I get a lot of feedback directly from media every day as a result of the number of news releases I transmit for book authors and publishers.

I received this email from an Editor at The Plain Dealer, which is the daily newspaper in Cleveland Ohio with an audited circulation of over 252,600.

Her email is worth reading if you are trying to get reviews for books. But be forewarned, the news is intimidating to say the least.

Nonetheless, if you are in this business for fun, pleasure or for profit, and are seeking to utilize reviews as a means to sell your books, here's a benchmark for you.

I asked for and received her permission to share this email. In fact, she encouraged me to do so.

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Please visit www.cleveland.com/books to glean a sense of our selections in book coverage. We tie our work very closely to publication dates, and won't, for instance, be taking up any more 2010 books unless one that we missed wins a Pulitzer.

Some 350-450 books arrive here for review consideration each week -- on a good week we perhaps mention and review 12-15 in print.

If you tailor your pitches, I'll continue to open your email.

Appreciatively,

Karen R. Long
The Plain Dealer

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Some observations:

1. I clicked on her link and found the Book section in Entertainment section of the website. It's not listed on the home page at all. It's buried in the secondary navigation links.

2.. There are a team of active book reviewers in a variety of categories. The book reviewers bio's I looked at demonstrated that they tended to be college graduates, many of whom were teaching on college campuses and even had degrees in medicine and other professional areas. I saw one reviewer with the following qualifications: a Bachelors in English (Magna C** Laude), and a Doctorate in Medicine, who "practices medicine and book criticism in Columbus, Ohio." Sheesh.

3. If you click on other books, other categories open, and if you look at who reviewed the book, there may be a contact email.

4. I clicked on the first link and the category of mysteries opened, and the book critic is Michelle Ross, CNN

5. They do appear to be open to lots of genres, but recognize that the competition for coverage is intense and goes to authors and publishers who have demonstrated a track record and created a perception for quality.

6. The reviewers are tough. Some of those reviews are critical and honest and tell it like they see it. In some categories, The Plain Dealer reviews even identify grades for each of the books reviewed. I saw A's to B-'s but no C's.

7. Not one web site link was provided to a publisher or author website.

8. The Plain Dealer has an active social network of followers, but the numbers of tweets and links to Facebook off the book reviews is very low (0 to 10 per post).

9. The Plain Dealer has a very clear focus on quality mainstream publishers. I looked at the past 30 days and the 45 books covered and did not identify one small press publisher.

10. A few of the reviewers seem to be selectively responsive to comments from the LA Times book reviewers. I also only noted one review that made any mention at all of a book award. The one they mentioned was notable: The National Book Critics Winner's Circle.

Live and learn.

If you wish to see more of my posts on getting books reviews and working with book reviewers, your can search my blog or click here to sort through the articles by tag:

http://blog.directcontactpr.com/public/category/book-reviews/

Paul J. Krupin, Direct Contact PR
Reach the Right Media in the Right Market with the Right Message
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