The Book Review Query

As my book blog has grown to include more than 50 different countries, I receive a lot of queries about advanced reading copies from publishers and authors/agents from around the world. As someone who reads a lot of Indie authors, I also receive a lot of queries about debut novels.

So, it may be no surprise to you that I am turning away more books now than I care to admit. This is difficult for me as I am aware that I'm losing the opportunity to read many amazing stories. 

I am stating this to let authors know that a rejection should never put one off from writing or trying to get their work out there. 

If you are trying to obtain a review for your book, I like it when the title and author are listed in the subject line of the email. It makes it easier for me to track it. Beyond that, here is the typical anatomy of the queries I see:

• Salutation
• Introduction as to why you are contacting Lori's Book Loft?
• A synopsis of your book. 
• The publisher, ISBN, & publication date. 
• Formats available - i.e. picturebook, paperback, hardcover, ebook format (which ones?) 
• Your bio. 
• Provide links to the publisher’s website and your website.
• Social media links - such as youtube book trailers.
• Your signature

If you have tried all these and do not receive a response my only suggestion would be to recognize that book reviewers receive many queries, possibly thousands per day, and perhaps they've not had a chance to check out your query yet as they are busy reading.

A rejection may just mean that you need to change things up in your query and present it at another time.
 
To those who come here to read my reviews. I typically schedule myself time to read and when I sit down to write a review, I like to think of things I find interesting about a book. This is generally personable and might not be to everyone's liking but I don't struggle with the thought of writing something that is different, as my writing is sincere. 

Most of my audience knows Feedspot notified me that Lori's Book Loft made the Top 100 Book Review Blogs from thousands of top Book Review blogs in their index using their search and social metrics.  I also recently got word that Lori's Book Loft is now on RankedBlogs.com's list of top book review blogs. This is thanks to you who read this blog! 

To those that have written asking, do I talk about books - the answer is yes, to my family and close friends I gush in detail about the books I've read.