How many blog reviews should I aim for?

vsrenard · Apr 16, 2010

My first book: Watermark: A Novel of the Middles Ages, came out this week from HarperCollins. Although my publicist is doing a great job of getting the word out to book clubs and bloggers, I've been supplementing her efforts as I think this has become a necessary part of being a successful author.

However, I'm not sure how far this effort should go. I am primarily concentrating on getting as many blog reviews as I can in venues that are heavily frequented. Does anyone here have a sense of what is a good target? Obviously 'as many as possible' is great but being realistic, I only have so much time and don't want to pass the point of diminishing returns.

I have somewhere between 25-30 reviews live or in the works.

Thanks!!

Vanitha

WildScribe · Apr 16, 2010

I don't have concrete numbers for you, but I can offer a potential magazine review. PM me.

Also:
1: Congrats!!
2: Where in the Bay Area?

vsrenard · Apr 16, 2010

Thank you! I just PMed you. I live just north of Half Moon Bay, not too far from you, it looks like!

SandraBeckwith · Apr 16, 2010

Congratulations on the book! You must be so pleased to have it in your hands.

The "right" number of reviews varies from book to book, but you're doing well already with 25-30 reviews. You will probably find that some of these will generate others, too.

My advice would be that if you still have blogs on your target list that you think will help you get the word out, then keep pursuing them. Everything helps, and none of this will hurt!

Are you going after Q&As and guest blog postings, too?

Cheers,
Sandy

vsrenard · Apr 16, 2010

SandraBeckwith said:
Congratulations on the book! You must be so pleased to have it in your hands.

The "right" number of reviews varies from book to book, but you're doing well already with 25-30 reviews. You will probably find that some of these will generate others, too.

My advice would be that if you still have blogs on your target list that you think will help you get the word out, then keep pursuing them. Everything helps, and none of this will hurt!

Are you going after Q&As and guest blog postings, too?

Cheers,
Sandy

Yes, it's pretty exhilarating! Best was to see it in a bookstore!

Thanks for the advice. I'm not familiar with how to go about with getting guest blog postings and Q&As. Any suggestions?

WildScribe · Apr 16, 2010

Email or leave a comment on blogs that might be interested in your book's subject matter or in you as an author, and ask. For example, a writing blog might be happy to do Q & A on the publishing process, and would plug your book for you as a part of your bio.

zpeteman · Apr 16, 2010

I've found it's helpful not to go after a lot of bloggers and reviewers at once. The general result of a blog tour is about 30 days of seeing the book all over the place followed by a vast drought because you've exhausted so much of your available exposure.. It makes more sense to me to try to have a review or interview hitting once or twice a week for months at a time. That way your book stays on people's radar, it keeps popping up.

People generally need to see a book about seven times before they buy it but seeing it all over the place in a short period of time translates to only one or two instances of 'seeing'. In my experience, seeing it over and over again, here and there, over a longer period of time gives the book a kind of staying power that you don't get from a blitz of reviews.

I prefer the slow burn to the flare up.

vsrenard · Apr 17, 2010

Great advice here, thank you!

Emily Winslow · Apr 19, 2010

zpeteman said:
I've found it's helpful not to go after a lot of bloggers and reviewers at once. The general result of a blog tour is about 30 days of seeing the book all over the place followed by a vast drought because you've exhausted so much of your available exposure.. It makes more sense to me to try to have a review or interview hitting once or twice a week for months at a time. That way your book stays on people's radar, it keeps popping up.

That makes a lot of sense. *Thanks* I'm going to follow that advice!

PS to Vanitha--Your cover is GORGEOUS. And 25-30 blog mentions sounds great!

jmascia · Apr 19, 2010

First, I would get as many as I could.

Second, how did you get so many reviews, so quickly?

veinglory · Apr 19, 2010

The question is not really "how many?" it is which blogs might really get me at least the number of extra sales needed to cover the cost of a review copy and postage. Then send a book to those ones.

vsrenard · Apr 20, 2010

jmascia said:
First, I would get as many as I could.

Second, how did you get so many reviews, so quickly?

I've been planning for a *long* time, sent out some review copies early and had them plan to post during my release week.

For general marketing, I know your audience has to see your product 5 or 6 times over the course of a few weeks to a month for the buzz to sink in. Not sure if that translates to books.

vsrenard · Apr 20, 2010

veinglory said:
The question is not really "how many?" it is which blogs might really get me at least the number of extra sales needed to cover the cost of a review copy and postage. Then send a book to those ones.

I'm a little luckier here in that HarperCollins is sending out the review books so cost is less of an issue.

veinglory · Apr 20, 2010

Then I guess you start at the top and work down until your run out of blogs, or books

nitaworm · Apr 25, 2010

Also realize that some popular blogs also offer advertising for a small fee. Sometimes the advertisement last longer than the review. My pub is doing a blog advertising campaign and it cost less then sending books out to reviewers.

vsrenard · May 12, 2010

Nitaworm, can you tell me more about your blog advertising campaign?

How many blog reviews should I aim for?

vsrenard

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WildScribe

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SandraBeckwith

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zpeteman

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Emily Winslow

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