Use these guidelines to perform your author research, or provide to an assistant to follow.
- Create a spreadsheet with the following fields: Blog Link, Reviews?, Author Interviews?, Excerpts?, Guest Posts?, Email, Submission Guidelines Link.
- Perform the following Google searches and log results on spreadsheet:
- Topic + book review
- When a book review is located, look for contact information. Best option is to send an email asking if you can submit your book for review consideration, or you can simply mail a copy of your book with a note requesting a review.
- Topic + author interview
- Look for contact information and send a friendly note asking if you can send a review copy and contribute an interview.
- Topic + book + excerpt (ex: “health book excerpt” or “memoir excerpt”)
- Look for contact information and send a note offering to provide several excerpts from your book for consideration.
- Topic + blog (ex: “business blog” or “military blog”)
- Search the site for “Submission guidelines” to see if guest posts are accepted and how to submit.
- Can’t find submission guidelines? Look for contact information and submit a question to the site editor/owner asking if they accept guest posts.
- If the site has multiple editors, contact the editor from the appropriate section of the site, such as Lifestyle or Business.
- Topic + book review
- Start by looking for book reviewer options here:
- Check Alexa Rating. If you want to find out how popular a website is, you can check its ranking at http://Alexa.com. In the search bar at the top, type in the website address. Alexa will return a global popularity rating, and the lower the rating, the better (under 100k is fantastic, though rare!). Generally sites under 2million probably have enough traffic to make it worth your while.
NOTE: Popular bloggers receive a lot of inquiries and you may have better luck getting support from small to mid-size blogs, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try! When reaching out to a blogger via email, compliment their work and then give a brief pitch (BRIEF!) that explains why your book would be of interest to his/her audience. Always offer to send a physical review copy. Most prefer a physical book, but you can send digital if requested.
Did you know we host an annual Nonfiction Writers Conference? Check it out!
It is important to give review blogs as much time as possible. No deadline for a book or give them at least two months before the book comes out (if you want reviews near release day) Most blogs book guest posts, reviews, spotlights at least a month out, usually two. There might be a few spots open sooner but probably on a weekend since weekdays are preferred.
Great post Stephanie. Very useful. Many thanks!