How I Blog is a regular feature on All Things Urban Fantasy where I share my tips, tricks, methods, and secrets to book blogging.  You can read all the previous How I Blog posts HERE.

Review Formats

I was going to make up a little How to Review video (using CamStudio) for ATUF’s newest reviewer (hi Julia!) when she was ready to start formatting and posting her own reviews directly and thought I would go a head and turn it into a How I Blog. 

What you’ll need to format reviews the way ATUF does:

• Windows Live Writer 2011
• Live Writer Plug-ins
  • Dynamic Template
  • Windows Live Gallery
  • Zemanta LiveWriter Plugin

I have templates set up for every regular post that I do on ATUF.  They are huge time savers and help keep my posts consistent.  The one I’m currently using has been revised many times, but the basic info (and where I find it) has stayed the same.  I’ll probably do a similar vlog tutorial for the plug-ins I use in a future How I Blog post (if that would be helpful?), but in the meantime, here is how I format my reviews:

*NOTE* For this tutorial, I formatted a review for AFTERLIGHT by Elle Jasper.  In the tutorial I incorrectly listed the series as Dark Chronicles instead of Dark Ink Chronicles).  My review will be up tomorrow.

How I Blog: Review Formats

How I Blog is a regular feature on All Things Urban Fantasy where I share my tips, tricks, methods, and secrets to book blogging.  You can read all the previous How I Blog posts HERE.

ARC Protocol

This is the third and final post in my How I Blog ARC series.  We’ve talked about General ARC Resources (part 1) and Requesting ARCs (part 2) and now that you are all swimming in ARCs, it’s time to talk about ARC Protocol.

These are the steps I go through when I get an ARC:

1. Happy Dance!  ARCs are always awesome.  I never fail to get excited when one arrives at my house (or in my inbox). 
2. Write it down. I mark it down in 3 different places (Yep, I’m that anal):
   1. Goodreads: I add the book to my Goodreads Bookshelf and tag it ‘For Review’ so it shows up on my Received for Review widget & ‘TBR’ so it shows up on my TBR widget
   2. Google “Review Schedule” Document: ATUF has two reviewers, so every title that Julia or I receive gets marked down on our shared document and assigned a reviewer and review by date (as close to the release date as possible). 
   3. PDA/Phone: I have several different bookcases in my house and they are all categorized by genre, so in order to know what book is where, I keep a mobile list of all my TBR books (and who sent them).  It helps for when I’m in a bookstore so I don’t end up buying duplicates of books I already own. 
3. Stick to the schedule.  If I accept an ARC, I’m promising to review it in a timely manner.  This often means I have to wait to read the books I’ve been dying to read in favor of the ones that are releasing sooner.  I try and be realistic about my schedule so I have time to read both new and older title each month, but I’ve learned the hard way that titles can get piled up before you know it.   Again, make a schedule and keep it. 
4. Post the review on multiple sites.  In my Review Policy I state that every title reviewed on ATUF will be posted on Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Amazon.  You can also link your blog to Twitter and automatically Tweet all your posts.  More exposure for the book and your site.  Everybody wins.
5. Email the sender.  Whether the ARC came from an author or publicist or whoever.  Good or Bad, send them your review link when you post it. 

And that’s it.  Just remember that that little disclaimer usually printed on the cover that says DO NOT SELL or NOT FOR SALE means do not post this book on eBay or anywhere else.  I personally can’t keep all of the ARCs I receive for several reasons:  I don’t have the space, and if I liked the book I try to buy the finished copy so I can support the author.  I end up passing them along to other reviewers or hosting giveaways.  You can also donate them to ARC tours like 1 ARC Tours. 

And in the words of Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that.  I hope these ARC posts have been helpful.  Again my way of doing things doesn’t have to be your way.   Other reviews have different methods that work for them and you probably will too. 

I’ll close with my #1 piece of advice for getting ARCs: If you review them, they will come.  Yep, review books.  Lots of them.  Don’t get bogged down with memes and disposable content.  If you want to receive books for review, show that you actually review books.  Two of my best publisher contacts came about because they emailed me after reading specific reviews (Hey, I saw that you reviewed X, we’d like to send you Y for review if your interested…)

How I Blog is a regular feature on All Things Urban Fantasy where I share my tips, tricks, methods, and secrets to book blogging.  You can read all the previous How I Blog posts HERE.

Requesting ARCs

If you missed part 1 of the Wherefore ARC Thou? posts (General ARC Resources) you can read it HERE.  In part 2, I’ll be talking about how I go about Requesting ARCs, and then part 3 will deal with ARC Protocol.

To get this out of the way first: No, I am not going to be sharing my publisher contact information.  Please do not ask me to.  I will, however, be linking to a number of great contact lists from various publishers and one MEGA publisher contact list.

Know when to you’re ready to request

This is probably the most important question to ask yourself before requesting an ARC: Am I ready?  The answer is going to be different for everyone.  There is no magic formula of X followers and X number of months blogging before you can ask for a book. 

I foolishly requested my first ARC when I only had 33 followers and had only been blogging for a little over a month (to answer your question, no, I didn’t not get the ARC I requested).  I look back on that email with embarrassment and a lot of gratitude to the publicist who was so kind in declining my request (we actually have a great working relationship now). 

What does mean something to publishers, are stats, specifically the Absolute Unique Visitors number (more on that later).  The amount of time you’ve been blogging is important too. 

Depending on the size of the publishing house you are contacting, and the popularity of the title you are interested in, you may have success earlier than you might expect.  In general, I’ve heard a few good basics from various publishers:

• at least six months of blogging under your belt
• a consistent blogging schedule.
• ‘no more than 3 meme posts per week’ (that’s a direct quote from a publisher)

But taking another cue from Kristi @ The Story Siren, I decided it was better to go directly to the source with this post: The publishers.  I contacted a few of my favorite publicists and talked about blog stats, what they look for in a blog, what they avoid in a blog, and what bloggers do wrong with respect to ARC requests.  Here’s who weighed in on all things ARC:

• Penguin Book Group (which includes Ace, Roc, Berkley, DAW, Jove, NAL, Signet, Putnam, Razorbill, and dozens more).
• Simon & Schuster (which includes Gallery, Pocket, Aladdin, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon Pulse, and dozens more)
• Scholastic (which includes The Chicken House, PUSH, Point, Orchard and dozens more)
• Bloomsbury (which includes Walker & Company, Walker Books for Young Readers, Bloomsbury Kids, and many more)

What kind of blog stats are most important and what are considered 'good stat numbers'?

The bottom line is publicists would like to see that a blog has an established following with returning readers, as well as new readers visiting the site regularly.  There is no hard and fast number of readers that we “require” a blog we work with to have, but if you only have a few followers, there is not a strong enough reason for us to send a review copy.

Sites that receive up into the thousand page views a day.
Minimum would be about a couple of hundred per day.

We more value the type of blog, if it’s dedicated to book reviews, and samples of previously reviews.

What are the most important factors that you consider before sending out ARCs to a specific blogger?

We look at several factors:

1. The blogger’s professionalism – We really appreciate it when bloggers we’re not familiar with approach us professionally to introduce themselves and their sites when making book requests.
2. The blogger’s writing – It’s not necessary to be a professional writer or even an English major.  But we do want to make sure that we’re sending books to bloggers who will write intelligently about their thoughts and opinions.
3. The blogger’s following – It only makes sense to send books to bloggers that have a following.  We’d like to hit as large an audience of readers as possible.  We don’t expect bloggers to have millions of followers, but at the same time there is very little return for the publisher if a blogger only has 15 people that view his/her site regularly.
4. Does the book fit within the context of the blogger’s site – We want to make sure that the books we’re sending will not only be appreciated by the blogger, but by the blogger’s readership.  Of course, if a blogger is very excited about a particular book they wouldn’t normally cover, but would really like to do something on their blog, we’re happy to accommodate that.

If they post consistently and people are commenting on their blog.

 

See above. Also, the professionalism with which ARCs are requested. We are much more likely to send ARCs to blogs that are dedicated to books and book reviews.

What is the worst thing a blogger can do when requesting ARCs?

Two of our biggest pet peeves are request a book that isn’t published by our company and spelling the title of the book or the author’s name incorrectly.

I don’t know. I never had a bad experience, so I can’t answer this question.

 

To not include a mailing address and not to submit detailed information about their blog.

For me, personally, I’d say not send their address! You ask me to send you something and then don’t tell me where to send it?? It makes no sense! Generally, the more information you can include the better it is for us. Stuff like:

• A link to your blog
• A few stats
• What kind of books you like (Any YA? Paranormal? Contemporary?) or maybe a few that you have read recently that you really enjoyed, anything to give me a better idea of what books would be a good fit for you
• And most importantly (for me) YOUR ADDRESS!

Basically, you are asking us to send you something and if we haven’t worked with you before, the easier you make it for us to find out about you and send things to you, the more likely we are to do it! Our catalogs are also available as PDFs on our website www.bloomsburykids.com/catalog and I love it when people take a look ahead of time and let me know what they are interested in specifically.

What are the basic requirements that you look for in a blog (i.e. number of months blogging, maximum number of weekly meme posts, consistency, previous reviews etc.)?

We prefer that any blogs requesting books from have been established for at least several months, update at least weekly, and have an established following.  There are always exceptions to these guidelines, but we deal with them on a case by case basis.  It is also helpful to have previous reviews posted so that we can get an idea of a blogger’s writing and review style.

All of the above.

General presentation of the blog, who is their audience, how often they review books and what type of books they review, consistency, length of time blogging, overall tone of reviews, whether or not their blog appears to be a good fit for our books, traffic.

I don’t have any hard and fast rules about who I do and don’t send books to (other than that we don’t ship books internationally). For me, it is more about how much information you give me when you write to request books and the quality of the reviews that you post along with how often you post them. Sure, numbers and stats are important and can certainly give me some good information about your blog, but they’re certainly not everything. I am much more likely to send books to someone with fewer followers who writes careful, thoughtful reviews than someone who has tons of followers but reviews each book in 4 or 5 sentences. Consistency is a definite plus.

Other Important Information:

Publicists really appreciate bloggers who run their reviews of the book close to the pub-date.  The closer to pub date a review is run, the better chance a reader has of being able to purchase the book easily.

One of Penguin’s publicity directors runs The Book Publicity Blog, http://yodiwan.wordpress.com/, which has helpful tips and often discusses blogs.

Please note that bloggers receive review copies for free because publicists trust that they will not take advantage of what we are sending.  If a blogger is caught selling an ARC or galley we have provided, they are removed from our review list effective immediately.

The relationship between publicists and bloggers should be a positive one.  Publicists want to gain attention for their author’s books and reviewers are always on the lookout for good reading material for their readers and themselves.  As publicists, we really enjoy working with bloggers because they are some of the most enthusiastic readers we know.  Treat us the way you want to be treated and I promise you will never lack for reading material!

I don’t have any hard and fast rules about who I do and don’t send books to (other than that we don’t ship books internationally). For me, it is more about how much information you give me when you write to request books and the quality of the reviews that you post along with how often you post them. Sure, numbers and stats are important and can certainly give me some good information about your blog, but they’re certainly not everything. I am much more likely to send books to someone with fewer followers who writes careful, thoughtful reviews than someone who has tons of followers but reviews each book in 4 or 5 sentences. Consistency is a definite plus.

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Thank you all so much for taking the time to discuss ARCs with me.  This information is invaluable!

What to include when requesting an ARC

As an example, here is the basic info I include when requesting an ARC (some of this may alter depending on my relationship with the publicist I’m contacting & the title in question).  You do not need to mirror this format exactly, different publishers have different guidelines, but mine is based on a reviewer profile that I filled out when I first started working with Penguin:

My name is Abigail and I run the blog All Things Urban Fantasy. I would like to request a review copy of TITLE, Publisher/Imprint, Publishing Date, ISNB

If I’ve reviewed previous titles in the series I usually include those links here or why I want to review this specific title etc.  If you are requesting more than one title, most publicists I’ve spoken to prefer you include them all in one email. 

I’ve included some current information about me and my website:

Statistics:
984+ Google Followers, 296+ email subscribers, 20,568 absolute unique visitors in the past month (view detailed stats HERE)

The most important statistic to include is your monthly Absolute Unique Visitors number.  This is different from your Page Views.  Currently Blogger doesn’t track this number in its new statistics feature, but you can find out your site’s Absolute Unique Visitors number by signing up for Google Analytics or StatCounter both of which are free.

Contact info:
Allthingsurbanfantasy@gmail.com
[mailing address omitted]

Always, always, always include your mailing address.  Even if you’ve previously received books from this contact before.  You never want a publicist to ignore your request because they don’t have time to email you back for an address.

Website URL:
http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/

Website info:
All Things Urban Fantasy is a book review site that focuses on Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Dark Fantasy, and Paranormal YA genres.  I regularly post book news, author interviews, cover reveals, giveaways. I host/co-host a number of special events each year including the Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards, Paranormal Summer Fest, and the upcoming Spooky Legends.

Depending on the title I sometimes include a link for a review of a similar title (e.g. a paranormal YA review if I’m requesting a paranormal YA title)

Publisher website contact info

As you continue blogging, you will build up your own contact base, but when you are just starting out, it can be difficult finding contact info for certain publishers.  Several require you to fax your requests on a company letterhead, but for just about every other publisher and Imprint check out Linda Formichelli’s Review Copy Helper (May not always be current).  Below are a few of the more helpful contact pages from various publishers:

• Bloomsbury USA
• Hachette Book Group
• HarperCollins
• Penguin Group
• PYR
• Orbit Books
• Random House
• Scholastic

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How I Blog is a regular feature on All Things Urban Fantasy where I share my tips, tricks, methods, and secrets to book blogging.  You can read all the previous How I Blog posts HERE.

Getting ARCs

**I have to start this post by link to Kristi’s excellent ARC discussion: Advance Readers Copies: What You Need to Know.  Every blogger should read it & Presenting Lenore: Where to get free books and ARCs**

First off, ARC stands for Advance Readers Copies.  Basically these are pre-release copies of books made to send to reviewers, booksellers etc.  I’m not going to distinguish between galleys and ARCs here, but you can check out Writings Of A Wicked Book Addict – WLP Wants YOU To Know All About ARC’s & Galleys for a good breakdown of the differences.

I’m also not going to go into examining your motivation for wanting ARCs.  Lot’s of bloggers have tackled that subject with varying degrees of validity.  I’m assuming you are a reviewer and want them to review and not to break the law by selling them on eBay.  Moving on…

The topic of ARCs is a big one, too big in fact for one post.  I’m breaking it down into three parts: General ARC Resources, Requesting ARCs, and finally ARC Protocol.  Here we go with part 1 (in no particular order):

General ARC Resources:

LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Every month, LibraryThing posts a list of books that you can request via their Early Reviewer program. 

To request books: Click "Request it!" next to the books you're interested in reviewing. At the end of the giveaway period, you will receive a comment on your profile page letting you know whether you've won a book or not.

Winners are selected by LibraryThing, whose decision is final. Winning is based on a combination of factors, such as:

• Expressed interest
• Random chance
• How many books the reviewer has received from LTER
• The reviewer's reviewing history
• The contents and organization of the reviewer's LibraryThing account
• Other factors not revealed or not yet determined
• Lecanomancy

I have had great success with this program.  In June alone, they had 1938 copies of 75 different books and they almost always have several good paranormal titles.

Goodreads First Reads

Updated regularly, Goodreads First Reads allows publishers and authors to offer giveaways of their titles that members can request. 

Be the first to read new books! Prerelease books are listed for giveaway by publishers and authors, and members can enter to win. Winners are picked randomly at the end of the giveaway.

I haven’t great success with this program (which is to say none) but somebody has to win them, right?

NetGalley

NetGalley is primarily an eARC service.  Reviewers can signup, browse upcoming titles from an ever increasing number of publishers, and once accepted, you can download your title or have it emailed to you.

NetGalley is an inexpensive and green way for publishers to share their digital galleys securely. Professional readers—reviewers, media, bloggers, journalists, librarians, booksellers and educators—can all use NetGalley for FREE to read and request galleys they want to review. Welcome, and happy reading!

• Download Galley. Read a Protected (DRM) galley on your computer, Sony Reader, B&N's Nook, or other device. Note: If the publisher has chosen to enable an Open (DRM-free) file, then the galley can be read via Adobe Digital Editions, Acrobat Reader, Sony Reader, B&N's Nook, and other devices that read PDFs, as well as the iPad, iPhone, iTouch, Blackberry and other smart phones. Once you press Download Galley, you will be informed if the file is Protected or Open.
• Kindle. Have the galley emailed to your Kindle as a PDF.

I’m very excited to start using NetGalley as I finally bought myself a Kindle. 

Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness is a free email newsletter that in addition to having great news and info about the industry, they post tons of ads/banners offering free ARCs!

Shelf Awareness: Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade, the free e-mail newsletter dedicated to helping the people in stores, in libraries and on the Web buy, seland lend books most wisely.

For example, here is an ad from a recent newsletter:

Paperback Swap – Book Bazaar ARC forum

Paperback Swap is a book swapping site, yes, and you can’t list or swap ARCs through the main site, but you can post and request ARCs through the Book Bazaar ARC forum.  Sign up for a free account, start swapping or buy some credits, then add the ARC forum to your Watched Topics list and you’ll get emailed whenever someone posts ARCs.  If you’re quick responding, you can get lots of titles.

Publisher Sweepstakes

Many of the big publishing houses have at least one sweepstake giveaway running at all times.  Sign up for their newsletters and you’ll always be in the know.  Free Stuff from Simon & Schuster is my favorite.  Here is one of their current sweepstakes:

• Enter the Demon from the Dark Sweepstakes! Starts August 17, 2010 and ends August 24, 2010

Everyone likes something for free, and this is the place to find everything that is free on Simon & Schuster. Find free downloads of entire books, special giveaways and sweepstakes where you can enter for a chance to win even more free stuff such as books or even a trip to London or Hawaii. As the sweeps and free books are continually changing, be sure to sign up for free stuff alerts and keep checking back -- you never know what you might be able to get for free.

Blog giveaways (bloggers & authors)

I think most people know about giveaways, but it is always a good idea to keep an eye out on author blogs as they will often post giveaways strictly for reviewers.  Authors will also typically have exclusive giveaways in their monthly newsletters. 

A good site to follow for excellent giveaway coverage is Not-Really-Southern Vamp Chick: Win on Wednesday: Contests Around the Blogosphere

Book Blog Groups (Ning)

Visit Book Blogs

You may have spotted a badge like this one on various book blogs that links to a network of book bloggers, information, and forums, but did you know about the publisher sponsored book tour groups on Book Blogs?  Within the Book Blog network, you can join hundreds of groups including those sponsored by publishers and book tour sites.  Here are a few of the ones I like:

• Early Birds ARC Review - Book Blogs
• Gallery & Pocket Books Romance Blog Tour Group - Book Blogs
• Host a Hachette Book Group Giveaway on Your Blog - Book Blogs
• Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours - Book Blogs 
• Gallery & Pocket Books SciFi/Fantasy Blog Tour Group - Book Blogs

Join to become part of blog tours with Pocket Books. Each month, two selections will be posted. Most tours will consist of some combination of review, author Q &A or guest blog, and/or giveaway contest to be posted on the assigned tour date.

Author websites

This seems kind of obvious, but it is amazing how many bloggers don’t check out the author’s website when they have a new title coming out.  Many authors now include their publicist’s email for bloggers to contact for ARC requests.  Some authors even have book request forms right on their sites.  So search your favorite authors (or click through the author links on my lower right sidebar) and look around.

Amazon Vine

This one is kind of the White Whale.  I know it exists.  I know I wish they’d send me an elusive invite, but so far nada.

Amazon Vine™ is a program that enables a select group of Amazon customers to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make educated purchase decisions. Customers are invited to become Amazon Vine™ Voices based on the trust they have earned in the Amazon community for writing accurate and insightful reviews. Amazon provides Amazon Vine™ members with free copies of products that have been submitted to the program by vendors. Amazon does not influence the opinions of Amazon Vine™ members, nor do we modify or edit their reviews. I can’t personally attest to this one as I have yet to be invited.

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Previous How I Blog posts:

• Ode to Windows Live Writer

Stay tuned for:

• Wherefore ARC Thou? part 2 : Requesting ARCs