After much debate between the left and right side of my brain, I've decided definitely to go the self publishing route. I have some experience promoting a few of my self published educational and technical books. The whole promoting a novel is new to me, and no doubt requires a different skill set. I was wondering, is there something that I should definitely do and not do? What's a good way of getting reviewers to read and post a review? Thanks Sam
are you asking about professonal reviewers for respectable review venues, or just anyone who'll read it and share their feedback?
I have heard that it can help to post a link to Amazon/what have you in the back matter, with a polite request to review if they liked the book. In terms of getting people to read it in the first place ... Well, I think people have a lot of answers to that! Kboards has a Writer's Cafe that almost solely deals with self-publishing; you might want to ask there.
You might have some success by offering copies of your book for free through the Goodreads giveaway program. Though the recipients are not obliged to write a review, they generally do, and the giveaway itself can create some interest.
As far as getting reader reviews for your book, it's not any different from traditional publishing. Basically you have to ask (beg) people to give reviews. It's not easy and you really have to hope that you can somehow get many, many reviews. When I see only about 25 reviews or so, I assume all the positive ones are from the author's mother and spouse. Do what you can -- goodreads is a good idea. You just have to be asking all the time.
Also, something I've only just discovered - The Indie View has a list of "prolific indie book reviewers", which might be worth a look: http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/.
