A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I published my first book. To celebrate I had a glass of good wine (I deserved it!) and watched my sales and reviews - there was no reason to celebrate.

Now that I've published over 20 titles I watch over 100+ reviews coming in and sales sky-rocketing during launch week.

Yes, with time, I managed to grow my list and have a number of loyal readers and reviewers but recently I left my comfort zone completely.

I wrote and published a book in a new genre under a new name. It's entitled "The Descendant" by Ally Capraro.

With no list in the Young Adult Fantasy Romance genre, I still scored 100+ reviews during launch week.

Here's how:

About a month before launch day my VA and I made it a priority to contact hundreds of potential reviewers.

Here's where they came from:

1) Goodreads: around 50% of my reviewers came from my activity on Goodreads. Some authors find it challenging to navigate but it's totally worth it. Goodreads is where the most passionate die-hard fans hang. 

If you need help on learning how to use Goodreads to get reviews, check out my course here: http://alinkarutkowska.com/goodreads-cracked/

2) Current contacts: around 30% of reviewers are readers of my children's books and fellow authors who wanted to observe the launch (thank you, guys!). Even if you have no formal list, chances are, you can easily get your contacts to read and review your book. 

One free way is to advertise that you're looking for a launch team in your email signature. Add a nice big picture of your upcoming release and a link to the landing page.

3) Amazon reviewers: around 10% of reviewers came from Amazon - my Virtual Assistant and I contacted reviewers who reviewed books similar to mine. This time I found this the most frustrating avenue, since very few reviewers left their contacts.

My frustration was eased when I got a proposal to have these contacts delivered to me. You can get this done on Fiverr here.

4) Organically: around 5% came from my call to action within the book. On the last page of my book, I simply requested readers to leave an Amazon review. It worked.

5) Social media: around 5% came from my activity on Facebook and Twitter. I didn't run any ads this time, just organic posts.

With this in mind you can start looking for reviewers for your next launch (or current book) now.

If you need any help with: 

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