There have been several great posts on this topic and I really hope that people who send review requests are reading them. Here is my humble offering. (In a perfect world, we'd all have individual personalized pitches pitched to us, but this is not a perfect world. Let's just make do).
I joked that I was going to make a good form letter and sell it to people to fund my travels. (Joking, sort of.) But really as a public service, here it is.
(Publisher/not author version)
Dear _________ (This should be the human being who runs the blog's name, not the name of the blog.)
My name is ___________ and I'm representing _________ and their new book ____________. When I was reading (blog name) I saw that you're a fan of (genre or other author or other book). I think that you will really enjoy (book) because it has a lot of the same elements that (genre or other author) employs. (If you want to be super awesome throw in a personal something here like: "Loved your review of /some book/, I loved that book myself"!) I understand that your time is valuable and that there are many great books waiting on your to-be-read list; however if (book name) sounds like something you would enjoy, and maybe review, please email me back and I will get you a copy.
Here is a summary of (book's name) and (author's name) social media information if you'd like to learn more.
Thank you so much for your time!
(Persons name)
Short, easy, personal. Right?
(author version)
Dear _________ (This should be the human being who runs the blog's name, not the name of the blog.)
My name is ___________ and I'm writing to you about my new book ________________. When looking through your blog, I saw that you're a fan of ___________; and because of that I think you'd really enjoy my book! (If you want to be super awesome throw in a personal something here like: "Loved your review of /some book/, I loved that book myself"!) I understand that your time is valuable and that there are many great books waiting on your to-be-read list; however if (book name) sounds like something you would enjoy, and maybe review, please email me back and I will get you a copy.
Here is a summary of (book's name) and my social media information if you'd like to learn more.
Thank you so much for your time!
(Person's name)
An email like that would definitely give me more pause and make me consider something that has been obviously copied and paste. Obviously good spelling and grammar and correct information and link should all be givens.
UPDATE: T got another terrible one today!
Hahaha, I love "(This should be the human being who runs the blog's name, not the name of the blog.)" So true. The one that gets me is Dear Mrs. River City Reading. Hey, THANKS!
ReplyDeleteRight?! "Let me start off this request with the fact I couldn't be bothered to look at your sidebar and find out your name, even though it would have only taken 1/2 of 1 second! Now do this thing for me!"
DeleteI might even take the time to reply if I received emails like this one!
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteI won't even bother responding if they haven't read my review policy and I can tell who has and has not. I did get one recently that was "Dear Becca, I love your blog and read it all the time. I thought you might like this cowboy detective novel." Annnnnnd...you have never read my blog, amiright?
ReplyDeleteRight, because the first thing I think of when I read your blog is "man, Becca needs to stop reviewing so many cowboy detective novels. It's getting old!"
DeleteThat grammar gif is perfect. Just perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think that one is one of my favorites!
DeleteI don't get that many bad requests through my blog. But the requests I get from my Amazon reviews? They are so laughable. And obviously, they have paid to attention to what I actually read and review. They are such a turn off, I wonder if anyone actually follows up and accepts the book.
ReplyDeleteExactly! When the requests are so bad, I'm sure no one has high expectations about the book they are promoting.
DeleteI don't mind so much when people address me as Ms LouLouReads because I make quite an effort to keep my real name off the internet--however, mass emails to promote books do bug me, and I've almost stopped accepting ARCs as a result.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. If you're trying to keep your name off the internet I guess they have to call you something! The mass emails are the worst, I don't blame you!
DeleteI so agree that these emails need to be personalized. Mass emails are an immediate delete.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the time they are asking we invest in their book, a personalized email is not asking for so much I think!
Delete