The Short Fuse Guide to Working with Book Bloggers

By Jen Karsbaek

As marketing budgets have shrunk and in-person book tours have become increasingly rare, many authors have begun doing much of their own marketing, and much of it on the internet. One of the very best ways to reach readers is to connect with a passionate and internet-savvy group of readers and reviewers who delight in sharing the books they love with others: book bloggers.

Literary agent and book blogger Jen Karsbaek shows you how best to approach and work with book bloggers to secure reviews, spread word of mouth, and build strong buzz for your new release.

Short Fuse Guides offer insider tips and tricks for writers, written by agents and covering different areas of the ever-changing publishing industry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Short Fuse Publishing
• Release date: Oct 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310383946

Jen Karsbaek

Jen Karsbaek began blogging at Devourer of Books in 2008 and is now an associate agent with Fuse Literary focusing on women’s fiction, historical fiction, and literary fiction. Her interest in people’s stories led her to get a B.A. in History at the University of California, Davis where she earned a reputation as a voracious reader. Upon graduation, her roommate, an English major, requested a list of Jen’s favorite books, and the rest, as they say, is history.Connect with Jen on Twitter at @DevourerofBooks. Read more about what she represents and view her submission guidelines at http://www.fuseliterary.com/jen-karsbaek.

Book preview

THE SHORT FUSE GUIDE TO WORKING WITH BOOK BLOGGERS

By Jen Karsbaek

The Short Fuse Guide to Working with Book Bloggers

Published 2014 by Short Fuse Publishing, a Fuse Literary imprint.

http://fuseliterary.com

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 Jen Karsbaek

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. All inquiries should be addressed to [e-mail].

Cover images Copyright 2014 © Fotolia Stock Images

Cover design by Laura Cummings

ISBN: 9781310383946

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHO ARE BOOK BLOGGERS?

Demographics

What Do They Write About?

Why Do They Do What They Do?

WHY WORK WITH BLOGGERS?

FINDING BLOGGERS WHO FIT YOUR BOOK

What to Look For

Where to Look

Review Policies

EVALUATING BOOK BLOGGERS

Stats

Comments

Social Media

WAYS TO WORK WITH BOOK BLOGGERS

Reviews

Interviews

Guest Posts

Giveaways

Blog Tours

APPROACHING BOOK BLOGGERS

Where to Approach Book Bloggers

Tone

Lead Time

Your Pitch

Following Up

AFTER THE REVIEW

When You Get a Glowing Review

When You Get a Negative Review

When You Don’t Get a Review

CONCLUSION

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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INTRODUCTION

As marketing budgets have shrunk and in-person book tours have become increasingly rare, many authors have begun doing much of their own marketing, and much of it on the internet. There are many ways to use the internet to get out information about your new book. First of all, every author should have a website with, at minimum, the basic information about any and all books, links to buy books, and contact information.

Then there is social media. Facebook pages are a wonderful way for authors to connect with fans, and Twitter can provide a way to interact with fans, other authors, and a variety of publishing people. If you are on these or any other social media sites, those pages should, of course, be linked on your author website.

Authors can give away copies of their books on LibraryThing and Goodreads, in hopes that members who win them will post reviews there, or possibly even elsewhere. Or they can try to get books into the hands of industry loudmouths who, if they love the book, will