I’ve thought of writing a ‘how to pitch a book blogger’ post for some time, but others have done it better. Then, just recently, I received a pitch that rather irritated me. I have to say that by and large, those who contact me are polite, knowledgeable that bloggers can be very busy people, and cautious if they are new to pitching. Indeed just before the irritating pitch came one from an author who sent their book with the initial contact but said outright that they didn’t know if that was ‘correct’ or not. This was good in a way because it gave me (and I expect anyone else who received an email from them) the chance to give them a heads up as to what bloggers ‘expect’. And the email was polite and friendly.

The email that irritated me started out as an okay pitch, simply with a poor attitude. I emailed back to state what I was and wasn’t okay with in regards to their ‘rules’ and received a very long condescending email that was written as though I was a brand new blogger with no knowledge or experience of how to blog.

It was just that bit too much.

I know that this email was likely a one off but all the same the occasion made me realise that it might be prudent to write some guidelines. Lists of dos and don’ts may have been written before, but it seems there isn’t such a thing as one too many in this regard.

Here’s what you shouldn’t do when pitching a blogger with addition pieces of information to keep in mind:

1. The blogger you’re pitching likely knows how to blog. They will also have their own way of going about it. Do not tell them what to do, and do not tell them how they can help you.)
2. The favour being done is by the blogger for you. If you are asking for coverage you must accept that they might want to change a few things to better fit their blog and readership. See this as a positive – they are happy to give you coverage, and want to write the post they know will work best for their blog and their readers. Remember that unless you’re paying them in currency, they are giving you their time for free.
3. If a blogger does not reply then they are either not interested or do not have the time required to cover your book. Likewise, they only have time to respond to requests they can accept. By all means try another pitch for another book at another time, but don’t keep emailing them about that present request.
4. Don’t send mass emails that are not at all personalised. You might find success with some bloggers, but by and large bloggers like to know you took the time to read their site and their policies – this intimates the book you’re pitching is likely a good fit. If you’ve read their blog, let them know. Tell them why your book is a good fit.
5. Don’t make bloggers jump through hoops to get your book. If you’re offering an ebook don’t send them to a page they have to sign up to for access to it. Exceptions to this are NetGalley and Edelweiss which are well-known sites for review copies.
6. If you offer a certain ebook format and the blogger asks for it, supply it. Don’t say later that you don’t have that format. Some ereaders only accept certain formats and therefore it’s important you offer what you actually have available. Preferably you’ll have all the major formats available.
7. Don’t pitch close to the time you want the review to be published. Pitch it a good amount of time beforehand. Bloggers read a lot of books and often schedules are created months in advance. As an example, I wrote this post late November, and was booking reviews for late February.
8. Don’t pitch a blogger whose country you can’t or won’t send a book to. This is a waste of time for both of you and shows you didn’t research the blog beforehand. You can generally find the blogger’s location on their ‘contact’ or ‘about’ page.
9. An infamous one, again regarding research – don’t say ‘Hi’ without the blogger’s name, or ‘Hi blogger,’ if this is the first email you’ve sent them. It’s not so bad when a person sends mass emails to bloggers they already have a working relationship with, but if you’re a new contact you want to be sociable and personal. You want to strike up a relationship – the blogger is not a robot.

Lastly, life happens. Know that in pitching, even if you’re accepted the blogger may still not be able to work to a deadline or may indeed end up not being able to cover your book at all.

What points have I missed that you’d include?