Review and Guest Post with Barb Drozdowich author of The Author's Guide to Working with Book Bloggers!

 

The Author's Guide to Working with Book Bloggers by Barb Drozdowich

Published: August 15, 2013

Publisher: self published

Pages: 95

Received: purchased

Buy Now: Amazon

Do you feel out of your comfort zone when dealing with book bloggers? They are the New Gatekeepers to book publishing success – but how can you tap into that source of free promotions by putting your best foot forward?

The Author’s Guide to Working with Book Bloggers combines the advice of 215 blogging professionals collected in a survey covering all aspects of communication between authors and Review Blogs. Whether you are a new author, or have many titles under your belt, let us demystify the promotion of your book on a book blog.

You’ll learn about whom and where book bloggers are, and the following:
The Query,
The Review,
The Giveaway,
The Author Interview,
The Guest Post,
The Book Blurb Excerpt and Cover Reveals and more!

 

I remembered being a part of Barb's survey and had wondered what happened with the data she had collected, but I had no idea that she was able to collect enough to create this informational book for authors. As soon as I heard that she had compiled it into a guide for authors, I went and bought a copy right away. 

This guide is not only a great tool for authors, but book bloggers as well. I found that the information was presented in an easy to understand and logical order. It was very straight forward and pretty much summed up what I think book bloggers everywhere are hoping to get across to authors. 

We book bloggers love working with authors and publishers, but sometimes the ways we communicate are not clear. I think Barb's book will help to guide authors and bloggers in the best way to accomplish the promotion of our favourite books.

I loved how she incorporated many of the comments from the book bloggers surveyed. You actually get to see what we think about so many topics. This book is going to be a great resource for authors. 

And since I can't seem to say enough about the book, I've invited Barb to guest post today to promote it. 

I’d like to thank Chrystal for inviting me here today! She has been kind enough to let me share information about my new book!

The Author’s Guide to Working with Book Bloggers was born from a survey of 215 book bloggers. I started this survey in hopes of not only understanding my fellow book bloggers, but also from a desire to see what communication issues we were all dealing with. At the time that the survey started, I was running across a lot of authors who really didn’t understand how book bloggers, like myself, could help them promote their books.

Once the answers started coming in, I realized that I was not the only one running across authors in need of more help. I also realized what a treasure trove of information I was gathering from my fellow book bloggers. The decision was made to turn all the information I was gathering into a book. Since 215 book bloggers had answered my initial survey questions, the first challenge was in how to organize all that information.

As I was working on how to assemble a logical book, I depended on some fellow book bloggers for guidance. Eventually I had created a rough copy that I sent out for comments. I wanted to know if they thought I was on the right track. I re-worked and fine-tuned and eventually came up with a series of chapters covering the major types of promotions available with book bloggers. I think that the book is helpful, combining book blogger advice with my own experience.

Although the book is aimed at helping authors find cost free methods to promote their book, it is also meant to be helpful to book bloggers. Some of the book bloggers that took part in the initial survey were fairly new. I realized that like an author promoting a book, creating a functioning book blog to promote these books, is a learning process.

One of the key points that came out of the answers for my survey is that of the issues surrounding communication between book bloggers and authors. If book bloggers expect authors to communicate effectively with them, they need to create pages on their blogs that outline their expectations. The most common name for this page is “Review Policy” but it can go by any name. On this page, the book blogger should outline the following:

1. What genre of books they like to read
2. What types of promotions they offer (author interviews, cover reveals, etc)
3. If they are open to reviews ( I know that many book bloggers are either closed to reviews or prefer to get their own books to review from stores or the library)
4. How they want to be contacted, and what sort of information they need from authors.

Other information can be included, but the above is the bare minimum. Unless your book blog is totally closed to all submissions (and you should state that) you need something in place to help authors understand what you do on your blog.

There were several other points that came across loud and clear in the survey. I’d like to mention a few.

The first comment that I loved was “I want to share my love of books with the world.” This point is hugely important. Authors aren’t writing a book for their friends and neighbours; today’s publishing environment includes the whole world – not just North America, or not just the country that the author lives in. This sharing with the world has become so much easier with the advent of book bloggers whose audience is potentially anyone in any country on any continent.

The second point is with respect to genre. Not everyone likes to read every genre and more importantly, if a book blogger doesn’t like a specific genre, likely the readers of their blog don’t either. If the readers of a blog don’t like the genre you write, it is unlikely that this is a place where you will make any sales. Because of this, it is a waste of your time trying to promote you book on a blog that doesn’t cater to your genre.

You can well imagine the various pearls of wisdom I received from the bloggers as part of the survey. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of my book. See if you can learn something new about communication between authors and book bloggers. See if you can find some new ways to market your book.

About the Author:

Social Media and Wordpress Consultant Barb Drozdowich has taught at University, trained technical personnel in the banking industry and, most recently, used her expertise to help dozens of authors develop the social media platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving publishing world. She owns Bakerview Consulting and manages the popular blog, Sugarbeat’s Books.

Website | Facebook - Author | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Shelfari | LinkedIn

Blog | Facebook - Sugarbeat's Books | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest |   

Bakerview Consulting | Facebook  

Soon to be released: 

Go Global: Building An International Author Platform That Sells

Blurb:

Creating buzz for your book – and your career as an author – just got easier. Go Global: Building an International Author Platform That Sells will help you decode the mystery behind building a powerful author brand and navigating the social media platforms essential to publishing success. Social Media and Wordpress Consultant Barb Drozdowich will steer you through the technology behind international marketing without all the techno-speak. She has helped many authors just like you build an author platform that engages readers and builds sales.

Go Global teaches you why you need the various facets of the author platform to build visibility. Barb uses a simple analogy, Operation Book, to help you understand the steps to successful book marketing in the media age. She covers:

• The Difference between a Website and a Blog
• What Your Blog Should Contain
• The Important Components of a Blog
• The Nine Essential Social Media Platforms
• Newsletters
• Amazon’s Author Central

With simple-to-follow steps, Barb will help you create and manage an Author Platform to support your career.

**Tiny side note: I let out a squee when I saw my blog name referenced at the back of the book as being one of the participants in the survey. Thank you, Barb! AND, I also remembered this wonderful photo that Barb once sent me after having found each others blog online and drumming up a friendship.