Going Down Another Dead End? Book Bloggers (Again)

One of the book promo sites that turned me down (probably BookSirens) features a link to book bloggers. I think their line went something like, "Well, we don't want your book, but here, do your own research, loser." The list was filterable by genre, thankfully, so I wouldn't waste my time begging a sci fi blogger to review my women's fiction novel. But I got very, very few responses; maybe two. Those two did yield positive reviews, but did absolutely nothing to drive sales. I guess anyone can call themselves a book blogger. Even I could do it, if I didn't hate reading so much. Correction ~ I don't hate reading; I just have a hard time finding anything engaging. I've started reading lots of books; it's finishing them that's a problem.

As I was scrolling around yesterday, I read yet another marketing article, and this one mentioned "review teams". Having no idea what a review team was, I Googled it. It turns out that it's just a fancy term for ARC readers. (Gee, thanks.) But then somehow I was led to a listing of book bloggers; a different list from the one I used in the past. I wouldn't put much stock in it, but it was compiled by Reedsy, which is generally reliable. So, I bookmarked it, but I'm having second thoughts.

For me, the most excruciating aspect of marketing is the begging. You might say, well, you're not doing it right if you have to beg, but that's not true; not if you're trying to cover all the bases. Posting on social media is begging, to name one example. I mean, what else is it? And I think it comes off as desperate (not that I'm not desperate). Newsletters are the worst form of begging. All an author is doing by sending out a newsletter is disguising their begging by including a bunch of other useless stuff that no one wants to read. 

If I was to go down the book blogger road with my novel, I would investigate a couple of things:

1. Does the blogger consistently write positive reviews? The last thing I need is a bad review. Objectivity is great and all, but I want to sell books.

2. How many followers does the blogger have? Two? Or two hundred? 

3. This goes without saying, but the blogger would have to actually like and review my genre.

I'll probably do nothing with my blogger list. I would just be grasping at straws, when my best, most respectable action would be no action.

I've been taking no action for a few days now, and guess what? I'm no better or worse off than I was before.