My book is scheduled for release on April 2012, so I’m looking for great information on how to promote that book and get sales. Book reviews help tremendously. So, I was so pleased to find that The Savvy Book Marketer Dana Lynn Smith had come out with a new book on how to get book reviews, How to Get Your Book Reviewed, Sell More Books by Using Reviews, Testimonials and Endorsements for Book Promotion. It’s jam-packed with all the information I’ve been looking for! You can be sure I’ll be using it as a reference between now and the time my book is released and for several months afterward.
True to form, How to Get Your Book Reviewed is packed with more information than you can probably tackle in a year plus Dana’s signature “savvy” tips as well as great screen shots to help make understanding her points easy. Not only does she tell you where books get reviewed but explains the process of how books get selected so you understand reviewers. It explains in fine detail how to submit your book, how to plan a review strategy, how many copies to distribute and to whom, how to preparing your press release and sell sheet, and what to actually send (ebooks, print, books, galleys, or advance reading copies). Dana has included cases studies, information on what happens to your review copes, potential pitfalls, and how to deal with the dreaded negative review.
I was amazed to discover there was more… In this book you can discover information on how to obtain endorsements, forewords, testimonials, and customer reviews—all things that help sell your book. Dana hasn’t forgotten the coveted on-line bookstore reviews and testimonials, and she thoroughly covers Amazon and how to get your book reviewed there. You can also find information on such on-line reader communities as Goodreads and LibraryThing, as well as on book review blogs and book review journals, not to mention tradition print media reviews and tips on how to work with the media and journalists.
Just when I thought I was about on overload, I realized I had several more chapters to go! How to Get Your Book Reviewed offers additional sources of book reviews—places I’d never thought of, such as on EzineArticle.com, and places I had, such as from to get bloggers to review your book. Yes, bloggers provide a wonderful source of book reviews…like the one I just gave Dana.
Because bloggers are so important, in fact, today we are going to focus on them. Find out more about how to get bloggers to review your book in the following guest blog post Dana was kind enough to provide for me today.
How to Get Bloggers to Review Your Nonfiction Book
by Dana Lynn Smith
There are thousands of book review blogs online, but most of them are devoted to fiction. To get reviews for a nonfiction book, seek out blogs that are devoted to the topic of your book or are tailored to the target audience for your book.
Finding Bloggers
The first step is to identify blogs to approach. Start with your colleagues – other experts and authors in your field that you know or follow. Then use search engines to seek out other relevant blogs. Try searching both Google and Google Blog Search – you may get different results.
As you are researching blogs, check out each site’s “blogroll” or “links” section to find other relevant blogs.
If you have a substantial following yourself, you can also invite bloggers to contact you about getting a review copy. For example, for his new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition, Michael Stelzner wrote a post on his blog inviting other bloggers to apply to get two free copies of his book – one book to review on their blog and one book to give away to a reader.
Once you have compiled a list of potential blogs, evaluate them to determine which ones are the best fit. You can get a rough estimate of the popularity of various blogs by comparing their Alexa rankings – the lower the ranking number, the more traffic the site has. Go to Alexa.com, click on Site Info, and enter the site’s URL in the search box. You can also download a toolbar from Alexa to automatically check rankings of sites you visit.
Ideally, you want your reviews to appear in the most relevant blogs with the highest traffic, but that’s not always possible. The most high profile bloggers get many requests and they can’t accommodate everyone, and some bloggers simply won’t be interested in doing a book review.
Having reviews on lower traffic blogs still has value in introducing you and your book to people you might never have reached otherwise. In addition, these bloggers may be willing to post a copy of their review on Amazon, which is very valuable.
Working with Bloggers
Prioritize your list of prospects and start contacting bloggers. Be sure to stress the benefits of doing a book review.
Why would a blogger agree to review your book? Bloggers are always looking for content ideas, and a review of a relevant book (ideally including a few tips from the book) can be valuable to their readers. The blogger also benefits by getting a free copy of your book.
You can also offer bloggers an added benefit by providing a copy of your book that they can give away to a reader. For example, they can invite people to comment on the review post for a set time period and then draw one name at random to award the book to.
The downside of doing a giveaway is that people won’t buy the book if they think they might win a free copy. I recommend a short time frame for the giveaway and a follow up post announcing the winner and encouraging others to buy the book.
Of course, reviews aren’t the only the valuable content for bloggers. You can also offer to write guest posts for appropriate blogs.
Here’s a great example of how to combine a giveaway and a guest post. When Hope Clark reviewed my book on her blog and offered a giveaway, she ran a guest post from me (excerpted from the book) four days later and included this introduction:
“The following is a guest post from Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, author of Monday’s giveaway book How to Get Your Book Reviewed. She graciously offered this post so you can receive a taste of what the winner of Monday’s book giveaway received. By the way, the winner is Toby Lynne. Congrats! As I emphasized Monday, this is a must have for those of you marketing a book.”
Getting book reviews and guest posts on blogs that reach your target audience is a great way to reach potential book buyers, gain new followers, and expand your author platform. Include a strategy for working with bloggers in your book marketing plan.
About the Author
Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach best known for her Savvy Book Marketer products. This post is excerpted from How to Get Your Book Reviewed. For more book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and get Dana’s free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com
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