Get booked in
Book blogger LH Johnson tells you how to get your book reviewed online – and why that matters
If you have a self-published book or, as is increasingly the case even with mainstream publishers, have a book published by a third party but are expected to contribute significantly to the marketing yourself, you might find yourself wondering where best to focus your efforts. You might also be puzzled by some of the possibilities, or how they will help you. So will spending time and effort to approach book bloggers be worthwhile? Will it generate new readers? Absolutely! Book bloggers help your story get heard – by people who want to hear it.
I run a book blog. Did You Ever Stop To Think (didyoueverstoptothink.com) looks at children’s literature from all angles, reviewing titles from the 1800s to the present day and everything from comic books through to classic novels. The only genres that I don’t review are fantasy or crime (no big prejudice, they’re just not my literary cup of tea), but other than that I’m open to everything. I take great pleasure that my site is probably the only space online which has reviewed books by authors as disparate as Angela Brazil and Tyra Banks. In my spare time, I’m a freelance writer, contributor to Book Riot, researcher, librarian, and tutor, teaching courses with the University of York Centre for Lifelong Learning, and the Institute for Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge respectively. Essentially, I have a lot of books in my life.