[6-Step Guide] How To Get More Book Reviews With Hidden Gems Books

Just published your book and planning to get some reviews?

This is a great idea. Reviews add credibility to your books. This social proof can also encourage other readers to give your books a chance.

Hidden Gems Books is one way to garner book reviews. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can generate more book reviews with Hidden Gems Books.

Read more about my review of Hidden Gems Books, including the pros and cons and a case study of how my ARC performed.

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1. Book A Slot & Pay The Deposit

The very first thing you should do is to reserve a slot.

If you roughly know the date that you’ll publish your book, you can select a slot that is a week before your book launch date.

Even if you’re unsure, I strongly encourage you to book as soon as possible. Hidden Gems Books waitlist is a few months so try to book as early as possible.

Take me for example. I usually book Hidden Gems Books after I check with my book cover designer. For example, if the book cover will be ready in November, I’ll add a buffer of 1 or 2 months for pre-order setup, paperback proof and author copies, ARCs from other sources and more then I’ll book a slot in January.

Hence, you just have to take note of the things you have to do before you can publish your book. This could be editing, formatting, book cover design, the things I mentioned above and more. Add a buffer and also take into account unexpected delays, interruptions or unforeseen issues then book a slot with Hidden Gems Books.

Remember to pay the deposit to lock in your slot.

Source: TheSparkArt via Etsy

2. Prepare The Files & Details

As mentioned, everyone usually reserves Hidden Gems Books months in advance. You’ll probably be like me where everything isn’t ready yet. Nevertheless, you can still prepare all necessary files and details.

Prepare your manuscript. Format the document so it’s easy for people to read your book. Ensure that the layout and formatting are good for your EPUB and PDF files. Do check that the table of contents work for your eBook EPUB file.

Start writing your blurb if you haven’t done so yet.

Personally, I create a spreadsheet in Google Drive to list down all retailer and review site links. For example, Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Goodreads, BookBub. There are links to my author profile as well as specific links to each book. This way, you can simply copy them and plug it into ARC review sites.

Photo by Mike on Pexels

3. Upload & Fill Up Details

When you’re ready, upload and fill up everything as soon as you can. This way, you won’t panic and rush to fill up everything near the deadline. Don’t worry, Hidden Gems Books will send you a reminder email about verifying information and uploading the files.

Once you set up your book on the various book retailers like Amazon, Apple and Kobo, remember to add these links into Hidden Gems Books. Readers will then be able to leave book reviews on these sites. Ensure that the URLs are correct.

For number of reviewers, the minimum is 50 readers. But I haven’t reached this number yet (although I only applied twice). But always be prepared to pay for this minimum 50 readers.

I also like to choose “yes” for “Can we mention your book?” I think this creates more exposure for your book, especially if you’re new or need more reviews to build credibility.

For the waiting list question, this depends on whether you want to be notified if earlier slots are available. This is good if your book is already published on the various retailers and you want to garner reviews as soon as possible.

When you’re done filling up the form, I strongly recommend that you double check everything. Make sure that everything is correct. For example, your blurb should be grammatically correct with no spelling errors.

4. Pay Final Invoice ASAP

You’ll receive an email to pay your final invoice a day or two before your book is scheduled to go out. Do pay it as soon as possible to avoid any delays in your book being sent to interested reviewers.

Here’s my personal experience: 15 reviewers were interested in one of my books. Thus, I paid $15 ($3 x 5 readers) since the $20 deposit covers the first 10 readers.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels

5. Sit Back, Relax & Wait For Reviews

Now, sit back, relax and wait for reviews.

Because you’re not given any information about your reviewers, one way to figure out is from the reviews: whether they mentioned that they received a free review copy from Hidden Gems Books.

Photo by geralt on Pixabay

6. Check Your ARC Wrap-Up Email

For the ARC of my latest book, Hidden Gems Books emailed me an ARC wrap-up. This is where you get to see comments left for your book from readers. I thought this was interesting and constructive. Really love the feedback as I get to know how readers feel about my story. You can also consider incorporating this feedback into your writing.

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Now It’s Your Turn

Hidden Gems Books ARC program is quite straightforward. But if you face any issues, feel free to contact the team~

Also, may your books get many reviews!