Tagging Authors in or when publicising Reviews

As a general rule, don’t. Tag the publisher who may use the review as part of their publicity. The author may also be the publisher, so be clear you’re tagging the publisher.

• Many authors don’t read reviews, relying instead on feedback from trusted beta readers, publishers, agents or writing groups
• Once a book is published, an author rarely gets the opportunity to make changes to it unless it goes into another edition/printing and even then changes are limited by costs, time constraints and whether a publisher is in agreement
• It’s impossible for a reviewer to know how many edits a book went through and where compromises were made
• Generally comments from a review can only inform future work, not the book being reviewed
• Authors have very little say in cover image choices or which and what part of blurbs get used to market the book
• Authors have very little say in marketing campaigns
• The genre the author has written in may not be the genre the book is marketed in
• More book buying choices are made on word of mouth recommendations, familiarity with the author’s previous books, loyalty to a publisher or book series than via reviews
• The author may be a bigger name than the reviewer so it looks as if the reviewer is trying to elevate themselves
• The review’s focus should be on readers and potential readers of the book under review, showing the book’s target market here’s a new one to read
• The review is not about the author, but the book.

But ultimately, it looks like the worst kind of attention-seeking, particularly if the review focuses on a negative aspect of the book and the tag is shared on social media.

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