How To Approach Bloggers For Reviews

If you have self-published your book, one of the most beneficial things you can do is try to get as many positive reviews for it as possible. The more good reviews you have, the higher your trust factor. That is, with the overwhelming choice that readers are faced with when choosing a new book, they are more likely to pick one that lots of other people recommend over one that has no or lots of negative reviews.

Of course, getting reviews is easier said than done. One effective way is approach relevant bloggers and ask them to do so. Having bloggers review your book, particularly if they are willing to do a whole blog post featured on their website about you, can be extremely valuable.

However, as one would expect, most high profile bloggers who will consider doing this for writers are usually inundated with requests. Therefore knowing how to approach a blogger in the right way, and make your request seem like a no-brainer for them is hugely important if you ever want to receive a positive response.

With that in mind, here are some simple things you can do to help find appropriate bloggers and contact them in a way that is more likely to make them say yes.

Do your research

Don’t just contact every blogger you come across and hope for the best. Take your time to research which blogs are relevant to you and why. If a blogger clearly loves horror stories and you send them your romance book, then you aren’t going to get a positive response, if you even get one at all.

Never send out a mass request

Bloggers can spot a generic email a mile off, even if you’ve addressed them by name and mentioned their blog name - they are not stupid. If you have treated them as an afterthought and haven’t put any effort into actually finding out what they are all about, they simply aren’t going to give you the time of day - and why should they?

Take your time

Make an effort to build up a relationship with bloggers before you reach out to them. If you’ve made an effort to follow them on social media, comment on their posts and share them, and made your presence known to them, they are more likely to return the favour by reviewing your book. The more genuine you are, the better.

Make it personal

Behind every blog is a person, and the more personal and approachable you appear the better your chance of success. There is a right balance of being professional and not overly familiar while also coming across on a personable level. Getting this down to a fine art can make all the difference.

Check out their guidelines

Some more popular bloggers will have submission or proposal guidelines or will even ask for a fee. Make sure you read these and take them seriously. If you don’t, you can’t expect the blogger to take your request seriously either.

Offer something in return.

Think about what you could offer a blogger in return. Perhaps you could write a guest post for them or promote their blog on your social media pages. Think of what you could offer them to make your proposal seem more appealing.

While these tips won’t guarantee you’ll get your book reviewed by bloggers, they will certainly increase your chances of doing so. So next time you are hoping to build up reviews for your book keep them and mind as a good blogger review really can make all the difference.

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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