Tracey Sinclair's Blog - Posts Tagged "bloggers"
Dealing with book bloggers
This is an edited version of an old post, but it's an issue I still see as vexing many indie authors in particular, as well as bloggers who get rightfully annoyed when they are spammed through sites like Goodreads and Twitter - so for what it's worth, here are my tips.
One of the key ways to build word of mouth for your book is through the book blogging community: book bloggers not only tend to be enthusiastic about reading but also about spreading word of mouth, and will often post reviews across a number of forums, which can significantly boost the profile of your book. So how best to go about getting this exposure? Here are some handy tips – and some guidelines on what not to do!
Find a list of blogs: there are a number of ever-changing blogging directories out there, so I’d start by simply Googling ‘book blogger directory’ and working your way through the most up to date lists. Once you have found a site you like or think might be suitable, it’s also worth checking out links from that site to directories / other sites (these are usually found through ‘buttons’ on the bottom or side of the blog).
Check the blog is still active: lots of people start a blog but it takes time, determination and stamina to keep it going and to build a following. It’s probably not worth contacting any blog that hasn’t been updated in the last month. Ideally, you want a blog that updates at least once a week, if not more.
Check their review policy: this will tell you if they are accepting review copies, and what sort of books they are interested in. There’s no point in sending an ebook to someone who only reads print, and you just have to accept that some bloggers won’t consider self-published books, or will only accept certain formats. Most bloggers only want to be contacted through specified channels, so stick to those. Respect their choices and move on.
Is your book a match? Look at the kind of books and features they have on the site. If they are big fans of historical fiction and you’ve written a modern horror book set in space, they’re unlikely to want to read it.
Be polite – remember they’re people! Approach politely and courteously, and remember you are dealing with an individual, not an anonymous corporation. If there is personal information on the blog that resonates with you, try to reflect that in your approach. People like dealing with other people – be nice, and you’re more likely to get a response! Treat them like you’re doing them an enormous favour letting them read your book and they aren’t going to be that keen to engage with you.
Remember they generally aren’t professionals: in nearly all cases, these blogs are run by individuals – or small groups – who are doing it for love (with some free books thrown in). They are fitting blogging around their jobs, families and other commitments. Respect that, and don’t be overly demanding: they have plenty of other priorities than responding to your email and reading your book! Also, they aren’t obligated to you in any way: just because you send them a book doesn’t mean they have to read it. Accept that you’ll strike out a few times and let it go.
Be flexible: bearing the above in mind, be as flexible as you can re: deadlines – don’t expect to send a book and have it reviewed within a week. Most bloggers will try to help you out if you’re doing date specific promotion, but they may be booked up well in advance, or they simply may be too busy. If you want to have a book reviewed when it’s published, you need to send advance copies at least a few months before publication date (most will state timeframes in their review policies).
Offer alternatives: the one thing all bloggers constantly need is content, so it’s worth offering an alternative; for instance, when you offer your book for review, suggest that you’re also happy to do an author Q&A or guest post. Many bloggers whose review schedules are packed will still accept guest posts (especially if you throw in a giveaway) and while this is extra work for you, it can be useful publicity (remember, don’t reuse guest posts on different sites: you’ll make both of you look bad if it’s not original content!)
Offer to cross-promote: All bloggers – or at least almost all – will be keen to get more readers or followers, so state in your initial email that any reviews or posts will be cross-promoted on your own blog or website (you have a blog or website, right? Right?) and through your Twitter feed (ditto). Also, if you have a blog yourself, why not offer to host a guest post from them? That way you boost your own content, and are offering them more exposure.
Build relationships: In the time I’ve been dealing with book bloggers, I’ve come across some really interesting and fun people – so don’t just go into this focused on how to plug your book. Think about building long-term relationships – follow them on Twitter and Goodreads, sign up to their blogs, comment on their reviews. You won’t have time to invest in every one of the bloggers you deal with, any more than they will with every author, but be open to connecting with new people and you could be very pleasantly surprised.
Never badmouth a blogger: even if you have had a negative experience, there is nothing to be gained by mouthing off or getting annoyed with a blogger. For a start, it’s unprofessional, and it’s also enormously counterproductive: there’s a fairly strong community of bloggers and the last thing you want is a reputation as being difficult – part of the reason so many bloggers won’t review self-published works is because self-published authors have a reputation for poor behaviour. Sure, you might encounter a truly obnoxious blogger – they are individuals, so you’re bound to come across some you’d rather not have, just as you will in any other community – but in all circumstances the best thing is to take the high ground and let it go.
Be realistic – they won’t all like you: One of the hardest things for writers to accept is that lots of people simply won’t like your book. They may think it’s stupid or badly written, they may hate the characters, they may wilfully misread your meaning or sentiment, they may think it looks so God-awful boring that they can’t even bother to read past the synopsis. Tough. Get over it. There isn’t a writer alive who has been universally loved, and you won’t be the first one. Don’t get into a row over bad reviews, don’t vote them as unhelpful on Amazon, don’t try and get them removed from blogs or anywhere else. Take them on the chin and move on.
One of the key ways to build word of mouth for your book is through the book blogging community: book bloggers not only tend to be enthusiastic about reading but also about spreading word of mouth, and will often post reviews across a number of forums, which can significantly boost the profile of your book. So how best to go about getting this exposure? Here are some handy tips – and some guidelines on what not to do!
Find a list of blogs: there are a number of ever-changing blogging directories out there, so I’d start by simply Googling ‘book blogger directory’ and working your way through the most up to date lists. Once you have found a site you like or think might be suitable, it’s also worth checking out links from that site to directories / other sites (these are usually found through ‘buttons’ on the bottom or side of the blog).
Check the blog is still active: lots of people start a blog but it takes time, determination and stamina to keep it going and to build a following. It’s probably not worth contacting any blog that hasn’t been updated in the last month. Ideally, you want a blog that updates at least once a week, if not more.
Check their review policy: this will tell you if they are accepting review copies, and what sort of books they are interested in. There’s no point in sending an ebook to someone who only reads print, and you just have to accept that some bloggers won’t consider self-published books, or will only accept certain formats. Most bloggers only want to be contacted through specified channels, so stick to those. Respect their choices and move on.
Is your book a match? Look at the kind of books and features they have on the site. If they are big fans of historical fiction and you’ve written a modern horror book set in space, they’re unlikely to want to read it.
Be polite – remember they’re people! Approach politely and courteously, and remember you are dealing with an individual, not an anonymous corporation. If there is personal information on the blog that resonates with you, try to reflect that in your approach. People like dealing with other people – be nice, and you’re more likely to get a response! Treat them like you’re doing them an enormous favour letting them read your book and they aren’t going to be that keen to engage with you.
Remember they generally aren’t professionals: in nearly all cases, these blogs are run by individuals – or small groups – who are doing it for love (with some free books thrown in). They are fitting blogging around their jobs, families and other commitments. Respect that, and don’t be overly demanding: they have plenty of other priorities than responding to your email and reading your book! Also, they aren’t obligated to you in any way: just because you send them a book doesn’t mean they have to read it. Accept that you’ll strike out a few times and let it go.
Be flexible: bearing the above in mind, be as flexible as you can re: deadlines – don’t expect to send a book and have it reviewed within a week. Most bloggers will try to help you out if you’re doing date specific promotion, but they may be booked up well in advance, or they simply may be too busy. If you want to have a book reviewed when it’s published, you need to send advance copies at least a few months before publication date (most will state timeframes in their review policies).
Offer alternatives: the one thing all bloggers constantly need is content, so it’s worth offering an alternative; for instance, when you offer your book for review, suggest that you’re also happy to do an author Q&A or guest post. Many bloggers whose review schedules are packed will still accept guest posts (especially if you throw in a giveaway) and while this is extra work for you, it can be useful publicity (remember, don’t reuse guest posts on different sites: you’ll make both of you look bad if it’s not original content!)
Offer to cross-promote: All bloggers – or at least almost all – will be keen to get more readers or followers, so state in your initial email that any reviews or posts will be cross-promoted on your own blog or website (you have a blog or website, right? Right?) and through your Twitter feed (ditto). Also, if you have a blog yourself, why not offer to host a guest post from them? That way you boost your own content, and are offering them more exposure.
Build relationships: In the time I’ve been dealing with book bloggers, I’ve come across some really interesting and fun people – so don’t just go into this focused on how to plug your book. Think about building long-term relationships – follow them on Twitter and Goodreads, sign up to their blogs, comment on their reviews. You won’t have time to invest in every one of the bloggers you deal with, any more than they will with every author, but be open to connecting with new people and you could be very pleasantly surprised.
Never badmouth a blogger: even if you have had a negative experience, there is nothing to be gained by mouthing off or getting annoyed with a blogger. For a start, it’s unprofessional, and it’s also enormously counterproductive: there’s a fairly strong community of bloggers and the last thing you want is a reputation as being difficult – part of the reason so many bloggers won’t review self-published works is because self-published authors have a reputation for poor behaviour. Sure, you might encounter a truly obnoxious blogger – they are individuals, so you’re bound to come across some you’d rather not have, just as you will in any other community – but in all circumstances the best thing is to take the high ground and let it go.
Be realistic – they won’t all like you: One of the hardest things for writers to accept is that lots of people simply won’t like your book. They may think it’s stupid or badly written, they may hate the characters, they may wilfully misread your meaning or sentiment, they may think it looks so God-awful boring that they can’t even bother to read past the synopsis. Tough. Get over it. There isn’t a writer alive who has been universally loved, and you won’t be the first one. Don’t get into a row over bad reviews, don’t vote them as unhelpful on Amazon, don’t try and get them removed from blogs or anywhere else. Take them on the chin and move on.
Why a bad review can be a good thing
One of the pleasures of publishing is other people’s reactions to your writing: I don’t imagine there’s a writer out there who doesn’t love getting nice feedback. If you didn’t want readers to connect with your writing, you wouldn’t put it out there, and the validation that comes with a good review can’t be overstated. Equally, because writing feels so intimate – you’re putting a little piece of your soul up for judgement – when someone doesn’t like your book it can feel like a personal insult, and some authors can be driven to react accordingly. Here’s why that is a very, very bad idea – and why, in fact, a negative review can be a blessing in disguise.
Accept it will hurt – then get over it
I know, as an author, what it feels like to read a bad review, and I won’t lie to you, it’s never fun. You spend ages and ages – months, sometimes years – slaving away over something, you put your heart and soul into it, and then someone who probably skim read it on the tube or with one eye on whatever TV show they were watching dismisses it out of hand! How very dare they! Clearly they are imbeciles who wouldn’t know a good book if you hit them over the head with it… etc, etc, etc. And that’s fine: you can throw a tantrum, rant at your partner or your friends or even your cat about all these idiots who shouldn’t be let near a computer… but that’s where you need to stop. In public, online, you never, ever react.
Don’t try and ‘correct’ them
The fact is, whatever they say, their opinion is correct because it’s their opinion. Your opinion might be that they are a moron, which is your right, but there’s really no benefit in trying to change their mind. So don’t add a comment on their blog about how they ‘misunderstood’ you (I’ve seen even well-established authors do this, and it never goes well); don’t bitch on Twitter or Facebook, don’t comment on Goodreads or vote their reviews as unhelpful on Amazon. It makes you look petty, turns other bloggers against you and it’s simply a fight you can’t win.
Don’t get others to defend you
There’s plenty of craziness out there already: don’t add to it. We’ve all seen these dramas where authors have been so offended at a review they’ve vented to fans, who have ended up swamping blogs with nasty comments (or even threats, which is obviously never justifiable) simply for the crime of not liking a book. Don’t sockpuppet comments yourself or get friends or family to do it for you. If there are people out there who want to debate your work, fine, but you shouldn’t be manipulating this out of hurt feelings.
Can you learn from the review?
This is particularly helpful for indie authors, who tend not to have the same process of quality control for their products as mainstream authors. Go back to the review, when you’re calm: maybe there are some valid comments in there? Is there something you could have fixed, or points you could take on board? Some things may be easily mended; for instance, if you’re an indie author and a reviewer says that the book was poorly edited or proofed or the cover looked cheap, maybe next time you just need to spend some money getting your next manuscript professionally worked on before you put it out there. If they say the story is confusing, or the writing sometimes not that clear – do they have a point? Think about what your beta readers said (and you should always, always have a team of beta readers to give you feedback before you publish – nobody in the world can properly edit or objectively judge their own stuff). Did you ignore any feedback from them that is being repeated by the reviewers? If so, you might have to accept they were right. Look at the good reviews you are getting – are they saying similar things, even though the reader in question liked the book overall? It’s rare you’ll get a review from someone who thinks your book is flawless.
Not everyone will like you…
Of course, you may also just think that the reviewer is stupid (who knows, they may be, there’s plenty of dumb people in the world) or that they didn’t ‘get’ your book. So what? Every book you loved, every writer you adore – someone, somewhere, will hate. Why should you be any different?
And that’s a good thing!
Nothing is more suspicious on Amazon or Goodreads than pages of perfect reviews: it looks like, at best, the only people who’ve read the book are your friends, at worst, you’re paying people to say nice things. Throw in some one and two star reviews, and at least it looks like actual people in the real world have read your book. Sometimes getting a bad review can prompt discussion, too – and people talking about your work is exactly what you want.
NEVER buy reviews!
Do I need to even spell out why buying reviews is a terrible, terrible idea? It undermines the whole system, it tars all indie authors with the same brush, and ultimately, it’s bad for your writing. I know plenty of people in professional publishing, and it’s not a kind industry. Buffeting yourself against genuine, helpful feedback means you won’t ever get better, and sooner or later, your bluff will get called. Putting yourself out there inevitably means that some people won’t like you and they might say mean things about your work: but that’s part of what being a writer is. Authors who can’t accept that are in the wrong job.
Accept it will hurt – then get over it
I know, as an author, what it feels like to read a bad review, and I won’t lie to you, it’s never fun. You spend ages and ages – months, sometimes years – slaving away over something, you put your heart and soul into it, and then someone who probably skim read it on the tube or with one eye on whatever TV show they were watching dismisses it out of hand! How very dare they! Clearly they are imbeciles who wouldn’t know a good book if you hit them over the head with it… etc, etc, etc. And that’s fine: you can throw a tantrum, rant at your partner or your friends or even your cat about all these idiots who shouldn’t be let near a computer… but that’s where you need to stop. In public, online, you never, ever react.
Don’t try and ‘correct’ them
The fact is, whatever they say, their opinion is correct because it’s their opinion. Your opinion might be that they are a moron, which is your right, but there’s really no benefit in trying to change their mind. So don’t add a comment on their blog about how they ‘misunderstood’ you (I’ve seen even well-established authors do this, and it never goes well); don’t bitch on Twitter or Facebook, don’t comment on Goodreads or vote their reviews as unhelpful on Amazon. It makes you look petty, turns other bloggers against you and it’s simply a fight you can’t win.
Don’t get others to defend you
There’s plenty of craziness out there already: don’t add to it. We’ve all seen these dramas where authors have been so offended at a review they’ve vented to fans, who have ended up swamping blogs with nasty comments (or even threats, which is obviously never justifiable) simply for the crime of not liking a book. Don’t sockpuppet comments yourself or get friends or family to do it for you. If there are people out there who want to debate your work, fine, but you shouldn’t be manipulating this out of hurt feelings.
Can you learn from the review?
This is particularly helpful for indie authors, who tend not to have the same process of quality control for their products as mainstream authors. Go back to the review, when you’re calm: maybe there are some valid comments in there? Is there something you could have fixed, or points you could take on board? Some things may be easily mended; for instance, if you’re an indie author and a reviewer says that the book was poorly edited or proofed or the cover looked cheap, maybe next time you just need to spend some money getting your next manuscript professionally worked on before you put it out there. If they say the story is confusing, or the writing sometimes not that clear – do they have a point? Think about what your beta readers said (and you should always, always have a team of beta readers to give you feedback before you publish – nobody in the world can properly edit or objectively judge their own stuff). Did you ignore any feedback from them that is being repeated by the reviewers? If so, you might have to accept they were right. Look at the good reviews you are getting – are they saying similar things, even though the reader in question liked the book overall? It’s rare you’ll get a review from someone who thinks your book is flawless.
Not everyone will like you…
Of course, you may also just think that the reviewer is stupid (who knows, they may be, there’s plenty of dumb people in the world) or that they didn’t ‘get’ your book. So what? Every book you loved, every writer you adore – someone, somewhere, will hate. Why should you be any different?
And that’s a good thing!
Nothing is more suspicious on Amazon or Goodreads than pages of perfect reviews: it looks like, at best, the only people who’ve read the book are your friends, at worst, you’re paying people to say nice things. Throw in some one and two star reviews, and at least it looks like actual people in the real world have read your book. Sometimes getting a bad review can prompt discussion, too – and people talking about your work is exactly what you want.
NEVER buy reviews!
Do I need to even spell out why buying reviews is a terrible, terrible idea? It undermines the whole system, it tars all indie authors with the same brush, and ultimately, it’s bad for your writing. I know plenty of people in professional publishing, and it’s not a kind industry. Buffeting yourself against genuine, helpful feedback means you won’t ever get better, and sooner or later, your bluff will get called. Putting yourself out there inevitably means that some people won’t like you and they might say mean things about your work: but that’s part of what being a writer is. Authors who can’t accept that are in the wrong job.
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