How Authors Are Using Substack to Get Positive Book Reviews

Thanks to my book club on Substack, I already received 13 positive reviews on Amazon for my first book

Like so many of us, I dreamed about writing a book for a long time. Finally, after countless false starts, I began writing in earnest.

I wrote regularly in cafes and participated in writer's groups in Vancouver, London, Basel, and Zurich. I wrote between 250 and 1,000 words a day, and nine months later, the second draft of my manuscript for “Meeting People in Real Life” was finished! 

⭐Writing a Book and Launching a Book are Two Very Different Things

After so many months of writing and editing, the prospect of launching my book felt more than daunting… it felt impossible. However, one of the things that I have learned from being on Substack is that there are helpful people here who have overcome many of the same challenges.

So I reached out to

Veronica Llorca-Smith

of The Lemon Tree Mindset, who has written and published several books, and asked her what to do. She suggested that I start a book launch club.

⭐The Idea of a Book Launch Club

Veronica explained to me that the basic idea of a book launch club is to find fifteen people who agree to read a preview copy of your book, give you feedback, and then write a review of your book on Amazon.

It’s generally understood that getting your first 50 reviews is considered somewhat of a benchmark, so launching with your first fifteen is a terrific step in the right direction for your book!

So, I followed this advice and created my book launch club. It was easy to start.

I posted in Substack Notes and messaged several of my personal contacts, and in just two days, I found all fifteen members of my book launch club.

I sent each club member a link so they could download my book, and then, over the next few days, I began to receive feedback. Once my club members read the book and started messaging me their feedback, I realized my book launch club was a game-changer!

In fact, I discovered three game-changing reasons why I now know that a book launch club is essential for a writer coming close to launching their book.

⭐#1 Revealing the Unexpected Goodness

The first thing I noticed once my book launch club members got reading was that they expressed great interest and enjoyment in certain parts of my book that I didn’t think were particularly interesting and that I had even considered cutting. 

For example, I received feedback from several readers that they enjoyed my chapter, “When in Doubt, Ask a Dumb Question,” which, for me, was a late addition to my book and was one that I considered removing entirely.

However, my book club readers showed interest in this chapter and mentioned that they found it amusing. Instead of cutting the chapter, I have not only left it in my book but have expanded on it, and I even read from it in one of my video posts on Notes.

I call this “revealing the unexpected goodness” because, as writers, we don’t know what parts of our books will be our readers' favorites. Thankfully, the positive response from my book launch club helped me recognize (and save from cutting) this and other popular parts of my book!

⭐#2 Anxiety Relief

As writers, it’s common to feel anxiety whenever someone reads any of our writing. This is especially true when it comes to our first book. I’m pretty used to managing the anxiety of publishing an article, but an entire 220-page book on a single topic?

Anxiety incoming!

My club readers helped me reduce my book launch anxiety because they gave me a lot of feedback. On the one hand, their positive feedback encouraged me. I read it and thought, “In general, my readers like my book; it’s going to be okay.”

When I received their criticism, it pointed out specific problems that I could address and fix. The edits I made because of my readers’ criticism helped me improve my book overall. Thanks to feedback from my book launch club, my book was now better! Knowing this significantly reduced my launch anxiety.

⭐#3 The Review Boost

Now that my book is out, I understand how hard it is to get reviews on Amazon.

• In Canada (and I know other regions have similar requirements), someone must spend at least $50 on Amazon annually to be eligible to write reviews.

• Americans and Canadians shop a great deal on Amazon, so if I can find readers in North America, there’s a reasonable chance they will meet the requirements to write me a review.

• Many people in other parts of the world do not shop on Amazon.

• Switzerland doesn’t even have a regional Amazon site, so my Swiss friends cannot write a review for me.

Based on conversations with my launch club readers, I had a pretty good idea of who could give me an Amazon review.

For those who couldn’t, my backup plan was to ask them to give me a review on Goodreads. (I didn’t want to exclude anyone from my club and felt Goodreads was a reasonable alternative.)

Right at launch, I have positive reviews on two sites to help promote my book!

13 global reviews on Amazon (with new book cover):

5 positive reviews on Goodreads:

I’m confident that these reviews will help readers who don’t know me from Substack recognize that I have written a good book worth their time and money!

As of August 11. Not bad for someone who’s never put out a book before!

⭐What I’ve Learned

My experience has shown me the game-changing value of having a book launch club. I’m so convinced by the benefits I’ve realized from my first club that I will make it a practice to start a book launch club for all of my future books.

With my next book, I may try a bigger book launch club.

Fifty book launch club readers might be too large to organize and give too much feedback for me to handle. However, my experience managing my first club makes me think I could reasonably handle a twenty to twenty-five-person group.

❓Any Questions?

If you are considering starting your own book launch club and have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

If you have already run your own book launch club and would like to share your experience, I would love to hear about it. 

In the meantime, happy writing!

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🤣Wanna laugh?

Here’s a funny review from tribe member

Freya V Locke ACB-KSA

:

“I was not expecting to learn much from the book… :) However, I was surprised to find that Matt's book contains some brilliant advice that I will take on board.”

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Hungry for more?

I chatted with

Veronica Llorca-Smith

about self-publishing and starting your own book club in our interview.

Unbelievable! How She Secured Her Dream Book Deal (and Went From Unemployed to Published by Penguin)

⭐⭐Calling all Unstoppable, Future Book Author Superstars⭐⭐

Do you feel inspired by Matt’s WOW-worthy book club idea?

Matt is a dear member of my Online Writing School with the hands-on, tangible and confidence-building courses Substack School and Medium School.

Members also get access to my live webinars with all writers I interview on my Substack podcast/YouTube channel and exclusive sessions with me, e.g. about becoming a Substack bestseller, using Substack Notes or Substack SEO.

As a member you’ll also have immediate access to the exclusive session with soon-to-be Penguin Random House published author Veronica Llorca-Smith “3 Powerful Mindset Shifts to Overcome Your Biggest Challenges as a Writer”:

Good news: Courses, live webinars, community & hands-on tutorials are all perks for members (subscribers) of my paid community

And the best part?

It’s only $9 per month or $90 for 365 days support and community.

No, I’m not kidding.

We’re more than 220 members strong and happy to grow together.

Our next live workshops will be with the incredibly successful writers

Jamie Northrup

(atomic newsletters) and

Michael Thompson

(Shy by Design).

Come join us and have some fun together!

❤️‍🔥Your feedback is just a spark but it’s enough to keep me, a part-time writer, going.❤️‍🔥

I hope this interview inspires you to open your own book launch club.

What are you waiting for?

Go get your positive reviews,

P.S. Liked it? Please share, like, and let me know what you think about my new show 💗 Your feedback is important and can spark many ideas. Thanks sooooo much!

P.S.S.

Matt Tomporowski

is for me the “book club guy”. He writes from the heart and is someone who’s willing to adapt and iterate, as with the cover of his book for instance. Want to learn from his journey? Subscribe to his newsletter Chasing Dreams in Middle Life for more insights.