What I learned about submitting to book bloggers
Being an Indie Author means every review counts, and book bloggers can have a lot of impact.
Now that I have been a writer for a while, I finally feel as if I am hitting my stride.
This means learning the curve of the writing world and how things progress.
Each time I release a book, I refine my launch process a little more. Each time I release a book, I try to contact as many people as I can and provide an ARC copy so they can review it right away. And this is all part of a successful launch process.
That is why book bloggers come in handy and are such an important part of the review process.
How can book bloggers help you?
There are more book bloggers than I imagined out there, but it takes research to find the right fit for your book.
Some book bloggers aren’t open to submissions from authors for reviews because they enjoy simply finding what interests them and writing reviews about those specific books. Once you start looking around these bloggers' sites, you will know this is the case if there isn’t a review policy or contact me section. It’s not often that I come across them, but it happens.
But for those who do accept submissions, are often overwhelmed by the volume they receive.
From my experience so far, you want to build a relationship with them first. As much as they appreciate people coming to them asking for reviews, it’s nice to know that you can return the favor in some way. Here are some ways to do so.
Follow on social media
Subscribe to their newsletter
Share their content
Comment on their posts
It seems simple enough, right?
What kinds of things will they require to review your book?
Each book blogger will require something different upon submission.
Some that I have seen or submitted to have asked for the following:
Title and Author
Genre
Diversity
Trigger topics
Synopsis
Goodreads and Amazon links for review purposes
How I found them
Cover Image
My own website and Amazon author page links
What type of ARC I’m willing to send (Ebook, PDF, Paperback)
I would recommend having all of these prepared when you start submitting.
Book bloggers hold a ton of influence and power.
Even the smallest book blogger holds power over readership.
The fact that someone who reviews books for a living wanted to review yours means a lot. And every potential reader that comes across their review is going to consider reading your work based on this. Not to mention the readers who already follow their book blog.
This is also why you need to offer to promote their site and send them a free copy of the book.
When you follow these steps and try to pay it back a little, you could potentially form long-lasting relationships with these bloggers for future books.