I receive book review requests from authors daily. And I love getting these requests! Unfortunately, however, I can’t review every book authors ask me to read. I have to be somewhat choosy or I would never do anything but read 24/7.

I read every request I receive, and I’ve started to notice things some authors do that make their requests stand out to me in a good way. And I’ve also noticed a few things some requests are missing that would make it easier on me to make a quick decision.

If you’re an author and you want to increase your chances of getting your book selected for review, here are some tips for you. Check out Reedsy for a list of potential book reviewers you can contact to request a review for your book.

3 tips when sending book review requests to increase your changes of getting the review:

1. Include your name, the book title, and genre. This may sound totally obvious, but very few authors include the title of their book and/or the genre in their review requests. Sometimes I’ll read the whole review and then wonder what the book is titled. And knowing the genre is helpful. There are some genres I know I really enjoy and others I know I don’t tend to enjoy. As an author, you want to find reviewers who prefer your genre, otherwise they may select it for review and then won’t be able to give it a positive review if it isn’t a good fit for them.

2. Include a BRIEF summary of the book. I cannot stress this enough—don’t get too wordy! I don’t want to read a dissertation on why you wrote the book or how the book is unique. Get to the point. Sum it up in a few sentences. What’s the book about? Why would I want to read it?

3. Include a link to the book on Amazon. I like to look the books up on Amazon to see the cover (because yes, readers do judge books by their covers), read the description, and see if there are any other reviews for the book yet. Sometimes I can look the book up by the author’s name (or the title if the author included it), but sometimes they’re hard to find, so it’s handy when there’s a direct link to the listing for the book.

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BONUS: Try to connect with the reviewer in some way. I love when authors point out something about me that they picked up on one of my social media accounts or when they compare their book to another book I recently reviewed (and liked). This shows me they’re paying attention and they’re not just copying and pasting in their pitch. It’s okay to have a standard pitch that you copy and paste, but then try to personalize it a bit if you can.

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Like these tips? Watch my summary video on TikTok and give it a ❤️.

@kellyschuknecht

What to include in your book review request to increase your chances of getting the review.

♬ Low (feat. T-Pain) – Flo Rida