When Snow Globe Travelers: Samuel’s Legacy launched last year, I didn’t know much about the publishing world. My marketing plan was to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what stuck. Not a great approach, but I learned from it. (In fact, I’m still learning from it. There’s a lot of moving parts.)
About a month after launch, I discovered indie books could be submitted for a Publishers Weekly review through BookLife. So, with both hope, and the expectation they would reject my request, I submitted Snow Globe Travelers.
In March, nearly a year later, BookLife notified me that Snow Globe Travelers was being considered for a review. I was surprised and elated and anxious. What if it got a bad review?
Every book will have bad reviews. As an author, I’ve learned to distance myself from reviews. After all, reviews are for readers, not authors. However, Publishers Weekly is an international publishing magazine for industry professionals. And a review by Publishers Weekly is huge.
All I could do was pray. I lifted the situation up to God and let it go. It was in His hands.
A few days ago, I learned God had answered my prayers. Publishers Weekly had reviewed Snow Globe Travelers the week before, and the reviewer called it “. . . [an] entertaining debut novel.”
(Cue smiling heart-eyed emojis everywhere.)
Thank you, Lord!
You can read the full review here on Publishers Weekly’s website: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-73292-002-6
K.A. Cummins 
That is so awesome! Big congrats!
Thank you, Tori! :)
I just checked and trad published books have to be submitted 3-4 months *before* publication. The next project of mine that I go indie on, though, I’ll keep this in mind. :-)
That’s helpful to know. Thanks for sharing. It seems like a couple of other industry reviewers request a similar lead time, but the names escape me at the moment.
Thanks!
Wow, KaLyn, that’s huge! Congrats! Do you know if Publishers Weekly will review a book that *isn’t* first in a series? I think you know where I’m going with this…😊 And congratulations again! Jill
I do! :) Preordered a paperback copy of Burn yesterday. Counting the days. That’s a good question. I don’t know, but I don’t remember reading anything in the guidelines that indicated they wouldn’t. Definitely worth a shot!