How to Beg, I Mean Ask, For A Book Review

[A.F.]

How to Beg, I Mean Ask, For A Book Review

As a writer and someone who reviews books for my blog I’ve been on both sides of the book review, so I’m sharing tips:

1. Read the reviewer’s guidelines before you submit any request. Most reviewer’s have them posted on their blog or website and do not like it when someone ignores their preferences. If by chance there are no guidelines, check out the types of reviews they have done in the past. It should give you an idea if your book would be favoured for review.

2. Proofread the email you send requesting the interview. A first bad impression could ruin your chances, especially if the reviewer has a lot of requests. I recently had an email with four glaring typos in it; this did not inspire confidence in the author’s writing abilities.

3. Be polite; be specific. Always introduce yourself, your book, be clear that you are asking for a review. Also, mention the reviewer’s blog or site, in case - like me- they have more than one website (I have received several emails where I had to basically guess which site they visited and whether they wanted a review or a spotlight).

4. Send a short synopsis of the book and please send links (Amazon, publisher’s website, Smashwords, etc) where a reviewer can view the book (busy reviewers do not like to play hunt for the book). And sending a small photo of the book cover never hurts.

5. Do not, I repeat, do not send a copy of the book. A short excerpt is okay, or a link to an excerpt.

If you do get your book accepted for review, it is nice to enquire whether the reviewer needs anything else, such as a bio or book cover. And remember keep your pictures small to medium size (no megabytes please, just kilobytes and around 300px) and your bio’s short (one paragraph is ideal).

[L.M.]

Thumbs up to that! Currently I get books for review from shows like BEA or ALA or author request and I love it when they send all of their links to me.

[Cambria]

This was a great post!

[A.F.]

L.M. wrote: "Thumbs up to that! Currently I get books for review from shows like BEA or ALA or author request and I love it when they send all of their links to me."

Yes, it is so nice when you can just click on a link and not have to Google search for the book.

[Cambria]

It definitely saves on time!!! :)

[A.F.]

Cambria wrote: "This was a great post!"

Thanks, glad you liked it.

[James]

hey thanks for this! will try to employ these tactics!

[A.F.]

Robin wrote: "I used to do book reviews. Here's a tip: Don't pester the reviewer. You're liable not to get a review at all. :)"

I second that, no pestering the reviewer.