Review my book? I have chocolate!

Last night I read a wonderful post by Jael McHenry, debut author of The Kitchen Daughter, over at Writer Unboxed. Titled: How Book Bloggers Are Like Agents. This topic sucked me in. She raised some very interesting points that I think authors need to know before approaching book bloggers. I won’t talk about all those things here, it’s an awesome post, go check it out for yourself.

Anyway, when I first hopped onto the whole YA scene, I was swept away in a magical world on the Internet and Twitter. I’d just finished writing my second novel, and I was lonely =( I wanted writer friends. But, I was painfully shy on Twitter. I know, right? Hard to believe now. Then I came across a YA book blog. My eyes got wide as saucers. PEOPLE JUST TALK ABOUT THE BOOKS THEY LOVE?! I was hooked. And, I KNEW that I wanted to do that, too. I loved books. I loved YA. I loved YA Books. I wanted to blog about them, too. So I started YA Bound.

Now, nine months later, I still love it. I love the scene, I love talking to and meeting other bloggers, reading the MEME’s each week, sharing our love of YA, and discovering new books I’d never know about otherwise if not for them. It’s just an amazing support system, for authors as well as for the bloggers. I’ve discovered that a large percentage of bloggers are writers, just like me. Makes sense. If you love the written word, you love it. You want to share it in any form that you can.

After reading Jael’s post, I sat back and stared at the wall—with a dumb look on my face, I’m sure. I never really thought about how difficult it must be for authors to approach book bloggers. It just never occurred to me. I'm just a simple girl. When Jael said it was similar to writing a query letter to an agent, I cringed. I’ve written and sent out queries for over two years. It’s painful. I’d hate to think that something in the YA blogosphere was painful. I can’t speak for all book bloggers, and mind you I’m mostly directing this toward the YA market, but I can give some insight into what I look for when being approached to review a book. That way, maybe, it doesn’t have to be so painful or anxiety-inducing.

PLEASE, keep in mind this is only my opinion. Other bloggers have their own likes and dislikes, and they have their own policies. You SHOULD read them and approach the blogger with respect. I really don't take chocolate for reviews, but I'm not opposed to it.

I’ve noticed that a lot of requests I get read just like queries. And that’s cool. For me, it doesn’t have to be so formal, though. And here’s a big thing for me. If I open an email and scroll, and scroll, and scroll, my eyes glaze over and I kind of want to hit delete lol. Sorry, but I just don’t have the time to read a four page request. Short. I like it short and to the point. Here’s something else I’d like to see, and something that’s different than the typical query. Graphics . . . pics. Email can do all sorts of neat things now, like embedding HTML. Sure I can Google you or go read about your book on Goodreads (Which I will do, by the way) but I’d love to open the email and see a picture of the book cover, and next to it, the blurb or short summary. Above, just a simple introduction: who you are, what genre your book is, and most importantly, that you’ve read my blog and you feel that I will enjoy it based on the other books I've read. (That’s important. Take five minutes to check out the blogger’s review page. Read some of their reviews, and find out what types of books they enjoy before you request. Don’t query a YA blogger, whose policy states she/he only reads upper YA, with a Middle Grade novel. That’s a waste of time for you and them).

Okay, a moment of truth. EEK. Gasp. This might be a little painful, but it has to be talked about. As I said above, I’m going to Google you. And I’m going to look up your book on review sites. If you’re book sounds interesting, I want to know what other bloggers thought about it. Other bloggers that I’ve come to know have the same taste as me. Now, this is very important. I’m mainly addressing Indie pubbed authors. Either self-pubbed or published by a small to mid-size publishing house. (lets not get technical here) You want to get as many positive, promotional reviews up first before you release it into the wild and start mass emailing bloggers.

There are a lot of sites that offer book blog tours. MONTHS (don’t wait until the book is about to release) before your book drops, contact them. Like, The Teen Book Scene, and get them to schedule a promotional tour for your book. There are other sites, too, just Google it. A promotional tour will get you some great reviews up. That way, when a blogger goes to check out your book, they can read about what the bloggers liked about your book. Reading is subjective, not everyone will like your book, but I’m confident, in a tour, people can and will find something they believe others might like. If you’re book is too close to being released, and the tour site can’t fit you in, you can always do a tour yourself. Check out The YA Book Blog Directory, make a list of bloggers to contact, and send them a request to be a part of your promotional tour. Be prepared to work, though. If you guys find the idea of doing your own tour interesting, tell me, and I’ll post some easy ways to get one going.

Here's another painful truth. Book bloggers have more books to read than they have time to read them. I'm eyeing a stack of around 10 books right now. And that's just my physical books. I have even more ebooks and galleys. So what do you do when the blogger just doesn't have time to review your book? Promotion is promotion people. Ask if it's possible for you to do a giveaway or guest post instead on their site. It may not get you the review you want with that blogger, but, most bloggers are open to having your book featured on their blog. Or for you to guest post about it, or even doing an interview. Just having people read something by you or seeing your cover is a great way to get it out there.

That’s really it. Check out their review policy, read over the books they have on their site, be nice, short, and to the point in your request, add some flair with your cover, and make sure you include all links to yourself and your book. And get positive reviews up on review sites before or right after your book releases. It also doesn’t hurt to interact with bloggers either ;)  Follow them on Twitter and talk to them. Don’t STALK them. Keep it real.  Thanks for reading this ridiculously long ramble. If you have something you’d like to add, something you feel is an important step, please tell me! I’d love to know your thoughts =)

**UPDATE* As I've been getting a higher amount of requests lately, I'd like to add something I feel is important authors should know before querying a book blogger. Do NOT send your ebook attached to your first request to a blogger. Most bloggers do not like this. They feel like you're pushing your book on them and you have not read their policy, which most clearly state not to do this. Also, pirating is becoming a huge problem with ebooks. Do not send your ebook to someone you don't know on the whim they might review it. It's just not smart. Kindle is the only format, as of now, that protects ebooks from being pirated. Make sure you gift a review copy to the blogger AFTER they accept it for review.*