Why your self published book isn't getting reviews

PUTTING YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD
How do we put this delicately?...

--We have nothing against self published or small press publications.  Unfortunately though, there are a number of the aforementioned who are giving the rest of you a bad name.

When you submit your book for an award or for review, it goes without saying that you need to put your best foot forward.  That means, first and foremost, no typographical errors.  Sadly, we review a great number of books which are simply fabulous . . . with one exception.  - Too many typographical or grammatical errors.

Hey, we’re all human.  Even the best known publishing houses occasionally let a typo or two slip.  - But when you’re talking a significant number of typos, well that’s just not something we can overlook.

We are in the business of helping put readers in touch with excellence in literature.  We’re also in the business of helping you, as an author, gain recognition for your work.  We do this by offering free reviews and through our Literary Classics Seal of Approval and Awards programs.

But in order to offer free reviews, we must use our time efficiently.  Therefore, when we consider a book for review, we will continue reading your book as long as we can, before we discover too many typographical or grammatical errors.  You may ask: ‘how many is too many?’  Well the short answer is - one!  Your book should be in top-notch shape.  Occasionally, if we are ‘wowed’ by a book, we may choose to ignore the first error.  But you don’t want to push your luck.  In fairness to our readers who are trusting us to identify the best books based upon our recommendations, we cannot, in good faith, recommend a book which is riddled with errors.

Another area of weakness which we see all too often is a poorly developed story.  One of the greatest challenges an author faces, is the difficulty of translating his/her thoughts onto paper.  What may be glaringly obvious to you, may not be so clear to the reader.  Unfortunately, if a book is lacking in plot, or motivation, or is simply too hard to follow, your reader will most likely lose interest.

It is our recommendation that before your book is ever submitted to a publisher, you have a professional critique and a professional edit performed of your manuscript (in that order) from a credible source.

Article re-posted with permission from Literary Classics Book Awards and Reviews www.clcawards.org