Working With Reviewers

Every book blogger and reviewer I know wants to read and talk about as many books as possible, but the simple truth is that we all have far too many books we want to read, and nothing like enough time in which to read them all. If you’re an author then, how do you get your book into the hands of reviewers who have the interest, motivation and time to be able to read your book and write about it? That’s what I want to tackle with this article. I obviously can’t speak for all reviewers, but I can offer some suggestions based on my own experiences, which I think will stand you in good stead for encouraging reviewers to want to read your book.

I’ve been running Track of Words for 9 and a half years, and in that time I’ve received my fair share of review requests for both trad-published books and indie/self-published books. Some of those have been really well thought-out, and others less so, but I’ve built up a pretty solid picture of the things that encourage me to want to accept a request, and the things that put me off. Most authors and publicists already do most of these things, but they’re worth repeating even so. And there are some suggestions here that I almost never see anyone do, but I’d love to see become more common practices.

Just to be clear: I’m aiming this article at authors, rather than publicists or publishers, but hopefully there’s something interesting in here for anyone involved in the business of reviews (including, of course, other reviewers).

If you just want to skip to a certain part of this article, here are the key points I’m going to talk about:

• Be Respectful
• Do Your Research
• Be Persuasive
• Send a Sample
• Remember It’s Your Choice Too
• What You Should Get In Return

Be Respectful

In my opinion this is the single most important consideration, and to be fair I’d say the vast majority of review requests I’ve received have been entirely respectful. It’s worth talking about though – get this right, and pretty much everything else will be fine.

All my favourite interactions with authors have been where we’ve built up a good relationship built on honesty and professionalism, and we treat each other with respect. I recognise that authors put huge amounts of time, effort and creativity into the books they write, and that getting reviews and building readerships is incredibly important to them. In return, authors recognise that I run this site in my own time, for free, on top of a day job and everything else, and that I do my best to support authors as much as possible. Essentially, we both acknowledge that we’re only human, and find ways of working together that suit both of us.

This sort of mutual respect can be built in all sorts of ways, but I’ve put together a short list of just a few of them. You’ll notice that some of these have broader ramifications too, which I’ll dig into later on.

• Acknowledge that reviewers are busy: very few reviewers make any money from this; we all have jobs, relationships, families and so on. We want to support you, but life gets in the way sometimes.
• Plan ahead: if possible, give reviewers plenty of time to read your book and get their reviews written. The shorter the time frame, the less likely someone is to be able to help. Think about what point of your book’s lifecycle you’re in: are you looking for pre-publication reviews (in which case you’ve got a specific time frame), or are you happy for reviews at times that suit reviewers?
• Be upfront: don’t be afraid to ask for specific things, and/or make it very clear what you’re looking for. If you have a timeframe in mind, or if you only have a limited number of physical ARCs, make sure you let reviewers know what the situation is and what you need.
• Respect people’s boundaries: even if you think your book is a perfect fit for a reviewer, be prepared for them to say no and respect them if they do. Sometimes it’s just not possible to take another book on, or something about a book doesn’t appeal.
• Talk to the right person: if you’re working with a site that has multiple reviewers, ask who the best person is to speak to/send a review copy to. There might be different people with different responsibilities, so make sure you’re communicating with the right member of the team – and then follow their review policy, and be respectful of whoever ends up reviewing your book.
• Don’t ask people to buy your book: this shouldn’t really need saying, and most authors wouldn’t even think of it, but still…if you’re requesting a review it’s really not ok to expect someone to buy your book. Reviewers can choose to write about books they buy if they want, but that’s their choice. So don’t just send an Amazon link, for example!
• Don’t hassle reviewers: even once a reviewer has said yes and received a review copy, there’s no guarantee of a review. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is. Resist the temptation to chase reviews or pester reviewers. Nobody’s ever done this to me, but I’m lucky in that respect!
• If you’ve used AI, say so: AI is a hot topic in publishing right now, and a lot of people have strong opinions about it. Whatever your thoughts are, if you’ve used AI to help you write a book then just say so, and let reviewers decide if they’re happy with that or not. Likewise, if a reviewer uses AI to write their reviews…you should be able to make your mind up about it!

Ultimately, your behaviour will set the tone of your relationship with a reviewer. Assuming that you want to keep working with bloggers/reviewers over time, as you release more books, it’s definitely worth investing in good relationships! And don’t forget that reviewers talk to each other, so word will get around – and you want that to be good.

Remember that this works both ways though. If someone doesn’t treat you with respect, you don’t have to work with them either – see the Remember It’s Your Choice Too section later on for more on this point.

Do Your Research

This might seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. There’s no point contacting reviewers who don’t read the genre you write in, or reviewers who aren’t currently accepting review requests – it’s not a good use of your time, or theirs. So how do you find out which reviewers are the right ones to speak to? You do your research. Look up reviewers and review websites that specialise in your genre; use Google, Twitter, Instagram, there are loads of places you can look, and loads of amazing reviewers out there.

Once you’ve found some reviewers who cover your genre, here are some suggestions:

• Read their reviews: read lots of them! It’s not just about whether someone reads your genre, but also whether they’re going to like the type of book you’ve written. For example, if you write grimdark fantasy then there’s not much point sending a review request to someone who mostly reads cosy fantasy. Look for reviewers of grimdark fantasy instead!
• Look for review policies: always, always look to see if a reviewer has one of these – not everyone does, but a lot do (here’s mine, if you’re interested). If a reviewer does have one, make sure you follow it as closely as you possibly can, and respect what the reviewer wants.
• Interact in advance: it might not always be possible, and it definitely depends on your appetite for social media, but try to interact with reviewers before you ask them to read your book. If you can build a rapport beforehand, they’re more likely to be inclined to say yes.

Of course none of this is black and white, but if you do decide to contact someone who doesn’t often read the sort of thing you write, make sure you acknowledge that and explain why you think your book might still be of interest.

Be Persuasive

With the greatest will in the world, reviewers simply can’t read every book they want to, and certainly not every book that comes their way via a review request. To give your book the best possible chance you want to give a potential reviewer all the useful information they need in order to make an informed decision, but you also want to be persuasive. So think about how you can make the important pieces of information about your book as exciting as possible, as well as suitably comprehensive. Here are my suggestions:

• Elevator Pitch: put together a really strong, brief pitch for your book. Imagine you’ve got no more than one or two sentences to sell someone on the story, and boil it down to just the absolute essentials.
• The Hook: what else does a reader need to know about your book in order to convince them to read it? Put together a really tight, persuasive additional paragraph covering things like key themes, inspirations, your unique selling point, etc.
• Facts and Figures: pull together all of the useful details about your book. Include as much information as you can, including:
  • Full synopsis/blurb
  • Cover image
  • Page count
  • Publication date
  • Content warnings (if applicable)
  • What formats you can provide review copies in (including audio, if available)
  • Whether there are any geographic restrictions (i.e. physical ARCs can only be sent to someone in particular regions)
  • Whether you’re open to other types of content too, like interviews or guest posts, and how to arrange them
  • A short ‘about me’ section
  • Your website and social media handles

This might all sound like a lot of work, but it’s worth it! I’d suggest creating a PDF with all of the facts and figures (attach this to your emails, to save you writing it out each time), then concentrate on the pitch and the hook in the body of your email. Keep it concise, provide the key points, and you’re onto a winner.

If you’re talking to a site with multiple reviewers, providing this information is going to help them pitch your book to the rest of the team, too, so the more you provide the better!

Send a Sample

This is essentially part of the previous point – providing as much information as possible – but I think it’s important enough to warrant its own section, especially as I’ve hardly ever seen anyone do this. If you can, include a sample of your book either as an attachment, or as a download link. It doesn’t have to be a long sample – the first chapter maybe, or the first two or three.

Any time someone asks if I’d like to read and review a book, I always want to read a little bit of it before making a decision, to see if I think it’s something I’ll like. It’s what you’d do if you saw a book in a shop, right? You’d open it up and read the first couple of pages, at least. The same online, too – you’d want to read the sample. Everything else is well and good – synopsis, cover, quotes, etc. – but it always comes down to whether I like the style of writing.

Being totally honest, I say no to far more review requests than I say yes to, and often it’s a no just because without being able to read a bit of the book first, it’s too much of a risk for me. If you send me a sample though, I’ll be able to make a better, more informed decision – and if I really love the opening pages, I’m going to want to keep reading!

Here’s what I would suggest you do:

• Take your first two or three chapters, and create ‘Sample’ files in ePub, Mobi and PDF formats.
• Include the cover, contents list, copyright info etc., and make sure it’s all formatted exactly as a full ebook would be.
• If you have an audiobook version and can create a sample of that too, include that in the folder alongside everything else.
• Create a Google Drive (or similar) folder with those three/four files (plus your PR materials maybe), and link out to this folder from your email.

Then in your email, say something along these lines:

I’m sure you’re busy and have an overflowing TBR list/pile. To give you a sense of what to expect from my book I’ve put together a sample of the novel containing the first three chapters, which you can download from here in ePub, Mobi and PDF formats.

If you read the sample and would be interested in reading and reviewing the full book, please do let me know and I can send an ARC/eARC your way.

This approach obviously requires a little more upfront work from you, and if you’re trad published also some communication with your publisher about getting hold of the sample, but other than the first point about being respectful I really think this is the most valuable advice I can offer.

Remember It’s Your Choice Too

Ok, so this point isn’t about anything you can actively do to encourage reviewers to say yes. Instead, it’s a reminder that this whole process is about your book, and your writing career. At any stage during the process of talking to someone about a review copy, you can walk away. Even though you might have reached out to them, even though you really, really want to get your book into as many hands as possible, you can always decide to say no. The same applies if a reviewer contacts you to ask about a review copy. You’re not obliged to say yes!

A few points that come to mind:

• Don’t send physical ARCs out to everyone, even if you have them. Be strategic about how you’re deploying your resources. If you do have ARCs, think about sending them out to the reviewers you think are most likely to read them quickly and support you; you can always send digital copies to everyone else.
• Similarly if you’re arranging a blog tour or anything else time sensitive, prioritise reviewers who can commit to getting involved. You can always circle back to anyone else later on.
• Even with all the research and planning, you can’t know for sure that someone is going to be good to work with. If you’re treating someone with respect but they’re not reciprocating, that’s a sign that you probably don’t want to build that relationship any further.

Essentially, be prepared to write things off if they don’t work out, and move on.

What You Should Get In Return

It’s important to be clear here, I think. Sending someone a review copy of your book doesn’t guarantee a review, and nor does it guarantee that a review, if written, will be positive. I know that might not be a palatable thing to hear, but it’s just the truth. Sometimes reviewers over-commit, or find their circumstances have changed, or get partway through a book and realise they don’t like it, or any number of other things might get in the way. It’s not ideal, but it happens.

That being said, the vast majority of reviewers do want to support authors as much as possible, and will do their utmost to read and review the books they receive. It’s worth remembering, too, that there are lots of ways in which reviewers can say thankyou for books, and support you as an author. Here are a few possibilities:

• #BookPost: it can be fun to post pictures of books received in the mail, so look out for Twitter/Instagram posts tagged with #BookPost or #BookMail (some reviewers take wonderfully creative photos!). These provide great opportunities for you to share them via your own social channels, and get other people interested in your book.
• Different review formats: many reviewers (myself included) have different types or formats of review, to try and give themselves options. No time/headspace for a full-length review? Write a quick review, or talk about a few books in a review roundup post. Keep track of what reviewers are posting, and look out for different ways in which they’re talking about your book.
• Other kinds of posts: it’s worth remembering that writing a review isn’t the only way a reviewer/blogger can support your work. Consider offering to write guest blogs discussing interesting aspects of your book, or answer questions for interviews (email Q&As are often the most efficient way of doing this).
• Promotion: most reviewers will promote their reviews on social media as well as their own websites, and cross-post to places like Goodreads or Amazon. Take advantage of this promotion and shamelessly retweet/repost things – don’t feel bad about self-promotion!

Speaking for myself, I know I’ve let books fall through the cracks, and it doesn’t feel great. Life just gets in the way sometimes, but I’ll always do my best – and that applies to replying to review requests, reading review copies, and writing reviews. And if we’ve worked together on one book, and I enjoyed that book, I’ll be even more likely to want to read and review your next book, and continue to support your work.

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So there you go – those are my suggestions for what to think about when you’re approaching reviewers and making review requests. These are obviously only my opinions and I’m sure other reviewers will have their own ideas and suggestions, but even so I hope this has been useful, and can help you when you reach out to any reviewer in future. Good luck!

Authors, please feel free to contact me with review requests – here’s a reminder of my review policy, which includes the best ways of contacting me. I don’t write that many reviews these days (certainly not compared to the glory days of 2016 when I posted something almost every day) so I can’t take too many new books on, but I’m always happy to take a look.

And finally if you’re a reviewer, do let me know if you’ve got comments or suggestions about this topic! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

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