Writers, well before your book is published you can begin to create a list of book reviewers you want to ask to review your books.
Here’s why: you can’t identify and reach out to those reviewers quickly when you need them. It takes time. And, in many cases, a bit of a relationship helps a lot. Because when the time comes, you’ll want to ask for a review, send out a review copy or e-copy, and ask that the review run on your timetable, not the blogger’s. You’re asking a lot.
I’ve been a book reviewer for five years now at my blog, The Christian Fantasy Review. Here’s what I wish authors would do (but almost none have, so far):
1. If self-publishing, approach me only when the book is truly ready for publication, as verified by professionals in the field. Nearly all the self-pub submittals I get need more work.
2. Approach me only if the book meets the genre requirements that are obvious on my blog. (I suggest you examine book review sites closely to make sure the reviewer is doing more than parroting the info put out by the publisher. Once you have a list of review sites in your genre, interact with the bloggers over time and get to know them. It can’t hurt!)
3. Ask if I would be able to review the book on the publication timetable. In return, you the author will link to the resulting review from your blog. Give me the book at least four months ahead of time, preferably more.
4. Let me know you don’t expect a review if I didn’t like the book. You don’t want a negative review, nor do I want to write one. Normally I just don’t review the ones I don’t care for. I am not sure what other bloggers do about this.
5. Email me a gentle reminder close to the target date.
6. Don’t expect me to paste my review anywhere else. You could ask me to put a summary on Amazon or Goodreads, and I would probably do that. When I have put the identical review on Amazon, I have found that Google searches always go only to Amazon as if my blog doesn’t exist. This negates my goal of building up my blog.
7. If I reviewed your book favorably, write me down on a list somewhere and send me the next book in the series when it comes out. I’m primed to read it. (You would be amazed at how few authors do this.)