Book reviews are an easy and effective way to promote your book. People like hearing about new books and what others think of them.
You’ve probably seen book reviews published in your local newspaper or in your favorite magazines. You may even have seen them on T.V. during news or talk shows.
Those are all good places to have your book reviewed, of course. But newspaper columnists, magazine writers and television hosts simply don’t have time to review every book that comes their way. And as popular as they are, their audience may not be the ideal audience for your book.
If you want to reach a lot of people with your book very quickly, try having your book reviewed on blogs that are popular with your target market.
Why Ask Bloggers to Review Your Book?
Bloggers and often overlooked but powerful social influencers. Well known bloggers have thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands, of loyal followers who read their posts daily. They then share those posts with their friends and on social media sites.
Lesser-known, tightly niched bloggers are influential too. If you can find a blog that’s not as popular, but that is highly relevant to your topic, it is worth asking if the blogger will review your book.
How to Find Bloggers to Review Your Book
What some authors do is just mail out their book to every blogger’s address they can find, and hope for the best. If that’s the approach you take, you will likely be disappointed. As well, an out-of-the-blue email asking a stranger to review your book will probably get a similar, unenthusiastic response.
Bloggers are busy people – the key word being “people” – who write to build connections with other people. To get their attention, you will likely need to do some sincere relationship building of your own.
When you find a blog that you think would be a good fit for your book, it’s time to slow down and do some research. Begin reading the blog regularly, reading the comments left by readers, and leaving insightful comments of your own.
Before you approach any blogger about reviewing your book, you’ll want to know:
Is the topic of your book highly relevant to the topic of the blog?
Are the blog’s readers looking for information like what you offer in your book?
Does the blogger review books or products?
Once you’ve established that your book would definitely be beneficial to the readers, and you have established a rapport with the blogger, that is a good time to approach him or her about reviewing your book.
Denise Willms is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in helping authors promote their books, save time, and earn more money.
