Some advice when asking for reviews

Like many other authors I review books, because well hey, I read!

So here are a few things to do and don’t when you’re asking someone to review your work. (And though these are my own opinions, I dare assume they will apply to many other author/reviewers as well).

DO

• Ask! Don’t just send me an email with your pdf or epub saying, “please review.” I don’t mind if you attach the book to begin with, but please ask whether or not I’d like to review it!
• Tell me about your book! The blurb or description from Amazon is fine, but please(!) more than a few words! If you’ve found time to paste the link to your book on Amazon, you might as well copy paste the description as well. Also tell me the genre please!
• Specifiy which book! If you’ve written several books and you send me a link to your author’s page, making me pick one out to buy and review, you’re not really asking for reviews are you? You’re trying to sell.

DON’T

• Get offended! I might not like the sound of your book, I might have read seven other books in the same genre recently, or I might have other personal reasons to not wan’t to read it. Please don’t yell at me, there are plenty of readers out there, I’m sure you’ll find your luck with someone else.
• Argue. I offered to review your book. That’s MY opinion of YOUR work. I would never drag someone through the mud intentionally, but I will say what I think of your book. More often than not it’s all positive stuff.
• Expect me to pay. This sounds really cheap, but notice how I underlined expect. I might very well want to buy your book, but due to the sheer amount of free books people are handing out for reviews, chances are slim unless you dazzle me with an amazing blurb. But by all means, let me know if your book is on offer!
• Rush me. I try to be very generous in the amount of books I accept, which leads to a never-ending TBR list. Chances are it will be months until my review is posted. So unless you have plans of being a best-seller overnight, have some patience. If I accepted to review your book, your review will come.