Building Your Brand With Book Blogger Outreach

As any author knows, getting attention from the ever-declining professional book outlets is harder every year. Each year,
more newspapers shrink or cancel their book section, fire or retire their book editor and add those responsibilities to the
entertainment editors desk (if they even still have one of those).

The odds of getting reviewed or noticed by the New York Times, Oprah, or other national outlets is as close to zero as to be
nonexistent. So, how do successful authors get buzz going about their book?

A lot of them work with book bloggers.

How can you start building your own blogger network or get your book to their attention? We have several easy ideas to get
you started.

Pick your platform:

People who love books, love to talk about them, and share them. Where? Everywhere. Instead of thrashing around
finding random bloggers, pick a platform and develop it. Look for people who have reviewed books like yours, and
make a spreadsheet of them and contact information for each blogger. You might not be able to contact all of them
(some platforms dont automatically share peoples contact information), but you can find enough.

Suggested websites for book bloggers:

Amazon (of course)
GoodReads (owned by Amazon)
Facebook
Twitter (though tends to be very short mentions)
Reddit.com
Tumblr.com
Wordpress.com
LiveJournal.com
Medium.com (growing)
Contacting Bloggers:

Once you have contact information for several bloggers, approach them with information about your book. Realize they
probably get a lot of solicitations for books to review, so make sure you stand out. Write them a personal email, referencing
something they already reviewed that is relevant to your book, so they know youve actually read their previous reviews.
Give them a hook as to why your book is relevant to them, something personal about yourself or your connection to your
book that theyll find interesting.

In your initial email, dont send your book, but do include the cover in your signature line, along with more information
about yourself and your book. And dont forget to ask. Make it easy for them to ask for your book in the format that works
best for them.

If youd like to see my book, just reply to this email and tell me the format you prefer and if you need a printed
copy, with your mailing address.

Following Up:

Track your emails to the bloggers on a spreadsheet and in your email program. You want to track:
Blogger Name or posting name
Link to blog or review page
Book(s) they reviewed that are similar to yours
Contact email (or contact form url)
Date of first email, and follow up emails
Date of reply and result (Yes, No, or Maybe)
Type of book requested (.mobi, pdf, epub, print)
Address, if printed book requested
Blogger social media links
Link to final review

After youve emailed a blogger, update it on your spreadsheet so you can see who has replied and who hasnt. If someone
hasnt replied to your first email, after 7-10 days send a polite follow up, either by replying to your original email (so all of
that is still in the email) or send a short email just asking if you should remove them from your blogger contact list. If you
dont have a reply after that, keep them on a secondary list for later.

For bloggers who have accepted your book, follow up after about 2 weeks, asking if theyve had a chance to read it, and
what they think so far. Always remember that bloggers receive several emails every day. Its more efficient if you always
include your book title in every correspondence. If a blogger isnt enjoying your book, this is your chance to get them to not
finish it so you dont get a bad review, or you can answer any questions or concerns they have about your book. Remember
to ask them for a link to their review when theyre done (and add it to your spreadsheet).

Once you get a review back, promote it. Thank the reviewer by name, and post a link to the review on your social media.
Give them a link back everywhere you can, so if you tweet out a link to the review on Twitter, use the reviewers Twitter
handle in your tweet so theyll see it in their notifications. They helped you with a review, so helping promote their blog or
work is a good reciprocal back scratch.

Tracking over time:

Your spreadsheet will become your long-term friend with each new book. Youll already know reviewers who have read
one of your books and what they thought of it. Keep looking to add new reviewers to your list and stay in touch with the
reviewers. Find ways to mention them or highlight other reviews theyve done in between your books, so you arent always
just contacting them for your book(s). Reblog something they did for another book on your social media, and send them a
quick note with a link back to it.

I really liked your review of [book title] and shared it to my friends on Facebook. Heres a link to my post.
Over time, you should build a solid network of bloggers that know you and are happy to help you promote your book.

Dont have enough time for all this?

Heres a list of a few services that can help, along with some book blogger directories.

Services:

City Book Review has just created a Book Blogger Outreach program. With more than 500 reviewers and bloggers on our
list, we can find an audience for almost any book and guarantee a minimum number of blog posts or mentions. Its up to
each blogger if they want to review each book or just mention it, but its an easy way to start getting the word out about
your book on a variety of platforms. If you dont have the time to do it yourself, we can do it for you.

The Indie Reviewer List - http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/

The Book Blogger List - http://bookbloggerlist.com/

Feedspots Book Reviewer List - http://blog.feedspot.com/bookreview_blogs/

Book Review Directory - https://bookreviewdirectory.com/

Book Review Yellow Pages - http://www.bookrevieweryellowpages.com/book-reviewer-list.html

Good luck with your outreach and book promotion.