Soliciting Book Reviews? Again?

Don't ask me why, but I suddenly found myself searching book blogger sites tonight. It's not as if I haven't been down this road before. Shortly after I published Running From Herself, I scoured a directory published by BookSirens and contacted every blogger that looked even semi-promising. Just like in my days of querying literary agents, most of the bloggers ghosted me. I received one acceptance, but that person still hasn't reviewed my novel, and it's been almost a year and a half. Oh, wait---I guess it wasn't for her:

  

Ehh, you can't win 'em all. 

(By the way, blogger, the book has an overall average of 4.7 stars.) 

As you know, I'm essentially done spending money to publicize this book, unless something is well recommended and is cheap. So, I stumbled upon Reedsy's list of "Best Book Review Blogs in 2026", and decided to take a look at it. I do like that the list can be filtered by genre and that there is a checkbox for "accepts indie books".

Be aware that these are not all free review sites. Some of the blurbs indicate "free", but upon visiting the actual website, either that has changed or the free part was a lie. I honestly don't object to a blogger requesting a donation, which sounds nicer than "fee". My go-to blogger, Jeyran Main, is a professional, not an armchair blogger, and she does reference a voluntary donation, which I have been happy to give.

The Reedsy list includes what I consider to be important statistics for each blog: domain authority (how high it ranks on search engines), monthly visitor numbers, and preferred contact method. Because I'm so jaded now, I want to contact the person via a website form. I'm probably going to be rejected or ghosted anyway, so any extra effort is just busy work on my part. I'm even questioning the worth of contacting anyone via email. And here's the one that gets me:

 

Seriously? Do people even use mail anymore? Is this just a way to discourage authors from asking? I assume these bloggers are really asking for a physical copy of the book. Forget it. Know how much that would cost me? Not including postage? Then if my review request is rejected, I've gone to all that trouble and expense for nothing. 

*It still doesn't hurt to check out a site if it matches your genre, because some of them actually do have contact forms. One that I looked at indicated "mail", but does allow web contact. Unfortunately, it neglects to mention a fee. I'm very skeptical of those.

"I have really enjoyed receiving pieces from unknown writers that I have provided with an honest review in return for their gift."

So, like a ceramic dog or something? A pack of cigarettes? What do you give the blogger who has everything? Ohhh, she means money! Just come out with it, lady! How much do you want me to fork over?

An important consideration with regard to these lists: are reviews only posted on the sites themselves? If so, that's not necessarily helpful. An author would need to gauge a blog's monthly visitors versus a single website review to determine if querying would be worth it. Jeyran used to post her reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads in addition to her blog, but she's ceased doing that as her business has grown. In my case, it was worth it anyway, because I included her editorial review on my Amazon book page. 

My past success rate with soliciting book bloggers has been...well, 0%. As I noted, one did agree to review my novel, but was apparently turned off after reading the first page. 

Check that---I did get a couple more positive responses, but they asked for too much money, so I passed. I see that Reedsy's current list has at least 8 pages of contemporary fiction blogs, so with nothing much else to do, I may contact a few of them.

More Helpful Tips:

• Always browse a blog's reviews to not only get a feel for the reviewer's style, but for the types of books they review.
• Check the date of the most recent review. One blog hasn't posted a review since 2020. 
• It's a really good idea to read the "about" section. This is generally where the blogger lists his or her favorite genres, and you can also learn a bit about the blogger to determine whether their worldview matches yours (e.g., I avoided the reviewers promoting certain topics). 
• Don't solely rely on the list's information, whether you're perusing Reedsy's or another site's blogger list. Much of the information is incorrect! Also, quite a few of the bloggers are not currently accepting books for review. 

If you decide to go this route, drop me a comment and let me know your experience. I love to live vicariously through fellow authors who are more successful than me.