik dead so Reeta can return home and so her title and her birthright remains untarnished. But the killer Kotrioth is in for a surprise. Fralik is a Dathrekoor… a person in possession of tremendous powers. And Fralik is in for a surprise too, because he doesn’t know he’s a Dathrekoor either. Can Fralik learn to use his power to protect himself and Reeta?

You can’t summarize the plot and identify and describe everyone in the book too. It can’t just be a play-by play description of the plot leaving the end out. You should inspire questions in the reader’s mind. Take the above example, and here it is redone:

Reeta’s gone and done it this time. She’s run away with a peasant boy; and she is the daughter of a powerful King. Determined to protect his daughter from shame and misfortune and to keep her title intact, King Askelor dispatches an unrelenting hunter after the couple; aiming to eliminate the boy who has ruined everything.

Fralik loves Reeta. A questionable past and a magical power he doesn’t even know he has are all that he can offer her. Fralik understands what Reeta has given up to be with him; and he knows he has endangered himself because of this decision; he has no idea how direly in danger they both are. With an unremitting killer at their heels and a mystical power Fralik knows nothing about, can the young lovers prevail?

If you are not sure about how to do this; try these tips:

• Do some research. Go to your bookstore, find shelf that sells your genre, and read copy from other books. This copy you read is likely written by the marketing department as much as it was by anyone else. You can take a lot from seeing how it's done. Think of it from a marketing perspective. What is it that makes your book sales worthy? What sells other books and movies?
• Keep it brief and simple. The more elaborate and involved, the less appealing it will be.
• Have some of your friends and family read the manuscript and write down the things that really resonated with them. Use what they wrote as a backbone for your copy. Other readers may take away something completely different than you would as the writer.
  
• Don’t pepper the copy with character names and places; it can be confusing. Use them minimally.
• Use a casual voice; one that relates to your reader and is easy to read.
  
• Only brush on the main story-- focus on a gripping side-story; let your reader be surprised.
• Proofread it, have it edited, clean it up; it is the first impression someone will get of your writing. If it’s full of flaws, they’ll assume your book is.
• Be sure to add something about yourself so readers can identify with the author.
• Be objective about how you look at your work. Look at it with a practical eye and figure out what sets your book apart from others. Use that.