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Shh Moms Love… Finding New Authors

Posted on 18 September, 2017 by in Shh Moms Love / 9 comments

I wanted to share some of my experiences as a blogger over the past almost 5 years since Christine and I founded Shh Mom’s Reading™

I love finding new authors. One of my favorite things about blogging is finding a book that moves me and shouting out about it from the rooftops! It’s even more amazing if it is a new author to me.

How do I find new authors you ask? Lots of ways—friends whose opinions I trust, other bloggers (are you shocked that bloggers follow each other?) and inquiries both personal ones and ones that are sent to our blog email address.

I have discovered some of my favorite authors after responding to a well crafted and personal inquiry to either me or our blog email.

A couple of things really stands out when I receive an email that will make me consider reading a book—if it is a well written email, it was addressed to my name personally, it said something about our blog and the author shared why she felt I would enjoy her book based on other books I have loved.  Do those personal messages take time to craft? Heck yes! But guess what? In an inbox full of emails, those personal messages are the ones that pull me in to reading that book!

I am not hard to find, though back then it did take a bit of research which made me respect that author even more. But that email with my name on it caused me to take a second look.

The email also had the blurb to the book in the email so I didn’t have to click or search for it on Goodreads. The author provided all the information I needed to decide if I wanted to read the book in that well crafted and professional email.

Speaking of blurbs… I can not stress how important these are. I have heard from many authors that they dread writing them but please, PLEASE take the extra time. Share the blurb with someone you trust to be crazy honest with you and work it until those you trust to be honest say “yes that makes me want to click this book!”

Another author who is now a go to, must read author for me—I first meet this author when she wrote me a very nice and very personal email in response to my 3.5 star rating of her debut book. She thank’ed me for the honest review and I now consider her a dear friend. She was beyond professional and I was so touched that she took the time to read my review and really thought about my experience reading the book.

For my day job (I know shocking—blogging doesn’t pay the bills!) I use LinkedIn for a lot of communications. I address each email to the person I am writing it to. Maybe I am old fashioned but people have names—you should use them.

No different than teaching our sons to call or address someone by name if they are wearing a name tag.
Does research who each blogger is take time? Yes. Does it take time to find reviewers who have loved books similar to your upcoming release? Yes. But guess what—owning a business is cumbersome and takes time  and hard work.

Being an author is about more than writing a book and it publishing. Taking the extra time to send personal messages may result in less messages being sent, but they will be higher quality reach outs.

We are all busy. We all don’t have enough time in our day so use yours wisely. If you want reviewers to read the messages you send and agree to read and review your book, take the extra time to draw them in as you would a reader.

As I said prior, these days I am not hard to find. I am just me—running my business, being a wife and mom, running Shh Mom’s Reading™ with Christine and fundraising to honor my brother Keith Milano. But if you message my personal Facebook page and we don’t know each other, well that should be an even more personal message since it is my personal account.

I hope some of these tips will help authors when they reach out to reviewers new to their work. And maybe my tips are way off and I am just old fashioned, but it’s my two cents and how to get me to consider reading your next book.

 

9 Responses to “Shh Moms Love… Finding New Authors”

  1. Karen Hulseman

    I don’t think everyone understands how much we all follow one another. I’ve got my personal blogs I follow religiously – because I trust the reviews. And yes, I blanket email blitz isn’t necessarily get me to read. But address it to me, comment on what reviews made you decide to reach out, means you actually are interested in my opinion rather than a number.

    Very well said! Love this a ton!

  2. Lisa Mackay

    This is so helpful to people like me.
    I’m an indie author, relatively new to this and totally clueless to the etiquette of marketing, blogging, and social media. Everything I have done, both right and wrong has been trial and error.
    Advice, both good and bad, comes at you from every angle. Some of it is free, some of it requires a small loan and a prayer! But information like this, from the horses mouth, so to speak, is invaluable.
    Thanks for taking the time, it’s a great help.
    🙂

  3. Kathleen Bylsma

    Very Well stated: thoughtful and inclusive. That’s why we like your blog. Thanks for the work you do.

  4. Melanie Moreland

    So many great points in this article. As an author, I know I am very shy to reach out, and am so grateful when a blogger is open and friendly. Bloggers are so important to authors, and the relationships vital. Your honest opinions help to guide us and often make us better authors.
    Thank you for all you do Denise!

  5. Laurie Spice

    Well said. It seems the blanket impersonal emails have exploded lately. We are getting so many that unless they are well written and addressed to us by name we now just delete them. There is just not enough time in the day to go through them all.
    Thank you for putting this out there.

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