6 Ways New Regency Romance Writers Can Get Reviews

We are living in an online era. The books are bought, sold, and read mainly through online platforms. Plus, the ebook industry generates millions of dollars each and every year. If you have arrived on a regency romance writer’s website, you probably are interested in the industry. You may even be looking to carve out a slice of this money pie for yourself.

Unfortunately, for books to be truly successful, they need reviews on major platforms like Amazon and Goodreads. Reviews push books up in retailer listing and allow your book to get more organic traction. Organic simply means that your book is getting noticed without you having to run ads on it.

Having an organic following is more challenging to obtain than listing ads, but in the long run, it is more profitable because it means that more of the sales and money you generate is going straight into your pocket.

Once you have checked all of the boxes for reviews like friends, family, and those in your circle who have read your book, you can try a more professional approach to getting reviews. However, it is essential to note in reviews if a free book was received that led to the review, or you may be bordering on review gating. 

1. Start An Email Listing

Starting an email listing, Facebook group, or website can help you gain some traction as a newer writer. You can turn these platforms into your book launch party. Your book can start getting reviews even before the initial release date by having a launch party. To get reviews this way:

1. Set your book up for preorder on Amazon.
2. Send your book out to your launch party to read and review at least a month before the release date.
3. You can get lots of reviews before the launch to have a more successful first week.

By having a more successful first week, you are more likely to hit bestseller lists and rise higher in the Amazon algorithm.

You can send your book out to your email listing as a free pdf before the launch. If you are concerned someone might take the book and publish it themselves, you can lock the pdf or put a watermark on it.

2. Submit Your Book To The Kindle Review

Many reviewers on The Kindle Review read historical fiction and Regency romance novels. In fact, there are many different genres reviewed on the site. All you have to do is look through the reviewer listings and contact the reviewer of your choice to request a review. Like with all reviewers, it does not guarantee you will get one, but it is worth trying to have it read by someone experienced in the industry.

3. Submit Your Book to the Stuffed Shelf

The Stuffed Shelf is a popular review website. It boasts getting over 20 book review requests per day, so it may be more challenging to get into. It can take a few months to get your review, so ask early if you want a review up by your launch time. But, again, it is nice to have some expert feedback on your book so be sure to check out this reviewer.

4. Submit Your Book To the Harlequinn Junkie

The Harlequinn Junkie is another popular book review website. The website boasts an addiction to happily ever afters, which is everything in the Regency and Tudor romance categories. The good news is instead of having one reviewer that you are submitting to, you will be submitting your book to a team. You probably have a better chance of getting a more timely review.

5. Submit Your Book To Smart Bitches Trashy Books

The Smart Biches Trashy Books website has another team of romance reviewers. You can look around the review website and see which style review you like. With this team, you can even request a specific reviewer.

Book Review Disclaimer

Lyrica Lovell is not personally affiliated with any of the review options listed above. While all of them seem credible sources and have lots of reviews surrounding the brand, Lyrica Lovell cannot be held liable if you are not happy with the judgment you receive or something else goes wrong.

6. Submit Your Book To Lyrica Lovell

Lyrica Lovell is a book review website. It also features posts that help authors along their journey with practical tips and ideas to include in romance novels. Learn how you can submit a .pdf copy fo your boom for a featured review on the website and other places Lyrica Lovell advertises by going to the request a review forum.

The good news is if you select this option, a review is not guaranteed, but if you get one, it will be comprehensive. I use two different rating systems, the five-star rating system and the clean to steamy romance scale. Some websites only post their four and five-star reviews, but I am of the kind that if everything was a five-star review, it would all seem fake. So, I post all of my reviews one through five stars.

What does that mean for you? Even if your book is a bit of a dud because you’re a new writer and only get a three-star, you still get your name out in the limelight.

Editing Requirements Of Professional Reviewers

Unfortunately, many professional reviewers require a book to be professionally proof-read and copyedited before they will look at it. This is not a bad practice because it makes for really great works of literature. Unfortunately for the writers just starting out, professional editing is expensive. It can take time to find good editors for your books.

If you don’t have 100’s or even 1000’s of dollars to shell out on editors, then try out Grammarly. It is a fantastic tool to line edit your romance novel. You can even set the dialect to British English if you write regency-related material. Grammarly works with Google docs which is free writing software. It also works with Microsoft office, on your phone, or it has a fantastic platform to write on if you log into Grammarly on a desktop.

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