When my book, Until Death, first came out I went on a hunt for book blogs. I'd read about Amanda Hocking's incredible success and knew that she attributed much of the early popularity of her books to the many book bloggers who reviewed her work.
Funny thing, when I searched for book review blogs a few months ago I couldn't find more than a dozen and, of those, only two or three would accept self published work.
Ack!
As luck would have it, I recently came across a few book review blogs and thought I'd tell you folks about them. (This also gives me a nice convenient list for when I need it next!)
You'll notice that most of the book review sites I mention below don't have a stated policy on whether they accept self-published work. Since many book review sites do explicitly (and emphatically!) state they do not accept self-published work, I'd say that those without a policy are willing to treat a self-published book as a book like any other and you're free to query them like the author/publisher you are.
I've found each site has different policies regarding whether to send a query first, what form the query should be in, and so forth, so I've provided a link to the site's review policy in the title.
1. JJ Ireads: Book reviews and more from an e-book lover
Kind of books: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction, Mysteries, Nonfiction memoirs (humor)
Book formats: Ebooks (mobi, epub, PDF). Electronic formats preferred but will also accept paperback or hardcover.
Self-published work: This reviewer did not state whether they accept self-published work.
Notes: May also do author interviews and giveaways. Contact the site fore details.
2. Reading Teen
Kind of books: Anything teen or young adult.
Book formats: Hardback or paperback please.
Self-published work: This reviewer did not state whether they accept self-published work.
3. Mundie Moms
Kind of books: Only young adult books, please.
Book formats: "At this time we only accept paperback or hardcopies of books, ARCs and manuscripts. We only accept books that follow our blog's genres."
Self-published work: I found no explicit mention of whether Mundie Moms accepts self-published work.
Notes: Mundie Moms also does author interviews and giveaways.
4. Novel Thoughts
Kind of books: "I usually am drawn to read Young Adult novels, but I read the occasional Adult or Middle Grade books. I do not accept ebook requests. If you think I would be interested in reviewing your books, please contact me at: contact [at] novelthoughtsblog [dot] com."
Book formats: No ebooks.
Self-published work: No stated policy.
Notes: "I would love to read and review your books, host giveaways, or hold interviews here on my blog, Novel Thoughts."
5. The Book Smugglers
ARCs: "Ana Grilo and Thea James, The Book Smugglers, are currently open to receiving solicited Advance Reading Copies and Review Copies of books."
Kind of books: "Our preferred genres are Speculative Fiction (Horror, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction), Young Adult (Speculative Fiction/Paranormal and Contemporary), with the occasional Romance novel (Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary). This does not, however, mean that we will not consider books from other genres! We love graphic novels, manga, mysteries, historical fiction, and will consider any book with a great synopsis."
Book formats: "Our review copy preference is for ebooks, followed by print copies. As such, digital ARCs/review copies will be given precedence over print copies. Our preferred format is EPUB."
Self-published work: Yes! They write:
While the bulk of the books that we review are from large publishing houses in the United States and the United Kingdom, we also love to hear from small press and independently published authors (i.e. Joel A. Sutherland’s Frozen Blood or Michael Hicks’s In Her Name).Notes: Contact The Book Smuggers here: http://thebooksmugglers.com/contact-us
I'm going to start keeping a list of book review blogs, especially those that accept self published work. This is something of an experiment, but if you review books, please use the contact page (see the top of this blog) or email me at karen [at] karenwoodward [dot] org and send me your site address as well as your review policy and I'll be sure to include you.
Keep writing!
