Friends and Strangers

Welcome to the next installment in my series on “How To Get Your Book Reviewed”.  It can take a while (months or years) to build up a following on a blog.  As a newer author about to embark on a blog tour this isn’t enough time to get beyond a small group of regular followers.  Who do you turn to?

Friends and Strangers!

Seriously.

Your friends will be proud that a book you wrote has been published.  If they have a blog they can mention the book even if they haven’t read it.  Just a little brag about your accomplishment will help.  You can provide them with the synopsis or blurb along with the release date and the link to your internet presence.  Just a little brag about a friend creates some name recognition for you and it doesn’t commit them to saying it’s the next Great American Novel.  On the release day they can send a tweet out about it being your book release day.

This is especially helpful if your friends just happen to be writers.  Why?  Because readers and reviewers are probably stopping by their blog.  You can always return the brag when their book is published.  On more than one occasion I’ve seen a book cover and not thought anything of it until I saw it the fifth or sixth time.  Then I thought, “Maybe I should find out more about that book.” 

You can even make Man’s Best Friend (or another pet) work for you.  Amigo is looking to interview the pets of authors for his blog Pets And Their Authors.   Really… think of all the scoop your pet has on you regarding your writing rituals that hasn’t been shared with anyone else. 

You’re probably wondering… where do the strangers come in?  There are plenty of blogs that are looking for updated content.  It’s almost impossible for one person to generate timely information without some interaction from other people.  The content is limitless but it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. 

1. Start with writing and book related sites you currently frequent.  They may be interested in profiling their frequent visitors.  Or they may have a group format that allows sharing of links or book promotion information. 
2. Do you write in a specific genre?  There are lots of romance, speculative, erotica and literary web sites interested in hearing about you and your book. 
3. Are you affiliated with an organization?  High schools, universities, fraternities/sororities, clubs and so on want to hear about your good news!

The final post in this series will appear tomorrow.