Back to the Treadmill

 
I spent 3-4 weeks after the release of The Summoning Fire submitting the book for reviews. It was a somewhat tedious business.
 
I started at the beginning of a list of reviewers and book blogs and visited each one's Web page. I checked to see if the Web page was current or the blog still active. Then I had to find their review policy to see if they accepted horror novels. Then I had to find where they had hidden their contact info. Finally, I sent a request for a book review, giving the title of the book and a short summary, and offering a free copy (ebook or paperback).
 
And I did that over and over and over. I would reach the end of one list of reviewers and blogs, and start on another list. Eventually, I ran out of lists.
 
I've sent out a few review requests since "the end of major operations" in that regard. Usually because I bump into a new reviewer or blog that sounds promising (and accepts horror).
 
Overall, I think I did a pretty good job. I had never done anything like that before. I even improved my short description of The Summoning Fire and my query email as I went along. I've had 6-7 reviews already come in, and there are still more on the way.
 
The real point of this post, though, is that I get to do all of that all over again. This time for The Girl Who Ran With Horses.
 

 
On the upside, since I've done this before I'm better at it now. Somewhat improved, anyway.
 
Also, there are far, far more reviewers who will accept "Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy" books for review than "Horror". So I should be able to net more positive responses to my queries. This means sending out more free copies of the book, of course, but I'm cool with that. In fact, I'm looking forward to it.
 
Finally, it helps that I have a really good short description of the book already. Between myself and five or six other early readers, we hammered out a short description/back cover blurb. That I then improved on still more yesterday as I went around to various places announcing the book.
 
So, back to the treadmill. As an indie author, I can't expect anyone else to do this for me. Certainly not for what I'm willing to pay myself to do it…
 
-David