The following people have uploaded content and a request for assistance with promoting their work! Wily members can feel free to scavenge it and share and post about the author and their works. It’s excellent content! And don’t forget, you can always ask the author for an interview to further boost the value of your content to your followers.

The most recently updated are at the top.

• Allie Yohn
• Joan De La Haye
• E.S. Magill
• Lisa Morton
• Lee Call
• Angel Leigh McCoy
• Alan Baxter
• Weston Ochse
• Jennifer Brozek
• Bill Bodden
• Yvonne Navarro
• Loren Rhoads

If you’d like your name on this list, visit this page and fill out the General Author Promotion form.

Author Information

Alan Baxter

Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, where he lives with his wife, son, hound and other creatures. The author of more than twenty books including novels, novellas, and three short story collections (so far) you can find him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook. Feel free to tell him what you think. About anything.
https://twitter.com/AlanBaxter
https://www.facebook.com/alanbaxterauthor
https://www.instagram.com/warrior_scribe/?hl=en
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJDknM4g9Kpc5h0mxkhAwSQ/videos
All author photos and cover images here:
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/press-kit/

Works

THE GULP – Tales from the Gulp #1
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/the-gulp/

Strange things happen in The Gulp. The residents have grown used to it.

The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.

A truck driver thinks the stories about The Gulp are made up to scare him. Until he gets there.
Teenage siblings try to cover up the death of their mother, but their plans go drastically awry.
A rock band invite four backpackers to a party at their house, where things get dangerously out of hand.
A young man loses a drug shipment and his boss gives him 48 hours to make good on his mistake.
Under the blinking eye of the old lighthouse, a rock fisher makes the strangest catch of his life.

Five novellas. Five descents into darkness. Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.

Print ISBN: 9780980578294
Ebook ISBN: 9781393527176

“This is a cleverly plotted and exceptionally well-executed five-sectioned novel where the finale of the last story brings everything into perspective… you are left without a doubt that you are reading not just an Alan Baxter novel, but an Alan Baxter novel that is firing on all cylinders… a masterclass in plotting and structure… The Gulp delivers on all fronts.” – Jim McLeod at Ginger Nuts of Horror

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DEVOURING DARK
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/devouring-dark/

Matt McLeod is a man plagued since childhood by a malevolent darkness that threatens to consume him. Following a lifetime spent wrestling for control over this lethal onslaught, he’s learned to wield his mysterious skill to achieve an odious goal: retribution as a supernatural vigilante. When one such hit goes bad, McLeod finds himself ensnared in a multi-tentacled criminal enterprise caught between a corrupt cop and a brutal mobster. His only promise of salvation may be a bewitching young woman who shares his dark talent but has murderous designs of her own.

ISBN: 9781940658988
Publisher: Grey Matter Press

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HIDDEN CITY
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/hidden-city/

When the city is sick, everyone suffers. Steven Hines listened to the city and the city spoke. Cleveport told him she was sick. With his unnatural connection to her, that meant Hines was sick too. But when his friend, Detective Abby Jones, comes to him for help investigating a series of deaths with no discernible cause, Hines can’t say no. Then strange fungal growths begin to appear in the streets, affecting anyone who gets too close, turning them into violent lunatics. As the mayhem escalates and officials start to seal Cleveport off from the rest of the world, Hines knows the trouble has only just begun.

ISBN: 9781940095783
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press

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CROW SHINE
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/crow-shine/

Winner of the 2016 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collected Work; Finalist for the 2016 Aurealis Award; Finalist for the 2016 Ditmar Award. “Alan Baxter is an accomplished storyteller who ably evokes magic and menace. Crow Shine has a mean bite.”—Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase. Nineteen horror and dark fantasy stories, three of which are previously unpublished and original to this collection, including the titular Crow Shine.

ISBN: 9781925212419
Publisher: Ticonderoga Publications

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SERVED COLD
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/served-cold/

2019 AUSTRALIAN SHADOWS AWARDS WINNER “At turns creepy and visceral, Baxter delivers the horror goods.” – Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World Sixteen provocative and intensely chilling tales by multi-award-winning-author Alan Baxter venture into the depths of the darkest and most shadowy places where unspeakable horrors are the predators and we the willing prey. Prepare for an always terrifying, frequently heartbreaking journey in multiple stages, each piece echoing Baxter’s unique voice that effortlessly blends horror, fantasy and the weird, cementing his place as a modern master of the dark fantastique, and resulting in an unforgettable volume of fiction.

ISBN: 9781950569045
Publisher: Grey Matter Press

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MANIFEST RECALL
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/manifest-recall/

“If you like crime/noir horror hybrids do check out Alan Baxter’s MANIFEST RECALL. It’s a fast, gritty, mind-f*ck.” – Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts. Following a psychotic break, Eli Carver finds himself on the run, behind the wheel of a car that’s not his own, in the company of a terrified woman he doesn’t know. As he slowly rebuilds his memories, layers of ugly truth are peeled back and dark secrets are revealed. Before long, the duo find themselves on the wrong side of Eli’s old criminal syndicate, in a struggle for survival against the most dangerous forces in their lives.

ISBN: 9781940658957
Publisher: Grey Matter Press

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BOUND: ALEX CAINE BOOK 1
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/bound/

Finalist for the 2014 Ditmar Award for Best Novel! Alex Caine, a fighter by trade, is drawn into a world he never knew existed — a world he wishes he’d never found. Alex Caine is a martial artist fighting in illegal cage matches. His powerful secret weapon is an unnatural vision that allows him to see his opponents’ moves before they know their intentions themselves. After a fight one night, an enigmatic Englishman, Patrick Welby, claims to know Alex’s secret. Welby shows Alex how to unleash a breathtaking realm of magic and power, drawing him along a mind-bending course beyond his control. And control is something Alex values above all else.

ISBN: 9781940095745
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press

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As a Wily Writers member, you can join our promotions simply by uploading your information into the system. The following gives you specific information for how to do this. ❖ General Promotion of YOU This is the first and most important form to fill out. All the other forms also require that this one be…

Wily Writers members produce dark fiction. Browse the list below. You’ll find something that tickles your dark fancy.

Author List Allie Yohn Lisa Morton Lee Call Angel Leigh McCoy Loren Rhoads Yvonne Navarro Joan De La Haye Bill Bodden Jennifer Brozek E.S. Magill Weston Ochse Alan Baxter

THE GULP by Alan Baxter AFTERAGE by Yvonne Navarro NIGHT TERRORS by Lisa Morton UNSAFE WORDS by Loren Rhoads Blood of the Sun by Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray SHADOWS by Joan de la Haye Dark was the Night by Angel Leigh McCoy

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This article is entirely members-only content….

When you’re ready to create your own website, you will want to rent a domain name for it. A domain name is the URL people will use, the address of your website, such as WilyWriters.NET or AngelMcCoy.com or Google.com. That is a domain name.

First, you want to make sure you’re not infringing on anyone’s copyright, so do a Google search on it. For example, a domain name like Thumper.com is going to infringe on Disney’s copyright, and they love to sue. Use your best judgment on this.

Good domain names:

• Your author name with no dashes or spaces
• The title of your series
• The name of your world

Less good domain names:

• The name of your novel – you want a domain name that will have longevity and you absolutely don’t want to be paying for a new one with every book you publish. You are renting the URL, so you will be paying a monthly/annual fee for as long as you have it.
• Anything unrelated to your work. Remember your branding. What small phrase do you want people to remember you by. It’s probably not PartyGirl1973.com or BobbysMom.com, unless that’s the name of your series or the author name under which you’re publishing.

Visit a site that licenses domains. I have personal experience with and recommend these sites, in this order:

• Doteasy.com
• GoDaddy.com

On their homepages, you’ll find a search field where you can test your chosen domain name and see if it’s still available. You may have to try several before you find one that’s free.

NOTE: If you’re building your website on a full-service site like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com, then you can purchase your domain name there. I’m not sure what they charge, but it will be more convenient for you. You don’t have to buy it with them, though. You can purchase it at Doteasy or any other site like that and use it at Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com.

Did you know that you can post your newsletter in public forums, such as your social media accounts? You can, and it’s a great idea to do this occasionally.

You can even create a special edition of your newsletter for the public, especially if you don’t want to share exclusive content that wide. This can be especially effective around the launch of a new book.

One of the most challenging aspects of getting traditionally published is finding an agent. There are realities that are difficult to face when it comes to agents. For example:

• They are very picky.
• They may reject you with a snap decision that has nothing to do with the quality of your work.
• They’re not in it to help you. They’re in it to help themselves, and you get to come along for the ride.
• There are bad agents, dishonest agents, and lazy agents.
• Many agents have a boss to whom they report, and they don’t always make the decisions themselves.
• There are many, many, many authors besides you knocking on the agent’s door.
• Quite often, the search for an agent can take a year, two… or more years. You have to be patient.

It is very easy to get discouraged. The benefits of having an agent are plentiful, once you acquire a good one.

This topic is so huge, so let’s start with the basics of what you need to know to find an agent.

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Wilies, if you see anything here you think I got wrong, please do correct me in the comments. I gave up on finding an agent after a year of trying (no more patience). However, I did do a load of research. Having said that, I’m human. Correct me, please.

1. Before you contact any agent, your book needs to be completely done and edited. If they ask for your book, it has to be ready to send immediately or you miss your window of opportunity.
2. Agents won’t help with your marketing. That’s not their job, and so they’d be no good at it. Their job is to sell your book to domestic and foreign publishing houses or a film company and to make sure the ensuing contract protects you and gets you the best deal. The publishing house pays the agent directly, then they take their cut of the profits and pass the rest on to you.
3. If an agent asks for a deposit or money from you, something is wrong. Look closer with suspicious eyes. Most agents won’t do this.
4. Many of the big publishing houses won’t deal directly with authors, which is why agents are still necessary. The agent is the filter for quality between the publishing house and the dirty masses. 🙂
5. The publishing house is the one that helps with the marketing, but they will only market your book if they’re publishing it. Also, you will have very little control over how your book is marketed once the house buys it.
6. The publishing house will make the cover for you if they’re publishing the book. This is pretty non-negotiable. They may or may not give you a chance to suggest changes to the one they come up with. When you go traditional, you are giving up a lot of your control over what happens to the book once you’ve contracted it to a publishing house.

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Here’s the basic step-by-step process:

1. Write and rewrite your query letter. Share it with writer friends and get feedback. It wouldn’t hurt to have your editor look over your letter as well because you will be judged by it.
2. Find agents you fit with (start with 6). There are links below to sites where you can search.
3. Put the info for the ones you think are good for you in a spreadsheet. Make a list. You can download the following:
   • Spreadsheet I used (Excel), filled out with the agents I was querying.
   • Same spreadsheet, blank, for your use.
4. You can take a look at the agencies and agents listed on my spreadsheet to see if they take the kind of books you’re writing. They will say what they’re seeking. This is a good place to start familiarizing yourself with agency websites and how they work.
5. On my spreadsheet, I rated the agents, giving them a point each for:
   • whether they specifically called out my genre in their profile
   • whether I felt they fit with me personally (for me, this meant they mentioned gaming or some other nerdy pursuit)
   • whether they were with a respected agency
   • whether they were new or had experience in the publishing industry
   • whether they had an author they were representing who wrote books like mine
6. Sort the list and start with everyone who is a 5 or above. Send out at least 6 query letters in the first round—as many as you can wrangle.
7. Keep researching and adding people to the list while waiting.
8. When an agent rejects your book, send a query letter out to the next person on the list. And so on and so forth. This is the process.

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Researching Agents

Look up every agent online and try to find their agency website. Check there to make sure the information you have is up-to-date. They may not be accepting submissions, and the agency website will have the most accurate information.

Wilies have found these sites useful and up-to-date for researching agents. Always confirm what you find on a site like these at the literary agency or agent’s website. These sites rely on the agent to maintain their record, so they can go out of sync with reality fairly quickly.
• https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/ (Search on your genre to find agents who are looking for works like yours.)
• https://www.agentquery.com/default.aspx
• Query Tracker (track your query and also find agents)
• Manuscript Wish List (find agents looking for your type of book)
• Manuscript Wish List Twitter Hashtag #MSWL (agents post what they’re looking for)

While you’re at that website, look for the agent’s submission guidelines. They all have different ones. Some want you to email. Some want you to use their online form. Etc. Remember to add this link to your spreadsheet so it’s easy to find when you get ready to send a query to this agent.

Also while you’re at their agency’s website, look at the other agents employed there to see if any of them will fit well with you.

Waiting for replies can be challenging and nerve-wracking. Your self-confidence may take a hit, but don’t let it! Every agent is different. Some reply immediately. Some take 6-12 months to reply (not a typo). Some never reply. It will say in their guidelines how quickly you can expect a reply. This is also good information to input into your spreadsheet for future convenience.

Never send your manuscript unless they ask for it. And always send it in exactly the format they ask for. Do not snail mail (US Post Office) anything to anyone unless they’ve specifically requested it. You’ll be wasting postage and your time.

An agent may request to see a partial (a certain number of pages) or full copy of your manuscript. Don’t do anything fancy, just follow their instructions to the letter. They are looking for any excuse to get you off their desk and out of the way of the other 3000 manus waiting for their attention. Don’t let the fact that you used the wrong font annoy them into dropping you in the reject pile.

If they want to represent you, they’ll let you know. After that will come a round of revisions from their editor and a contract that you’ll want to have a good lawyer explain to you.

While you’re doing all this, keep working on your next book. Finding an agent is a long process and could take a year or more.

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If you post your manuscript in a public forum or on your website, it’s considered “published.” Many agents won’t want to represent a previously published work (reprint).

Some Tips

• Things you can do to improve your chances:
  • Do not wait until you have an agent to get serious about your writing. That’s not how this works.
  • Write a really kickass query letter.
  • Nail down your brand. Figure out what it is and how you want to present yourself. It is not your agent’s job to come up with that for you, though many will help. If you have it already honed (but remain open to their suggestions), then you’ll seem more professional.
  • Get good author photos taken. Professional ones, not the one where your ex’s arm is visible around your shoulders. Use this pro author photo on your website and social media platforms.
  • Keep writing. If you can tell an agent that you have other books planned, in progress, or (best) done, then they may be more interested. Do NOT stop writing while you wait to find an agent for the first book!
  • Publish other material, such as short stories, novelettes, novellas, and even self-published novels if you have them, etc. This will show that agent you’re not a one-hit-wonder and that you’re serious.
  • Set up your author platform. This means:
    • website
    • mailing list
    • professional Facebook page (and maybe groups)
    • Goodreads Author Page
    • Twitter account
    • Whatever social media you want to employ to promote yourself
  • An agent will be far more attracted to a writer who is professional and serious about a career as a writer than one who is dabbling or unsure. If you’re either of those latter things, then consider going straight to self-publishing instead. An agent is investing in you and your career, and they want to know you’re not going to disappear after the first publication.
  • You never know which agents talk to each other behind closed doors, so don’t burn any bridges with juvenile behavior.
  • I’ll repeat, if the agent wants to charge you any kind of reading fee or deposit, walk away. Honest agents get ~15-20% of the money when you sell the book, and nothing before that. You never have to pay an agent upfront. If they want that, they’re scammers.
  • Once you find an agent you want to query, you can follow them on Twitter and watch their activity there to see if you feel they’re a good fit. You may be working closely with this person for many years, so be sure you trust and like them.
  • Consider joining a professional organization relative to your genre (you’ll find information specific to your genre there, and you can start mingling with other writers in your genre):
    • http://thrillerwriters.org/
    • https://horror.org
    • https://www.sfwa.org/
    • https://mysterywriters.org/
    • https://www.sistersincrime.org/
  • Go to conventions where they’re offering pitches or Speed-Pitching events. These are a great opportunity to meet your agent-soulmate. (Practice your elevator pitch in advance so you know it by heart.)
  • Do be discriminating. If an agent makes you uncomfortable, listen to your instincts. It’s a pain in the ass to fire an agent. Make sure the one you commit to is the right one for you.
  • This is a good blog to read: http://www.publishingcrawl.com/. Also follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PubCrawlBlog
  • It used to be that you wanted an agent located in New York, but this is no longer necessary. Feel free to consider agents located anywhere.
  • If you personally know any authors who have agents, contact them and see if they’d be willing to introduce you, then do everything in your power not to embarrass them. Since I decided to go indie, I don’t have an agent, so I can’t help you with that.
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  Other Research

  Here are some links that will help you understand the process:

  • https://www.writersdigestshop.com/how-to-get-published/find-an-agent (Writers Digest releases annually, and has up-to-date info; it’s renowned; their magazine is good too)
  • https://nybookeditors.com/2015/12/how-to-write-a-darn-good-query-letter/
  • https://www.janefriedman.com/query-letters/
  • https://player.fm/podcasts/Literary-Agents (a list of podcasts that could help. You can find them on iTunes probably as well, or wherever you get your podcasts)
  • https://www.writersdigest.com/podcasts/writers-digest-podcast/the-writers-digest-podcast-episode-7-ask-the-agent-interview-with-barbara-poelle (good information)
  • The Query Shark (help/feedback for your query letter)
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  In Conclusion

  You will get rejections. Possibly lots of them. Many of them cold-ass form letters. And it has nothing to do with the quality of your writing. You are looking for that spark of magic that means your timing was perfect, the agent was in the right mood to connect with your story, and they managed to get it approved by their bosses.

  It’s not unlike dating.

  Finding an agent is complex, and most of the process you won’t even see as they’re considering your book. There are tons of reasons they might reject it. So, no matter what, do not give up too soon. Keep going. And if you decide you want to give indie publishing a go instead, let us know here at Wily Writers. We’re glad to help with that too.

The following ad will appear in the August 2021 issue of the Horror Writers Association newsletter as part of our Wily Writers Group Promotions Project! Thanks to a generous donation from a wily member, we were able to purchase two full-page ads. This is the second one. You can view the July 2021 ad here.

DE LA HAYE ❖ MORTON ❖ NAVARRO ❖ BAXTER RABARTS/MURRAY ❖ RHOADS ❖ MCCOY
Buy Now	SHADOWS by Joan De La Haye (Book #1 of the Diabolical series) What if you thought you were losing your mind? What if all those nightmares were real? Could you survive a demon bent on torment and death, a nightmare feeding on your fear? “If you’re open to reading a book that is genuinely disturbing, in some cases distasteful, and creepy as hell, then I’m pretty sure you’ll ‘enjoy’ Shadows.” – Dave de Burgh, author of Betrayal’s Shadow
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Buy Now	NIGHT TERRORS & OTHER TALES by Lisa Morton (short story collection) This is the first major collection to gather together twenty of Lisa Morton’s finest short stories (chosen by the author herself). During a career that has spanned more than three decades, she has produced work that has been hailed as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening” (the American Library Association’s Readers Advisory Guide to Horror). If you’ve never encountered Lisa Morton’s work before, you’ll find out why Famous Monsters called her “one of the best writers in dark fiction today.” If you’re already a fan, this collection will offer up a chance to revisit these acclaimed and award-winning stories.
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Buy Now	AFTERAGE by Yvonne Navarro (published by Macabre Ink) A plague of vampirism has crept across the country, reducing once-thriving cities to ghost towns. In Chicago, a few scattered survivors hide behind the fortified walls of office buildings and museums, raiding deserted stores for dwindling supplies of clothing and food. Meanwhile a hungry vampire population also struggles for survival as their prey grows scarce, forcing them to capture alive the last remaining humans as breeding stock for the blood farms that will ensure their future.
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Buy Now	THE GULP by Alan Baxter (published by 13th Dragon) The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper isn’t like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone calls it “The Gulp.” It has a habit of swallowing people. A truck driver thinks the stories about The Gulp are made up to scare him. Until he gets there. Teenage siblings try to cover up the death of their mother, but their plans go drastically awry. Under the blinking eye of the old lighthouse, a rock fisher makes the strangest catch of his life. Five novellas by Alan Baxter. Five descents into darkness. Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.
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Buy Now	BLOOD OF THE SUN by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray (The Path of Ra, book 3, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press) There’s been a gang massacre on Auckland’s Freyberg Wharf. Body parts everywhere. With the police’s laboratory out of action, it’s up to scientific consult Pandora (Penny) Yee to sort through the mess. It’s a hellish task, made worse by earthquake swarms, insufferable heat, and Cerberus’ infernal barking. And what’s got into her brother Matiu? Is Matiu running with the gangs again? If he’s involved, Penny will murder him herself. Join Penny and Matiu Yee for the family reunion to end all family reunions, as the struggle between light and dark erupts across Auckland’s volcanic skyline.
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Buy Now	UNSAFE WORDS by Loren Rhoads (published by Automatism Press) In the first full-length collection of her edgy, award-winning short stories, Loren Rhoads punctures the boundaries between horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction in a maelstrom of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Ghosts, succubi, naiads, vampires, the Wild Hunt, and the worst predator in the woods stalk these pages, alongside human monsters who follow their cravings past sanity or sense. The stories are drawn from the pages of the magazines Cemetery Dance, City Slab, Instant City, and Space & Time, the Wily Writers podcast, and the books Sins of the Sirens, Demon Lovers, The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two, Tales for the Camp Fire, and more.
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Buy Now	DARK WAS THE NIGHT by Angel Leigh McCoy (published by Wily Writers LLC) The horror stories in this collection take you deep into lives touched by darkness. Herein, you’ll meet a grandmother with a knack for storytelling, a little girl caught in a lightning storm, and a medical intern who learns the true meaning of family–the hard way. At times gory, very often moody and intense, these tales reveal a truth about our world: evil exists, and love persists.
WilyWriters.NET provides a haven and point of connection for dark fiction writers. It holds open a space where wordsmiths can raise the vibration of their work, increase book sales, spread name recognition, earn reader respect, and blow away the bar on product quality.

Bookfunnel is a website that lets you create landing pages with download links for various uses.

You can use it to distribute free promotional stories, ARCs, and even a free copy of your work. They make it easy for both you and your readers. No more lost emails or other weirdness.

For example, use it to easily (and attractively):

• Distribute advanced reader copies (ARCs) to people you specify.
• Give out a free copy of your work in exchange for signing up for your newsletter.
• Setting up sales link pages that you can share with limited or broad audiences so people purchase your book. (A great alternative to making your own web pages for each book.)
• Providing an e-copy to reviewers.
• Viewing tracking data for the page, so you can see exactly how many people have downloaded the work.

You can view an example page for one of my freebie short stories. This one requires an email sign-up, but you can also set it up so it doesn’t require anything.

It does many other things as well, including:

• Connecting you with other genre-specific writers for promotional events, giveaways, and newsletter swaps.
• Posting a sample of your audiobook so you can easily share it with your readers in your newsletter or elsewhere. Great for pre-launch promotion teasers.
• Have your ARC readers sign up, and Bookfunnel will send them your ARC with a unique link that only works for them. They will then track whether the ARC was downloaded or not for you.

Bookfunnel is extremely affordable relative to the great service it provides. At the time of this writing, the most basic account is only $20/year, which is less than $2/month. To get all the features I mention above, it’s $100/year (less than $9/month).

Visit Bookfunnel.com

Let me know in the comments if you’d like me to do a walk-through video of Bookfunnel for you.

Tips on Reviewers

Reviews can boost your sales if they’re good. If they’re bad, they can hurt your sales. Requesting a review is a risk worth taking.

• Don’t be shy about cold-contacting them.
• Look to see if they’ve posted review guidelines on their website (many have), and if so, follow them to the letter.
• Familiarize yourself with their reviews so you know whether they’re in sync with your style.
• Maintain a list of which ones you’ve contacted. Wily Writers has created an Excel spreadsheet for you to download, customize, and use: Wily Writers Reviews Tracker
• Over time, you’ll build a list of trusted reviewers who enjoy your work and recognize your name. You might consider sending hard copies to these reviewers.
• If sending to a reviewer who requires a hard copy (some places do), don’t expect any more from them. They may or may not actually do a review, and it may or may not be positive.
• It’s okay to send advance-reading copies (ARCs) of your book to reviewers even if your book is out—unless you made extensive revisions to the final version.
• Do share the review via your social media once it’s live. Share and share again later. This helps both you and the reviewer.
• Let Wily Writers know if you got a good review, and we’ll post about it in our public newsletter.

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Etiquette

• Be on your most professional behavior with all reviewers.
• Remember that reviewers receive a TON of requests, so don’t be surly with them if they don’t review your book. Never let them see you sweat.
• Make it clear up-front that you’re offering an ebook version of your book if you’re not willing to send a hard copy. To make it easier on them, include a link to the download in your email to them. An excellent site for setting up a free download of your ebook is Bookfunnel.com.
• Never argue with a reviewer who has given your book a negative review, especially not in public. Bad juju.
• Never publicly berate a reviewer who has given your book a negative review. Burning bridges burns you more than them.