Tell me the story about Reading Alley.
It all started 2 years ago. We were having coffee one afternoon with a friend of ours who is an indie author. As we are all a bunch of book lovers, we were discussing some of the recent books we’ve read, when our author friend lamented that while she liked writing, she was not having much success bringing it to market successfully. She tried getting reviews for her books, but it was too time consuming to research each site or blog, whether they will review the kinds of stories she writes, their requirements for submission, etc. Out of the 100 she researched, she finally wrote to 20 sites/blogs, and out of that, only 3 sites acknowledged her email, and only 1 requested to review her book!
She was wasting so much time promoting and marketing her books in a bid to bring up sales, when what she would have preferred was to use the time to write her next book.
This gave us the encouragement and motivation to provide a service that will offer a solution to authors and publishers to get the much needed reviews they’re looking for, without spending too much time sourcing for good reviewers, have the necessary protection in place to address security concerns, and of course, all this without the hefty price tag.
And so 2 years later, Reading Alley was born. Our official Grand Opening launch is indeed a major milestone for us, one that represents more than a year of intense planning, designing and development to deliver a service that we believe will benefit the reading community as a whole. And the best part is that it is backed by all the points we’ve initially thought of that an author would need to complement his/her efforts in promoting, increasing awareness and exposure of his/her book.
What services does Reading Alley offer authors?
Reading Alley is geared towards helping authors increase exposure and awareness for their books in the following ways:
- Reading Alley gives authors instant access to a community of passionate readers who are keen to write independent reviews on their books. These readers are free to join our site and can request for the books with the understanding that they provide their honest reviews afterwards. They are not paid reviewers, and authors can openly use their reviews as part of their promotional campaign.
- Reading Alley also serves as a repository of reviews. Submitted reviews can be posted on the site, providing a reference to all readers looking for reviews and recommendations on authors’ books. In addition, reviewers are also encouraged to post their reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
- Reading Alley applies protection measures to secure the review copies before sending out to approved reviewers. This can be very helpful, especially for authors who do not have the mechanism to send out protected review copies. In this regard, authors can also use Reading Alley as the medium to send out their books as giveaways in contests.
- Reading Alley organizes regular activities and events to draw more readers to the site. This is an excellent opportunity for authors to leverage on to increase awareness and exposure of their books.
What does an author get for putting her book up for review at Reading Alley?
Once an author decides to have his/her book available for review at our site:
- The book will be available for review for 6 months. Authors have the flexibility to end the review session earlier if they wish.
- The book will be announced to the reviewers in our mailing list. Also, the book will be featured in our blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.
- Reviews submitted can be posted at our site.
- Authors can use the submitted reviews as part of their marketing campaign for their books.
Are authors allowed to quote from the reviews?
Yes. Authors can quote from the reviews and use the submitted reviews as part of their promotional campaign. We do request authors to indicate the source of the quote.
Are reviewers allowed to post the reviews at Amazon and Goodreads?
Yes. Reviewers are encouraged to post the reviews at Amazon and Goodreads.
I notice that Reading Alley has a Rewards Program for reviewers. Are you paying reviewers to review authors’ books?
Some authors have also come to us with this question, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to clear things up.
The reviewers are not paid to write reviews. In fact, our reviewers are readers who are passionate about books and are willing to share their honest thoughts and opinions with not only the authors, but all book lovers. Anyone who fits this criteria is welcome to join Reading Alley.
If that’s the case, then what is the Rewards Program all about?
The Rewards Program is a program aimed at encouraging reviewers to actively participate at the site. Reviewers are given RA Points whenever they take part in activities such as joining event contests, review challenges or referring friends. Reviewers will have to accumulate enough RA Points in order to redeem for prizes.
Describe your long-term plan for Reading Alley.
At Reading Alley, we want to continue to deliver services aimed at helping publishers and authors succeed in what they love doing, and that is, writing and publishing great books, sharing it and making it known to millions of book lovers worldwide. We want our services to reach out to all authors and publishers — whether they have been writing for 20 years or whether they are just starting out and are at the threshold of a long, fulfilling career.
Authors interested to sign up for a free account, sign up here.
Reading Alley is officially launching and we are marking it in a big way with our Grand Opening event! Take part in a variety of site activities, such as our weekly contests, review challenge and referral program. The more active you are, the higher your chances of winning in our Grand Draw. Lots of irresistible prizes, including an Amazon Kindle and gift certificates, are up for grabs.
So don’t wait! Click here to join now.
Reading Alley: https://www.readingalley.com/
Grand Opening: https://www.readingalley.com/events/grand_opening#progress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReadingAlley
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReadingAlley
WordPress: https://readingalley.wordpress.com/
